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It's too easy to slow yourself with drink or drugs, whereas you need to be giving yourself every chance possible in life: eating well, sleeping well, taking all-round good care.

Watching TV can give you the feeling that you're doing something, but you're actually doing a lot less that you imagine.

You've got to give yourself the best chance of succeeding by living properly. I was scared of going off the rails because it's so easy to do: with too much drink, or just being lazy about exercising and getting enough sleep, or even by starting a family too early.

We can only achieve quantum improvements in our lives if we attack the root cause of problems. Take the time to identify and understand the recurring failures of your character, so you are better able to fight them.

People get addicted to things for all sorts of reasons. It may be a symptom of unhappiness, a way of avoiding things, or an attempt to run away from the challenge of making a go of your life. People are addicts very often as a form of self-medication and we have to help them get to the bottom of their problem and face things head on rather than postpone things by getting out of their heads.

Let your most important, long-term desires and hopes squash the smaller, temporary hungers. Of course you want a drink; of course you want sex; of course you want to turn the TV on; of course you want to lie in bed. But in the long run, what do you want even more than those things?

To resist temptation, avoid it in the first place by steering clear of situations.

The best way to solve a problem is to find out as much about it as possible. Same goes for yourself and your worst habits. Keep a daily diary about how and when you do things, and in what sorts of situations with what results. This will be undeniable evidence for you to draw upon when you're designing changes.

When you have negative thoughts, replace them with three positive thoughts associated to the negative one. Within a few weeks you'll have it beaten.

Rather than allowing 'a knee-jerk reaction' to difficult situations or events, try to develop a 'response routine' that brings you long-term benefits as well as short-term ones. For instance, in the aftermath of some stressful circumstances, rather can going out and getting drunk, you should do your favourite form of exercise, then discuss the problem in detail with at least one other appropriate person, and then rehearse in your mind what you could do if that situation, or something like it, occurred again.

Know thineself: the more clearly you can see how your life is working, and the more realistic and honest you can be in describing it to yourself, the better position you will be in to improve things. For instance, you must be getting some kind of reward for regularly behaving in a negative. You have to work out what that reward is, and then you can pull the plug on it. This is best done by replacing it with some enjoyable activity that delivers even more positive outcomes for you.

Don't put yourself in temptation's way. Make plans to avoid them, because you can't make the decision once you're on your second pint.

If you've got 20 TV channels to graze, you're going to find something which absolutely fascinates you, but just remember that's someone else's life up there on the screen. What about your life?

Practice overcoming temptation in your mind How would you resist external pressures, like friends? What would you say and do to overcome their well-meant invitations that would only lure you off course?

If you have three or four days between having an alcoholic drink, then it's much harder to become addicted in any way.

One of the hardest things to accept is that your best friends can be positive and negative influences on you, because they simply may not appreciate just what is required to achieve the goals you have set for yourself.

Swap a negative activity for a positive one, but just make sure the new positive action serves fairly much the same purpose as the negative one did, and doesn't require any more time and trouble. Then it'll be a straight swap.

If you don't bother to fight the small battles, you certainly won't be able to fight the bigger ones in life, the really dangerous temptations. Develop your self-control and self-discipline with the smaller stuff and those lessons will serve you well with the bigger issues.

In the face of temptation, don't ask yourself "Do I want to" because the answer is probably 'yes'. Ask yourself "What do I want even more?"