“Remember these rules are for you and they are not written in tablets of stone. If they are not working, then change them if they don’t suit you, then change them.”

Control drinking step two

In this step, you need to lay out the rules for your drinking. For this, you should use the rules for drinking tool which you will find on your page, under change tools. There are six aspects that you should look at when specifying your goal.

Firstly, you need to look at the maximum quantity that you will drink in any given day. This will usually be set by the recommended limits in your country (usually around 2-3 drinks maximum).

Secondly, you need to decide on the maximum number of days in any one week, that you will drink. Almost all countries suggest that you should have at least two or three days, alcohol free. These are minimum numbers, and you can drink on less days if you choose.

Thirdly, you should choose the maximum amount of alcohol that you will drink in a week. Again, there will be guidance in your country on the maximum quantity per week.

Fourthly, you should specify the types of beverages that you can and cannot drink. You may have found from experience that there are certain types of alcohol that you should avoid. For example, many people specify that they should avoid spirits or hard liquor.

Make sure your rules work for you

Fifthly, you should specify the times when you should not drink. For example, you may have found from experience that if you drink when you’re angry that this normally leads to heavy drinking and intoxication. Therefore, your rule may be that when you’re angry you’ll avoid drinking altogether.

Sixthly, you should specify where you should drink and where you shouldn’t drink. Again, you may have found from experience that there are certain places when you drink that you can control your drinking, and it never leads to any problems however, in other places you may have found the opposite.

Lastly, you should specify the time period that you will evaluate these rules over. Remember these rules are for you and they are not written in tablets of stone. If they are not working, then change them if they don’t suit you, then change them.

You may want to use some of the tips for reducing your drinking as they could be useful here as well.