I think it's more about what we say to ourselves and how, while we're arguing with ourselves the fight can be lost.
I know all about internal dialogues in shops. Manys the time I swore I would not drink today and 5 mins later I was literally running down the road to buy some.
I wasn't weak but I was very addicted.
Whenever I argued with myself, I lost. I had to make sure there was no argument.
I had to make plans before hand about what kind of inner dialogues I might have have and how I could counteract those dialogues.
Sometimes I had to go to different shops where temptation was not present.
I know about rituals too - if I had pot I needed alcohol - if I had alcohol I needed cigarettes. Any one of the unholy three might set me off so I had to go off all three.
It took a bit of work, but I really wanted change.
D