Realize the addictive nature of things and phenomena, and avoid them at all costs.
What is addiction? Addiction is the process when you lose control over your time, your attention, your life. How to identify a process, an action, a deed, a thought, anything, as an addition? Ask yourself the following questions: when I engage with this "thing", is there a built-in mechanism that makes me either a) to continue it, or b) to re-visit it again in the future? In other words: is this thing programmed in a "positive feedback loop", ie. to make me repeat my actions, tied to this thing?
If the answer is "yes", then it is an addictive substance, program, or activity, and you should avoid it at the outset. Do not even play with it for a short period of time, thinking you will have the willpower to get out of the spiral, of the vortex, of the loop. Realize for what it is, and do not even start the process. Get out of it quickly if sucked in. Only deal with non-addictive things.
Examples of addictive substances and programs: alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, any drugs in general; food (gluttony); gambling, dreaming about getting rich quick or without work, charging interest; getting sucked in the pointless "money, power, fame" devilish triangle of deception; all "forbidden" or "secret" things; reading the news; computer games; social media, vanity, pride; all competitive games (like chess, or Olympics, or team sports, etc), anything that has a positive feedback loop (thus either it rewards you or punishes you, making you go back for more rewards or to take revenge). Keep your mind always in the middle, independent, free and neutral. Do not listen to slander. Never take sides, do not bet on anything, or the future. Remain the observer, the eternal traveler, the one who has no stake in anything, except your clear mind.