Tip 11: Find out as much as you can about your topic
One sign of commitment to a goal is that you will begin to want to know more. If you have set yourself the goal of controlling your temper, you might be interested to learn about a topic called 'Emotional Intelligence'. If you want to increase your sales performance you may start researching the latest product developments in your area. If you want to lose weight, you might start reading diet magazines or join a slimmers' club. The more you know about your topic, the more creative you can be in taking action, the more choices you will have and if you can create an action plan that is individually tailored to your own lifestyle then it is more likely to be motivating and you are more likely to stick to it.
Gaining knowledge doesn't have to mean sweating over books in the library every night. The internet is a good source of information, and if you followed Tip 5 ('Go public') you will almost certainly find that people will want to help you by giving you their own hints and tips or by pointing you to useful sources of information. Joining a club or networking with people who have similar goals can be a great way of picking up ideas. Don't make it a chore though - try to be genuinely curious and retain a level of fascination, while also keeping your goal in mind. (Don't get distracted by interesting but irrelevant information.
A really good book on this topic is 'Changing for Good' by Prochaska, Norcross and Diclemente, Collins. They emphasise that there are a number of steps that occur before someone takes action on a goal, that will really enhance the chances of long term success. One of these is gathering information. We've put up a short review of this book in our Executive Lounge:
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