Right now you may be thinking about the start of the new year and some of the things you want to achieve in the coming months. It’s a time when many people evaluate where they are and where they want to be in many aspects of life from professional progression to finding a significant other.
Something that most people don’t think to put on their New Year resolutions list is improving energy use, even though it affects life on a daily basis in the short-term and long-term. We’re here to encourage everyone to set an energy goal this year that will reduce costs, conserve power and eliminate energy waste. Here’s how!
Why Should You Set Goals?
Some people question the need for going through the goal setting process rather than just jumping right into and working on something. You could hit the ground running, but what direction are you going to run in? And is that the best way to get where you want to be?
Goal setting is essentially a plan to accomplish something, and there’s a lot of research that proves goal setting works. Setting a goal:
- Puts the wheels in motion to take action
- Helps prioritize efforts
- Motivates the person think strategically to reach goals
- Focuses attention
- Increases resolve and persistence
- Boosts confidence in oneself
- Provides a sense of control
- Improves decision making skills
These are only a short list of the big benefits of goal setting. Just identifying a goal and writing it down on paper increases the chance that you’ll reach the goal. That alone is reason enough to practice goal setting.
The Power of Goal Setting as an Energy Consumer
It’s important to set energy goals, because our energy use impacts many areas of our life on a daily basis. Our monthly budget can increase or decrease depending on how much energy is used. The comfort of your home depends on how energy is used. The health of the environment is also affected by how each one of us uses energy resources.
All of these factors can be inspiration for setting an energy goal that makes a positive difference all around. When you set energy goals you have nothing to lose and a lot to gain!
Tips for Setting Energy Goals
Setting goals is great, but reaching goals takes a lot more work. The more strategic you are about it, the easier it will be to reach your goals. The tips below will help you set and achieve energy goals that make a noticeable difference.
Analyze Your Energy Use
The first thing you’ll need to do with any goal is evaluate where you’re currently at to get a good idea of how far you have to go. With that in mind, you’ll want to review your monthly and annual energy use by reviewing past utility bills. You can also invest in energy monitoring tools that give you exact measurements of real-time energy use.
Understanding your energy use will help you figure out where improvements can be made. It also gives you a benchmark for starting out so you can measure the progress you make.
Choose One Measurable Energy Goal to Work on at a Time
Where a lot of people go wrong with goal setting is trying to do too much at once. Wanting to accomplish 5+ things is great, but every goal you add reduces the likelihood of hitting any of them.
The more effective strategy is to choose just one primary goal to focus on at a time. That way you can focus your attention and decrease the risk of getting overwhelmed or discouraged. Once you reach that energy goal, then you can set another energy goal that can be your sole focus. The goals can even be related and build on one another.
The other big goal setting misstep people make is setting broad goals that aren’t measurable. When a goal is specific and progress can be measured it helps you gauge how much progress is being made. It also establishes when the goal is met. For example, a common goal is to lose weight. But simply making a goal of losing weight doesn’t tell you when a goal will be achieved. It would be better to set the goal of losing 10 pounds within three months. That provides two measurements that are easy to track and gives you a clear endpoint.
Identify Milestones for the Goal
Even if you’re focused on just one goal, it will take multiple steps to get there. Those are your milestones. A milestone is like a mini-goal that has to happen in order to reach the end goal.
Identifying the milestones comes with a few benefits:
- Helps you track progress
- Helps you create a timeline for completing the goal
- Makes achieving the goal more attainable
- Provides motivation to keep going
Try to come up with at least three milestones per goal that break things down into more manageable chunks and help you hit the ground running
Monitor the Progress
Once you set a goal and identify the milestones the work isn’t over. Now you need to take steps to reach the first milestone and monitor your progress. This will keep you on track and help you make adjustments if you run into a challenge.
Reward Yourself For Meeting Your Energy Goal
The final step in the process is rewarding yourself for a job well done once you reach the goal. This is actually very important for goal setting. Celebrating the accomplishment with something special reinforces goal setting and doing the work to reach your goals so you’re motivated to keep reaching new ones. Plus, the reward part is the fun part!
Is your goal to find a better energy plan for your home or business? Then check to see which Major Energy plans are available in your area! We work hard to create plans that meet the needs of energy consumers in the northeast and midwest.