 It was the year 2000. I just got into what we call senior secondary class in my country, Nigeria. On this very day, I was having a conversation with two of my friends and at some point we were talking about who would become the best student in our class. I announced to my friends that I would become the best student in our new class and both disagreed with me. I left that meeting with the first major goal of my life, to become the best student in my class. Because of this new goal, I had to lie to my parents to give me money. I got some money and used it to buy different books. Because of this new goal, I reduced the time I wasted on TV and other things. Because of this new goal, I would wake up about an hour earlier than everyone in my home and use that period to read before I went to school. As God would have it, I ended up becoming the best student in my class and that got me to see practically how powerful goal setting could be. That was more than 20 years ago. Until today, I set goals for myself every time. For most people who don't set goals, well, it's very difficult to hit a target you can't see. Just as you can see in my above story, goals make you focus. Goals challenge you to run after something. Goals remind you of where you're going so you don't waste your time with the people who don't go your way. Now, let me share with you a few goals you might need to set in the new year. 1. Set goals to read and think. Warren Buffett said, I do more reading and thinking and make less impulsive decisions than most people in business. Bill Gates reads about 50 books per year. Mark Cuban reads about 3 hours every day. And when asked how he learned to build rockets, Elon Musk said, I read books. Henry Ford said, thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it. If there are two things that can change almost anyone's life, they are reading and thinking. It expands our minds and gives us new insight into how we can either do what we're doing better or how we can do something entirely different. Unfortunately, most people don't read. Last week I came across a study that claimed that 80% of American families don't buy any book. The previous year to the time the study was conducted. In the part of the world where I come from, you hardly see anyone reading except they have a school examination. While people who don't read can achieve some level of success, you can be sure that knowledge is a multiplier. If you can drive your car at 20 kilometers per hour in the darkness, you can sure drive at 60 kilometers per hour if you have a light. So set a simple goal to read more in the next 12 months. You can start with a single book per month. Don't read any book more than 10 pages if you don't enjoy it. If you pick up a book and don't like it after reading 10 pages, drop it and pick another one. This is important because you don't want your brain to feel like reading is a difficult thing. By choosing to read only books that you enjoy, your brain will associate reading with pleasure, which will help you read more. 2. Set goals to invest 300 hours into something. One of my goals for the next 12 months is to be a better communicator. To achieve this goal, I've read Dil Canage's popular book The Art of Public Speaking and as a further study, I'm paying attention to other great communicators online. I would listen to them, try to decode what they are doing deep in their brains, observe their pauses, change of tones and their gestures. Another thing I've said to do is to speak to the camera often. I want to do this via some YouTube channels. I mean, I think about one important skill you've been wanting to acquire. Now is the right time to give it a go. And the best way to get started is to set a goal to invest at least 300 hours in the next 12 months into becoming better at such skill. This means investing about 15 minutes every day into becoming better at a skill. This can mean watching a video, reading a book or listening to someone who already does so well in what you're trying to do. This will also mean doing, getting your hands dirty and practicing. The whole idea about investing 300 hours into becoming better in a skill is that if you can identify a particular skill that will make a difference in your career, then your life can change if you would focus on becoming better in such an area. 3. Set a goal to be thankful for many little things. Here's a book called Happiness Advantage. Sean Ackor wrote it. This book proves that happy people tend to achieve more successes in life than people who are not usually happy. The reason for this is because human brains perform better when we're happy. I read somewhere that our brains perform about 31% better when we're happy than when we're sad. And that should not be a surprise, right? So here's the deal. People aren't happy necessarily because of what happened to them but because of how they interpret what happens to them. This means that we can all be happier than we are right now if we look for things we can be grateful for. While many people believe that if they can achieve more success, they will be happier, the reverse is actually the case. If you can be happier, you'll achieve more success. And how to be happier is to be more grateful for things you already have. Tony Robbins has a morning ritual which is about stating three things he's grateful for. Most of us can see three things we're grateful for and this simple exercise can make our brain better. Set goals to read and think more. Set goals to invest 300 hours into valuable skills. Set goals to be happier by being more grateful for what you already have. None of the above goals will be easy but disciplining yourself to follow them through can make a better life. I hope this video helps someone. My name is Steve Courage. I'm a Nigerian entrepreneur based in Lagos. If you wish to know more about me, see my face or consume videos I specifically make for Africans, check the description box and join my new channel where I show my face and teach Africans how to build successful businesses. I love you.