- The potential of your leadership is a reflection of the
quality of your habits. So if you wanna be more
effective in your leadership, you wanna be more
strategic with your habits. Today we're launching a
three part podcast series based on a new book that I've written called "The Power to Change." The title of this episode is "Mastering the Habits that Matter Most." (upbeat music) As we launch into a new year, what I know about you is
you're like almost everybody. You're probably thinking
about changing something. Maybe you want to change your diet or maybe you wanna be more
disciplined in the morning or maybe you want to stop binge
eating before you go to bed or maybe you wanna be more organized and plan your day before
you start at the office. And chances are good that this won't be your first attempt to
make that specific change. Because like me, we all
have good intentions and we've probably tried before and maybe our attempt to change failed. And so you may be thinking,
I hope I can change. I hope I can grow. I hope I can become a better leader. And I wanna remind you that
hope alone doesn't change your life, habits do, the
same with your leadership. Hope doesn't change your leadership. The right habits will. And if you'll notice I
said the right habits will. This may be obvious, but
the wrong habits won't. And a lot of us have the wrong habits. For example, I often have the habit of interrupting others
when they're speaking. That's rude and I've been
working to break that habit. You might have the habit
of starting meetings late and that's not respecting
other people's time. Or you might have the bad
habit of procrastinating and putting off what's most important. We wanna work for the right habits. And why do the right habits matter so much in your leadership? Because the potential of your leadership is reflection of the
quality of your habits. What do we know about habits? The habits you have today will shape who you become tomorrow. So if you want to be more
effective in your leadership, it's time to get strategic
with your habits. Let's answer the question, what do the best leaders have in common? Well, before we answer that, let's start with what
they don't have in common. Contrary to popular belief, the best leaders are not
necessarily the smartest people. They don't necessarily
work the longest hours, they don't get more
breaks than other people, and they don't necessarily
have more connections. What we know about the
best leaders is this, the best leaders intentionally create strategic habits that
produce the desired results. Let me say it again. The best leaders, they
intentionally create the right and strategic habits that
produce their desired results. Let's talk about being strategic. For example, the habits
that you need to create, they are very, very different than the habits that
I need to create, why? Because your desired results are very different than
my desired results. And that's why I wanna just plead with you to be very, very intentional. And I'm gonna ask you, and
we're gonna work through this in a few sessions,
the question is this, what habits do you need to create? And to answer that question,
we need to think about this. To know what habit you need to create, you must first be clear on
what result you want to get. Let me say it again. To know what habit you need to create, you must be clear on what
result you wanna get. It's Steven Covey, who's best known for saying, "Start with the end in mind." Great advice. We're gonna
add a little twist to that. And when we talk about
starting with the end in mind and I talk about this in detail in my new book called
"The Power to Change: Mastering the Habits That Matter Most." I want you to get the book
"The Power to Change." In the book, we talk about this, instead of asking what do we want to do, we're gonna first ask
a different question. Instead of what do we want to do, we're gonna ask who do I want to become? Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna start with who before do. Why does this matter so much? And believe me it does. Most leaders tend to start
with external results. It's kinda like, what
do I wanna accomplish? What we're gonna do is we're gonna start with internal qualities. Instead of what do I want to accomplish, we're gonna ask who do I want to become? Now why do our internal
qualities matter so much? You may have heard of something called the imposter syndrome. If you haven't, here's a quick overview of the ideas behind the imposter syndrome. If you have the imposter syndrome, which is incredibly common,
especially amongst leaders, you don't feel worthy of your role. No matter how much you do, no matter how good you actually are, you still don't actually feel competent. If you battle with imposter syndrome, you tend to believe that
whatever success you had, it was mostly lucky, you
didn't really deserve it and you can't likely repeat it. If you battle with the
syndrome, you often worry that you aren't meeting the
expectations of other people. And the reason you worry about it is because you know you aren't
meeting your own expectations. You might feel this ongoing nagging sense of insecurity like, I'm never good enough or it may be worse than that. It might be this debilitating depression where you feel like a total fake. Now, the bad news for you and I wanna tell you this very frankly is that you are most likely more vulnerable to the imposter syndrome
than many of your peers. You may say, why am I saying that? According to the manual
of mental disorders, the imposter syndrome is actually disproportionately impacts high achievers, and that's most likely what you are. It tends to disproportionately impact those who are doing more,
those who are leaders. Why are leaders prone
to imposter syndrome is because we feel the burden of leadership and we often don't feel worthy
of the weight that we carry. Now, as a total side note,
I just wanna say this, I'm not a fan of the
term imposter syndrome. I don't like those words together because imposter implies fraudulence and this isn't a character problem. This is a confidence problem. Secondly, syndrome feels
like a medical condition that you can't change and
you know better than that. You have the power to change, right? And so how do we overcome
imposter's syndrome? Well, this is one of the ways we do it and that is putting who over do. And let me explain it this way. I'm gonna ask you two very,
very, very important questions. The first question is this, number one, what is the biggest driving
force that shapes your habits? Think about it, of every
force in your life, what is the biggest driving
force that shapes your habits? You might say, my friends,
and that would be accurate that friends really do
influence what you do. You might say, my environment, which again is a major
contributor to your habits, you might say your goals,
again, very important, you might say the stress you
endure influence your habits. True, again, you might even argue that my predisposition
influences my habits and all those would be
important, but what's the biggest driving force
that shapes your habits? The answer is this, the
biggest driving force that shapes your habits
is what you think of you. Think about this, studies show that every time you face any situation, subconsciously you're asking
yourself three questions. Anytime you face a situation
in your mind playing in the background, very,
very quickly in an instant, your mind says, "Hmm, what
kind of situation is this? What kind of person am
I, and what is a person like me do in a situation like this?" Every time, what kind of person am I and what do I do in a situation like this? So what's the biggest driving
force that shapes your habits? The answer is what you think of you. In other words, you do what you do because of what you think of you. Second question, what's
the biggest driving force that shapes what you think of you? You might say, what other people
think of me or my job title or like what I have, my
house, my car, my income, my net worth, or how successful I feel. No, again, the biggest driving force that shapes what you think
of you is your habits. What you do determines
how you feel about you. And this is so important and this is why we talk
about who before do. If you want to change what
you do, change what you think about you, it's who before
do, so in order to create the right habits to get
the desired results, let's get to work. I'm gonna give you some application. This is your assignment. I wanna encourage you
to do it with your team and we're gonna create two
identity shaping statements. The first one we're gonna create is what I call an "I Am statement." And the second one is an "I Do statement." I am and I do, and I'm gonna walk you through this and I want
you to do this exercise. We're gonna start with
an "I Am statement." And in one sentence, what you're gonna do is you're gonna try to
answer the question, what kind of person do I wanna become or what kind of leader will I be? This is who before do and to help you process your answer, I'm gonna just talk about like two common leadership desires. When I work with people,
a lot of leaders say, "Hey, you know, I wanna
be more organized." Or some leaders say, "I want
to care more about my people." And so let's say that's
one of those is your goal. You're gonna write an "I Am statement" and using your hypothetical goal, you might say this, I am, what am I? I am an organized leader. Or your I am statement might be I am a leader who cares about people. Now, in your mind, you might
be saying, but I'm not. It doesn't matter. We're gonna
declare what we want to be. We're gonna put it in present tense, I am, I am an organized leader
and I wanna encourage you if you wanna be creative, be
creative with this statement. You can add some color to it. You might say, I'm an organized, productive, results producing leader. Whatever it is, make it your own. And the first thing,
what I want you to do is I want you to create
your "I Am statement," who before do, now we're gonna
create your "I Do statement." What is it that you do
based on who you wanna be? What is it that you do based
on the leader you wanna become? What's one habit that you need to create? Remember, the most
successful people create specific habits to get
the desired results. So what new habit will
reinforce who you wanna become? Now, if you're becoming
an organized leader, you might look at an organized
leader and look at some of their best habits and
pick one small habit. That's your assignment.
I am an organized leader. I do this one thing and you're adopting one new very specific
small habit and just one. So you might say, if
I'm an organized leader, I plan my day the night before. That's what organized leaders do. Or you might say, I
prioritize the top three items to do each day before the day starts. Whatever it is, you're gonna
create your "I Am statement" and your "I Do statement." Let's say your "I Am statement" is I am a leader who cares about people. So you're gonna ask, well, what do leaders who care about people do? And then you're gonna
make one "I Do statement." And you might say, gosh, okay, the people that I know that
really care about people, they listen way more than they talk. So your I do statement might be I ask three questions
before I say anything. So you have an interaction with someone and you're gonna ask them three questions because you're focusing
on caring about them. Or you might say, you
know, you want to express more gratitude to the people on your team. So you say, every day I write one note or send one text of gratitude. That might be your "I Do statement." Very simply, I am, my "I Am statement," and I do my "I Do statement." And what you might wanna
do is you might wanna like put it on a
screensaver on your computer or on the home screen on your phone, you might write it on lipstick
on your bathroom mirror or whatever, you may even consider posting on social media for accountability. Tag me and I will cheer you on. Why does this matter? James Clear says this
and I love this quote, out of all his amazing content, this is one of my favorite quotes. He says, "Every action you take is a vote toward the type of person
you wish to become. No single instance will
transform your beliefs but as the votes build up, so does the evidence
of your new identity." Let me say it again. He says, "Every action, every
little bitty I do thing, every little, little
action you take is a vote toward the type of
person you want to become and no single instant
transforms your whole beliefs, your identity, but as the votes build up so does the evidence
of your new identity." Now, if I seem a little bit passionate about this subject the reason is because I am very passionate
about this subject. And the reason is because in my leadership I always battled with imposter syndrome. I never, ever, especially
in the early years, like literally in the early decades, I never felt good enough,
especially for me, I never felt disciplined. In fact, growing up and in
my early years of leadership, I literally felt very, very lazy. I always wanted the easy way out. And so years ago I decided I want to be a disciplined leader. And so I created an "I
Am statement" years ago and here's my "I Am statement." It wasn't just I am disciplined, but my "I Am statement"
was this, I am disciplined. Christ in me is stronger
than the wrong desires in me. Because I happen to be a Christian, I tied this to my own
faith, spiritual beliefs and my "I Am statement"
was, I am disciplined. Christ in me is stronger
than the wrong desires in me. Then I created an "I Do
statement," and what I did is year over year, I started
adopting one new habit that reinforced my disciplined identity. And what I'm gonna do
is I'm gonna tell you several of the habits that I created but I did not create them at one time. It was one a year, year over year, over year, over year,
over year, over year, my new habits started
reinforcing my identity that I am disciplined. The first habit, if you've heard me teach for a while, you've heard
this, I started flossing and the reason I started flossing
is because I hate flossing and to the thrill of dental
hygienists across the world, I talk about the power of flossing and if I do this one little habit, it tells me, yes, I overcome, my desire is not to do the right things and I end up doing the right things. And so it's a keystone habit for me. One year I decided to read through the Bible from front to back and then year over year
I'd read through the Bible. One year I committed
to pray daily with Amy. One year back when I wasn't working out, I committed to at least
three workouts a week and now I generally do way more than that. One year I started planning my lunches and so every day I'd come to
work with my lunch planned. One year I started journaling. One year I did daily declarations. This year, small as it is,
I started drinking a gallon of water a day, one little discipline, vote after small vote, small
habits change my identity. And so bottom line is I'm not hoping to be a disciplined leader. My habits shouted out, I am an incredibly disciplined leader. I am disciplined, and I
would tell you now, I'm one of the most disciplined people
that you will ever meet. Not because it's natural,
because I chose it, because I intentionally
created specific small habits that made the desire that I
had true in my life today. And you can do this, new year, new chance. Let's go, question. Who
do you wanna become? What are you gonna do
about it? I am and I do. I've got an I am statement by faith, this is who I am becoming,
and this is what I do to build into my identity to become the
person that I wanna become. And you won't be perfect,
but I promise you, you will be making progress. And so the next time
that imposter syndrome tries to talk you down, just say, "I'm not listening to you.
Hey, look at my habits. My habits speak for themselves." You do what you do because
of what you think of you. If you wanna change what you
do, change what you think of you, how do you change
what you think of you? You do one small habit in the direction of the identity that
you want to establish. Who are you? I'll tell you who you are. You're absolutely and completely capable. You're gifted, you are talented. You have resources,
abilities, connections. You can influence others. You can lead toward results. You can create systems. You are smart, you are driven,
you are a people loving, culture creating,
difference making leader. So because of who you are,
determine what you're gonna do. Decide today to let go of what
you used to be and grab hold and become the leader
that you were meant to be. Let's do it. I am and I do. I'm not letting my body
dictate where I go. I'm choosing to become the
leader that I was created to be. I wanna remind you, get the leader guide because there's additional
content in there to help you grow in your leadership. If this content is helpful,
post about it, rate it, review it, and on your journey
to grow your leadership I wanna remind you that
I've got a brand new book coming out called "The Power to Change: Mastering the Habits That Matter Most." This releases on February the 14th and for our YouTube community, I wanna give you some opportunities to get some advanced content that can help you. In the book, what I do
is I do a deep dive into the psychology of habits
and the spiritual principles to help you experience lasting change. If you'd like an early copy,
comment in the comment section, "I want 'The Power to
Change,'" we'll choose one commenter and we'll
send you an early copy. If you'd like to have a
chance to win a free copy, just comment in the comment section, "I want 'The Power to Change.'" Also, I wanna tell you about
another resource I created. It's a four session video workshop that I wanna give you for free. When you pre-order a copy of the book, "The Power to Change," you get early access to this resource. It's kind of like a
personal coaching session. Just go to craiggroeschel.com, pre-order a copy of the book and then you can download
the video and get to work. Go to craiggroeschel.com,
pre-order a copy of the book, and then we will give you early access to a four session video workshop that will help you, I promise. I wanna remind you again
about the leader guide. Super, super important. Go to life.church/leadershippodcast, get the leader guide. I wanna tell you thank you for
rating this if it's helpful, reviewing the content
wherever you consume it, that gives us additional
exposure and shout it out on social media, invite
people to be a part. If I see you doing that, we may repost you and
I wanna just encourage it's a new year, let's go for it. Be the best leader you can be and grow in your
leadership because we know that everyone wins when
the leader gets better. (upbeat music)
