A 30-Day Guide to Break and Make New Habits
Mark Batterson is the lead pastor of National Community Church (NCC) in Washington, DC, and the New York Times bestselling author of 22 books, including "Do It for a Day: How to Make or Break Any Habit in 30 Days", "Win the Day," the "Win the Day Journal" and "The Blessing of You," a children's picture book which he co-wrote with his daughter, Summer Batterson Dailey.
Mark and his wife, Lora, have three children and live on Capitol Hill. Visit markbatterson.com for more information.
DOMINO HABITS
Pastor Mark Batterson says that our lives are built on our patterns of behavior. “Destiny is not a mystery. Destiny is daily habits,” he admits.
While studying this subject, Batterson came across research from physicist Lorne Whitehead who took a scientific interest in the chain reactions of dominos. Whitehead soon discovered that one domino is capable of knocking over another one that is one and half times its size. Batterson explains, “A two-inch domino can topple a three-inch domino… by the time you get to the eighteenth domino could knock over the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Similarly, the habits we establish have the same effect on our lives. "Almost anyone can accomplish anything if they work at it long enough, hard enough, and smart enough. That is our working theory over the next thirty days, and the key is domino habits---little habits that have an exponential effect over time,” says Batterson.
CHANGE YOUR HABITS/CHANGE YOUR DESTINY
Pastor Mark Batterson says it's time we learn to deconstruct and construct some new habits. Mark shares, “If you do little things like they are big things, God has a way of doing big things like they are little things.” Zech 4:10, do not despise the day of small beginnings. Batterson encourages us to dream big but start small. When it comes to changing habits—getting rid of bad ones and starting new ones—it happens one step at a time. First, let’s focus on habits we should have.
Batterson says that the Sermon on the Mount, given by Jesus, outlines the kind of habits we should emulate:
1. Love your enemies
2. Pray for those who persecute you
3. Bless those who curse you
4. Turn the other cheek
5. Go the extra mile
6. And give the shirt off your back
In addition, Batterson gives us three key ingredients for exchanging bad habits for good ones:
• Make it measurable: Dreaming about doing something good doesn't happen without action. You have to take steps to make it happen.
• Make it meaningful: Mark grew up with asthma. When he was healed, he decided to do something he couldn’t do before, like running a marathon. But that didn’t happen overnight. It took lots of training, one day at a time.
• Make it maintainable: You have to set goals and give yourself timelines and deadlines.
