Mark Batterson: A New Year With New Possibilities
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It's Live in the Bream with host of Fox News at Night, Shannon Bream. This week on Live in the Bream, I think this is going to be an interview and a book and a conversation that you're going to love going into 2022. And who is not ready for a new year?

Joining us today, one of our favorite guests is back, Mark Batterson. He is the lead pastor of National Community Church in DC. He's got a doctor of ministry from Regent University. He is a New York Times bestseller, 21 books. You know many of them and they're all over our house. The Circle Maker, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, Play the Man. Over and over, he's got fantastic books that will inspire and challenge you. He and his wife, Laura, have three children.

and they are very plugged into the Washington DC community where they are serving and making things happen. Mark, welcome back. Hey, thank you, Shannon. It's great to be back and just excited about a new year and new opportunities in front of us. Absolutely. And this book is Do It For A Day, How To Make Or Break Any Habit In 30 Days. I love this. This is a

theme that you've written about. You're expanding on it here in this book. And I'm one of those people who loves the new year for something clicks for me in January 1st. So all of the nonsense and all of the brownies and all of the, you know, living by the seat of my pants that I'm doing right now, I just feel this reset January 1st. And so I love this book. It is a great way to just sort of get your act together. I love it. And yeah, the new year kind of functions like the

the softer reset on your phone, right? It's an opportunity to kind of, Hey, let's deconstruct, reconstruct, uh,

a morning routine, daily habits. And so this is the season to do it. I think, you know, a lot of us, you know, have made those new year's resolutions and the reality, most, most of them fail within the first month. And so I really believe more than a new year's resolution, you just have to practice daily habits. You have to pick a habit, any habit, make it meaningful, measurable, maintainable, and then we're off to the races. Yeah.

Okay. So first things first, should you focus on one habit at a time? Because sometimes I do this thing some years where I'm like, this year I'm going to be speaking Spanish fluently.

I am going to get all my fitness goals done. I am going to organize my bookshelves. I'm going to clean out the attic. Like, do you just pick one at a time? What's the best strategy? Well, you know, a lot of that does depend on personality and how much time you have on your hands, right? But I do think it helps to focus on one. The good news is...

When I am cultivating physical habits, in my experience, that helps specifically

spiritual habits or if I'm cultivating relational habits, that's going to help my emotional habits. So they are interrelated and being disciplined in one area of your life, I think tends to have a positive impact on another part of your life. And so I do think you want to start with one and get a little bit of momentum, take it one day at a time. That's kind of the whole point of

do it for a day. And then you're onto that next one. And so you got to figure out if you try to accomplish too much, the chances go down. And so I would recommend focusing on that one habit that you want to kickstart here at the beginning of the year.

Yeah, I do think when you have these successes or you see yourself able to stick with something, it does build that confidence and the belief in yourself that you have the discipline or the self-control or the perseverance to stick with something. It really is helpful to have those early successes, even if they're tiny.

Yeah, absolutely. You kind of have to take whatever goal it is and reverse engineer it. And so, you know, maybe this year it's running a marathon or biking a century. Those are a couple of the challenges that I've gone after the last few years. You know, what you have to do is you have to reverse engineer them into something.

you know, a running plan or a biking plan. And then you begin to do it one day at a time. And there's this compound interest that happens and it begins to pay those dividends. And now you have a little bit more confidence and you're gaining a little bit of momentum and it just carries over in every part of your life.

So let's talk through some of this because this is in a 30-day grid, which is great because you can sort of tackle one thing at a time, have a bit of a lesson and a plan for the day. And let's just start with the very first one, wade into the water. Where do we start? Yeah, I think faith is taking the first step because...

before God reveals the second step, you know, everything starts with that, that little two inch domino. And, and I write a little bit about that at the beginning of the book that there's this fun law of physics, Shannon, that, you know, a domino is capable of knocking over a domino that's one and a half times its size. And so a two inch domino can knock over a three inch domino, three inch

can knock over a four and a half inch. And so by the time you get to the 18th domino, you can knock over the leaning tower of Pisa. By the time you get to the 23rd, you can knock over the Washington monument. It's this idea of, of,

little habits that are going to have this big impact over time. And the way I like to think of it is if you do little things like they're big things, in my experience, God has a way of doing big things that like they're little things. And so wading into the water is making that counseling appointment. It's registering for that class. It's signing up

for that trip, whatever it is, it's taking the first step. It's getting your feet wet. And so often like that's, that's the hardest part. You know, it's, it's actually making the appointment with the dentist, you know, that, you know, you need to make this overdue. That's the hard part. And so wading into the water is taking that first step.

You just reminded me I am overdue. Now, to be fair, they canceled me last week because they were short on hygienists. So, but you did remind me. So I got to put that back down. Now I have to ask you, cause some of these chapter titles are very funny or odd. I'm not even sure where you're going with this, but day four, lick the,

the honey. What in the world? Yeah, this one, yes, this requires explanation. I'll give the quick, quick context. You've got to practice habit stacking and habit switching. And I won't deep dive those. I talk about them in the book, but very interesting. If you grew up in Judaism, you would go to...

Bet Sefer, which is the name of the first school that you would attend. And you would actually memorize the entire Torah, which is unbelievable before the age of 10. But the very first lesson, Shannon, was the rabbi covering the slate of

with honey. And then the students would recite this verse that your words are sweeter than honey. And it created this positive association between the word of God and their taste buds.

And so I write a little bit about how, you know, habit formation is hard enough as it is. You've got to find some ways to have it stack and have it switch that create a positive association. And so one way to do that is you couple something that you love to do with something that's a little bit

harder to do. You know, maybe it's your favorite TV show, but you only watch it while you're on the Peloton or stationary bike. You know, it's that idea. Oh, I like that. So for you, has there been, because, you know, we look at you and I do see you're successful. You do have all these, you're an athlete, so you do have all of these physical achievements, you know, the books that you've written, the success of the church and its growth.

So where has there been a time for you where there's been a struggle to kind of get in gear on something? Or have you always had it together, Mark Batterson? Oh, Shannon, come on. We all ride the same roller coaster, I think. Now, I do have some some inner drive, I think, playing sports through college years.

gives you a certain drive. And I'm a type three on the Enneagram, but that's meaningful to people who have done that particular kind of personality assessment, which means I tend to be an achiever. I love going after goals. So there is this inner drive, but like everybody else,

I find that so often I need to hit the pause button and I need to just kind of deconstruct, reconstruct,

Some of my rituals, some of my routines. You know, one of the things I try to do every year is I try to read the Bible cover to cover. And the way I do that is with the Bible reading plan, but I choose a different translation because it makes my synapses fire in a slightly different way. Great idea. And yeah, so I just find a way to kind of,

it motivates me. It sort of hits the reset for me. And then I always try to have a physical challenge that I'm going after. I know you're a runner. In fact, do you have anything scheduled this next year? Is there any big race that you're training for Shannon? No, I just, I have to, I'm trying to train my dog to run with me without sniffing and running away everywhere because listen, she needs to burn the energy and I do too. So I'm like, let's get it together. So far, biscuit Bream is Kiermaier.

and jumping around and seeing people than she is a runner. So that's my fault as the dog mom. So the goal for the next year is to get her to be a more disciplined doggy runner with me. I love it, Shannon. You know, day 27 of Do It For Day is it takes a team. And I was thinking about people.

But I guess we can even employ our dogs, right? Yes, I need her help. I love it. Yeah, well, I, you know, when I started taking her running, I would go a mile or two and we'd be out. And because, listen, she can run around the house like a crazy dog bouncing off the walls. And I mean, needs to be entertained constantly. We're about two miles in and she looks at me like, when is this over? Like I'm counting on her kind of dragging me along. And now I realize I'm pulling her and she's sniffing. And I'm like, no, no, we got a couple of miles to go. Let's go. I love it. So we're working on it.

Hey, can we have a little bit of fun here? Because I can tell we both really love dogs. And I bet there are a few other people listening that love dogs. So we have a one-year-old cockapoo who's the cutest. She has me wrapped around her paw. It's ridiculous. But we've actually been working with a trainer. And day one, Shannon, it was hilarious. It dawned on us.

This trainer is not here to train the dog. The trainer is here to train me. Amen.

Exactly. Busted. Oh, man. So, you know, habit formation even has to do with dog walking and training and everything else. And you can see the consistency with them with, you know, reward and risk. And, you know, they're wanting to gain your approval and get it right. And so, I mean, in so many ways, I joke about it, but I say I'm going to write a book someday about how, you know, God must view me the way that I view Biscuit. Right.

or my dog. You know what I mean? Like you're always trying to point her in the right direction. Like, listen, I'm not taking you away from this awesome, fun thing that you want to roll in this mud puddle and jump in the woods where I know that there are snakes out there or whatever it is that I'm trying to keep her away from her. Don't let her run into the traffic. And I think, oh my goodness, I'm always loving her and trying to get her on the right track. And I'm sure that God looks at me sometimes like,

There's a reason I'm pulling you here and not there. Just trust me. And, you know, there will be eternal rewards in it. So, yes, I think our dogs sometimes really bring it down to the nitty gritty for us. I love it. This went much further than I anticipated. But our trainer did say that that old cliche, you can't teach an old dog new tricks is actually not true. Believe it or not, you can. There is hope for us.

We'll have more live in the bream in a moment. The Fox News Rundown, a contrast of perspectives you won't hear anywhere else. Your daily dose of news twice a day. Featuring insight from top newsmakers, reporters, and Fox News contributors. Listen and subscribe now by going to foxnewspodcast.com. So that gets us back to this whole idea that we're talking about, which is with Mark Batterson, do it for a day, how to make or break any habit in 30 days. And the fact that there's so much...

concrete information here. One day at a time, he talks you through, gives you something to look forward to today to help you plan your day, to get ahead of things. But Mark, we want to talk about what happens when you get off track because we all do. Sometimes you miss a day, you get distracted. You don't have the discipline and the willpower you wanted to have that day. How do we regroup? Well, that that's the, that's the challenge right there that too often we,

We let a single mistake become something that gets compounded over time. And the hardest person to forgive is yourself. And so you really have to find a way to, and this isn't, it's not a Jedi mind trick, but there is a little bit of reframing that happens here.

You have to give yourself some grace, but then you've got to start that winning streak all over again. And so, you know, you whatever habit you're trying to make or break, you do it for a day. Then you get up the next day, you rinse and repeat and you do it two days in a row. That's called a winning streak.

Now, if you mess up two days in a row, it's called a losing streak. So really the goal with the 30 days is just to give us a running start. And I better better disclaimer right here, Shannon, that, you know, I say make or break any habit in 30 days. The reality is this experts say that it it's anywhere from 21 to 254 days. And it depends on your person. Yes, yes.

Yes. I'm signing up for the 21. Okay. Yes. And, and, but here's the thing, Shannon, it depends on your personality, your history and the goal that you're trying to make or break. You know, some of those habits that maybe are bad habits that, that have been there for years, that might take a little bit longer to, to break. And some habits take a little bit longer to establish, but my experience is,

You can flip the script in 40 days and be headed in a very different direction if you pick the right habit and put it into practice. I know for you and for me, the idea of trying to tackle something that is what we would call a stronghold or something that's a frustration in our life that we need to clean up and get rid of. There's definitely the faith component. Can that apply to other things too in life when you need a little help getting in the right direction? Yeah.

It really can. I think faith is a little bit of an X factor. And so, and I want to just maybe make an observation here, Shannon, that, you know, spiritual formation is habit formation and habit formation is spiritual formation. And this is me putting on my pastor hat a little bit. But when I look at the Sermon on the Mount, I see six things.

is what I would call them. Six times, Jesus says, you have heard that it was said, but I tell you. So he's kind of flipping the script or he's reconditioning reflexes. And more specifically, he says, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, bless those who curse you, turn the other cheek, go the extra mile and give the shirt off of your back. It's this idea that

You can't just not do what's wrong. Goodness is not the absence of badness. You can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right. And so the idea is how do we put these counter habits into practice in a way that help us break some of those bad habits? I want to ask you about day 28 also prophesy your praise. What does that mean and how does it help?

Well, I think sometimes it's very easy to just find yourself in a place of gratitude because life is good.

But the truth is, over the last couple of years, I think it's been harder. And sometimes you have to give what I would call the sacrifice of praise. But in my experience, whatever you don't turn into praise turns into pride or it turns into pain. And so when I say prophesy your praise, it really is this idea that you celebrate what you want to see more of.

There's this idea in leadership called appreciative inquiry, and it's identifying what's working and let's do more of that. And so as it relates to spirituality, I

I think prophesying your praise is don't let what's wrong with you. Keep you from worshiping what's right with God. And you begin to prophesy that praise because one way or the other, we are in large part self-fulfilling prophecies, you know, whether for better or for worse. And so I just am a big believer. You've got to prophesy your praise. You got to keep your focus in the right place and,

And that's not just, you know, I'm kind of wondering right now what's going through people's minds. What does that mean? Well, one simple way to do that, Shannon, is to keep a gratitude journal. That would be a pretty good practice because it keeps you focused on things that you're grateful for. And joy is not getting what you want.

It's appreciating what you have. And so that's a great example of how you can begin to shift your focus and prophesy your praise. I love that concept. So it's...

It is called Do It For A Day, the new book from New York Times bestselling author Mark Batterson. It's how to make or break any habit in 30 days. We thought it was the perfect way to get ready to close out 2021. Everybody's ready to get into 2022. Although we've learned from last year, you don't get your hopes up.

Just be ready for the next challenge that's right in front of you. And this book will certainly give you step-by-step, one day at a time, the ways to do that. Whatever you want to improve or get out of your life, this is a huge help. And it's a really interesting read and a lot of fun along the way. Mark Patterson, thank you for visiting with us on Live in the Bream. And Happy New Year. Hey, Happy New Year, Shannon. Thanks so much. Blessings.

from the Fox News Podcast Network. Hey there, it's me, Kennedy. Make sure to check out my podcast, Kennedy Saves the World. It is five days a week, every week. Download and listen at foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.