Who Before Do: Habits, Part 1

Successful People Do Consistently What Others Do Occasionally

Scripture References

• Romans 7
• Galatians 6:9
• Romans 6:6

Overview

Lasting change is not about big, once-a-year resolutions but about small, God-honoring habits practiced every day. Craig Groeschel shows how Jesus, Paul, and Daniel model lives built on consistent systems rather than occasional spurts of effort. When our identity is rooted in Christ, those daily disciplines flow naturally and accumulate into visible breakthrough over time.

Main Points

Habits Over Occasions

• “Successful people do consistently what other people do occasionally.”
• Jesus routinely withdrew to pray; Paul routinely went to the temple to witness—neither blamed busyness.
• Sean Covey: “Our habits will make or break us. We become what we repeatedly do.”

Why Good Intentions Collapse

1. We focus on the what, not the how

• Nearly everyone shares similar goals (health, financial freedom, good relationships), yet outcomes vary widely.
• James Clear, Atomic Habits: goals don’t determine success, systems do—“You don’t rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems.”

2. We don’t see progress fast enough

• Three treadmill sessions + weight gain leads to quitting; one month of skipping coffee only dents a huge loan.
• Wrong conclusion: small good decisions don’t matter, small bad decisions don’t hurt.
• Illustration: Water heating from room temp to 212 °F—heat is stored unseen until the boil; daily disciplines store spiritual heat until the tipping point.

3. Distorted identity sabotages success

• Failure becomes I am a failure (Paul: “What a miserable person I am!”).
• Moses, Gideon, and Paul each linked shortcomings to identity, limiting potential.
• Negative cycle: unhealthy identity → unwise habits → reinforced unhealthy identity.

Identity Shapes Actions

• Start with who goals before do goals.
  • Examples: “I am a godly dad,” “I am clean and sober,” “I am financially free,” “I am a bold witness.”
• When you know who you are, you know what to do.
  • Story: Craig and Pastor Robert cheered a parking-lot fistfight until remembering, “We’re Christian pastors”—identity corrected action.
• Positive cycle: healthy identity → positive habits → reinforced healthy identity.

Small Decisions Compound

• “It’s the things no one sees that bring results everyone wants.”
• Galatians 6:9 encouragement: keep sowing good seeds; harvest comes “at the proper time” if we don’t give up.

Personal Application Path

• Seek God for a single defining word for the year; Amy chose “Jesus,” prompting Craig to aim to reflect Christ.
• Form one small, consistent discipline that expresses the identity God gives you; systems follow identity, outcomes follow systems.

Key Truths

• Consistency, not intensity, produces lasting spiritual, relational, physical, and financial success.
• Systems outperform goals; habits are the invisible scaffolding of breakthrough.
• Small daily choices either store up strength or accumulate damage.
• Identity in Christ breaks the lie that past failures define future capacity.
• God calls us to “not become weary in doing good,” trusting Him for the harvest.

Response

• Ask God who He wants you to become this year; write the who before setting any do.
• Identify one small daily habit that aligns with that identity and begin today.
• Replace negative self-labels with Scripture-based truth about who you are in Christ.
• Persist when results seem invisible; trust that every obedient act is “raising the temperature.”
• Join a life group for mutual sharpening and accountability in new habits.

Closing

Craig urged the church to pursue transformation from the inside out: let Christ define you, then let daily disciplines express that new identity. Systems built on who you are in Jesus will carry you long after January passion fades.

“When you know who you are, you’ll know what to do.”

Prayer

Heavenly Father.
I surrender to you.
Jesus, be first.
The Savior.
And the Lord of my life.
Fill me with your Spirit.
So I can follow you.
So I can live for you.
My life is not mine.
I give it all to you.
Thank you for new life.
Now you have mine.
In Jesus’ name, I pray.