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- [00:03]
A
Welcome to It's a Good Life, the podcast for entrepreneurs where it's all about growing yourself and your business. Here's your host, founder of America's largest business coaching company, Brian Buffini.
- [00:17]
B
Well, the top of the morning to you and welcome to It's a Good Life. I'm your host, Brian Buffini, and today I've said it many times, we have a special guest for you, but this gentleman I've been reaching out to for a long time and I have no idea how we have never met because all of his good friends are good friends of mine and we seem to cross paths all the time. His name is Craig Groeschel. He is the founding and senior pastor of Life Church, New York Times bestselling author, host of a fabulous podcast called the Greg Groeschel Leadership Podcast, Frequent speaker and influencer with the Global Leadership Network, which is a phenomenal organization. If you haven't check that out, you should go on the website there. They've got a big event in August. They bring some of the most amazing leadership speakers together and you can watch it from your local community and attend in person as well. Absolutely fantastic and honored beyond all belief that at our leadership conference this year In San Diego, September 18th and 19th, Craig is actually going to be there speaking along with the fabulous line of presenters we have. So not only did I get him for today's podcast, but we got him for our leadership conference in San Diego. So I feel like, I feel like I made Eagle, Birdie, eagle. Starting out the masters. Craig, it's fantastic to meet you and so excited to have you on our show today.
- [01:36]
A
Brian, you're a legend. And man, I feel like you're my long lost friend that we finally meet and share in common love for things that are spiritual and real estate. And we both have six kids and mutual friends. Man, I can't wait to be at your conference and it's an honor to be on the Good Life podcast.
- [01:56]
B
Glad to have you. We are a very small fraternity. Not only do we have six kids, we have six kids that kind of like each other and have turned out to be pretty good. So it's. Praise God for that. I'm fired up about it. I'm holding this book, Power to Change, Mastering the Habits that Matter Most. And I know a lot about you, I know a lot about your organization and I hold it all in the highest regard. Done a fantastic job, just a fantastic job. And excited that it's part of your mission to share that information with other people. So let's kind of Go back to the start here with this. Tell me why you wrote the Power to Change. And then I want to go back a little bit to find out who you are and where you came from.
- [02:33]
A
Sure. Well, it's probably a little bit like your story that you started out with almost nothing and created a life that really matters and helps a lot of people. And so my story is not as dramatic as that by any means, but I recognized kind of early on that I had a lot of desires to do good things, and desire alone didn't get me very far. And after interacting with people like you and mutual friends that we have, that really impacted me. I started to see patterns in how people would make lasting change. And so I kind of went on a deep dive study of how do you create the right habits and the right systems in your life to bring about the desired outcomes? And I found a lot of information that was really helpful to me. And just like you, Brian, I wanted to share it with other people. And so I wrote the book the Power of Change, really to help the people that have a real desire for something different and better, but don't know how to get there. And this similar to what you do. You teach people all the time that if 10% of the people in real estate are actually making 90% of the money, you want to help those find their way into the 10%. And there's certain habits and mindsets that they have that others don't that create the outcomes that everyone wants. And so that's what I tried to write about in the Power of Change is how do we create the habits and the mindsets that bring about the right results that would honor God and create a lifestyle that is really significant.
- [04:05]
B
So how did Craig Groeschel end up as Craig Crochel? And maybe we can give people fill in a few blanks. For some folks.
- [04:11]
A
I had an interesting childhood, so I do a lot of things right now, but I'm primarily known for. And my love and passion is for the church. And so we actually grew up going to church. But oddly enough, we were really not committed in our faith at all. So I went to college on a.
- [04:29]
B
Where'd you grow up, by the way?
- [04:30]
A
So I grew up in all over Southern Texas. Houston, Texas, Beaumont, Texas. And then my dad was in retail and got transferred to Ardmore, Oklahoma. So if you can imagine going from Houston, Texas, to a town of 25,000 people, it was a culture shock. But I was an athlete and ended up going to college on a scholarship. And just in college, I Played tennis. I played different sports, but played tennis in college and just got into a real mess of bad decisions. And. And my sophomore year, I started seeking, you know, if there is a God, who is he and how can I get to know him? And my life was completely radically changed in putting my faith in Jesus. And so I was a business major at the time, Ryan, and didn't I felt called to ministry, but I never thought to change my major. I just was a business major. So I was this really unique. Had this mixture of a business mindset. I actually like you. I started in real estate. I bought my first home in 1987 when I was 19. And I ended up getting four rental units before I graduated from college. And I heard your story. I think your first home was what, $280,000, something like that? Mine. This will make you throw up. My first one was $14,900.
- [05:54]
B
Come on, Oklahoma.
- [05:55]
A
It's a different sport over here. And so I was a business major in real estate in college with a call to the church. And so I ended up getting hired on about the age of 23. But I had, oddly enough, I was rejected for ordination my first time through because they said I didn't have the normal pastoral skills. I had more of a business mindset. And I didn't know that was contrary to being a pastor. I kind of thought you could love people and shepherd them well, but do it with an organized plan. And so that's a little bit of my story was it was uniquely transformed spiritually, but with a business foundation. And so those things together, along with just great relationships and friendships, have helped create a little bit of a different story.
- [06:46]
B
Well, talk to us today about your church. It's very unique life. Church is a very unique deal. Talk to us a little bit about the size and scope, the staff, the whole thing, just so people understand. Cause a lot of people write books, Craig, and a lot of people write books on leadership and they don't lead anybody. I'm going to say the majority of people that I've met who have leadership books don't have anyone to lead. No affront. It doesn't mean their information's not good. It's just experience is just a different deal. And this will kind of give people a different framework. This easy go in Oklahoman here.
- [07:17]
A
Well, we started the church in a Little garage in 1996. We had 40 people, no staff, no budget, no anything. And then by the grace of God, early on, I hired some people that were members of the church with great business backgrounds. But a real spiritual mindset. And these early leaders came on and helped build something significant. So if you can imagine, it's pretty special. I've got three leaders who've been with me. The church is not yet 30 years old, and they've been with me for almost 28 of those 30 years. One guy was a district manager for Target when he came on. Another guy was an entrepreneur who'd built and sold two businesses when he came on. Another guy was a business guy working for a Christian bookstore when he came on. And they've been with me the whole time. So this story is all about amazing people, is all about the goodness of God. I'm the smallest part of the story. So when I tell you the results, it's not because of me. It's because of the people that God brought early on. But it's grown today to be in 45 different locations. There'll be. It's in 12 different states. We have a staff of over 1,000 people that help manage that. And our church started an app called the YouVersion Bible app. And to the glory of God, this year, that app will cross over sometime late in this year. It will be on over a billion devices. So that's a really special part of the story, is getting God's word out. If you can imagine. I was a kid in college, my life was changed by reading a free Bible given to me from the Gideons. And now here we are years later, giving the Bible out. So it involves a lot of people, a lot of amazing pastors. And it's just the story is bringing on the right people and empowering them to create the right culture that impacts a lot of lives.
- [09:11]
B
So you're leading a thousand people on any given Sunday, as they say, how many people are showing up?
- [09:16]
A
There would be in a physical location, it will average mid-90s, 92, 93, 94,000 people in a physical location on a weekend.
- [09:26]
B
Look, I love the humility. And as the apostle Paul said, all boasting is foolishness. But it also gives people a credibility understanding of who this guy is and the message you have to share. And it's how profound. Now, I'm a guy Irish immigrant who transformed his life. Again. The Lord got ahold of me when I was 19, changed me radically. And then along the way did I not only become a student of the Bible, but I became a student of personal growth in America. And little did I know that all of these characters, the great giants of personal growth and development, were all pastors. Right? Russell Conwell, who Wrote Acres of Diamonds. He was the first Craig Groeschel in America. He built Temple University. He built the largest church in America in Philadelphia. You know, Norman Vincent Peale, the power of positive thinking. And that's why people today on Instagram and all the social media, you know, there's all this advice coming out and a people don't give credit when there's anything right? There's nothing new under the sun. They refuse to give credit to where it came from, which diminishes it to me. It also diminishes its impact to the people. But folks, you have to know, and I believe this with my whole heart, the folks who've been there, done that, and have gone deep into the word of God have been able to extract the principles and then apply those principles to every day. So no matter what your faith tradition is, you're sitting here in the power to change. Here's a gentleman who leads a team of a thousand people in 45 locations. Little side project called YouVersion. And there's a billion apps gone down. It's amazing stuff, and it's a credit to you and your team. And what a miracle it's been to watch from afar. And now here, by the way, you're so organized and on top of it, you're able to carve out a little bit of time for the old real estate guy on his podcast and the leadership series as well.
- [11:06]
A
Hey, I'm excited to spend some time with a real estate guy. It's. I love what you do. I love the way you're helping people.
- [11:11]
B
Well, this is my copy. I mentioned all those great books. Here's another one, another faith book that was one of the greatest personal growth books ever written. As a man thinketh. This is my 1937 copy, the original hardback copy that came out. It was written before that, but it didn't become hard copy till 1937. Many of our audience would be familiar with James Allen. I've done podcasts on it. I've done shows on it. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Talk to us about where that principle got you.
- [11:39]
A
Well, it's interesting, the people that you mentioned, so many of those have shaped me. And some of the most influential books are 50, 60, 70 years old that have impacted me. And in that mindset, of course, that originally came from God's word. As a person thinks in his heart, so is he. One of the big challenges, the reason why oftentimes we don't change is one is we try to change by behavior Modification. And if we change a behavior without changing our heart, the behavior tends to come back. And so if you think about it, why do you do what you do? And the core answer is, you do what you do because of what you think of you. Meaning when you came here as an immigrant with nothing in 1986, whatever, and thought, okay, I can buy a house, I can add value, I can sell, I can network. The reason you were able to do that is because at some point, you started to have a positive view of yourself and have faith in the God who created you, knew what he was doing when he made you. And so if you don't like what you do, you need to change what you think of you. And so that's why I try to teach people a lot of times they always say, well, what do I need to do? We need to focus on who before do. Meaning, let's start with how do you see yourself? Who are you really? Who do you want to become? And then the actions come out of the identity. So we're going to start with the identity. And that's what matters so much, and that's why you're impacting so many lives, is because you know who you are. You're not trying to solve every problem. You're not trying to help everybody. You know what your unique gifts are. You know how to communicate those to the right people, the right audience. And it's who you are that makes what you do successful, not the opposite. It's not. It's not the do that makes the who. It's the who that makes the do.
- [13:39]
B
It seems like the world is screaming at us, especially in the marketplace, that who you are is what you do, and it's the opposite. Right? It actually debilitates, and people end up getting their identity tied up in that or the job they have or the riches they have. And again, that's been going on since the Garden of Eden. How did you go through the process? Because there's many folks who are faithful Christians, there's many people who are very earnest human beings who struggle with that authenticity and getting connected to how God's made them to be. How did you go through that process yourself, Craig? How did you become, let's say this, so comfortable in your own skin?
- [14:15]
A
Well, it's a really good question. I'd say for years I wasn't at all. And like, even early years in the church, I was completely transformed by Jesus, but I wasn't comfortable in who I was trying to be. And I would watch other people and how they'd preach or how they'd lead and I'd try to lead like them. It was really kind of funny, like I'm really not a very good, you know, imitation of somebody else. And over time, what I started to realize is that I believe fundamentally that God gives you what you need to do, what he calls you to do. If Scripture says he gives us everything good for life and godliness, that means that I have the unique experiences, the right gifts was planted in the right time of history to do what I was called to do. And to be honest, it was giving myself permission to be a different type of pastor. Like, literally, I was rejected for ordination because I wasn't built like the other ones. And so I thought, well, I need to be like the other ones. But I wasn't made to be like the other ones. And so it was saying, okay, even if I'm criticized for being different, if God made me different, then different's okay. And it wasn't easy. But after a while, I learned to really embrace the extremes. And here's what, like I tell parents all the time is wherever your kid is driving you crazy, that is the place of potential greatness, meaning if they, you know, if they just, if they're strong willed, yeah, it drives you crazy right now, but that might be. If that characteristic is redeemed, that could be the force that sets them apart. If they're stubborn, if they love having fun, if they're great with people. That success is born in the extremes. And so wherever you find you have something that is extreme, don't try to manage that out of you, push into it. I guarantee you, you did not become who you are, leading the biggest coaching entity in the world by being average. You didn't conform all of your gifts toward the middle. You took a few rare, random, unusual, odd gifts instead of pressing to those. And that's what I did, is I started giving myself permission to say, this is where I'm different, odd, extreme. And instead of apologizing for it, I'm going to step into it and embrace that. And that's when things started having an exponential impact.
- [16:40]
B
And like I say, people will put you in a box and tell you what you're not your whole life because it is different, because it is unique. And again, I share this with people all the time. Nobody on the face of the earth has the same set of fingerprints. Like, that's how specific the design is. And yet then we think the internal design is all the same or we fit into 10 boxes or whatever. I find it fascinating. I think it's a hard thing to get to. I think so many people are struggling with that and that authentic design that they've been given. One thing that is in your book that jumped out on me because everything I know about you is you're a pretty disciplined fellow. You get a lot done and you're pretty organized and you have good people around you, which is the same for myself. I'm very thankful for it. But you have a. There's something in the book when it said willpower doesn't create permanent change.
- [17:27]
A
Absolutely.
- [17:28]
B
And I would love you to share that because I believe, you know, you're saying, of course. I think the majority of people have been browbeat into. You're not in shape because you don't have willpower. You're not successful because you don't have willpower. You don't have a good marriage, your family, your business, your job because you don't have enough willpower. And you need to will it more. That's the world we're being tsunami'd with today.
- [17:48]
A
So I'm laughing right now because I have a very strict diet, very strict routine, exercise, mindset, prayer, time, devotion. A lot of people say you are the most disciplined person I've ever met. And the truth of the matter is, there's nothing further from the truth. I am prone to bad habits over and over and over again. And anytime I try to willpower my way to anything, I always fail. And I'm laughing because today somebody brought the most delicious looking cookies ever. And I don't eat cookies. I eat a very disciplined diet. I walked by them probably eight times and on the ninth time I cut a little piece. I mean, it's a big cookie, a little bitty piece, not much at all. And then I thought, well, I had one little piece, I might as well have another one. So I probably had 40% of a cookie and I haven't had a cookie in months. And the reason is because I walked by it nine times and my willpower waned. And so when I'm working with people, I try to tell them, you're not going to will your way to success. And the problem so often is we have the wrong mindset. Like you could work with people say, well, I'm trying to get leads or I'm trying not to lose my temper, or I'm trying to be a good dad, or I'm trying to be closer to God, or I'm trying to be better with my money. And I tell them, the problem is you've been trying for too long. That trying doesn't change anything. When you really want to make a difference, you stop trying and you start training. An entirely different mindset. If I'm trying to get into good shape, I might eat the cookie. If I'm training for a race, a marathon, I'm not going to eat the cookie because I'm training. And if you're trying, it gives you an excuse to give up because you might make it, you might not. When you're training, that's a wholehearted commitment toward a goal and everything changes. So I see myself. It's kind of weird, you know, I'm 57, I got grandkids, I'm not, you know, a 23 year old peak fitness athlete. But I genuinely see myself. If I'm going to honor God by leading this church and do all that I need to do, I need to be in peak condition for my age. I am in training for the work that God has called me to do. I'm not going to take my shirt off anywhere, not going to compete in any fitness contest ever. But I am going to eat and exercise and train my mind, my body, my soul, my spirit. Like I am in a competition. Because I am. What I'm doing matters eternally. It matters. And so I'm not trying to be close to God. I'm not trying to be a good leader. I'm in training. I'm training to be better. And so every day I'm doing something that works toward that goal and, and that's a big, big mind shift that I think if people can learn to think of it that way, it's going to change their approach. We're not hoping to get better, we're training to get better.
- [20:45]
B
Well, that's gold. Trying versus training. I think you just gave people a whole bunch of people who are going to listen to this over and over again a giant sigh of relief. Because we coach people for a living and we think for the most part the effort is never the problem. But it's the self sabotage. It's the, you know, whether it be the adversary, whether it be our own insecurities constantly beating ourselves up. And it's like, you need to try harder, try harder, try harder. And as you know, and we're both big fans of the Habit, Charles Duhigg I've seen show up in your writing. Charles has been all over our shows, he's been out all over our events. We've distributed tens of thousands of copies of his books. And I love your take on it. And Maybe you could wrap it around, because I have an interesting story on this as well. But the small habit of flossing, how it changed your life.
- [21:32]
A
Well, Duhigg, you know, he wrote the Power of Habit, and so he talks about the keystone habit in that it's a revolutionary idea. And you know this to be true, Brian, in your own life and in the people that you work with, that there are certain disciplines or habits in our life that if that habit is pretty present, it creates other positive, compounding good behaviors. And if that habit is absent, instead it leads to other bad habits or bad behaviors. And I joke around, but not entirely joking. I say my keystone habit is flossing. And the reason is because I don't like to floss. And here's what happens when I do floss. It kind of triggers something in me going, oh, I'm a disciplined person. If something's good for me, I don't want to do it. I do it. Therefore, I'm a disciplined person. So if I'm a disciplined person, I'm going to better eat right, I better go to bed on time. I'm going to get up early. I'm going to start the day off with God. I'm going to have my quiet time. I'm going to journal. I'm going to get to work early. I'll be the first one there. I'm going to be productive all day. I'm going to win at work. I'm going to come home early, charged with energy because I had a great day. My wife's going to love me, therefore we have six kids. Wife, because I floss. And that's a slight exaggeration, but not by much. If I don't floss. What it does is it tells me I'm not really a disciplined person. So instead of eating one bite of cookie, I'll probably eat the whole cookie. I might eat two cookies. And since I eat two cookies, I don't feel very good. I'm not going to work out today, and I might stay up too late watching Netflix. I might oversleep in the morning, so I don't have time for my Bible study. I get to work late. I don't feel very good. I'm not productive. On the way home, I'm driving too fast because I want to be late. I get pulled over by the police. I don't want to get a ticket, so I try to run, I get arrest, I get thrown in jail. And obviously that's a gross exaggeration. I'm not going to get Thrown into jail. But if I do not floss, it creates other negative, negative mindset that then compounds into negative. And so in every leader, in every person's life, there will be one or two or three things that when you're doing those, you're more dialed in, and you want to find out what those things are. You want to make sure that those things are there, because then it creates other habits. And I think it's the guy who wrote Atomic Habits, he said, you don't fall to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems, right? And so what I want to do, we've all got similar goals. We all want to be healthy. We want to be good, have good families. We want to honor God. We want to be successful in business. And so we've had the same goals, but we don't have the same systems. I want to create in my life and help other leaders create in their lives the proper systems that bring about the results that are honoring to God and make the biggest difference.
- [24:26]
B
Another powerful thing in the book is you say, if you focus on your win, you'll feel like you're losing, but if you focus on your habit, you can win every day. And that's just a great affirmation. Like, I think that takes the flossing then all the way into mindset and all the way into a sense of accomplishment. Because I think the hardest thing about success is when you're really winning, you don't feel like it.
- [24:48]
A
That's exactly right.
- [24:49]
B
You don't get presents, you don't get prizes. You know, you pay off your house. The bank makes it difficult. I mean, there's no accomplishments that. Just when you're doing the great stuff, as you well know, every day of every hour, raising your kids, you feel, like, I'm trying not to screw this up. And then one day, people say, your kids are amazing. Really? Your kids are amazing. Really? And after about 10 years of that, you go, well, maybe they are. You know, I just think many people are winning when they feel like losing. How can they focus on the habit and know that they're winning?
- [25:17]
A
Super good question, Brian. So let's, like, take the paint off the house example, because, you know, number one, it's hard to buy a house today in a lot of places. So that's one thing. The thought of paying it off for a lot of people, that sounds completely impossible. And that's a good example of a lot of different areas that whenever we do the right thing, it seems like the payoff is often in the distance. If you eat healthy today, doesn't change your body immediately. If you pray today, it doesn't make you a powerhouse for God immediately. But if you do the wrong thing, you get an immediate payoff. Like if you eat something that tastes good, it tastes good. If you give in to the temptation, that feels good in the moment, but it's bad for you. It feels good in the moment. And so there's a distance between doing what's right and the payoff. So what I try to tell myself and other people is that you don't win whenever you achieve the goal. For example, let's say it takes nine years to pay off your house. And that's a real goal. You're not the champion. When you write that final check, you're actually winning on the day when you made a decision not to go out and to eat, and you set aside $30 and you put it $30 extra toward principal on your house payment, that was a win. That means you were faithful on that day towards your ultimate goal. So you don't have to hit the goal to be moving toward the goal. I don't want to win once every nine years when I hit the goal. I want to have wins every single day. And so I tell myself I don't win in the big moments. I win when I'm faithful. And ultimately, that's what God wants to be is faithful. If we string enough faithful days together, then we're going to be winning nonstop. But I don't want to wait to celebrate. I want to say, hey, today was a day that I moved the ball forward. And so that is a day that I'm going to call a win.
- [27:09]
B
I'm sure you've had an awful lot of people come by your church, be amazed at everything they see. They want to have that outcome and yet may not know the price that has to be paid.
- [27:19]
A
No, and you know it. You did not build what you built overnight. That's one thing that they're going to look and go, wow, you were lucky. No, you weren't lucky. You took risks, you faced pain, you failed. You got up again. You talked yourself through insecurities.
- [27:37]
B
Last week, this morning.
- [27:39]
A
Right, this morning. And I always say it's the things that no one sees that bring the results that everyone wants.
- [27:49]
B
That's great.
- [27:50]
A
It's the things that no one sees. It's the risks, it's the faith, it's the personal failures. It's the overcoming of the insecurity. It's the really, really early mornings. It's the really, really late nights. It's the grind, it's the faithfulness. It's years and years and years and years and years and years and years. And then it's just not always exciting. I think a lot of people see success on social media and they could look at your life. They come to your conference in September, go man. Wouldn't it be amazing to be Brian? We do this big conference and they don't know all the effort it took to build the first 100 clients before the second thousand and that it's the years. Great leadership is often boring. It's doing the right things consistently over time. And not only is that not only okay, it's actually good. Meaning if you find yourself just doing the right thing over and over and over again and looking for the big win, that's dumb. You want to do the right things over and over again and get compounding small wins over time. And then you wake up like you a couple decades into it and you go, we actually have something special.
- [28:58]
B
Well, I'm feeling really good here because I'm just so aligned with every part of this. It's like we're brother's from a different mother. Although I'm the less successful brother, but I have my eyes on what I'm supposed to be doing. So I'm happy to be here.
- [29:11]
A
You are hitting the things that matter every single day.
- [29:13]
B
Well, I'm very comfortable in doing what I've been called to do and I'm appreciative of it. And I love that that's the quote of the day for me is if you do the things. What was that phrase again? You said when you do the things.
- [29:24]
A
It'S the things that no one sees to bring the results everyone wants.
- [29:27]
B
There it is. That's the quote of the day. Last but not least, if you could give one piece of advice to help our listeners level up their morning routine. Everybody's talking morning routine, but I'd love to know what your take on it is. What would that be?
- [29:43]
A
So it's interesting. I talked to a guy last week, you may even know him. He's friends with. We both are friends with Dave Ramsey. He introduced me to Rabbi Daniel Lapin or Lapin. And, and I asked him this. I was interviewing him, I said if I struggle with discipline, what would you say to me to help me become more disciplined? He said the first thing I'd do is I'd ask you about what time you get up in the morning. And it's interesting that it seems to me that there is a not always, but generally speaking, a direct correlation from when someone gets up and what they do when they get up to how successful they are in the areas that matter most. And so there's a lot of science and data behind it. But I would say, generally speaking, it's really, really hard to be very, very successful if you're lazy and sloppy in the morning. And that doesn't have anything to do with a personality type. Like, I'm a morning. I'm not a morning person, but I've trained myself to be a morning person because I value it. So I would say if you want to be in the top 1%, 5% of whatever you do, chances are the majority of those people are up earlier than the rest of them. And whatever early is to you, move it up 30 minutes. And then what you do early on sets the tone for the day. And I would say that. What should it look like? The answer is, I don't know. It depends on you. What do you want to accomplish? How do you need to think? For me, it's different. And I wouldn't like some people get up and they work out first thing. And there's a lot of science behind why that works. I don't. Because I'm most creative in the morning. And so I don't want to waste a moment of creativity on my body. I want to use my mind to create content when it's fresh. And so I work out at the end of the day. That's just what it means for me. For me, I want a shorter distance from getting out of bed to actually being in front of creating content. And so I plan my morning the night before. I've got all my food sitting out. I eat the same thing every day. I drink every day. So first thing I do is I drink a half a gallon of water. And then I eat two eggs, I eat chicken sausage, I eat oatmeal. I'm getting healthy carbs in the morning, and I eat berries. So I go real heavy in the morning. And then I get into work. I drink the second gallon of a second half gallon of water, and I do that early in the day. And then I snack on nuts. Then I have meals that are prepared for me brought in. So my team has them. They just warm them up, and that's usually, you know, protein and healthy carbs over and over again. And so it's all playing out. My clothes are laid out, my food sitting out, like, literally my spoon, my. Everything's set out because I want to get up I want to have my time with God. I want to do that and I want to get to the office for me, because that's what I'm most productive. That's not the right way. That's my way. And it's just strategic. And so if I were working with somebody, I'd say, what's most important to you? You want to design your energy around doing your highest value work. Some people are better in the afternoon, so that might mean you go for a walk in the morning or you spend time with your spouse in the morning or whatever, but you want to know when your energy is best. You want to know what your highest value tasks are and you want to match your energy toward your tasks and point everything toward it and then don't negotiate. Meaning I don't let anything. I don't take breakfast in the morning because I'm studying in the morning. I'll do a lunch or I'll do a dinner, I'll do something else, but I'm not doing a breakfast. So you just want to learn your rhythms and match your rhythms toward your desired outcomes.
- [33:24]
B
I have five little rapid fire questions. I fired. Everybody will go quick. It'll give people a little three dimensional view of the man himself. So number one, what's the single best piece of advice you've ever been given?
- [33:36]
A
Craig, Best piece of advice is you will overestimate what you can do in the short run. You'll vastly underestimate what you can do through a lifetime of faithfulness.
- [33:45]
B
Yes, sir. Who gave you that, by the way?
- [33:47]
A
That was a guy named Gary Walter who gave it to me. I actually think that that original quote came from one of the greats, one of the business greats now. But anyway, he gave me that advice and he said, you're going to be disappointed in your ministry early because you're going to want to reach more people. And I was. He was right. And I never in a million years imagined that we could be having the impact today. So very, very, very good advice. One day at a time.
- [34:16]
B
One day at a time. Good stuff. What one talent or gift do you wish you possessed that you currently don't?
- [34:22]
A
I wish I could sing.
- [34:24]
B
Yeah, it's a common one.
- [34:25]
A
I'm a joyful noise guy.
- [34:27]
B
Yeah, no, I get you barely. I'll bet you got some great worship and you're like, oh, I wish I could be out there rocking down.
- [34:32]
A
I wish I could sing.
- [34:33]
B
Okay, what book has been most instrumental in your life?
- [34:37]
A
Well, I'd have to say the Bible. You're gonna probably want something besides that.
- [34:41]
B
It's fine. If that's the case, then what character?
- [34:43]
A
100%. It brought me to faith in Christ. And we're giving away the Bible for free today. There is no book that.
- [34:49]
B
That's close to doing what that one character in it. Then you got to give me who's.
- [34:53]
A
The one that you go, I like Peter because he was erratic, good intentions, messed up, and then redeemed. And so I don't want to be like him, but I probably am.
- [35:07]
B
I don't know how you and I have never met before. These are all my answers. If there's one movie you watch over and over again, every time you're flicking through, you stop and you take a peek at it.
- [35:19]
A
Man, my wife hates it, but, oh, gladiator. I just. I'm all over it.
- [35:25]
B
I'm a gladiator guy. I do Shawshank. She has to walk out of the room, so.
- [35:29]
A
Yeah, that's a good one, too. And if you go way old school, back to my childhood, I like the final scene of the Karate Kid, which is just ridiculously embarrassing, but I just said it out loud, so great.
- [35:40]
B
All right, last but not least, what does the good life mean to Craig Groeschel?
- [35:45]
A
Man, I'll tell you what. Last week, my youngest daughter had emergency surgery for a 5 centimeter cyst on her ovary that ruptured. And it was a normal surgery. I didn't get to meet the physician that the surgeon that operated on her. And I thought if she lived in 1850, she would have died. If she'd been out in the middle of the field, she would have died. And there was a whole team of people that I did not get to thank that built the hospital, checked her into the hospital, gave her the anesthesia, the nurses that took care of her, the fed her. There was a whole team of people that helped keep my daughter alive. And I am indescribably thankful for that every single day. That we get to live in this time in history with the opportunities that we have, that we're healthy, with good people. The fact that my six children are serving Jesus today in their marriages, that is the good life. And we live in an unbelievable time, Brian. Unbelievable time that we have, that we can stay healthy, that we have opportunities to grow, that we can. That we can expand our lives. I mean, could you imagine a better time in history of the world to make a difference and be alive? It's just amazing. It's. There are a lot of pain, but anytime I look at the good in it, I become so thankful. I can't stand it. Today is a good day to be alive to serve God with great people. It's unbelievable.
- [37:16]
B
Well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. He's a very humble guy. So I'm going to say stuff that embarrasses him. The book is the Power to Change. It's fantastic. And you got a little glimpse of who and what's behind it today and it will change your habits and it'll change your thinking. Just like this interview has been so beneficial to me today, I'm sure it's been beneficial to you. I'm so fired up. We're going to have you at our.
- [37:41]
A
Leadership conference September 18th. Let's go.
- [37:43]
B
We are going to treat you well and it'll be a great experience. I'll see you in August before that. And I just want to say this. You know, when Russell Conwell was doing his day to day, nobody knew he was going to be Russell Conwell. When Norman Vincent Peale was just doing his day, day to day up the road here la, no one knew he was Norman Vincent Peale. And Greg Groeschel is doing nothing else. Trying to serve his God, serve his family, and serve his church and his community and now serve the culture. I just want to thank you for what you do. You're an absolute blessing and your message, your heart, your discipline, your fire, for it is really transformational. Just keep on keeping on. My brother. You're doing a great job and it's inspirational for me and many, many people who are looking on. We all got a little better today by listening to you and the path that you're walking. And I'm thankful for you. And I think just like your best days are yet to come and I'm excited to see it for you too.
- [38:36]
A
Thank you. And thank you for using your gifts to help so many people. And genuinely, five of my closest friends say you're one of the best people they know. And so it's an honor to develop a friendship with you and I look forward to more of it.
- [38:48]
B
Likewise. Well, Craig, a few weeks ago my mom passed away and my mom, my little Irish 94 year old mother has ended this podcast for eight years. Millions and millions of people who've downloaded this show have always heard her little Irish blessing. Just recently I did a podcast called Lessons from My Mother. And for the very last time we played her Irish Blessing. So now they got to put up with me doing it. But in honor of my mom and her dad, Harry Moran. I'm going to say it as I do on every show. May the roads rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the rain fall soft upon your fields and the sunshine warm upon your face. And until we meet again, may God hold you all in the hollow of his hand. We'll see you next time.
- [39:40]
A
Sam.