I recently was part of a small group affiliated with my church that read The Power to Change by Craig Groeschel, which was published earlier this year.

I had been intrigued by the title of the book because I am one of those people who keep trying to change their undesirable habits and traits but never seem to succeed. In fact, for a while I gave up on changing the off-putting parts of myself, giving the excuse, “I can’t remake myself. Why should I try? God loves me just the way I am and I accept myself for who I am.”

Those are lame excuses.

Craig Groeschel, a pastor from Oklahoma, writes in a very clear, down-to-earth way that makes his book actually fun to read. He often throws in a story about, for example, his adventures or misadventures at the gym, or a news account of a Kansas woman who sat on a toilet for two years. Groeschel avoids using fancy “SAT words” in his writing, opting instead for language most people can understand.

He gives the reader a ton of information and ideas, so for the rest of this post, I will focus on the points I took home.

Why do I do what I do? asks Groeschel. Because of who I am. If I want to get rid of a bad habit or start a new, good habit, I have to look at myself and my own personality and figure out why I do what I’ve been doing for a long time.

Changing requires discipline, which no one seems to like. However, according to Groeschel, I should look at it this way: Discipline is choosing what you want most over what you want now. For example, let’s say I want to get in shape by going to the gym every morning. However, when my alarm goes off at 5:00 am, I want to hit snooze and get some extra sleep. The extra sleep is what I want now. But what I want most is to get in shape. If I go to the gym and deny myself the extra sleep, I am practicing discipline.

To get rid of a bad habit, I have to remove the cues—the things that start me doing it. This was probably the most challenging part of the book for me. I am still figuring out how to remove certain cues that make me fall into a bad habit. I have a bad habit of yelling that I hate everyone when I am angry. (I do this as a substitute for cursing. I don’t curse. The habit is still bad, though.) But which cues do I remove? I cannot avoid anger in my life, just as nobody can.

I definitely would recommend this book, even to people who don’t think they have to change. It is helpful, yet very entertaining.

Would you care to share what you have been reading lately?