make your bed everyday speech

Admiral McRaven “Make Your Bed” Commencement Speech Transcript

Admiral William H. McRaven gave a commencement speech at the University of Texas often referred to as the “Make Your Bed” speech. It’s considered one of the best and more inspirational commencement speeches. Read the full transcript of McRaven’s May 19, 2014 speech right here at Rev.com.

Admiral McRaven: ( 00:00 ) Thank you very much, thank you. Well, thank you president Powers, Provost Fenves, deans, members of the faculty, family and friends, and most importantly, the class of 2014, it is indeed an honor for me to be here tonight. It’s been almost 37 years to the day that I graduated from UT. I remember a lot of things about that day. I remember I had a throbbing headache from a party the night before. I remember I had a serious girlfriend who I later married. That’s important to remember by the way. And I remember I was getting commissioned in the Navy that day, but of all the things I remember, I don’t have a clue who the commencement speaker was and I certainly don’t remember anything they said.

Admiral McRaven: ( 00:59 ) So acknowledging that fact, if I can’t make this commencement speech memorable, I’ll at least try to make it short. So the university slogan is, what starts here changes the world. Well, I’ve got to admit, I kind of like it. What starts here changes the world. Tonight there are almost 8,000 students or there are more than 8,000 students graduated from UT. So that great Paragon of analytical rigor ask.com says that the average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime. 10,000 people, that’s a lot of folks. But if every one of you change the lives of just 10 people and each one of those people change the lives of another 10 people and another 10 then in five generations, 125 years, the class of 2014 will have changed the lives of 800 million people, 800 million people.

Admiral McRaven: ( 01:59 ) Think about it, over twice the population of United States go one more generation and you can change the entire population of the world. 8 billion people. If you think it’s hard to change the lives of 10 people change their lives forever, you’re wrong. I saw it happen every day in Iraq and Afghanistan. A young army officer makes a decision to go left instead of right down a road in Baghdad and the 10 soldiers with him are saved from a close in ambush. In Kandahar province, Afghanistan, a noncommissioned officer from the female engagement team senses that something isn’t right and directs the infantry platoon away from a 500 pound IED saving the lives of a dozen soldiers. But if you think about it, not only were those soldiers saved by the decisions of one person, but their children were saved and their children’s children, generations were saved by one decision, one person.

Admiral McRaven: ( 02:59 ) But changing the world can happen anywhere and anyone can do it. So what starts here can indeed change the world. But the question is, what will the world look like after you change it? Well, I’m confident that it will look much, much better. But if you’ll humor this old sailor for just a moment, I have a few suggestions that might help you on your way to a better world. And while these lessons were learned during my time in the military, I can assure you that it matters not whether you’ve ever served a day in uniform, it matters not your gender, your ethnic or religious background, your orientation or your social status. Our struggles in this world are similar and the lessons to overcome those struggles and to move forward, changing ourselves and changing the world around us will apply equally to all. I’ve been a Navy SEAL for 36 years, but it all began when I left UT for basic SEAL training in Coronado, California.

Admiral McRaven: ( 03:53 ) Basic SEAL training is six months, a long torturous runs in the soft sand, midnight swims in the cold water off San Diego, obstacle courses, unending calisthenics, days without sleep and always being cold, wet and miserable. It is six months of being constantly harassed by professionally trained warriors who seek to find the weak of mind and body and eliminate them from ever becoming a Navy SEAL. But the training also seeks to find those students who can lead in an environment of constant stress, chaos, failure and hardships. To me, basic SEAL training was a lifetime of challenges crammed into six months. So here are the 10 lessons I learned from basic SEAL training that hopefully will be a value to you as you move forward in life.

Admiral McRaven: ( 04:44 ) Every morning in SEAL training, my instructors who were at the time were all Vietnam veterans, would show up in my barracks room and the first thing they do is inspect my bed. If I did it right, the corners would be square, the covers would be pulled tight, the pillow centered just under the headboard and the extra blanket folded neatly at the foot of the rack. It was a simple task, mundane at best, but every morning we were required to make our bed to perfection.

Admiral McRaven: ( 05:13 ) It seemed a little ridiculous at the time, particularly in light of the fact that we were aspiring to be real warriors, tough battle-hardened SEALs. But the wisdom of this simple act has been proven to me many times over. If you made your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. And by the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that the little things in life matter.

Admiral McRaven: ( 05:51 ) If you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never be able to do the big things right. And if by chance have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made, that you made. And a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better. So if you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. During SEAL training the students, during training the students are all broken down in a boat crews. Each crew is seven students, three on each side of a small rubber boat and one cox and to help guide the dinging. Every day your boat crew forms up on the beach and is instructed to get through the surf zone and paddle several miles down the coast. In the winter, the surf off San Diego can get to be 8 to 10 feet high and it is exceedingly difficult to paddle through the plunging surf unless everyone digs in.

Admiral McRaven: ( 06:45 ) Every paddle must be synchronized to the stroke count of the coxswain. Everyone must exert equal effort or the boat will turn against the wave and be unceremoniously dumped back on the beach. For the boat to make it to its destination, everyone must paddle. You can’t change the world alone you will need some help and to truly get from your starting point to your destination takes friends, colleagues, the Goodwill of strangers and a strong coxswain to guide you. If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle. Over a few weeks of difficult training, my SEAL class which started with 150 men was down to just 42. There were now six boat crews of seven men each. I was in the boat with the tall guys, but the best boat crew we had was made up with little guys, the munchkin crew, we called them. No one was over five foot five.

Admiral McRaven: ( 07:42 ) The munchkin boat crew had one American Indian, one African American, one Polish American, one Greek American, one Italian American, and two tough kids from the Midwest. They out paddled outran and out swam all the other boat crews. The big men in the other boat crews would always make good natured fun of the tiny little flippers the munchkins put on their tiny little feet prior to every swim, but somehow these little guys from every corner of the nation in the world always had the last laugh sewing faster than everyone and reaching the shore long before the rest of us. SEAL training was a great equalizer. Nothing mattered but your will to succeed. Not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education, not your social status. If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not by the size of their flippers.

Admiral McRaven: ( 08:38 ) Several times a week the instructors would line up the class and do a uniform inspection. It was exceptionally thorough. Your hat had to be perfectly starched, your uniform, immaculately pressed, your belt buckle, shiny and void of any smudges, but it seemed that no matter how much effort you’re put into starching your hat or pressing your uniform or polishing your belt buckle and it just wasn’t good enough. The instructors would find something wrong. For failing uniform inspection, the student had to run fully clothed into the surf zone, then wet from head to toe, roll around on the beach until every part of your body was covered with sand, the effect was known as a sugar cookie.

Admiral McRaven: ( 09:22 ) You stayed in the uniform the rest of the day, cold, wet, and Sandy. There were many of student who just couldn’t accept the fact that all their efforts were in vain. That no matter how hard they tried to get the uniform right, it went on appreciated. Those students didn’t make it through training. Those students didn’t understand the purpose of the drill. You were never going to succeed. You were never going to have a perfect uniform. The instructors weren’t going to allow it. Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform, you still end up as a sugar cookie. It’s just the way life is sometimes. If you want to change the world, get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward. Every day during training, you were challenged with multiple physical events, long runs, long swims, obstacle courses, hours of calisthenics, something designed to test your metal.

Admiral McRaven: ( 10:15 ) Every event had standards times you had to meet. If you fail to meet those times, those standards, your name was posted on a list and at the end of the day those on the list were invited to a circus. A circus was two hours of additional calisthenics designed to wear you down to break your spirit, to force you to quit. No one wanted a circus. A circus met that for that day. You didn’t measure up. A circus meant more fatigue and more fatigue meant that the following day would be more difficult and more surfaces were likely, but at sometime during SEAL training, everyone, everyone made the circus list. But an interesting thing happened to those who were constantly on the list. Over time those students who did two hours of extras, calisthenics got stronger and stronger. The pain of the circuses built inner strength and physical resiliency. Life is filled with circuses.

Admiral McRaven: ( 11:15 ) You will fail. You will likely fail often it will be painful. It will be discouraging. At times it will test you to your very core, but if you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the circuses. At least twice a week the trainees were required to run the obstacle course. The obstacle course contained 25 obstacles including a 10 foot wall, a 30 foot cargo net, a barbwire crawl to name a few, but the most challenging obstacle was the slide for life. It had a three level 30 foot tower at one end and a one-level tower at the other. In between was a 200 foot long rope. You had to climb the three tiered tower and once at the top you grabbed the rope, swung underneath the rope and pulled yourself hand over hand until you got to the other end. The record for the obstacle course had stood for years when my class began in 1977.

Admiral McRaven: ( 12:10 ) The record seemed unbeatable until one day a student decided to go down the slide for life head first. Instead of swinging his body underneath the rope and inching his way down, he bravely mounted the top of the rope and thrust himself forward. It was a dangerous move, seemingly foolish and fraught with risk. Failure could be an injury and being dropped from the course. Without hesitation, the students slid down the rope perilously fast instead of several minutes it only took him half that time and by the end of the course he had broken the record. If you want to change the world, sometimes you have to slide down the obstacles head first.

Admiral McRaven: ( 12:52 ) During the land warfare phase of training, the students are flown out to San Clemente Island, which lies off the coast of San Diego. The waters of San Clemente are a breeding ground for the great white sharks. To pass SEAL training there are a series of long swims that must be completed. One is the night swim. Before the swim the instructors joyfully brief the students on all the species of sharks that inhabit the waters of San Clemente. They assure you, however, that no student has ever been eaten by a shark, at least not that they can remember. But you are also taught that if a shark begins to circle your position, stand your ground, do not swim away, do not act afraid. And if the shark hungry for a midnight snack, darts towards you, then summons up all your strength and punch him in the snout and he will turn and swim away. There are a lot of sharks in the world. If you hope to complete the swim, you will have to deal with them. So if you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks.

Admiral McRaven: ( 14:02 ) As Navy SEALs, one of our jobs is to conduct underwater attacks against enemies shipping. We practiced this technique extensively during training. The ship attack mission is where a pair of SEAL divers is dropped off outside an enemy Harbor and then swims well over two miles underwater using nothing but a DEF gauge and a compass to get to the target. During the entire swim even well below the surface, there is some light that comes through. It is comforting to know that there is open water above you, but as you approach the ship, which is tied to appear, the light begins to fade. The steel structure of the ship blocks the Moonlight. It blocks the surrounding streetlamps. It blocks all ambient light. To be successful in your mission, you have to swim under the ship and find the keel, the center line, and the deepest part of the ship.

Admiral McRaven: ( 14:56 ) This is your objective, but the keel is also the darkest part of the ship where you cannot see your hand in front of your face or the noise from the ship’s machinery is deafening and where it gets to be easily disoriented and you can fail. Every SEAL knows that under the keel at that darkest moment of the mission is a time when you need to be calm, when you must be calm, where you must be composed. When all your tactical skills, your physical power, and your inner strength must be brought to bear. If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moments.

Admiral McRaven: ( 15:38 ) The ninth week of training is referred to as hell week. It is six days of no sleep, constant physical and mental harassment and one special day at the mudflats. The mudflats are an area between San Diego and Tijuana where the water runs off and creates the Tijuana slews, a swampy patch of terrain where the mud will engulf you. It is on Wednesday of hell week, which you paddle down in the mudflats and spend the next 15 hours trying to survive this freezing cold, the howling wind and the incessant pressure to quit from the instructors.

Admiral McRaven: ( 16:12 ) As the sun began to set that Wednesday evening, my training class, having committed some egregious infraction of the rules was ordered into the mud. The mud consumed each man until there was nothing visible but our heads. The instructors told us we could leave the mud if only five men would quit. Only five men, just five men, and we could get out of the oppressive cold. Looking around the mudflat it was apparent that some students were about to give up. It was still over eight hours till the sun came up. Eight more hours of bone chilling cold, chattering teeth and shivering moans of the trainees were so loud, it was hard to hear anything.

Admiral McRaven: ( 16:54 ) And then one voice began to echo through the night. One voice raised in song. The song was terribly out of tune, but sung with great enthusiasm. One voice became two and two became three and before long everyone in the class was singing. The instructors threatened us with more time in the mud if we kept up the singing, but the singing persisted and somehow the mud seemed a little warmer. And the wind a little tamer and the dawn, not so far away. If I have learned anything in my time traveling the world, it is the power of hope. The power of one person, a Washington, a Lincoln, King, Mandela, and even a young girl from Pakistan, Malala, one person can change the world by giving people hope. So if you want to change the world, start singing when you’re up to your neck and mud.

Admiral McRaven: ( 17:51 ) Finally, in SEAL training there is a bell. A brass bell that hangs in the center of the compound for all the students to see. All you have to do to quit is ring the bell, ring the bell, and you no longer have to wake up at five o’clock ring the bell and you no longer have to be in the freezing cold swims. Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the runs, the obstacle course, the PT, and you no longer have to endure the hardships of training. All you have to do is ring the bell to get out. If you want to change the world, don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

Admiral McRaven: ( 18:33 ) To the class of 2014 you are moments away from graduating, moments away from beginning your journey through life, moments away from starting to change the world for the better. It will not be easy, but you are the class of 2014 the class that can affect the lives of 800 million people in the next century. Start each day with a task completed. Find someone to help you through life. Respect everyone. Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often. But if you take some risks, step up on the times, you’re the toughest face down the bullies. Lift up the downtrodden and never ever give up. If you do these things, the next generation and the generations that follow will live in a world far better than the one we have today. And what started here will indeed have changed the world for the better. Thank you very much, hook ’em horns.

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Make Your Bed Speech: Summary and 5 Lessons

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One thing that every 2014 graduate of the University of Texas has in common is that they were able to witness one of the most empowering and inspirational commencement speeches of our time.

Given by former Navy SEAL, Admiral William H. McRaven, this inspiring 20-minute speech offers timeless lessons that anyone can apply to their own life to overcome challenges, be more successful, and change the world.

Table of Contents

What Did Admiral McRaven Say in His Famous Speech?

In his speech, McRaven recognizes that while every person may be different, all of our struggles as humans are similar to each other. So while listeners may not be able to relate specifically to Admiral McRaven’s career in the Navy, his message is universal.

McRaven starts by focusing on the schools motto, “What starts here changes the world.” The motto in itself relays the message that graduating from the University of Texas is just the beginning of what’s to come.

Students graduate with the knowledge they have gained from their professors and peers, but once they leave, they have to apply those lessons to the real world.

No matter what career path you have chosen, you are sure to face challenges. You may decide that some are too big to overcome or too complicated to deal with.

However, McRaven uses UT’s motto to call people to action. Don’t settle for how things are or how they have always been if they can be improved. Make an effort today to create a change in the world.

Throughout the rest of his speech, McRaven recounts his life as a Navy SEAL following his own graduation from the University of Texas and the ten most important lessons that he learned from his initial six months of basic training.

You can view the full speech here:

This speech touched so many people that it led to the publishing of McRaven’s #1 New York Times Best Seller, Make Your Bed .

Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World

But what insight did Admiral McRaven gain during his time in the Navy and how can those lessons be implemented into everyone else’s life?

In this article, I will delve into the five biggest lessons that you can take away from this commencement speech to help you change the world, and I will reveal what Admiral McRaven is really telling people when he says to make your bed .

Lesson #1: Make Your Bed Every Morning

Starting your day off by completing a task will initiate your momentum to do the next task, and then the next, and so on. It will give you a sense of accomplishment that you will want to continue to feel throughout the day.

If you can’t complete a small and mundane task each morning such as making your bed, you can’t expect yourself to be able to complete more complicated tasks moving forward.

If you end up having an unproductive or otherwise negligible day, you will still come home and be reminded that you completed that one task, which can instill hope that you will have a better or more productive day tomorrow.

In your life, the small task that jumpstarts your day may not literally be making your bed. But the point is to find one task that you can make into a habit that will slowly start to get to the root of a problem you’re facing or inch toward a goal for which you’re reaching.

As long as you accomplish this task every day, you will be starting off on the right foot. Set this task up as a routine, so no matter what, this one thing gets completed every day.

Make sure the task you choose is meaningful to you and your team. While tucking in sheets may not feel meaningful to you, as a Navy SEAL heading to bed after a long day of training, a neatly made bed would provide meaningful comfort and a sense of reward.

What task do you do every day that provides value when all is said and done? Identify a task that you derive a clear value from when you look back at your previous state.

Lesson #2: You Can’t Change the World Alone

In McRaven’s speech, he describes rafting through the tall waves of the sea at night with three rowers on each side of the boat and one guide at the bow.

Apply this idea of team work to your life. You will always work with people who have various talents, but you need a balance of skills and abilities in order to succeed. Like Admiral McRaven, you want to be able to balance out those who can work at a faster pace with those who take more time, but produce high-quality work.

In order to make a difference, you also need to have the support of friends, family, co-workers, and others who share your vision. You need a strong team of people behind you to help you along your way.

This means it is important to nurture as many relationships as you can throughout life to ultimately be successful and to always recognize the role that other people played in your triumphs.

In turn, be willing to help out others who are on your team. Don’t prevent other people from learning or growing by keeping a task to yourself. Instead, be a leader and help your team along by encouraging everyone to grow and preventing just one person from taking on the entire load.

Consider your strengths and the progress your team could make together if you shared your expertise with them.

Lesson #3: Perfection Doesn’t Exist

While in training, Admiral McRaven underwent uniform inspections by his instructors, which he (and his fellow students) would fail on every occasion, no matter how hard they tried to prepare for it.

The instructors would always find something wrong with the students’ efforts, which would result in them having to endure a grueling run into the water, fully clothed, and a roll through the sand before spending the rest of the day in their dirty uniform.

Those who couldn’t accept the fact that their labor went unappreciated were the ones who didn’t make it through training. They were trying to reach a level of perfection that doesn’t exist.

People who focus on perfection hold unattainable standards for themselves and are overly concerned with how others perceive them. They don’t see mistakes as being an opportunity for growth , but rather a sign of failure.

Because of this, perfectionists rarely realize their full potential. Admiral McRaven’s advice here is to get over your failures and move on.

Lesson #4: Don’t Be Afraid of the Challenges That You Face

Whether it is a failure of some sort, an obstacle that you have to overcome, or an unexpected turn of events, don’t be afraid to face the things that try to break you down on your path to success.

Realize that these hurdles are most often opportunities to gain strength and resilience, which will make success more likely in the end.

Everyone will face challenges at times that may even make you want to quit. However, recognizing your ability to fight through these tough times will help you advance past subsequent barriers as your strength continues to multiply.

Furthermore, prepare yourself for the possible challenges you may face by doing small things each day that will make challenges in the future seem less intimidating.

For example, if you have a personal goal of reducing expenses , how often are you taking the time to review your spending ? How are you preparing yourself to face an unexpected bill? You have to take little steps to help make any potential challenges more approachable, no matter what line of work you’re in.

Lesson #5: Be Your Best In Your Darkest Moments

One thing that is certain is that you will face dark moments during your life. You will experience the death of a loved one and other events that leave you questioning the future. It is often difficult to imagine your life improving during these testing times.

While you may feel like you’ve lost the hope of deriving joy from life again, it is during these most difficult times that you dig deep inside yourself and bring out your best self.

Moving forward despite your feelings of helplessness will give you the necessary chance to come out on the other side and begin your journey of healing.

During these times, focus on the things you have rather than the things that you need. Capitalize on your strengths to help you get through these dark moments and remember that you have more inner strength than you will probably ever realize.

Final Thoughts on the Make Your Bed Speech

While few people have first-hand experience enduring the infamously difficult training that is required to become a Navy SEAL, Admiral McRaven offers lessons in his commencement speech that are universally applicable.

Everyone can relate to his message that even if you work as hard as you possibly can, you will still face failure at times. The key to being successful and changing the world, however, is to keep getting back up.

You have a choice each time you fail to either quit or find a lesson from the failure and move on. In order to change the world, you have to never, ever give up .

And if you're looking for more small habits that can change your life forever that only take five minutes or less to complete, watch the video below:

Connie Mathers is a professional editor and freelance writer. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Marketing and a Master’s Degree in Social Work. When she is not writing, Connie is either spending time with her daughter and two dogs, running, or working at her full-time job as a social worker in Richmond, VA.

Finally, if you want to take your goal-setting efforts to the next level, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals .

The Full Admiral McRaven Speech Transcript

O n May 17, 2014, Former Admiral William. H. McRaven advised the graduates of the class of 2014 at the University of Texas. He served in the Navy for many years.

The former Admiral McRaven’s speech is very motivational, and the whole purpose of the speech is to show that anyone can change the world. In his speech, he gives ten suggestions on how anyone can see the world.

Article Topics

What is the theme of admiral mcraven speech.

The general theme of his ‘make your bed speech’ is that anyone can change the world; all you need is the courage to do it. He also explains how giving up isn’t an option no matter what you’re going through. Eventually, it will pass, and you will win.

Admiral McRaven also explains how it isn’t necessary to change everyone’s lives for the world to change. All you need is to change the lives of only a few people, and the generations to come will feel the effect. You would have changed their entire lineage’s lives.

Watch and Listen to this motivational video of the Admiral McRaven Speech on YouTube

What advice did navy admiral william.h.mcraven give in his commencement address and well known 'make your bed speech'.

• Make your bed . Making your bed means that you’d have accomplished the first task of the day. It might seem small and mundane, but even after a long miserable day, at least you’ll come back to a made bed.
• Find someone to help you paddle . You can’t change the world on your own; you need a support team, people to cheer you up and help you change the world. We all need help.
• Measure a person by the size of their heart, not their flippers’ size . The physical aspects of who someone is don’t necessarily make up for a lot. What’s on the inside is what matters the most.
• Get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward . Sometimes the universe just doesn’t recognize your efforts no matter how much you’ve put in. This shouldn’t make you lose hope, get over it and keep pushing.
• Don’t be afraid of the circuses . Some situations will wear us down, but they are meant to strengthen your resolve by the end of the day.
• Sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first . Even in the hardest of situations, you have to take a risk and face your problems head first. Sometimes that’s the only way to win.
• Don’t back down from the sharks . Sharks are obstacles that you might face in your journey. Even when those obstacles show up, don’t back down. That’s the only way you’ll win.
• If you want to change the world, you must be the very best in your darkest moment . During the darkest moments, it gets hard to see what lies ahead, but be hopeful because, after that darkness, there can only be light.
• Start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud . In your darkest moments, be the person who stands up and gives others hope. Giving others hope will mean preventing them from giving up during those difficult moments.
• Don’t ever ring the bell . Ringing the bell is the easiest thing to do. But for you to succeed in life, you will have to assume that giving up isn’t an option, and that’s when you can concentrate on winning.

The Full Admiral McRaven Speech

It’s been almost 37 years to the day that I graduated from UT. I remember a lot of things about that day. I remember I had a throbbing headache from a party the night before. I remember I had a serious girlfriend, whom I later married (that’s important to remember, by the way), and I remember that I was getting commissioned in the Navy that day.

But of all the things I remember, I don’t have a clue who the commencement speaker was, and I certainly don’t remember anything they said. So, acknowledging that fact, if I can’t make this commencement speech memorable, I will at least try to make it short.

The University’s slogan is, “What starts here changes the world.” I’ve got to admit. I kind of like it. “What starts here changes the world.”

Tonight there are almost 8,000 students (there are more than 8000) graduating from UT. So, that great paragon of analytical rigor, Ask.Com, says that the average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime. That’s a lot of folks. But, if every one of you changed the lives of just ten people and each one of those people changed the lives of another ten people,(just ten people) then in five generations 125 years, the class of 2014 will have changed the lives of 800 million people.

Eight hundred million people — think about it — over twice the population of the United States. Go one more generation, and you can change the entire population of the world — eight billion people.

If you think it’s hard to change the lives of 10 people, change their lives forever, you’re wrong. I saw it happen every day in Iraq and Afghanistan: A young Army officer makes a decision to go left instead of right down a road in Baghdad, and the ten soldiers with him are saved from a close-in ambush.

In Kandahar province, Afghanistan, a non-commissioned officer from the Female Engagement Team senses that something isn’t right and directs the infantry platoon away from a 500-pound IED, saving the lives of a dozen soldiers.

But, if you think about it, not only were those soldiers saved by the decisions of one person, but their children were saved. And their children’s children were saved. Generations were saved by one decision, one person.

But changing the world can happen anywhere, and anyone can do it. So, what starts here can indeed change the world, but the question is — what will the world look like after you change it?

Well, I am confident that it will look much, much better. But if you will humor this old sailor for just a moment, I have a few suggestions that may help you on your way to a better world. And while these lessons were learned during my time in the military, I can assure you that it matters not whether you ever served a day in uniform. It matters not your gender, your ethnic or religious background, your orientation, or your social status.

Our struggles in this world are similar, and the lessons to overcome those struggles and to move forward — changing ourselves and changing the world around us — will apply equally to all.

I have been a Navy SEAL for 36 years. But it all began when I left UT for Basic SEAL training in Coronado, California. Basic SEAL training is six months of long torturous runs in the soft sand, midnight swims in the cold water off San Diego, obstacles courses, unending calisthenics, days without sleep, and always being cold, wet, and miserable.

It is six months of being constantly harassed by professionally trained warriors who seek to find the weak of mind and body and eliminate them from ever becoming a Navy SEAL.

But the training also seeks to find those students who can lead in an environment of constant stress, chaos, failure, and hardships. To me, basic SEAL training was a lifetime of challenges crammed into six months.

So, here are the ten lessons I learned from basic SEAL training that hopefully will be of value to you as you move forward in life.

1. Make your bed

Every morning in SEAL training, my instructors, who at the time were all Vietnam veterans, would show up in my barracks room, and the first thing they would do is inspect my bed. If you did it right, the corners would be square; the covers would be pulled tight, the pillow centered just under the headboard, and the extra blanket folded neatly at the foot of the rack.

It was a simple task, mundane at best. But every morning, we were required to make our bed to perfection. It seemed a little ridiculous at the time, particularly in light of the fact that we were aspiring to be real warriors, tough battle-hardened SEALs, but the wisdom of this simple act has been proven to me many times over.

If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that the little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never be able to do the big things right.

And, if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made — that you made — and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.

If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.

2. Find someone to paddle with

During SEAL training, the students are broken down into boat crews. Each crew is seven students — three on each side of a small rubber boat and one coxswain to help guide the dingy. Every day your boat crew forms up on the beach and is instructed to get through the surf zone and paddle several miles down the coast. In the winter, the surf off San Diego can get to be 8 to 10 feet high, and it is exceedingly difficult to paddle through the plunging surf unless everyone digs in.

Every paddle must be synchronized to the stroke count of the coxswain. Everyone must exert equal effort, or the boat will turn against the wave and be unceremoniously dumped back on the beach.

For the boat to make it to its destination, everyone must paddle. You can’t change the world alone — you will need some help — and to truly get from your starting point to your destination takes friends, colleagues, the goodwill of strangers, and a strong coxswain to guide them.

If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.

3. Measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers

Over a few weeks of difficult training, my SEAL class, which started with 150 men, was down to just 42. There were now six boat crews of seven men each. I was in the boat with the tall guys, but the best boat crew we had was made up of the little guys (the munchkin crew we called them) no one was over about five-foot-five.

The munchkin boat crew had one American Indian, one African American, one Polish American, one Greek American, one Italian American, and two tough kids from the midwest. They out-paddled, out-ran, and out-swam all the other boat crews.

The big men in the other boat crews would always make good-natured fun of the tiny little flippers the munchkins put on their tiny little feet prior to every swim. But somehow, these little guys, from every corner of the nation and the world, always had the last laugh, swimming faster than everyone and reaching the shore long before the rest of us.

SEAL training was a great equalizer. Nothing mattered but your will to succeed. Not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education, and not your social status.

If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.

4. Get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.

Several times a week, the instructors would line up the class and do a uniform inspection. It was exceptionally thorough. Your hat had to be perfectly starched, your uniform immaculately pressed, your belt buckle shiny and void of any smudges.

But it seemed that no matter how much effort you put into starching your hat, or pressing your uniform, or polishing your belt buckle — it just wasn’t good enough. The instructors would find “something” wrong.

For failing the uniform inspection, the student had to run, fully clothed into the surf zone, and then, wet from head to toe, roll around on the beach until every part of your body was covered with sand. The effect was known as a “sugar cookie.” You stayed in the uniform the rest of the day — cold, wet, and sandy.

There were many a student who just couldn’t accept the fact that all their effort was in vain. That no matter how hard they tried to get the uniform right, it was unappreciated. Those students didn’t make it through training. Those students didn’t understand the purpose of the drill. You were never going to succeed. You were never gonna have a perfect uniform.

Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform, you still end up as a sugar cookie. It’s just the way life is sometimes.

If you want to change the world, get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.

5. Don’t be afraid of the circuses.

Every day during training, you were challenged with multiple physical events — long runs, long swims, obstacle courses, hours of calisthenics — something designed to test your mettle. Every event had standards — times you had to meet.

If you failed to meet those standards, your name was posted on a list, and at the end of the day, those on the list were invited to a “circus.” A circus was two hours of additional calisthenics designed to wear you down, to break your spirit, to force you to quit.

No one wanted a circus.

A circus meant that for that day, you didn’t measure up. A circus meant more fatigue, and more fatigue meant that the following day would be more difficult, and more circuses were likely. But at some time during SEAL training, everyone, everyone, made the circus list.

But an interesting thing happened to those who were constantly on the list. Over time those students — who did two hours of extra calisthenics — got stronger and stronger. The pain of the circuses built inner strength and physical resiliency.

Life is filled with circuses. You will fail. You will likely fail often. It will be painful. It will be discouraging. At times it will test you to your very core.

But if you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the circuses.

6. If you want to change the world, sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.

At least twice a week, the trainees were required to run the obstacle course. The obstacle course contained 25 obstacles, including a 10-foot high wall, a 30-foot cargo net, and a barbed wire crawl, to name a few.

But the most challenging obstacle was the slide for life. It had a three-level 30-foot tower at one end and a one-level tower at the other. In between was a 200-foot-long rope. You had to climb the three-tiered tower, and once at the top, you grabbed the rope, swung underneath the rope, and pulled yourself hand over hand until you got to the other end.

The record for the obstacle course had stood for years when my class began training in 1977. The record seemed unbeatable until one day; a student decided to go down the slide for life head first. Instead of swinging his body underneath the rope and inching his way down, he bravely mounted the TOP of the rope and thrust himself forward.

It was a dangerous move — seemingly foolish and fraught with risk. Failure could mean injury and being dropped from the course. Without hesitation, the student slid down the rope perilously fast. Instead of several minutes, it only took him half that time, and by the end of the course, he had broken the record.

If you want to change the world, sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.

7. If you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks

During the land warfare phase of training, the students are flown out to San Clemente Island, which lies off the coast of San Diego. The waters off San Clemente are a breeding ground for the great white sharks.

To pass SEAL training, there are a series of long swims that must be completed. One is the night swim.

Before the swim, the instructors joyfully brief the trainees on all the species of sharks that inhabit the waters off San Clemente.

They assure you, however, that no student has ever been eaten by a shark — at least not that they can remember. But, you are also taught that if a shark begins to circle your position, stand your ground.

Do not swim away. Do not act afraid. And if the shark, hungry for a midnight snack, darts towards you, then summon up all your strength and punch him in the snout, and he will turn and swim away.

There are a lot of sharks in the world. If you hope to complete the swim, you will have to deal with them.

So, if you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks.

8. Be your very best in the darkest moments.

As Navy SEALs, one of our jobs is to conduct underwater attacks against enemy shipping. We practiced this technique extensively during training. The ship attack mission is where a pair of SEAL divers is dropped off outside an enemy harbor and then swims well over two miles — underwater — using nothing but a depth gauge and a compass to get to their target.

During the entire swim, even well below the surface, there is some light that comes through. It is comforting to know that there is open water above you. But as you approach the ship, which is tied to a pier, the light begins to fade. The steel structure of the ship blocks the moonlight, it blocks the surrounding street lamps, it blocks all ambient light.

To be successful in your mission, you have to swim under the ship and find the keel — the centerline and the deepest part of the ship. This is your objective. But the keel is also the darkest part of the ship — where you cannot see your hand in front of your face, where the noise from the ship’s machinery is deafening, and where it is easy to get disoriented and you can fail.

Every SEAL knows that under the keel, at the darkest moment of the mission, is the time when you must be calm when you must be composed — when all your tactical skills, your physical power, and all your inner strength must be brought to bear.

If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moments.

9. Start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud

The ninth week of training is referred to as “Hell Week.” It is six days of no sleep, constant physical and mental harassment, and one special day at the Mud Flats. The Mud Flats are area between San Diego and Tijuana where the water runs off and creates the Tijuana slues, a swampy patch of terrain where the mud will engulf you.

It is on Wednesday of Hell Week that you paddle down to the mudflats and spend the next 15 hours trying to survive the freezing cold mud, the howling wind, and the incessant pressure to quit from the instructors. As the sun began to set that Wednesday evening, my training class, having committed some “egregious infraction of the rules,” was ordered into the mud.

The mud consumed each man till there was nothing visible but our heads. The instructors told us we could leave the mud if only five men would quit — just five men — and we could get out of the oppressive cold. Looking around the mudflat, it was apparent that some students were about to give up. It was still over eight hours till the sun came up — eight more hours of bone-chilling cold.

The chattering teeth and shivering moans of the trainees were so loud it was hard to hear anything. And then, one voice began to echo through the night, one voice raised in song. The song was terribly out of tune but sung with great enthusiasm. One voice became two, and two became three, and before long, everyone in the class was singing.

The instructors threatened us with more time in the mud if we kept up the singing, but the singing persisted. And somehow, the mud seemed a little warmer, the wind a little tamer, and the dawn not so far away.

If I have learned anything in my time traveling the world, it is the power of hope. The power of one person — Washington, Lincoln, King, Mandela, and even a young girl from Pakistan, Malala — one person can change the world by giving people hope.

So, if you want to change the world, start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.

10. Don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

Finally, in SEAL training, there is a bell. A brass bell that hangs in the center of the compound for all the students to see. All you have to do to quit is ring the bell.

Ring the bell, and you no longer have to wake up at 5 o’clock. Ring the bell, and you no longer have to be in the freezing cold swims. Ring the bell, and you no longer have to do the runs, the obstacle course, the PT — and you no longer have to endure the hardships of training. All you have to do is ring the bell and be out.

If you want to change the world, don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

Why does Admiral McRaven say to make your bed?

He emphasizes making your bed first thing in the morning because by doing that, you have accomplished your first task of the day. Making your bed means; you have already won something even before you’ve begun. And even if your day ends up being not perfect, at the end of the day, you will come back home to a well-made bed to rest on.

Making your bed in the morning will give you a sense of pride and accomplishment and help you get through the day. Having accomplished your first task in the morning will give you the encouragement needed to accomplish the other tasks ahead of you, making it not just one task but a couple of others that followed.

When did Admiral McRaven make his speech?

Admiral McRaven, the ninth U.S. Special Operations Command, made his speech at the University of Texas commencement on May 17, 2014.

Final Words

The Admiral’s speech is the most memorable speech ever given due to the amount of wisdom and advice. It is an encouragement to everyone that making a change in the world doesn’t require much except for will and drive. Never giving up is a very great tool that he shares multiple times in his speech.

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The Best Inspirational Quotes from Make Your Bed by Admiral McRaven

Make Your Bed

by Admiral William H. McRaven

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The Mental Health Benefits of Making Your Bed

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• Ritual of Making the Bed
• Why Should You Make It?

Possible Benefits

Possible drawbacks, to make or not to make.

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There are two types of people—those that make their bed and those that leave it undone each day. Many on each side have strong opinions about the relative merits of this morning ritual .

Some people would sooner leave the house naked than not make their bed. Others do it without even thinking about why—or even really realizing they are doing it.Some see the compulsion to tidy the bed as a sign of over-compliance or a lack of personality —and see the unmade bed as badge of honor.

Then, there are people who believe that whether or not you smooth the comforter or fluff the pillows makes no difference at all, beyond the tidiness of your room. Others still contend that this habit can make a world of difference, particularly for your mental health . Let's take a look at all these opinions and the research to support whether or not making your bed has an impact on your mental health.

The Ritual of Making the Bed

Does a streamlined bed really do more than just tidy up—and make your parents proud? Many people believe it does, including William H. McRaven, retired Navy four-star admiral and former chancellor of The University of Texas System. McRaven even wrote a book about the key mental health benefits of this ritual called "Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life... And Maybe the World."

In the book, published in 2017, McRaven extols the idea that making your bed in the morning sets you up for success . His theory is that just by making your bed, you've accomplished at least that one thing. So, the simple act of tidying up your covers lets you begin your morning with a small success that, the theory goes, will encourage many more throughout the day.

Below, we look at other possible advantages of carving out a few extra minutes in your morning routine for this daily ritual. From better sleep , less stress, and a clearer, calmer outlook to a more organized mind, the potential mental health benefits of making your bed may surprise you.

Who Is Doing It?

Studies show that more people make their bed than don't.

In fact, according to the National Sleep Foundation's Bedroom Poll, around 70% of Americans make their bed each morning.

Nearly half of respondents in the study also turn their covers down before slipping into bed as night as well.  

Researchers also found telling details about the type of people who are more likely to make the bed each morning. For example, those living in the West and Midwest are least likely to make their beds, while those who reside in the South and Northeast are more inclined to take on this daily task—with those on the East Coast doing so at a rate of around 80%.  

Age and lifestyle factors also seem to play a role in whether you ascribe to this bedroom ritual. The poll found that those over 40 and those living with romantic partners (married or not) are also more likely to tidy up the bed before moving on with their day.  

Why Should You Make the Bed?

Some people think making the bed is a waste of time—after all, you just crawl back in each night! However, for many, making the bed each morning is far more than a chore or about simply keeping your room neat.

Instead, it's a way to begin the morning in an organized manner and with a clean slate that helps to make the most of your day.

Making the bed is about setting an intention to do the little things that bring about an orderly, thoughtful, responsible, balanced, or successful life. In addition to providing a quick sense of daily accomplishment, some people find making the bed calming as well.

While the scientific research on the impact of making your bed is slim, there is a wealth of anecdotal evidence that points to substantial mental health benefits of this daily practice. These potential advantages include the following:

• A feeling of accomplishment
• A sense of calm
• Better sleep
• Enhanced organization
• Improved focus
• Stress reduction

While many of these possible benefits are based on popular wisdom, there is some evidence from various studies to help to support these claims.

What the Research Says

While there isn't much research specifically studying the effects of making your bed, there is a solid body of evidence showing a clear link between living and working in an organized, clutter-free environment and having improved focus, goal-setting skills , productivity, and lower levels of stress. In essence, the assumption is that a tidy house (or workspace), makes for a tidy mind.

Those with messier homes, especially to the extreme of hoarding , are known to have poorer executive function and more issues with emotional regulation , stress, and mental health.

Additionally, studies show that clutter impairs information processing—this finding becomes relevant if we make the assumption that those who live in a more clutter-filled environment are also less likely to make the bed.

Interestingly, studies show that, particularly for older people, living in a tidy environment improves or retains brain function and enhances general quality of life. Researchers also contend that the opposite is true—that having a messy living space can negatively affect a person's well-being. It's not a big leap to extend this thinking to the impact of making your bed.

According to another study on personal and household hygiene, people who are more tidy and organized tend to have better impulse control and are more conscientious, orderly, and goal-oriented. Those who cleaned up also paid more attention to manners and following social norms—and were most often women who made their tidying consistent by including it in their daily routine.  

There is also evidence that physical environments (and their relative orderliness) impact our ability to learn and interact with others as well as our general sense of well-being . In fact, researchers have found that disorganization has a negative influence on our brains, such as our ability to focus.  

Impact on Sleep

Another big reason to make the bed may be that it helps you sleep better at night. As around 40 million Americans suffer from sleep disorders and millions more experience less than adequate sleep, the merits of making the bed may not just be a matter of aesthetics, but one of public health.  

Poor sleep is also directly linked to poorer health outcomes, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and even death. Research shows sleep deprivation also has a negative impact on mood as well as the ability to problem solve and think and react quickly and creatively. So, if making the bed might improve sleep, there are lots of good health reasons it's worth trying.  

Just as a straightened bed seems to be a powerful signal (for some, at least) that it's time to start your day, a made bed may also be more pleasant to slip into at bedtime.

Studies show that sleep environment plays an important role in sleep and that poor " sleep hygiene " can have detrimental effects on a person's sleep.  

Sleep hygiene includes anything that might be distracting to a sleeper, such as noise, light, stress, and mess. So, a cluttered bedroom and undone bed could be hindering your sleep. To this end, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends eliminating any potential distractions from your bedroom to enhance sleep.  

Even more compelling, studies show that those who make their bed are more likely to report getting the rest they need.  

While there seem to be many potential benefits, are there any possible negatives to making the bed? Some people associate an unmade bed with a freer spirit, suggesting a possible link to creativity—and one study claims a made bed is less hygienic.

Studies have shown that a messier desk may be correlated to enhanced creative thinking —maybe the same is true for keeping the bed undone.   The flip side is that researchers also found that those with a tidy desk (which may relate to a tidy bed) made healthier choices and were more prone toward convention, tradition, and generosity .

Interestingly, these effects were created simply by bringing a person into the room with the messy or clean desk. So, the assumption is that by simply leaving your environment messy you may get more of your creative juices flowing, while straightening up may lead to more focus, orderly thinking.

An older study, from 2001, contends that a made bed is more likely to breed germs, while an unmade bed discourages them by letting air and sun stifle an otherwise potentially dark, damp breeding ground.   While the study feels a bit tongue-in-cheek, its authors call making the bed an "unprecedented health risk."

It is true that people sweat quite a bit while they sleep as well as shed skin cells, both of which account for the potential "breeding ground" environment of the bed mentioned in the study.   However, a simple solution may be to simply change the sheets a bit more often.

Ultimately, it's not the end of the world if you don't make your bed and it's unlikely to radically change your life if you do. However, as reviewed above, there do seem to be discernible benefits for many people who choose to adopt this morning ritual, particularly in the realms of mental health, productivity, and sleep habits.

However, if you suspect that a messier bed or room may be more conducive to your creative endeavors (or if you simply want to test if you notice any difference in how you feel with an unmade bed), then it might be worthwhile to skip making your bed for a particular time.

One possibility is to keep a journal that tracks how you feel after either making or not making your bed over a period of a few weeks. Then, once your review this information, you can decide if the morning habit is right for you. You can always switch back to either method.

Tips for Making Your Bed

If you want to institute bed-making into your morning, it's more likely to become a daily habit if you incorporate it into your routine. It may take more conscious effort at the start but after you reliably make it for a week or two, it will likely become reflexive, like buckling a seatbelt or brushing your teeth.

Studies show that having reliable routines are key to many aspects of life, including physical and mental health. Building a habit like bed-making into your day can help to establish a healthy schedule, the benefits of which may spill over into many aspects of life, such as executive function, emotional regulation, productivity, and sleep—in other words, many of the potential benefits noted above.  

• Link the activity to something you already do . So if you always brush your teeth each morning, try following that with making your bed.
• Aim to do it right then—it only takes a minute . If you put it off, thinking you'll come back later, you may easily forget. You may be tempted to skip it because you're likely to be tired and/or in a rush.
• Post a note or set a reminder on your phone . This can be helpful if you tend to forget.
• Keep yourself accountable by working with your partner, if you have one, other family members, or roommates. Strategies include divvying who makes the bed by switching off each morning or assigning one person to take on this task and having the other person taking on a related task, such as changing the sheets once a week. Another option would be to make the bed together or to have whomever gets out last be in charge of tidying up the bed.
• Remember that the process can be as simple as pulling up the covers .

A Word From Verywell

Whether or not you make the bed is a personal decision. There's no right or wrong here so do what makes you feel good—and if that's a messy bed, embrace that and don't feel bad about it.

However, anecdotal and research-based evidence points to a link between tidying up and a clearer mind, improved mental health, and a better night's sleep, so consider trying it if you have any concerns in those areas.

Additionally, smoothing the sheets is also an easy way to start your day off with a quick sense of accomplishment. So, it might be worth doing just to be able to scratch it off your day's to-do list. Who doesn't like a win first thing in the morning? Even better, making your bed is likely to make crawling back into bed even more enticing each night, too.

McRaven W. Make Your Bed . 2nd ed. 2017;New York: Grand Central Publishing.

National Sleep Foundation. Bedroom Poll . 2011.

Aso Y, Yamaoka K, Nemoto A, Naganuma Y, Saito M. Effectiveness of a 'Workshop on Decluttering and Organising' programme for teens and middle-aged adults with difficulty decluttering: a study protocol of an open-label, randomised, parallel-group, superiority trial in Japan .  BMJ Open . 2017;7(6):e014687. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014687

Raines AM, Timpano KR, Schmidt NB. Effects of clutter on information processing deficits in individuals with hoarding disorder . J Affect Disord . 2014 Sep;166:30-5. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2014.04.074

Sorrell JM. Tidying Up: Good for the Aging Brain . J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv . 2020 Apr 1;58(4):16-18. doi:10.3928/02793695-20200316-02

Aunger R, Greenland K, Ploubidis G, Schmidt W, Oxford J, Curtis V. The Determinants of Reported Personal and Household Hygiene Behaviour: A Multi-Country Study .  PLoS One . 2016;11(8):e0159551. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159551

Sander E (Libby) J, Caza A, Jordan PJ. Psychological perceptions matter: developing the reactions to the physical work environment scale .  Building and Environment . 2019;148:338-347. doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2018.11.020

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In brief: your guide to healthy sleep . Revised September 2011.

Irish LA, Kline CE, Gunn HE, Buysse DJ, Hall MH. The role of sleep hygiene in promoting public health: A review of empirical evidence .  Sleep Med Rev . 2015;22:23-36. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2014.10.001

Vohs KD, Redden JP, Rahinel R. Physical order produces healthy choices, generosity, and conventionality, whereas disorder produces creativity .  Psychol Sci . 2013;24(9):1860-1867. doi:10.1177/0956797613480186

Patterson R, Stewart-Patterson C. The well-made bed: an unappreciated public health risk .  CMAJ . 2001;165(12):1591-1592.

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By Sarah Vanbuskirk Sarah Vanbuskirk has over 20 years of experience as a writer and editor, covering a range of health, wellness, lifestyle, and family-related topics. Her work has been published in numerous magazines, newspapers, and websites, including The Spruce, Activity Connection, Glamour, PDX Parent, Self, Verywell Fit, TripSavvy, Marie Claire, and TimeOut New York.

5 Reasons to Make Your Bed Every Day

Emily Estep is a plant biologist and journalist who has worked for a variety of online news and media outlets, writing about and editing topics including environmental science and houseplants.

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This article is part of our series, Sleep Week: The Ultimate Guide to Getting Your Best Sleep Ever . Sleep Week is your destination for whole sleep happiness, curating our very best tips and product recommendations to help you create your coziest, most comfortable sleep environment yet.

You probably know all the excuses, and may have used one (or more) yourself:

• “I don’t have time.”
• “No one is going to see it anyway.”
• “It’s not important.”

Excuses are easy, but when it comes right down to it, it's also easy to make your bed each morning. No, you don’t have to turn out a display worthy of Pinterest or Elle Decor—unless you enjoy that sort of thing, in which case have at it.

But a quick fluff of the pillows and tug of the sheets and comforter takes only seconds, and it is the easiest way to make your entire bedroom look better instantly. Beyond that, however, there are some surprising benefits to making your bed each day.

Your bed-making habits reveal a lot about your personality. According to a poll commissioned by Sleepopolis, who make their beds are morning people . If you don't like to make your bed, you're likely a night owl.

It Starts Your Day Off Right

It might be a small accomplishment, but making the bed sets the tone for the entire day. Perhaps no one has extolled this virtue of making the bed each morning as well as Naval Admiral William McRaven, the commander of U.S. Special Operations. In a 2014 commencement speech at the University of Texas at Austin, Admiral McRaven shared his thoughts on the matter.

“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another," he said. "By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter.”

These are powerful words, and you don't have to be able to bounce a coin off your taut sheets to benefit from them.

You can get the look and feel of crisp hotel sheets minus those perfect hospital corners. Choose from the best cotton percale sheets for your bed.

It Encourages You to Keep the Rest of Your Room Tidy

Even the most organized, beautiful bedroom looks less tidy with an unmade bed, and the opposite is also true. When the bed is made, it helps the rest of the room look styled, even if it's not perfect. Better still, once you are in the habit of making your bed, you’ll likely feel inspired to improve your bedroom’s appearance in other ways, even if very small. From tiny beginnings, great things grow. Maybe next, you'll tackle the closet.

Keep a deep, wide storage basket next to your bed to place smaller accent pillows during the night. You'll have easy access to grab them and put them back on your made bed in the morning.

It Leads to Better Productivity

"Wait a minute," you might be asking, "How is making the bed going to increase my productivity?" A fair question, and you’ll find the answer in the book, “The Power of Habit,” by Charles Duhigg. According to the author, daily bed-making becomes a keystone habit, something that kickstarts a chain of other good decisions throughout the day, and gives you a sense of taking charge.

Duhigg claims that these keystone habits cumulatively lead to "a greater sense of well-being and stronger skills at sticking with a budget." Pretty impressive results, simply for taking a minute or two to pull up the sheets and comforter.

You deserve to be able to snuggle up under a puffy comforter set that pulls your room together in the morning for a super tidy look. your room look super tidy. Look for the most luxurious to the most lightweight sets for your comfort.

It Lowers Your Stress and Improves Your Mood

You spend roughly a third of your life in your bedroom, and the appearance of your room affects your mood. It’s hard to feel calm, relaxed, competent, and grounded when you are surrounded by disorganization. A properly made bed (no, it doesn’t have to be up to military standards, just neat and unrumpled) instantly makes the entire room look pulled together, creating a subtle vibe of tranquility and competence. A made bed shows that you care about yourself and your home, and that feeling of being cared for helps lift your mood and lighten your emotional burdens.

It even makes you feel happier, according to Gretchen Rubin , author of “The Happiness Project.” During her research for the book, she found that one of the most common simple changes that led to happiness was learning to make the bed each morning. So go for it; what else can do so much to make you happy with so little effort, and in so little time? (Well, there is eating a chocolate bar. But there's no guilt involved with making your bed.)

Here are three quick tips to make your bed like a pro :

• Keep sheets wrinkle-free by putting them on your bed right out of the dryer.
• Smooth the sheets with your hands as you put them on the bed.
• Fold and tuck sheets neatly in at the two bottom mattress corners.

It Just Looks and Feels Better

Think of what it's like to walk into a hotel room. The first thing that catches your eye is a neatly made bed that practically begs you to slide between the soft sheets . Now imagine that same hotel room, but with an unmade, rumpled bed. You'd probably recoil and call housekeeping right away. Would you still want to slide between those sheets? Probably not.

There’s just something about a made bed that feels better at the end of a long day, partly because it makes the bed look cleaner (even if you actually haven’t changed your sheets in weeks), and partly because when a bed looks good, it also feels good. Few things match the pure pleasure of climbing into a smoothly made bed with a lightly plumped pillow after a hectic day.

So take those couple of minutes each morning to make your bed. It just might improve your entire life!

The fitted sheet was granted a patent in 1959 to Bertha Berman who invented the concept because she didn't like messy sheets falling off the mattress.

Happy National Make Your Bed Day! See Our Survey Results . Sleepopolis.

Duhigg, Charles. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business . Doubleday Canada , 2012

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"Make Your Bed" by William H. McRaven - 10 Lessons That Can Change Your Life

Making your bed may seem simple and almost insignificant, but the effect that it can have on your day is profound. Join William H. McRaven in exploring the 10 life lessons he took away from his experiences as a Navy seal and how it has impacted and transformed his life for the better!

Shruthi Nair

Read more posts by this author.

Starting your day by making your bed may seem like a straightforward task, but its significance extends far beyond its simplicity. In his book "Make Your Bed," former Navy SEAL William H. McRaven explains how this seemingly mundane act holds greater meaning and yields substantial rewards. Drawing from the advice he shared in a commencement address to college graduates, McRaven outlines ten life lessons he learned during his service as a SEAL.

Read on to find out more about the transformative lessons found within "Make Your Bed" and discover how these simple yet profound principles can empower us to face adversity, achieve our goals, and make a positive impact on the world around us.

What is the book "Make Your Bed" about?

In the book "Make Your Bed," Admiral William H. McRaven shares profound insights gained from his experiences as a Navy SEAL and imparts valuable lessons on success, resilience, and the power of everyday actions. Inspired by his powerful commencement speech delivered to the graduating class at the University of Texas at Austin, this book offers a roadmap for navigating life's challenges with purpose and determination. With each chapter, McRaven unveils essential principles that go beyond military training, resonating with individuals from all walks of life.

These lessons, while initially aimed at conquering the rigorous SEAL training, hold equal significance in navigating life's challenges, regardless of one's background or circumstances.

10 lessons from the book "Make Your Bed" That Can Change Your Life

1. start your day with a task completed..

Making your bed each morning sets a positive tone for the day and gives you a sense of accomplishment. McRaven emphasizes the significance of beginning each day by accomplishing a small task, such as making your bed. He highlights that this seemingly mundane act holds deeper meaning. By making your bed, you start your day with a sense of order, discipline, and accomplishment. It sets a positive tone, giving you a small but tangible victory that can serve as a foundation for productivity and motivation throughout the day. McRaven suggests that this simple task can have a ripple effect, inspiring you to tackle bigger challenges and approach them with a similar mindset of determination and attention to detail. The idea is to cultivate discipline and a proactive approach to tasks, no matter how small, which can contribute to personal growth, resilience, and success in various aspects of life.

If you need a place to create a task list that can guide your schedule for the day, consider using Journey to make your task lists conveniently. Create task lists the night before for the next day, and start off your morning by completing one thing on that list to set a positive tone for the day. Like McRaven mentions, making your bed can very well be the first thing you tick off on your to-d0 list for the day. Or it could be a simple task that you can complete in the morning hours of your day, and you can continue to go down the list as your schedule sees fit. Even if you're not at home for the first task of your day, you can access your to-do list from anywhere and any device of your choice on Journey!

2. You Can't Go At It Alone.

Success often requires the support and collaboration of others. McRaven talks about the importance of collaboration and seeking support from others in this section of his book. He highlights that success is often not achieved in isolation but through the collective efforts of a team. He encourages building strong relationships, fostering a sense of camaraderie, and recognizing the value of working together towards a common goal.

McRaven draws from his experience as a Navy SEAL, where teamwork is essential for mission success. He emphasizes that individuals should be willing to ask for help when needed and provide support to others when they require it. By acknowledging the significance of collaboration, McRaven underscores the idea that leaning on others can strengthen our own capabilities, amplify our achievements, and ultimately lead to greater success in life's endeavors. So, foster strong relationships and be willing to ask for help when needed.

3. Only the Size of Your Heart Matters.

When Admiral William H. McRaven talks about "Only the Size of Your Heart Matters" in his book "Make Your Bed," he emphasizes the importance of character, resilience, and compassion over external factors such as physical strength or abilities. McRaven suggests that true success and impact in life are determined by the size of one's heart, referring to qualities such as kindness, empathy, integrity, and perseverance.

He shares examples from his experience as a Navy SEAL, where individuals with a strong sense of purpose, determination, and compassion are better equipped to overcome challenges and make a positive difference. McRaven encourages readers to focus on developing their inner qualities and treating others with respect and empathy. By emphasizing the importance of a big heart, he reminds us that it is not physical attributes or external achievements that truly matter, but the depth of our character and the positive impact we can have on the world around us.

Remember, it's not about physical strength or abilities, but the size of your heart and your willingness to persevere and show compassion towards others.

4. Get Over Being a Sugar Cookie.

For this life lesson, McRaven refers to the idea of embracing failure and learning from it. In Navy SEAL training, there is a particularly challenging task called the "sugar cookie" where trainees are intentionally covered in sand and forced to continue their training. The term "sugar cookie" symbolizes the feeling of being uncomfortable, gritty, and coated with failure.

McRaven advises readers to overcome the fear of failure and not let setbacks define their journey. He encourages embracing failures as learning opportunities and using them to grow stronger and more resilient. McRaven suggests that everyone experiences setbacks in life, but it is how we respond to them that truly matters. By reframing failure as a chance for personal and professional growth, individuals can develop a mindset that welcomes challenges, persists in the face of adversity, and finds strength in the lessons learned from setbacks. Ultimately, "getting over being a sugar cookie" means accepting failure as a natural part of the journey and using it as fuel to continue pushing forward towards success.

Embrace failure and learn from it. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, things won't go as planned, but it's important to keep moving forward.

5. Don't Be Afraid of the Circus.

This life lesson encourages readers to embrace the challenges and difficult tasks in life and face them head-on with courage and a positive mindset.

McRaven encourages readers to embrace the challenges and difficult tasks that life presents. The "circus" symbolizes the chaotic and unpredictable nature of life, filled with unexpected obstacles, setbacks, and uncertainties.

He goes on to advise readers not to shy away from difficult situations or tasks that may seem daunting or overwhelming. Instead, he suggests facing them head-on with courage and a positive mindset. By confronting these challenges, individuals can develop resilience, problem-solving skills, and the ability to adapt to changing circumstances. McRaven's message is that it is through overcoming challenges that we grow stronger and gain valuable experiences. By stepping into the "circus" and embracing its chaos, we can discover our inner strength and achieve personal and professional growth.

6. Slide Down the Obstacle Head First.

When Admiral William H. McRaven talks about "Slide Down the Obstacle Head First" in his book "Make Your Bed," he urges readers to take risks, embrace new experiences, and approach obstacles with a sense of boldness and determination. The metaphor of "sliding down the obstacle head first" signifies diving into challenges without hesitation, fully committing to them, and being willing to explore unconventional approaches.

McRaven encourages readers to step out of their comfort zones and venture into unfamiliar territory. He emphasizes the importance of taking calculated risks and not being afraid to try different strategies or take unconventional paths. By embracing this mindset, individuals can overcome fear, discover new possibilities, and tap into their full potential. McRaven's message is to be proactive, take initiative, and approach obstacles with a sense of adventure and willingness to explore uncharted territories. By sliding down the obstacle head first, we can navigate challenges with a bold spirit and open ourselves up to new opportunities for growth and success.

7. Don't Back Down from the Sharks.

For this life lesson, McRaven stresses importance of facing fears and standing up to intimidating challenges or individuals. In the context of his book, the term "sharks" represents the difficult situations or people that may try to intimidate or discourage us from pursuing our goals. McRaven encourages readers not to shy away from such challenges, but rather to confront them with courage, resilience, and unwavering determination. He suggests that by standing our ground and refusing to be intimidated, we can demonstrate strength and resilience. By facing the "sharks" head-on, we develop the confidence and fortitude necessary to overcome obstacles and achieve our objectives.

McRaven's message is to embrace courage in the face of adversity and not allow ourselves to be deterred by external pressures or naysayers. By refusing to back down from the "sharks," we can assert our capabilities, grow stronger, and ultimately achieve success in our endeavors.

Face your fears and confront the difficult situations or individuals that intimidate you. Stand your ground and show resilience.

8. Be Your Very Best in Your Darkest Moments.

McRaven talks about how resilience, determination, and maintaining a positive mindset even during the most challenging times shapes your experience for this life lesson. He suggests that our true character is revealed when we face adversity and confront our darkest moments. McRaven goes on to tell readers not to succumb to despair or negativity but to rise above difficult circumstances by displaying courage, integrity, and a commitment to doing our best. He highlights that it is during these dark moments that our actions and attitudes matter the most. By striving to be our very best, we can inspire ourselves and those around us, find strength within ourselves, and navigate through adversity with grace and perseverance.

McRaven's message is that our response to challenges and hardships defines our character and has the potential to shape our future. By choosing to be our very best in our darkest moments, we demonstrate resilience, inspire others, and pave the way for personal growth and success.

Your true character is revealed during times of adversity. Show strength, integrity, and courage when faced with tough situations!

9. Start Singing When You're Up to Your Neck in Mud.

When Admiral William H. McRaven talks about "Start Singing When You're Up to Your Neck in Mud", he explains the power of maintaining a positive attitude and finding joy even in the most challenging and difficult situations. The metaphorical image of being up to your neck in mud represents being caught in difficult circumstances or facing overwhelming obstacles.

McRaven suggests that instead of succumbing to despair or negativity, we should choose to maintain a hopeful and optimistic outlook. He encourages readers to find strength within themselves and face adversity with resilience and a sense of humor. By "starting singing" in the face of challenges, we symbolically embrace a positive mindset and refuse to let circumstances dampen our spirit.

He continues to explain that our attitude and perspective play a crucial role in how we navigate through tough times. By maintaining a positive outlook, finding joy amidst difficulties, and approaching challenges with a resilient and lighthearted spirit, we can inspire ourselves and others to persevere, maintain hope, and overcome obstacles with grace and determination.

10. Don't Ever, Ever Ring the Bell.

McRaven touches on the concept of perseverance and the importance of not giving up in the face of adversity. In Navy SEAL training, there is a brass bell that trainees can ring to signify their decision to quit and leave the program.

McRaven uses the metaphor of "ringing the bell" to represent giving in to challenges, surrendering to failure, or abandoning one's goals. He encourages readers to adopt a mindset of unwavering determination and to never give up, regardless of the difficulties encountered along the way. By refusing to ring the bell, individuals demonstrate their commitment to their dreams, their ability to overcome obstacles, and their willingness to push through discomfort and setbacks.

He talks about the need to persevere through hardships, maintain a strong resolve, and keep pushing forward towards success. He encourages readers to find inner strength, rely on their resilience, and refuse to let setbacks define their journey. By embracing the mindset of "Don't ever, ever ring the bell," individuals can achieve their goals, overcome challenges, and ultimately lead a fulfilling and successful life.

Never give up. Persevere through hardships, stay committed to your goals, and never surrender to adversity!

Admiral William H. McRaven's book "Make Your Bed" offers valuable life lessons that extend far beyond the realm of Navy SEAL training. Through his experiences and insightful anecdotes, McRaven inspires readers to adopt a mindset of resilience, determination, and unwavering commitment to their goals. From starting the day with a task completed to embracing failures as learning opportunities, from supporting and relying on others to finding strength in the face of adversity, each lesson serves as a powerful reminder of our own potential for personal growth and achievement.

By incorporating these principles into our lives, we can overcome obstacles, develop inner strength, and make a meaningful impact on the world around us. The lessons from "Make Your Bed" remind us that small actions, when approached with intention and purpose, can lead to significant and lasting change.

Internalize these lessons, apply them to our own journeys, and embark on a path of personal growth, achieve your goals, and make a positive difference in the world!

Why it is Important to Make Your Bed Each & Every Morning

…over the last few months as the weather grew colder and the days got shorter I found myself having a hard time accomplishing all of the daily goals I set for myself the night before. Then I watched a video which gave me a blue print on how to begin each day on the right foot. Believe it or not it all starts with Making Your Bed!

U.S. Navy Admiral William H. McRaven’s Speech

While perusing YouTube as I sometimes do I came across a video of the 2014 University of Texas commencement speech delivered by U.S. Navy Admiral William H. McRaven. Taking inspiration from the university’s slogan, “What starts here changes the world,” he shared the ten principles he learned learned during Navy SEAL training that helped him overcome challenges not only in his training and long Naval career, but also throughout his life; and he explained how anyone can use these basic lessons to change themselves and the world for the better. 

The Ten Principles

The ten principles Admiral McRaven highlights are: 

• Don’t go it alone
• Grit and determination trump talent
• Life is not fair; get over it
• Don’t fear failure; embrace it
• Take calculated risks
• Stand up to bullies
• Rise to the occasion when life gets hard
• Give people hope when times are tough

But the first and most important principle is start off each day by Making Your Bed!

Start Each Day By Making Your Bed

Admiral McRaven points out that it is important to start your day with a completed task. Life can be hard and filled with anxious moments and requires a sense of of structure. Starting each day with a small accomplishment such as making your bed will give you the desire and motivation to tackle the day’s larger tasks.  A morning that starts with a made bed demonstrated discipline, shows attention to detail and is a small accomplishment to set up many larger ones. Also if everything that happens to you after that is rough, there is nothing better to provide hope for the next day than coming home to a made bed!

Interested In Learning More?

If you are interested in seeing Admiral McRaven’s full speech you can by clicking here . You can also purchase his book titled “Make Your Bed” by clicking here . I hope you reading and always remember to Make Your Bed!

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“Make Your Bed” by Admiral William H. McRaven

Speech background.

In this speech, Admiral McRaven walks through 10 lessons​ he learned from basic SEAL training. I've bolded the 10 lessons to make it a bit easier to skim. If you’re interested in a summary, check out these notes and takeaways from Make Your Bed .

Naval Admiral William H. McRaven delivered the speech at the University-wide Commencement at The University of Texas at Austin on May 17, 2014.[1]

Speech Recording

Speech transcript.

President Powers, Provost Fenves, Deans, members of the faculty, family and friends and most importantly, the class of 2014. Congratulations on your achievement.

It’s been almost 37 years to the day that I graduated from UT. I remember a lot of things about that day. I remember I had a throbbing headache from a party the night before. I remember I had a serious girlfriend, whom I later married — that’s important to remember by the way — and I remember that I was getting commissioned in the Navy that day.

But of all the things I remember, I don’t have a clue who the commencement speaker was that evening, and I certainly don’t remember anything they said. So, acknowledging that fact, if I can’t make this commencement speech memorable, I will at least try to make it short.

The University’s slogan is, “What starts here changes the world.” I have to admit — I kinda like it. “What starts here changes the world.”

Tonight there are almost 8,000 students graduating from UT. That great paragon of analytical rigor, Ask.com, says that the average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime. That’s a lot of folks. But, if every one of you changed the lives of just 10 people — and each one of those folks changed the lives of another 10 people — just 10 — then in five generations — 125 years — the class of 2014 will have changed the lives of 800 million people.

800 million people — think of it — over twice the population of the United States. Go one more generation and you can change the entire population of the world — eight billion people.

If you think it’s hard to change the lives of 10 people — change their lives forever — you’re wrong. I saw it happen every day in Iraq and Afghanistan: A young Army officer makes a decision to go left instead of right down a road in Baghdad and the 10 soldiers in his squad are saved from close-in ambush. In Kandahar province, Afghanistan, a non-commissioned officer from the Female Engagement Team senses something isn’t right and directs the infantry platoon away from a 500-pound IED, saving the lives of a dozen soldiers.

But, if you think about it, not only were these soldiers saved by the decisions of one person, but their children yet unborn were also saved. And their children’s children were saved. Generations were saved by one decision, by one person.

But changing the world can happen anywhere and anyone can do it. So, what starts here can indeed change the world, but the question is — what will the world look like after you change it?

Well, I am confident that it will look much, much better. But if you will humor this old sailor for just a moment, I have a few suggestions that may help you on your way to a better a world. And while these lessons were learned during my time in the military, I can assure you that it matters not whether you ever served a day in uniform. It matters not your gender, your ethnic or religious background, your orientation or your social status.

Our struggles in this world are similar, and the lessons to overcome those struggles and to move forward — changing ourselves and the world around us — will apply equally to all.

I have been a Navy SEAL for 36 years. But it all began when I left UT for Basic SEAL training in Coronado, California. Basic SEAL training is six months of long torturous runs in the soft sand, midnight swims in the cold water off San Diego, obstacles courses, unending calisthenics, days without sleep and always being cold, wet and miserable. It is six months of being constantly harassed by professionally trained warriors who seek to find the weak of mind and body and eliminate them from ever becoming a Navy SEAL.

But, the training also seeks to find those students who can lead in an environment of constant stress, chaos, failure and hardships. To me basic SEAL training was a lifetime of challenges crammed into six months.

So, here are the 10 lessons I learned from basic SEAL training that hopefully will be of value to you as you move forward in life.

Every morning in basic SEAL training, my instructors, who at the time were all Vietnam veterans, would show up in my barracks room and the first thing they would inspect was your bed. If you did it right, the corners would be square, the covers pulled tight, the pillow centered just under the headboard and the extra blanket folded neatly at the foot of the rack — that’s Navy talk for bed.

It was a simple task — mundane at best. But every morning we were required to make our bed to perfection. It seemed a little ridiculous at the time, particularly in light of the fact that were aspiring to be real warriors, tough battle-hardened SEALs, but the wisdom of this simple act has been proven to me many times over.

If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.

And, if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made — that you made — and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.

If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.

During SEAL training the students are broken down into boat crews. Each crew is seven students — three on each side of a small rubber boat and one coxswain to help guide the dingy. Every day your boat crew forms up on the beach and is instructed to get through the surf zone and paddle several miles down the coast. In the winter, the surf off San Diego can get to be 8 to 10 feet high and it is exceedingly difficult to paddle through the plunging surf unless everyone digs in. Every paddle must be synchronized to the stroke count of the coxswain. Everyone must exert equal effort or the boat will turn against the wave and be unceremoniously tossed back on the beach.

For the boat to make it to its destination, everyone must paddle. You can’t change the world alone — you will need some help — and to truly get from your starting point to your destination takes friends, colleagues, the good will of strangers and a strong coxswain to guide them.

If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.

Over a few weeks of difficult training my SEAL class, which started with 150 men, was down to just 35. There were now six boat crews of seven men each. I was in the boat with the tall guys, but the best boat crew we had was made up of the the little guys — the munchkin crew we called them — no one was over about five-foot-five.

The munchkin boat crew had one American Indian, one African American, one Polish American, one Greek American, one Italian American, and two tough kids from the Midwest. They out-paddled, out-ran and out-swam all the other boat crews. The big men in the other boat crews would always make good-natured fun of the tiny little flippers the munchkins put on their tiny little feet prior to every swim. But somehow these little guys, from every corner of the nation and the world, always had the last laugh — swimming faster than everyone and reaching the shore long before the rest of us.

SEAL training was a great equalizer. Nothing mattered but your will to succeed. Not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education and not your social status.

If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.

Several times a week, the instructors would line up the class and do a uniform inspection. It was exceptionally thorough. Your hat had to be perfectly starched, your uniform immaculately pressed and your belt buckle shiny and void of any smudges. But it seemed that no matter how much effort you put into starching your hat, or pressing your uniform or polishing your belt buckle — it just wasn’t good enough. The instructors would find “something” wrong.

For failing the uniform inspection, the student had to run, fully clothed into the surf zone and then, wet from head to toe, roll around on the beach until every part of your body was covered with sand. The effect was known as a “sugar cookie.” You stayed in that uniform the rest of the day — cold, wet and sandy.

There were many a student who just couldn’t accept the fact that all their effort was in vain. That no matter how hard they tried to get the uniform right, it was unappreciated. Those students didn’t make it through training. Those students didn’t understand the purpose of the drill. You were never going to succeed. You were never going to have a perfect uniform.

Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform you still end up as a sugar cookie. It’s just the way life is sometimes.

If you want to change the world, get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.

Every day during training you were challenged with multiple physical events — long runs, long swims, obstacle courses, hours of calisthenics — something designed to test your mettle. Every event had standards — times you had to meet. If you failed to meet those standards your name was posted on a list, and at the end of the day those on the list were invited to a “circus.” A circus was two hours of additional calisthenics designed to wear you down, to break your spirit, to force you to quit.

No one wanted a circus.

A circus meant that for that day you didn’t measure up. A circus meant more fatigue — and more fatigue meant that the following day would be more difficult — and more circuses were likely. But at some time during SEAL training, everyone — everyone — made the circus list.

But an interesting thing happened to those who were constantly on the list. Over time those students — who did two hours of extra calisthenics — got stronger and stronger. The pain of the circuses built inner strength, built physical resiliency.

Life is filled with circuses. You will fail. You will likely fail often. It will be painful. It will be discouraging. At times it will test you to your very core.

But if you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the circuses.

At least twice a week, the trainees were required to run the obstacle course. The obstacle course contained 25 obstacles including a 10-foot high wall, a 30-foot cargo net and a barbed wire crawl, to name a few. But the most challenging obstacle was the slide for life. It had a three-level 30-foot tower at one end and a one-level tower at the other. In between was a 200-foot-long rope. You had to climb the three-tiered tower and once at the top, you grabbed the rope, swung underneath the rope and pulled yourself hand over hand until you got to the other end.

The record for the obstacle course had stood for years when my class began training in 1977. The record seemed unbeatable, until one day, a student decided to go down the slide for life head first. Instead of swinging his body underneath the rope and inching his way down, he bravely mounted the TOP of the rope and thrust himself forward.

It was a dangerous move — seemingly foolish, and fraught with risk. Failure could mean injury and being dropped from the training. Without hesitation the student slid down the rope perilously fast. Instead of several minutes, it only took him half that time and by the end of the course he had broken the record.

If you want to change the world, sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.

During the land warfare phase of training, the students are flown out to San Clemente Island which lies off the coast of San Diego. The waters off San Clemente are a breeding ground for the great white sharks. To pass SEAL training there are a series of long swims that must be completed. One is the night swim.

Before the swim the instructors joyfully brief the trainees on all the species of sharks that inhabit the waters off San Clemente. They assure you, however, that no student has ever been eaten by a shark — at least not recently. But, you are also taught that if a shark begins to circle your position — stand your ground. Do not swim away. Do not act afraid. And if the shark, hungry for a midnight snack, darts towards you — then summon up all your strength and punch him in the snout, and he will turn and swim away.

There are a lot of sharks in the world. If you hope to complete the swim, you will have to deal with them.

So, if you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks.

As Navy SEALs, one of our jobs is to conduct underwater attacks against enemy shipping. We practiced this technique extensively during basic training. The ship attack mission is where a pair of SEAL divers is dropped off outside an enemy harbor and then swims well over two miles — underwater — using nothing but a depth gauge and a compass to get to their target.

During the entire swim, even well below the surface, there is some light that comes through. It is comforting to know that there is open water above you. But as you approach the ship, which is tied to a pier, the light begins to fade. The steel structure of the ship blocks the moonlight, it blocks the surrounding street lamps, it blocks all ambient light.

To be successful in your mission, you have to swim under the ship and find the keel — the centerline and the deepest part of the ship. This is your objective. But the keel is also the darkest part of the ship — where you cannot see your hand in front of your face, where the noise from the ship’s machinery is deafening and where it is easy to get disoriented and fail.

Every SEAL knows that under the keel, at the darkest moment of the mission, is the time when you must be calm, composed — when all your tactical skills, your physical power and all your inner strength must be brought to bear.

If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moment.

The ninth week of training is referred to as “Hell Week.” It is six days of no sleep, constant physical and mental harassment, and one special day at the Mud Flats. The Mud Flats are areas between San Diego and Tijuana where the water runs off and creates the Tijuana slues, a swampy patch of terrain where the mud will engulf you.

It is on Wednesday of Hell Week that you paddle down to the mud flats and spend the next 15 hours trying to survive the freezing cold mud, the howling wind and the incessant pressure to quit from the instructors. As the sun began to set that Wednesday evening, my training class, having committed some “egregious infraction of the rules” was ordered into the mud.

The mud consumed each man till there was nothing visible but our heads. The instructors told us we could leave the mud if only five men would quit — just five men — and we could get out of the oppressive cold. Looking around the mud flat it was apparent that some students were about to give up. It was still over eight hours till the sun came up — eight more hours of bone-chilling cold.

The chattering teeth and shivering moans of the trainees were so loud it was hard to hear anything. And then, one voice began to echo through the night, one voice raised in song. The song was terribly out of tune, but sung with great enthusiasm. One voice became two and two became three and before long everyone in the class was singing. We knew that if one man could rise above the misery then others could as well.

The instructors threatened us with more time in the mud if we kept up the singing but the singing persisted. And somehow the mud seemed a little warmer, the wind a little tamer and the dawn not so far away.

If I have learned anything in my time traveling the world, it is the power of hope. The power of one person — Washington, Lincoln, King, Mandela and even a young girl from Pakistan, Malala — one person can change the world by giving people hope.

So, if you want to change the world, start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.

Finally, in SEAL training there is a bell. A brass bell that hangs in the center of the compound for all the students to see. All you have to do to quit is ring the bell.

Ring the bell and you no longer have to wake up at 5 o’clock. Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the freezing cold swims. Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the runs, the obstacle course, the PT — and you no longer have to endure the hardships of training. Just ring the bell.

If you want to change the world don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

To the graduating class of 2014, you are moments away from graduating. Moments away from beginning your journey through life. Moments away from starting to change the world — for the better. It will not be easy.

But, YOU are the class of 2014, the class that can affect the lives of 800 million people in the next century.

Start each day with a task completed. Find someone to help you through life. Respect everyone.

Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often. But if take you take some risks, step up when the times are toughest, face down the bullies, lift up the downtrodden and never, ever give up — if you do these things, then the next generation and the generations that follow will live in a world far better than the one we have today.

And what started here will indeed have changed the world — for the better.

Thank you very much. Hook ’em horns.

[1] The speech was originally published on the University of Texas website .

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Why You Need To Make Your Bed Every Day (Even If You Don’t Feel Like It)

“Did you make your bed?”

Growing up, my mom always made it clear that making my bed was a priority , and promptly marched me back to my room if I mumbled “no”.

As a seven-year old, I didn’t understand why making my bed was so essential. I’d be crawling back under the covers in 14 hours anyway!

But now that I’m in my 30’s, I get it.

And if I had kids, I’d totally be that mom who nags them to make their bed too.

But here’s what I’d also tell them:

Why Making Your Bed is Far More Than a Chore

In his famous 2014 graduation speech, retired Admiral William H. McRaven said this to the University of Texas class ,

If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. Admiral William H. McRaven

It’s one of my all time favorite speeches. (The clip above is less than 2 minutes—so I hope you have time for a quick listen! I promise it’ll be worth it. ) He also wrote a book if you’re more of a reader and less of a video-watcher.

The Admiral’s theory is that this small act of making your bed means you’ve accomplished at least one thing for the day.

And that one thing will snowball into many more.

Not only that, but those who start the day with a tidy bed are more likely to keep an organized, clutter-free home . While there is no scientific data promoting the positive effects of bed-making (although anecdotal evidence is abundant!), there are studies that prove a tidy environment will:

• Improve your focus
• Increase your productivity
• Lead to lower levels of stress

So is it a stretch to say a tidy bed will do the same?

I don’t think so.

If that’s not incentive enough

Making your bed is essential for your mental health.

For those of us who struggle with anxiety and depression , we often live feeling like our lives control us . (At least I do!) We can’t always predict what days we’ll wake up feeling like a normal human being and which ones will be shadowed by dark clouds consuming our mental space.

This daily repetitive task of pulling up our covers and arranging pillows is one simple way to control our environment. You start the day feeling disciplined and infinitely more put together, rather than wallowing among the crumpled sheets.

And at the end of the day, is there anything better than walking into a tranquil-looking bedroom, pulling back your comforter and sliding into crisp cool sheets with a good book in hand?

Honestly, few things bring bring me more peace than that!

I’m not suggesting that you can cure your mental health issues by making your bed. But when everything else feels like it’s spiraling out of control, your bed doesn’t have to be one of those things.

My Best Tips to Start and Maintain This Habit

If you’re not already a compulsive bed-maker, it may take some time for you to instill this habit into your life . Here are my best tips:

• Let it be easy. Don’t over-complicate your bed making with an abundance of decorative pillows and blankets. Keep it simple! I recently purchased new bedding through Beddy’s and can’t believe how easy is to make my bed now! I use to struggle big-time, tugging and tucking my comforter in between our tight RV bedroom walls. But with Beddy’s, you just zip up your bed and go.

• Use a habit tracker. “Make My Bed” is the first habit on my Streaks app and I love filling in that circle every morning. Streaks is only available on iOS, but there are similar apps for Android! Or you can print out the habit trackers below if you prefer paper to digital tracking.

• Stack this with another habit. Give yourself the best chance of completing this task by combining it with one you won’t forget… like brushing your teeth. Brushing your teeth becomes a cue that you now need to make your bed.
• Tell yourself it will only take minute. When we are in a rush, we tend to skip this part of our morning routine. But making your bed is not as involved as you think it is. Gretchen Rubin also said, “Nothing is more exhausting than the task that’s never started.” So take deep breath and don’t overthink it.

Wait, what about…

… that study that said making your bed harbors bacteria ?

Yes, it’s a thing.

But is it something to worry about?

Not if you wash your sheets once every two weeks. Once a week if you’re super worried about it, which most people are not.

How You Do Anything is How You Do Everything

For me, making my bed is just as essential as getting dressed and ready for the day. Maybe that sounds silly, but when I don’t do it, my whole day feels off !

Not only does a freshly made bed look better, I’m able to focus on the rest of my tasks knowing that a rumpled comforter isn’t lurking just inside the bedroom door.

Plus, when we take pride in the small things (and do them well), we tend to bring our best to everything else.

If your attitude towards your bed is:

• No one’s going to see it
• I don’t have time
• It doesn’t matter

Those mindsets subconsciously show up in other areas of your life.

But if you put your best effort into the little things, you’ll put the same effort into the big things .

So if you’re going to make your bed, do it right and do it consistently.

Because even though your mom might not be watching anymore, there’s still one more benefit to making your bed…

If by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made. And a made bed encourages you that tomorrow will be better. Admiral William H. McRaven

Do you make your bed every day?

Or maybe I should ask, do you tell your kids to make their bed every day? 😀

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.  Read my full disclosure policy here.

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