Paul Mackenzie Ross

A few years ago I saw a clip of American Navy Seal Admiral William McRaven saying “make your bed” as part of an address to an audience at the University of Texas in 2014.

You can watch the particular snippet here, but the gist of the “make your bed” part of his speech was:

1. You will have accomplished the first task of the day
2. It will give you a small sense of pride
3. It will encourage you do to another task, and another…
4. It will reinforce the fact that the little things in life matter
5. If you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never be able to do the big things right
6. And finally, if you come home from a miserable day you’ll come home to a bed that is made

These are all really important points and I agree with them. However, I didn’t always…

1986

When I was a cadet I hated the discipline. Having to march, iron, and, yes, make my bed, was too much for a teenager. If anyone didn’t make their bed to the exacting military standards, on inspection, your bed linen would be thrown to the floor, you’d be shouted at, humiliated in front of the rest of the squad, and have to do the mundane task all 0ver again.

Now, the right attitude is to just get it right. But back then I had my sleeping bag for night exercises, and slept in that. My sheets would require tightening in the morning but the blankets etc stayed immaculately folded under my bed and appeared every morning. I got away with it.

But I didn’t pursue a career in the forces and stayed in civvy street with my own do-as-I-like bed.

2024

Today, I’m a different person. I make my bed. Every morning. I come home at night or have a snooze in the daytime in a perfectly manicured bed. Is that Admiral McRaven’s influence? Yes it is. It was also drummed in by reading Tools of Titans. They mentioned the infamous speech and I realised how important it is.

There are also a few more points I’d like to add about “make your bed”;

7. If 8 hours sleep is the perfect amount of kip, then we spend a third of our lives asleep. So it’s best that sleep is done in a bed that’s made before we get in and after we get up.
8. The knowledge that your bed is already made is a nice target at the end of the day, you’ve got something seemingly small but satisfying and comfortable to look forward to in your daily life project.
9. If you’ve ever read David Allen’s book Getting Things Done, then you may recall his concept of “open loops”. The notion of the open loop is that if something is not done and not completed then it can weigh on one’s mind. With all the things we need to get done every day, it’s well worth making sure that the loops that CAN be closed ARE closed.
10. Doing the ritual of making your bed is an act of discipline. I believe in a mixture of freedom and chaos but also a healthy dose of discipline too.
11. Additionally the ritual can become habit and habits are important acts of positive autopilot actions.
12. When you “make your bed” that’s one less thing to do.
13. If you subscribe to the idea of incremental gains, then doing this one thing right will help you make life easier.
14. These are all seemingly small things but they are important and subtle psychological aspects of the human psyche.

I’ve blown McRaven’s 6 succinct points into 14 points now with my own insights on the issue. But think about it, ponder it all – when you’ve got it all together, it all starts to make sense doesn’t it!