the small things matter

I recently watched a YouTube video of a 2014 University of Texas commencement address by Admiral McRaven with the US Navy. Some commencement speeches wax poetic about reaching for the stars and fulfilling your dreams. Blah blah, barf. This speech was different. It was practical. The ideas shared could be implemented if you were leading a large organization and at an individual level, too. Admiral McRaven shared a number of thoughts but one simple piece of advice stood out to me:

“If you want to change the world start the day by making your bed. 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 will encourage you to do another task. And then another.”.

So simple. Make your bed. 

Seems basic, right? You can’t climb the mountain without taking the first step. The same applies to your day. If you don’t set your day up for success the chances of it being as good as it can be are slim. Something as simple as making your bed makes you feel like you have already checked something off the list before the day has started.

During these COVID times, online school has been an unplanned opportunity to learn about broader life skills such as self-discipline and self-motivation more so that it has been about math and English literature. In the past couple of weeks one of my boys has been struggling to get caught up on schoolwork. Self-motivation and an unstructured environment are things that he has always struggled with. He felt like he was never getting things accomplished. I showed him the “make your bed” video and something seemed to click after watching it. As he said, he might be behind in classes but at least he did one thing to check an item off his list when he made his bed. A simple task gave him confidence to tackle the things that he was finding hard.  

He has made progress with his schoolwork. And he has been making his bed each day since. He is starting to realize that the little things matter. If you take one step forward it gives you the power and confidence to take another. And by taking the small steps you can move closer to the bigger things in life. Crawl before you walk.

Start by making the damn bed.

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