Starting your day right can make a difference in how the rest of your day goes. Having good habits makes it easier to get more accomplished and leads to a happier life.
Charles Duhig said in his book “The Power of Habit”, making your bed is a keystone behavior which is something that starts other good habits. He said “making your bed every morning is correlated with better productivity, a greater sense of well-being and stronger skills at sticking with a budget.”
Admiral William McRaven gave a commencement speech at the University of Texas in 2014. He stated that every morning in basic SEAL training his instructors would show up in the barracks room and the first thing they would do is inspect the bed. If you did it right, the corners would be square, the covers pulled tight, the pillow centered under the headboard and his extra blanket would be folded at the end of the rack. He went on to say “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 proven to me many times over.”
Making your bed in the morning is the first task you complete for the day and it gives you an accomplishment to start the day. By doing this first task it puts you on the path for the day to accomplish more tasks during the day.
As Admiral McRaven says, “If you can’t get the little things right, you will never get the big things right. If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.”
Your action plan for tomorrow is to start the day by making your bed. Many people have said that starting the day by making their bed has changed their lives.
Be Great!
