Making Your Bed
I remember seeing a clip of a commencement speech given by Navy Seal Admiral William H. McRaven (you can view the clip here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxBQLFLei70 ). In his speech he talks about how each of us can change the world. He has several recommendations about how to do that, but he starts by stating, “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.”
He explains that completing the simple task of making your bed provides motivation, perspective, and encouragement. It gives you a small sense of accomplishment that can encourage you to do more tasks. It reinforces the idea that the little things matter, and that if you can complete little things, you can complete bigger things. Finally, when you return home, particularly after a tough day, your made bed can provide encouragement that tomorrow will be better.
Amazing, isn’t it, how such a small, simple, mundane act can have such huge implications. It seems almost silly, and yet, it is just so true.
It is so often the little things, the things we overlook or consider meaningless, that can change us, that can change our circumstances. Yet when we can start with something small, some small change that seems to not even count for anything, we set off a chain reaction. Make your bed and you may find yourself putting the clothes on the floor into the hamper, and then you may go to work and find that you’re more productive. Take a short walk in the morning and you may find yourself taking a longer one tomorrow, or riding your bike to work, or going for a run later in the day. Sit and meditate for 5 minutes one time and you may find yourself doing it again, and again, and then lengthening the time in meditation.
We often believe that we need to take drastic steps to make changes. We must fast or cleanse if we want to be healthier, run miles for a workout to be effective, get it all done now or it will never get done. We believe these things, we attempt to make big changes, and we fall short of our lofty goals. We do this again, and again, and again, each time reinforcing the faulty belief that we cannot change ourselves or our circumstances. We believe we aren’t strong enough, good enough, determined enough. We aren't enough.
What if we don’t have to make such huge changes? What if huge changes are precisely the problem? What if we are enough and that we are just trying to do too much, too quickly?
The reality is that huge changes are often not sustainable. When we make huge changes we often feel deprived, overwhelmed, or punished. We don’t like them, we don’t have time for them, we don’t have the will power or stamina to maintain them. Our big changes create suffering, which is ironic given that we make them hoping for happiness and fulfillment. Once we start to suffer, we seek to avoid or stop the suffering, not because we are weak but because we are human. To stop the suffering, we reverse the change, which we then view as a failure. We continue to suffer. It makes little sense, but we’ve been so conditioned to “think big” and “get results fast” that we lose our perspective and forget that it’s often the little things that matter most.
Let’s try something different. Let’s try starting small. Let’s make small and sustainable changes, one or two at a time, just to see what happens. You may be surprised by what you find. You may find that these small changes are actually quite easy to do and to maintain. You may find you like them because not only are they not terribly taxing, but they also lead to a sense of accomplishment and success. Rather than creating suffering, they create positive feelings, and these positive feelings gain momentum. You may find that they lead you to make more small and sustainable changes, and that these lead to more, and so on.
Before you know it, you’ve changed your life, not only easily but also happily.
Start today. Make your bed. And then just see what happens.
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