The key ideas

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

William H. McRaven, 2017

An admiral who completed Navy SEAL training begins his famous speech by advising you to make your bed. Then come a seven-person boat, “sugar cookies,” sharks in dark water, and a bell nobody wanted to ring. Ten short lessons about enduring hardship and unfairness, told through stories from military life.

Who it is for

For anyone going through a difficult time who wants to bring order to their days through small steps and prefers vivid stories to theory.

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

What the book is about

Can a made bed have anything to do with getting through the hardest days? Admiral William McRaven thinks so. In May 2014, he addressed University of Texas graduates and began with the bed. The speech quickly spread online, and three years later grew into this short book.

The book offers ten lessons from Navy SEALs’ training and the author’s own life. An important qualification: this is a military officer’s experience and stories of people he knew rather than research or a universal management model. The book argues through stories rather than data. Ahead are a seven-person boat, “sugar cookies,” sharks in dark water, and a brass bell nobody wanted to ring.

Idea 1. Begin with a completed task

During SEAL training, instructors inspected beds every morning: corners, a taut blanket, a centered pillow. Recruits dreaming of becoming real operators found it absurd.

McRaven explains the point this way. A made bed is the day’s first completed task. It brings a small sense of pride and encourages the next one. If the day goes badly, you return to a bed you put in order yourself.

The chapter also contains a half-joking observation. After Saddam Hussein’s capture in 2003, McRaven visited him in detention and noticed that his blanket always lay crumpled. Some reviewers think the author goes too far here: a rumpled bed says nothing about character.

The morning begins with an unpleasant email from your boss. But the bed is made: one thing has definitely gone right today.

The author believes the key is the first completed action. Putting one small thing in order may support you when you cannot put the bigger things in order.

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About the author

William McRaven is a retired US Navy admiral and former Navy SEAL. He led US Special Operations Command and, after retiring, served as chancellor of the University of Texas System.

All books by this author: William H. McRaven

Terms from the book

  • Bell
  • Navy SEALs
  • Hell Week
  • Sugar cookie: A training nickname for a recruit made to soak in the surf and roll in sand after failing an inspection. An image from the book rather than a general term.
  • Circus: Two additional hours of exercise for recruits who missed a required standard. For McRaven, an image of failure after which you can become stronger.

All terms

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