Ro's Recz

William H. McRaven is a former Navy Seal who wrote the book Make Your Bed after giving a commencement speech at the University of Texas at Austin.

If you don’t want to have to buy the book, I would highly recommend at least listening to the 6 minute speech on Youtube (it summarizes the gist of the book). I don’t know much about McRaven’s personal background, but his speech is one of the most brilliant things I have heard, and it includes so many great lessons that he learned while in the Navy.

Mcraven’s message is that you should start each day by making your bed, as this will give you a sense of accomplishment that you can carry throughout each day. It may seem like such a little thing to do, but by starting off each morning with a small win, you can use this momentum to carry you throughout the day. At one point, Mcraven says something to the effect of, “Even if you have a bad day, at least you will come home to a made bed.”

In addition to telling you to make your bed, Mcraven also talks about the importance of hope and perseverance. When he was training to be a Navy Seal, he and his classmates had to go through “Hell Week”, which sounds like one of the most terrible things I have ever heard. It is something you should learn more about, even if you do not ever want to go through the experience yourself.

I would recommend listening to his speech first, and if you enjoy listening to it and want to hear more, buy his book. Both the speech and the book are well worth the time!

Make Your Bed Recommendation Rating: 3.5

This post has now been updated to reflect a new ratings system that I have implemented, which is scored as follows:

1: Something worth checking out if you have time

2: Something that is a hit for some people, but not a must for everyone

3: Something worth prioritizing if interested

4: Something worth making time to check out

5: An absolute home run, worth going out of your way for