On May 17, 2014, Naval Admiral William H. McRaven gave the commencement address to the graduates of The University of Texas. The speech became the basis of his best-selling book, Make Your Bed, a few years later.

Adm. McRaven urged the graduates to find the courage to change the world. He shared the ten principles he learned during Navy Seal training that helped him overcome challenges in his own life and explained how those basic lessons can be used to change yourself and the world.

The first — and most memorable — of the life lessons Adm. McRaven shared was to make your bed every morning:

Every morning in basic SEAL training, my instructors, who at the time were all Vietnam veterans, would show up in my barracks room and the first thing they would inspect was your bed. If you did it right, the corners would be square, the covers pulled tight, the pillow centered just under the headboard and the extra blanket folded neatly at the foot of the rack — that’s Navy talk for bed.

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 were aspiring to be real warriors, tough battle-hardened SEALs, but the wisdom of this simple act has been proven to me many times over.

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 it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.

This is a small, but meaningful, action anyone can take to kickstart their day with a productive habit. Then, use the momentum from the simple task of making your bed to help you make the next right decision or stack with another positive habit.

I especially love his final point about the benefits of making your bed:

And, if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made — that you made — and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.

So, take some advice from Adm. McRaven, “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.”

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