Make Your Bed

Why you should start your day off with making your bed.

At the University of Texas, U.S Navy Adm. William H. McCraven told graduates that if they wanted to change the world to “start off by making your bed.”  

I hate making my bed. My son, like most kids, constantly asks me “why do I have to make the bed?” I didn’t have the best answer and I hate saying "because I said so."

I happened upon Adm. McCraven’s story. His reasoning was that it helps you “accomplish your first task” so that you'll keep accomplishing tasks through the day. But there’s more to it than that. 

The Real Enemy

In business, we create all of these unseen ‘enemies.’ The market. Competitors. Suppliers. Our own co-workers. All of these so called antagonists get in the way of us accomplishing tasks, or so we like to tell ourselves. But the real enemy? Us! You see, making our bed is an exercise in will versus desire. I’d rather not make my bed. My laziness begs me to skip…just this one time. It would be so easy to make an excuse and not do it. 

The same is true for our work. Most of us, myself included, have a never ending list of things to do sitting on our desks. We make a myriad of excuses for why some of those things never seem to get done. We create these ‘enemies.’ But if we’re honest with ourselves? The reason some things stay on our task list is because we don’t want to do them.

What Making The Bed Teaches Us

I would guess that there are very few of us that like making the bed. Our mornings are busy, we’re tired and making the bed just reminds us we’d rather still be sleeping. Making the bed teaches us to tackle those tasks we don’t want to do first. To do them despite our reluctance.

The best time to do the things you don't want to do? First thing. If you've ever worked with a personal trainer, they'll find out what body part you hate working and have you work it first. That way, you're not dreading what's coming. You get the worst thing out of the way and the rest of the workout is spent on stuff you don't hate. 

So, go ahead and take a look at your task list. Find those things that have been sitting there because you don't want to do them and do them. First thing in the morning. Once that thing is out of the way? The rest of your day will seem like a breeze.