Little Things That Can Change Your Life…and Maybe the World
Dear all,
In Monday’s assembly, we had our third and final instalment from Admiral McRaven’s 2014 address to students at the University of Texas, which began with the concept of the multiplier effect if we all positively influence others in small and achievable ways. He gave 10 tips that he felt would help anyone develop their own character, which in turn would mean they were likely to positively influence others. Last week we heard about the importance of getting the small things right – like making your bed every morning – and on Monday we summarised some of the other lessons in life he covered.
The second and third messages given by Admiral McRaven focused on the importance of other people: the Navy SEAL training on which all ten lessons were based divided the recruits into boat crews of seven individuals, and one of their daily tasks was to row several miles up and down the coastline, through surf of between 8-10 high. His point was that no matter how strong or determined any individual trainee was, the only way to succeed in this task was to ensure every one of the seven-person crew was working in harmony to their maximum effort. He also referred to one particular boat crew, made up of cadets who were shorter and more diverse than any of the others, but who regularly outperformed all the others, his lesson being that we should determine people
“by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.”
The rest of Admiral McRaven’s lessons were all about determination, learning from failure, standing up for what is right, staying positive through adversity, and never giving up. The supporting examples he gave included tough consequences for failing short of the very highest standards of dress and performance expected of all trainees; of facing down sharks when forced to do night swims; and of singing when buried overnight up to the neck in freezing cold mud.
I imagine very few people would want to put themselves through Navy SEAL training and even fewer would be able to make it successfully through the course, but every one of us could benefit from applying these lessons in our own context, and as we begin the new school year, we encouraged our students to consider how they might do so in order to help them achieve their goals.
If you’d like to read more about Admiral McRaven’s lessons for life, I recommend his book ‘Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life… and Maybe the World’, a link to which can be found here.
Have a great weekend.
Best wishes,
Michael Bond
