Make Your Bed

In our first whole school assembly of the year last week, we introduced the speech given by Admiral William McRaven at the University of Texas graduation ceremony 10 years ago in 2014, in which he talked about the fact that if everyone in the audience managed to positively influence the lives of just 10 people across their lifetime, and they did the same, within five generations or so the impact would be huge. In this week’s assembly, we considered the first of the 10 lessons he offered to help achieve this goal. In his own words:

‘I’ve been a Navy SEAL for 36 years but it all began when I left this university for basic training, which involves six months of intense challenges designed to eliminate those who do not have the mental and physical strength and find those who can lead in an environment of stress, chaos, failure and hardship. To me, this training was a lifetime of challenges crammed into six months. Every morning my instructors, who were all Vietnam veterans, would show up in my barracks and the first thing they did was inspect my bed. If I did it right, the corners would be square, the covers would be pulled tight, the pillow centred just under the headboard, and the extra blanket folded neatly at the foot of the bed. It was a simple task, but every morning we were required to make our bed to perfection. It seemed a little ridiculous at the time, particularly because we were aspiring to be 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. And 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 the little things in life matter.

If you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never be able to do the big things right. And if you happen to have a bad day, you will come home to a bed that is made, that you made. And a made bed encourages you that tomorrow will be better. So if you want to change the world, start by making your bed.’

Admiral McRaven’s address included 10 lessons for life but it is usually referred to as the ‘Make Your Bed’ speech because this was the first, the simplest but arguably the most important lesson. It speaks to the importance of making a start, getting on with things, and generally being proactive. It’s the idea behind many wise sayings in life, such as ‘even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a small step’ and, as Admiral McRaven suggested, it’s important because if we can’t get the little things in life right, there’s no way we’ll succeed with the big things.

I asked our students last week to think about how they can make a positive difference to our community this year and this week I suggested they start by identifying the small, practical steps they could do with just a little thought and intentionality. They could talk to their Form Tutor about creating a class or a year-group list of ideas for small improvements and it might be something that could be a good discussion point at home. They could – and should – of course, also start by making their bed every day, and go from there.

Have a great weekend

Best wishes

Michael Bond