make your bed speech summary

Make Your Bed Speech: Summary and 5 Lessons

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One thing that every 2014 graduate of the University of Texas has in common is that they were able to witness one of the most empowering and inspirational commencement speeches of our time.

Given by former Navy SEAL, Admiral William H. McRaven, this inspiring 20-minute speech offers timeless lessons that anyone can apply to their own life to overcome challenges, be more successful, and change the world.

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What Did Admiral McRaven Say in His Famous Speech?

In his speech, McRaven recognizes that while every person may be different, all of our struggles as humans are similar to each other. So while listeners may not be able to relate specifically to Admiral McRaven’s career in the Navy, his message is universal.

McRaven starts by focusing on the schools motto, “What starts here changes the world.” The motto in itself relays the message that graduating from the University of Texas is just the beginning of what’s to come.

Students graduate with the knowledge they have gained from their professors and peers, but once they leave, they have to apply those lessons to the real world.

No matter what career path you have chosen, you are sure to face challenges. You may decide that some are too big to overcome or too complicated to deal with.

However, McRaven uses UT’s motto to call people to action. Don’t settle for how things are or how they have always been if they can be improved. Make an effort today to create a change in the world.

Throughout the rest of his speech, McRaven recounts his life as a Navy SEAL following his own graduation from the University of Texas and the ten most important lessons that he learned from his initial six months of basic training.

You can view the full speech here:

This speech touched so many people that it led to the publishing of McRaven’s #1 New York Times Best Seller, Make Your Bed .

Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World

But what insight did Admiral McRaven gain during his time in the Navy and how can those lessons be implemented into everyone else’s life?

In this article, I will delve into the five biggest lessons that you can take away from this commencement speech to help you change the world, and I will reveal what Admiral McRaven is really telling people when he says to make your bed .

Lesson #1: Make Your Bed Every Morning

Starting your day off by completing a task will initiate your momentum to do the next task, and then the next, and so on. It will give you a sense of accomplishment that you will want to continue to feel throughout the day.

If you can’t complete a small and mundane task each morning such as making your bed, you can’t expect yourself to be able to complete more complicated tasks moving forward.

If you end up having an unproductive or otherwise negligible day, you will still come home and be reminded that you completed that one task, which can instill hope that you will have a better or more productive day tomorrow.

In your life, the small task that jumpstarts your day may not literally be making your bed. But the point is to find one task that you can make into a habit that will slowly start to get to the root of a problem you’re facing or inch toward a goal for which you’re reaching.

As long as you accomplish this task every day, you will be starting off on the right foot. Set this task up as a routine, so no matter what, this one thing gets completed every day.

Make sure the task you choose is meaningful to you and your team. While tucking in sheets may not feel meaningful to you, as a Navy SEAL heading to bed after a long day of training, a neatly made bed would provide meaningful comfort and a sense of reward.

What task do you do every day that provides value when all is said and done? Identify a task that you derive a clear value from when you look back at your previous state.

Lesson #2: You Can’t Change the World Alone

In McRaven’s speech, he describes rafting through the tall waves of the sea at night with three rowers on each side of the boat and one guide at the bow.

Apply this idea of team work to your life. You will always work with people who have various talents, but you need a balance of skills and abilities in order to succeed. Like Admiral McRaven, you want to be able to balance out those who can work at a faster pace with those who take more time, but produce high-quality work.

In order to make a difference, you also need to have the support of friends, family, co-workers, and others who share your vision. You need a strong team of people behind you to help you along your way.

This means it is important to nurture as many relationships as you can throughout life to ultimately be successful and to always recognize the role that other people played in your triumphs.

In turn, be willing to help out others who are on your team. Don’t prevent other people from learning or growing by keeping a task to yourself. Instead, be a leader and help your team along by encouraging everyone to grow and preventing just one person from taking on the entire load.

Consider your strengths and the progress your team could make together if you shared your expertise with them.

Lesson #3: Perfection Doesn’t Exist

While in training, Admiral McRaven underwent uniform inspections by his instructors, which he (and his fellow students) would fail on every occasion, no matter how hard they tried to prepare for it.

The instructors would always find something wrong with the students’ efforts, which would result in them having to endure a grueling run into the water, fully clothed, and a roll through the sand before spending the rest of the day in their dirty uniform.

Those who couldn’t accept the fact that their labor went unappreciated were the ones who didn’t make it through training. They were trying to reach a level of perfection that doesn’t exist.

People who focus on perfection hold unattainable standards for themselves and are overly concerned with how others perceive them. They don’t see mistakes as being an opportunity for growth , but rather a sign of failure.

Because of this, perfectionists rarely realize their full potential. Admiral McRaven’s advice here is to get over your failures and move on.

Lesson #4: Don’t Be Afraid of the Challenges That You Face

Whether it is a failure of some sort, an obstacle that you have to overcome, or an unexpected turn of events, don’t be afraid to face the things that try to break you down on your path to success.

Realize that these hurdles are most often opportunities to gain strength and resilience, which will make success more likely in the end.

Everyone will face challenges at times that may even make you want to quit. However, recognizing your ability to fight through these tough times will help you advance past subsequent barriers as your strength continues to multiply.

Furthermore, prepare yourself for the possible challenges you may face by doing small things each day that will make challenges in the future seem less intimidating.

For example, if you have a personal goal of reducing expenses , how often are you taking the time to review your spending ? How are you preparing yourself to face an unexpected bill? You have to take little steps to help make any potential challenges more approachable, no matter what line of work you’re in.

Lesson #5: Be Your Best In Your Darkest Moments

One thing that is certain is that you will face dark moments during your life. You will experience the death of a loved one and other events that leave you questioning the future. It is often difficult to imagine your life improving during these testing times.

While you may feel like you’ve lost the hope of deriving joy from life again, it is during these most difficult times that you dig deep inside yourself and bring out your best self.

Moving forward despite your feelings of helplessness will give you the necessary chance to come out on the other side and begin your journey of healing.

During these times, focus on the things you have rather than the things that you need. Capitalize on your strengths to help you get through these dark moments and remember that you have more inner strength than you will probably ever realize.

Final Thoughts on the Make Your Bed Speech

While few people have first-hand experience enduring the infamously difficult training that is required to become a Navy SEAL, Admiral McRaven offers lessons in his commencement speech that are universally applicable.

Everyone can relate to his message that even if you work as hard as you possibly can, you will still face failure at times. The key to being successful and changing the world, however, is to keep getting back up.

You have a choice each time you fail to either quit or find a lesson from the failure and move on. In order to change the world, you have to never, ever give up .

And if you're looking for more small habits that can change your life forever that only take five minutes or less to complete, watch the video below:

Connie Mathers is a professional editor and freelance writer. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Marketing and a Master’s Degree in Social Work. When she is not writing, Connie is either spending time with her daughter and two dogs, running, or working at her full-time job as a social worker in Richmond, VA.

Finally, if you want to take your goal-setting efforts to the next level, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals .

Make Your Bed Summary

1-Sentence-Summary: Make Your Bed encourages you to pursue your goals and change the lives of others for the better by showing that success is a combination of individual willpower and mutual support.

Favorite quote from the author:

Table of Contents

Video Summary

Make your bed review, audio summary, who would i recommend the make your bed summary to.

In 2014 Admiral William H. McRaven gave the commencement address at the University of Texas at Austin. While encouraging the students to improve the world , he gave many life lessons that could be of help. He had learned most of them during his Navy SEAL training – 6 months of runs in the sand, obstacles courses, unending calisthenics and continuous harassment by veterans, who wanted only the strongest to get to the end of it. 

As a cadet, McRaven learned that success doesn’t depend on social status, race or religion. It’s not how good your parents were to you or which school you went to that determines your future. It’s a combination of the little actions and help from others that makes people successful.

The admiral’s speech went viral on Youtube and later became a book .

In Make Your Bed: Small things that can change your life… and maybe the world , McRaven stresses that life is unfair, as everybody knows. In fact, what defines great men and women is how they deal with life’s unfairness. People like Helen Keller, Nelson Mandela, Stephen Hawking are just a few examples.

Here are my 3 favorite lessons about leveraging self-discipline and teaming up for a meaningful life:

• Making your bed first thing in the morning can lead to many tasks completed by the end of the day.
• If you want to change the world, never ever ring the bell.
• Find someone to help you paddle if you want to make a real difference in the world.

Do you want to be prepared for life challenges? Let’s see what we can learn from a Navy veteran who has held impressive key roles inside and outside the military!

If you want to save this summary for later, download the free PDF and read it whenever you want.

Lesson 1: Making the bed can boost your productivity and even give you hope in the bad days.

As a US SEAL cadet, McRaven had to make his bed to perfection first thing after waking up.

If he failed to follow the bed-making code, he had to perform the sugar cookie ritual, which has nothing to do with treats, as you can imagine. It’s more about diving into the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean and then rolling around on the beach until you are covered with sand head to toe. But why is making your bed so important?

While it may seem trivial when big assignments are waiting for you outside, starting off with this small task makes you feel a little proud and ready to deal with the rest of your tasks. And if you have a miserable day, coming back to a bed made – by you – will make you feel tomorrow will be better.

After a serious injury, McRaven spent many months lying on a hospital bed that had been wheeled into his government quarters. When he was finally able to stand up unaided, the first thing he did was adjusting the bed. 

It was his way of showing that he was recovering and moving forward.

Lesson 2: If you want to make a difference in life, never give up, learn from failures and keep improving yourself.

During the SEAL training , McRaven and his fellows had to withstand uncountable challenges of strength and courage . Giving up at any time was very easy: they just had to ring a bell hanging in the center of the compound and they would be free, immediately.

Never ring the bell if you want to achieve big goals in life.

You may have heard of the Circus, another legendary punishment known to make many cadets quit the SEAL training. It’s two hours of additional calisthenics, paired with non-stop harassment by SEAL combat veterans.

During the training, McRaven was part of a swim team that constantly came in last place and had to face the Circus many times a week. At the moment of the graduation test though, they came in first: all those hours of calisthenics had made them stronger. 

Life is full of Circuses. You fail, you keep training yourself, you get stronger .

Once McRaven’s team had to swim 4 miles in the dark. Scary enough in itself, but that night there were even reports of big white sharks near the coast. Since it was the only way to complete the SEAL training, they swam anyway.

If you want to achieve your full potential in life, don’t let fear stops you.

Lesson 3: Life is a struggle. To accomplish great things you need to fight. But you can’t do it alone: you need teammates.

SEAL cadets also have to overcome Hell Week, 7 days of endurance tests when many of them call it quits.

During their Hell Week, McRaven and his fellows had to spend a whole night sitting, covered in cold mud. In the middle of the test, some of them seemed ready to give up . Then one man began to sing. One by one the others followed him. Suddenly the mud felt less cold and the dawn closer.

Sometimes life gets very hard: the loss of someone you love, a disease or something you are not prepared for may crush your spirit. These are the moments when you need to dig inside yourself and bring out all your strength . But you also need the help of your friends and family.

Years ago the author was badly wounded in a parachute accident and he had to go through months of recovery and rehabilitation. He’s sure he would have surrendered to self-pity and depression if his wife hadn’t been there to support him.

In McRaven’s view, life is like a small rubber boat: you cannot paddle it alone. It takes a team of good people to get you where you want to go. So, as he says,

“Find someone to share your life with. Never forget that your success depends on others.”

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The 17-year-old discouraged about what he can do in life since he lives in a poor neighborhood, the 36-year-old who doesn’t like his life and blames it on his parents, and anyone who feels unlucky, demotivated or just lazy.

Last Updated on December 5, 2022

Clara Lobina

Clara is a SEO content strategist, writer, and proofreader from Sardinia, Italy. She is a cofounder, head of content, and COO of Botteega, a delivery service for local goods from high-quality shops and farmers. Clara wrote a total of 16 summaries for us. When she's not working on her own or her client's blogs, she teaches and does yoga. My favorite project of hers is Come L'Acqua — "Like Water" — a personal growth and mindfulness blog (in Italian).

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Make Your Bed by William McRaven | Book Summary

On May 17, 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven gave the “Make Your Bed” commencement speech at his alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin. He discussed the ten significant lessons he learned from his difficult Navy SEAL training.

Since then, he has encountered many people who wanted to know more. Thus, Admiral William McRaven was inspired to write the book, Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World , to detail the ten vital lessons:

Buy Make Your Bed on Amazon

Make Your Bed by William McRaven

Small Things That Can Change Your Life… And Maybe the World

Just like in other habit books , these lessons about consistency in actions helped Admiral William McRaven overcome SEAL training and life’s challenges. Each chapter of Make Your Bed provides more context and stories for each lesson from the original speech.

Download the PDF Book Summary for Make Your Bed

Chapter 1 – start your day with a task completed.

“If you want to change the world…start off by making your bed.”

Every day during basic SEAL training, William McRaven would wake up and make his bed properly. It was not an opportunity for praise but was expected by the training instructors. Making the bed right was important as this habit showed discipline and attention to detail. Throughout his Naval career, William McRaven could count on making his bed consistently every day.

When you make your bed first thing correctly, you eat that frog and start your day off right with a small task completed. It shows you that the small wins matter and will encourage you to endure the work that you have ahead of you throughout the day. By the end of the day, you will have accomplished many tasks. And when you return to the made bed, you will be reminded of the importance of this small task.

Chapter 2 – You Can’t Go It Alone

“If you want to change the world…find someone to help you paddle.”

During SEAL training, the sailors are divided into boat crews of seven. The trainees have to work together to carry their raft on land or paddle it in the water to their destination. When someone often becomes sick or injured, the other teammates take on a greater share of the task. Like training, combat is so challenging that no one can endure it alone.

Later, William McRaven shares his story of a horrible parachute accident, which leaves him hospitalized for months. His boss helps him keep his career by finding a way to sidestep the required medical readiness evaluation. Throughout his career, William McRaven discusses the help received from those who had faith in him, saw his potential, and put their reputation on the line.

In life, you will deal with many obstacles and will need help to get over them. Thus, you build many strong relationships with friends, family, coworkers, mentors, etc. And always remember that your success depends on the help and guidance received from others along the way.

Chapter 3 – Only the Size of Your Heart Matters

“If you want to change the world…measure a person by the size of their heart.”

In Make Your Bed, William McRaven discussed that Navy “SEAL training was always about proving something. Proving that size didn’t matter. Proving that the color of your skin wasn’t important. Proving that money didn’t make you better. Proving that determination and grit were always more important than talent.”

A year before his training, William McRaven recounts visiting the basic SEAL training facility in Coronado. While talking with someone about SEAL training, he saw a thin, quiet, reserved man looking at photos. This sight clouded McRaven with judgment of feeling better, stronger, and more prepared for SEAL training than this man. However, he found out that the man was Tommy Norris, who was one of the most decorated and toughest SEALs ever.

Your will to succeed depends on how much heart you have. Nothing else matters, including your size, race, ethnicity, educational level, or social status.

Chapter 4 – Life’s Not Fair—Drive On!

“If you want to change the world…get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.”

In SEAL training, one of the most painful punishments is being a sugar cookie. Instructors would punish trainees at whim, and they would have to get wet and then roll around in the sand. As many trainees strived for excellence, being punished was tough to accept, especially with no specific reason.

In Make Your Bed, William McRaven shares a story about Moki Martin, a SEAL instructor from his training days. Martin enjoyed long bike rides, but one day, he accidentally collided with another biker and was paralyzed from the waist down. Afterward, he did not complain and let his disability stop him. He drove on to live a full life.

“It is easy to blame your lot in life on some outside force, to stop trying because you believe fate is against you.” Sometimes, life’s not fair, and you will be a sugar cookie despite how much work you have done. Define yourself by how you overcome life’s unfairness. Do not complain or blame someone and move forward.

Chapter 5 – Failure Can Make You Stronger

“If you want to change the world… don’t be afraid of The Circus.”

One day during SEAL training, McRaven and his swim buddy finished last in a swim. Their punishment was enduring the Circus, which is an additional two hours of exercise that day. A Circus would cause more fatigue, making the next day harder with more Circuses likely to follow. Reoccurring Circuses forced many trainees to quit; however, McRaven and his buddy became much better swimmers and placed first in their final swim.

In July of 1983, William McRaven got fired from his squadron, leaving with a tarnished reputation. Fortunately, he was given another opportunity as the Officer in Charge of a SEAL platoon. McRaven used his previous failure as fuel to work hard and earn the respect of his men, which led him to succeed in the successive roles in his SEAL career.

In life, you will have failures and face Circuses. You will have to deal with the consequences, but you can overcome the failures. Your failures can educate, motivate, and strengthen you to be able to handle the difficult decisions to come.

Chapter 6 – You Must Dare Greatly

“If you want to change the world…slide down the obstacle headfirst.”

During SEAL training, the students had to run the obstacle course twice a week, with the most challenging obstacle being the “Slide for Life.” This step rope slide could be done either controllably slow by swinging underneath the rope or riskily fast by going headfirst on top. One day, William McRaven took the risk and went headfirst, finishing with a personal best time.

In Make Your Bed, William McRaven realized that risks were necessary to be a successful special operator. In 2004, William McRaven approved a risky hostage rescue mission that occurred during the day. The special forces team rescued the hostages, and the mission resulted in success.

Life will be difficult, and if you take risks, you may fail and deal with obstacles. You have to trust your abilities and overcome your fears to complete your work. Without daring greatly and getting out of your comfort zone, you will never achieve your full potential.

Chapter 7 – Stand Up to the Bullies

“If you want to change the world… don’t back down from the sharks.”

In SEAL training, students have to complete a four-mile night swim with the threat of many species of sharks. The instructors brief the trainees to deal with sharks by standing their grand and fighting them off if they try to attack. Since he wanted to be a SEAL so severely, William McRaven recalls that he gathered the courage to fight if necessary.

In Make Your Bed, William McRaven recounts his interactions with Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi president that was now a U.S. prisoner. Even as a prisoner, Hussein would instill fear in and intimidate. Iraqis that came to the room. However, McRaven felt that he had to stand up to Saddam and show him that he did not have power anymore.

Without clarity, other people will dictate your choices and path forward. Without courage, the bullies will take over and prey on the victims. Thus, you need to have a clear vision or goal for what you want to accomplish. Your vision will give you the courage to be a leader , overcome the obstacles, and stand up to the people in your way.

Chapter 8 – Rise to the Occasion

 “If you want to change the world…be your very best in the darkest moments.”

Towards the end of SEAL training, students have to swim underwater to a ship, plant a practice mine, and return to the beach without being detected. William McRaven recalls the instructors seeming as nervous as the trainees, because the dark, deafening sea significantly increased the risk of injury or death. In the darkest hour, the SEALs are trained to remain calm and maintain composure to complete their mission.

In Make Your Bed, William McRaven recounts the many sad moments of loss: “There is no darker moment in life than losing someone you love, and yet I watched time and again as families, as military units, as towns, as cities, and as a nation, how we came together to be our best during those tragic times.”

You will have dark moments in life, whether it is the death of a loved one or an intense tragedy. When these moments occur, you need to look deep within yourself and bring out your best. “You must rise above your fears, your doubts, and your fatigue. No matter how dark it gets, you must complete the mission. This is what separates you from everyone else.”

Chapter 9 – Give People Hope

“If you want to change the world…start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.”

The most challenging week of SEAL training or Hell Week is six days of no sleep, physical exercise, and harassment. On Wednesday of Hell Week, trainees spend all day in the freezing cold mudflats, being pressured by the instructors to quit.

During McRaven’s Hell Week, the class sang together to inspire and give each other hope. Later, he recalls a story of General John Kelley, who comforted and gave hope to the families of the fallen troops in a horrific helicopter firefight.

Hope is very powerful as it can inspire people and nations to greatness. In life, you will deal with loss and tragedy. And you can be the one to give hope that tomorrow will be better to ease the pain to lift yourself and those around you.

Chapter 10 – Never, Ever Quit!

“If you want to change the world… don’t ever, ever ring the bell.”

SEAL training ends when you either complete it or quit by ringing the bell in the middle of the training compound. If you cannot endure the pain, harassment, and exercise, you can ring the bell, and it’s over. However, William McRaven never rang the bell and graduated.

In Make Your Bed, he states that this lesson of never quitting was the most important. Throughout his career, William McRaven would be inspired by individuals who would not give up. One story involves a severely injured soldier from a bomb blast who did not complain and eventually overcame the injuries.

You will have difficult moments in life; however, do not give up and trust the process . You can choose to fall prey to pity, discrimination, or sorrow. Or you can never give up on your dreams and yourself and overcome the obstacles.

“Remember… start each day with a task completed. Find someone to help you through life. Respect everyone. Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often. But if you take some risks, step up when times are toughest, face down the bullies, lift up the downtrodden, and never, ever give up—if you do these things, then you can change your life for the better… and maybe the world!

In his book, Make Your Bed , Admiral William McRaven provides ten powerful lessons from his SEAL training that will help you change the world. It encourages readers to take on life’s challenges and be willing to do even small things that can have a big impact.

As McRaven poignantly writes, “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.” McRaven gives the readers a good dose of motivation to get out there and cultivate success within our lives.

His thought-provoking book calls us to action – so get a copy of Make Your Bed now! If you need more inspiration or motivation, check out our post on productivity quotes .

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The Full Admiral McRaven Speech Transcript

O n May 17, 2014, Former Admiral William. H. McRaven advised the graduates of the class of 2014 at the University of Texas. He served in the Navy for many years.

The former Admiral McRaven’s speech is very motivational, and the whole purpose of the speech is to show that anyone can change the world. In his speech, he gives ten suggestions on how anyone can see the world.

Article Topics

What is the theme of admiral mcraven speech.

The general theme of his ‘make your bed speech’ is that anyone can change the world; all you need is the courage to do it. He also explains how giving up isn’t an option no matter what you’re going through. Eventually, it will pass, and you will win.

Admiral McRaven also explains how it isn’t necessary to change everyone’s lives for the world to change. All you need is to change the lives of only a few people, and the generations to come will feel the effect. You would have changed their entire lineage’s lives.

Watch and Listen to this motivational video of the Admiral McRaven Speech on YouTube

What advice did navy admiral william.h.mcraven give in his commencement address and well known 'make your bed speech'.

• Make your bed . Making your bed means that you’d have accomplished the first task of the day. It might seem small and mundane, but even after a long miserable day, at least you’ll come back to a made bed.
• Find someone to help you paddle . You can’t change the world on your own; you need a support team, people to cheer you up and help you change the world. We all need help.
• Measure a person by the size of their heart, not their flippers’ size . The physical aspects of who someone is don’t necessarily make up for a lot. What’s on the inside is what matters the most.
• Get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward . Sometimes the universe just doesn’t recognize your efforts no matter how much you’ve put in. This shouldn’t make you lose hope, get over it and keep pushing.
• Don’t be afraid of the circuses . Some situations will wear us down, but they are meant to strengthen your resolve by the end of the day.
• Sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first . Even in the hardest of situations, you have to take a risk and face your problems head first. Sometimes that’s the only way to win.
• Don’t back down from the sharks . Sharks are obstacles that you might face in your journey. Even when those obstacles show up, don’t back down. That’s the only way you’ll win.
• If you want to change the world, you must be the very best in your darkest moment . During the darkest moments, it gets hard to see what lies ahead, but be hopeful because, after that darkness, there can only be light.
• Start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud . In your darkest moments, be the person who stands up and gives others hope. Giving others hope will mean preventing them from giving up during those difficult moments.
• Don’t ever ring the bell . Ringing the bell is the easiest thing to do. But for you to succeed in life, you will have to assume that giving up isn’t an option, and that’s when you can concentrate on winning.

The Full Admiral McRaven Speech

It’s been almost 37 years to the day that I graduated from UT. I remember a lot of things about that day. I remember I had a throbbing headache from a party the night before. I remember I had a serious girlfriend, whom I later married (that’s important to remember, by the way), and I remember that I was getting commissioned in the Navy that day.

But of all the things I remember, I don’t have a clue who the commencement speaker was, and I certainly don’t remember anything they said. So, acknowledging that fact, if I can’t make this commencement speech memorable, I will at least try to make it short.

The University’s slogan is, “What starts here changes the world.” I’ve got to admit. I kind of like it. “What starts here changes the world.”

Tonight there are almost 8,000 students (there are more than 8000) graduating from UT. So, that great paragon of analytical rigor, Ask.Com, says that the average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime. That’s a lot of folks. But, if every one of you changed the lives of just ten people and each one of those people changed the lives of another ten people,(just ten people) then in five generations 125 years, the class of 2014 will have changed the lives of 800 million people.

Eight hundred million people — think about it — over twice the population of the United States. Go one more generation, and you can change the entire population of the world — eight billion people.

If you think it’s hard to change the lives of 10 people, change their lives forever, you’re wrong. I saw it happen every day in Iraq and Afghanistan: A young Army officer makes a decision to go left instead of right down a road in Baghdad, and the ten soldiers with him are saved from a close-in ambush.

In Kandahar province, Afghanistan, a non-commissioned officer from the Female Engagement Team senses that something isn’t right and directs the infantry platoon away from a 500-pound IED, saving the lives of a dozen soldiers.

But, if you think about it, not only were those soldiers saved by the decisions of one person, but their children were saved. And their children’s children were saved. Generations were saved by one decision, one person.

But changing the world can happen anywhere, and anyone can do it. So, what starts here can indeed change the world, but the question is — what will the world look like after you change it?

Well, I am confident that it will look much, much better. But if you will humor this old sailor for just a moment, I have a few suggestions that may help you on your way to a better world. And while these lessons were learned during my time in the military, I can assure you that it matters not whether you ever served a day in uniform. It matters not your gender, your ethnic or religious background, your orientation, or your social status.

Our struggles in this world are similar, and the lessons to overcome those struggles and to move forward — changing ourselves and changing the world around us — will apply equally to all.

I have been a Navy SEAL for 36 years. But it all began when I left UT for Basic SEAL training in Coronado, California. Basic SEAL training is six months of long torturous runs in the soft sand, midnight swims in the cold water off San Diego, obstacles courses, unending calisthenics, days without sleep, and always being cold, wet, and miserable.

It is six months of being constantly harassed by professionally trained warriors who seek to find the weak of mind and body and eliminate them from ever becoming a Navy SEAL.

But the training also seeks to find those students who can lead in an environment of constant stress, chaos, failure, and hardships. To me, basic SEAL training was a lifetime of challenges crammed into six months.

So, here are the ten lessons I learned from basic SEAL training that hopefully will be of value to you as you move forward in life.

1. Make your bed

Every morning in 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 do is inspect my bed. If you did it right, the corners would be square; the covers would be pulled tight, the pillow centered just under the headboard, and the extra blanket folded neatly at the foot of the rack.

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 we 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 the little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never be able to do the big things right.

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.

If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.

2. Find someone to paddle with

During SEAL training, the students are broken down into boat crews. Each crew is seven students — three on each side of a small rubber boat and one coxswain to help guide the dingy. Every day your boat crew forms up on the beach and is instructed to get through the surf zone and paddle several miles down the coast. In the winter, the surf off San Diego can get to be 8 to 10 feet high, and it is exceedingly difficult to paddle through the plunging surf unless everyone digs in.

Every paddle must be synchronized to the stroke count of the coxswain. Everyone must exert equal effort, or the boat will turn against the wave and be unceremoniously dumped back on the beach.

For the boat to make it to its destination, everyone must paddle. You can’t change the world alone — you will need some help — and to truly get from your starting point to your destination takes friends, colleagues, the goodwill of strangers, and a strong coxswain to guide them.

If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.

3. Measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers

Over a few weeks of difficult training, my SEAL class, which started with 150 men, was down to just 42. There were now six boat crews of seven men each. I was in the boat with the tall guys, but the best boat crew we had was made up of the little guys (the munchkin crew we called them) no one was over about five-foot-five.

The munchkin boat crew had one American Indian, one African American, one Polish American, one Greek American, one Italian American, and two tough kids from the midwest. They out-paddled, out-ran, and out-swam all the other boat crews.

The big men in the other boat crews would always make good-natured fun of the tiny little flippers the munchkins put on their tiny little feet prior to every swim. But somehow, these little guys, from every corner of the nation and the world, always had the last laugh, swimming faster than everyone and reaching the shore long before the rest of us.

SEAL training was a great equalizer. Nothing mattered but your will to succeed. Not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education, and not your social status.

If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.

4. Get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.

Several times a week, the instructors would line up the class and do a uniform inspection. It was exceptionally thorough. Your hat had to be perfectly starched, your uniform immaculately pressed, your belt buckle shiny and void of any smudges.

But it seemed that no matter how much effort you put into starching your hat, or pressing your uniform, or polishing your belt buckle — it just wasn’t good enough. The instructors would find “something” wrong.

For failing the uniform inspection, the student had to run, fully clothed into the surf zone, and then, wet from head to toe, roll around on the beach until every part of your body was covered with sand. The effect was known as a “sugar cookie.” You stayed in the uniform the rest of the day — cold, wet, and sandy.

There were many a student who just couldn’t accept the fact that all their effort was in vain. That no matter how hard they tried to get the uniform right, it was unappreciated. Those students didn’t make it through training. Those students didn’t understand the purpose of the drill. You were never going to succeed. You were never gonna have a perfect uniform.

Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform, you still end up as a sugar cookie. It’s just the way life is sometimes.

If you want to change the world, get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.

5. Don’t be afraid of the circuses.

Every day during training, you were challenged with multiple physical events — long runs, long swims, obstacle courses, hours of calisthenics — something designed to test your mettle. Every event had standards — times you had to meet.

If you failed to meet those standards, your name was posted on a list, and at the end of the day, those on the list were invited to a “circus.” A circus was two hours of additional calisthenics designed to wear you down, to break your spirit, to force you to quit.

No one wanted a circus.

A circus meant that for that day, you didn’t measure up. A circus meant more fatigue, and more fatigue meant that the following day would be more difficult, and more circuses were likely. But at some time during SEAL training, everyone, everyone, made the circus list.

But an interesting thing happened to those who were constantly on the list. Over time those students — who did two hours of extra calisthenics — got stronger and stronger. The pain of the circuses built inner strength and physical resiliency.

Life is filled with circuses. You will fail. You will likely fail often. It will be painful. It will be discouraging. At times it will test you to your very core.

But if you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the circuses.

6. If you want to change the world, sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.

At least twice a week, the trainees were required to run the obstacle course. The obstacle course contained 25 obstacles, including a 10-foot high wall, a 30-foot cargo net, and a barbed wire crawl, to name a few.

But the most challenging obstacle was the slide for life. It had a three-level 30-foot tower at one end and a one-level tower at the other. In between was a 200-foot-long rope. You had to climb the three-tiered tower, and once at the top, you grabbed the rope, swung underneath the rope, and pulled yourself hand over hand until you got to the other end.

The record for the obstacle course had stood for years when my class began training in 1977. The record seemed unbeatable until one day; a student decided to go down the slide for life head first. Instead of swinging his body underneath the rope and inching his way down, he bravely mounted the TOP of the rope and thrust himself forward.

It was a dangerous move — seemingly foolish and fraught with risk. Failure could mean injury and being dropped from the course. Without hesitation, the student slid down the rope perilously fast. Instead of several minutes, it only took him half that time, and by the end of the course, he had broken the record.

If you want to change the world, sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.

7. If you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks

During the land warfare phase of training, the students are flown out to San Clemente Island, which lies off the coast of San Diego. The waters off San Clemente are a breeding ground for the great white sharks.

To pass SEAL training, there are a series of long swims that must be completed. One is the night swim.

Before the swim, the instructors joyfully brief the trainees on all the species of sharks that inhabit the waters off San Clemente.

They assure you, however, that no student has ever been eaten by a shark — at least not that they can remember. But, you are also taught that if a shark begins to circle your position, stand your ground.

Do not swim away. Do not act afraid. And if the shark, hungry for a midnight snack, darts towards you, then summon up all your strength and punch him in the snout, and he will turn and swim away.

There are a lot of sharks in the world. If you hope to complete the swim, you will have to deal with them.

So, if you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks.

8. Be your very best in the darkest moments.

As Navy SEALs, one of our jobs is to conduct underwater attacks against enemy shipping. We practiced this technique extensively during training. The ship attack mission is where a pair of SEAL divers is dropped off outside an enemy harbor and then swims well over two miles — underwater — using nothing but a depth gauge and a compass to get to their target.

During the entire swim, even well below the surface, there is some light that comes through. It is comforting to know that there is open water above you. But as you approach the ship, which is tied to a pier, the light begins to fade. The steel structure of the ship blocks the moonlight, it blocks the surrounding street lamps, it blocks all ambient light.

To be successful in your mission, you have to swim under the ship and find the keel — the centerline and the deepest part of the ship. This is your objective. But the keel is also the darkest part of the ship — where you cannot see your hand in front of your face, where the noise from the ship’s machinery is deafening, and where it is easy to get disoriented and you can fail.

Every SEAL knows that under the keel, at the darkest moment of the mission, is the time when you must be calm when you must be composed — when all your tactical skills, your physical power, and all your inner strength must be brought to bear.

If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moments.

9. Start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud

The ninth week of training is referred to as “Hell Week.” It is six days of no sleep, constant physical and mental harassment, and one special day at the Mud Flats. The Mud Flats are area between San Diego and Tijuana where the water runs off and creates the Tijuana slues, a swampy patch of terrain where the mud will engulf you.

It is on Wednesday of Hell Week that you paddle down to the mudflats and spend the next 15 hours trying to survive the freezing cold mud, the howling wind, and the incessant pressure to quit from the instructors. As the sun began to set that Wednesday evening, my training class, having committed some “egregious infraction of the rules,” was ordered into the mud.

The mud consumed each man till there was nothing visible but our heads. The instructors told us we could leave the mud if only five men would quit — just five men — and we could get out of the oppressive cold. Looking around the mudflat, it was apparent that some students were about to give up. It was still over eight hours till the sun came up — eight more hours of bone-chilling cold.

The chattering teeth and shivering moans of the trainees were so loud it was hard to hear anything. And then, one voice began to echo through the night, one voice raised in song. The song was terribly out of tune but sung with great enthusiasm. One voice became two, and two became three, and before long, everyone in the class was singing.

The instructors threatened us with more time in the mud if we kept up the singing, but the singing persisted. And somehow, the mud seemed a little warmer, the wind a little tamer, and the dawn not so far away.

If I have learned anything in my time traveling the world, it is the power of hope. The power of one person — Washington, Lincoln, King, Mandela, and even a young girl from Pakistan, Malala — one person can change the world by giving people hope.

So, if you want to change the world, start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.

10. Don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

Finally, in SEAL training, there is a bell. A brass bell that hangs in the center of the compound for all the students to see. All you have to do to quit is ring the bell.

Ring the bell, and you no longer have to wake up at 5 o’clock. Ring the bell, and you no longer have to be in the freezing cold swims. Ring the bell, and you no longer have to do the runs, the obstacle course, the PT — and you no longer have to endure the hardships of training. All you have to do is ring the bell and be out.

If you want to change the world, don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

Why does Admiral McRaven say to make your bed?

He emphasizes making your bed first thing in the morning because by doing that, you have accomplished your first task of the day. Making your bed means; you have already won something even before you’ve begun. And even if your day ends up being not perfect, at the end of the day, you will come back home to a well-made bed to rest on.

Making your bed in the morning will give you a sense of pride and accomplishment and help you get through the day. Having accomplished your first task in the morning will give you the encouragement needed to accomplish the other tasks ahead of you, making it not just one task but a couple of others that followed.

When did Admiral McRaven make his speech?

Admiral McRaven, the ninth U.S. Special Operations Command, made his speech at the University of Texas commencement on May 17, 2014.

Final Words

The Admiral’s speech is the most memorable speech ever given due to the amount of wisdom and advice. It is an encouragement to everyone that making a change in the world doesn’t require much except for will and drive. Never giving up is a very great tool that he shares multiple times in his speech.

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Luke Ocean is a writer, self-proclaimed bio-hacker, wellness advocate and yoga expert. Luke grew up on a small ranch in Montana and enlisted in the Navy to study and become a cryptologist. He later graduated from the US Naval Academy with a Minor in Mandarin and a Bachelor's of Science for General Engineering and a Major of English Literature. Luke's interests and career span multiple industries and various disciplines.  Luke resides in San Antonio and is a Certified Yoga Instructor, a student of Zen Buddhism, practitioner of Holistic Psychology and has completed his CYT-200 and is studying for his 300-hour yoga teacher training.

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Make Your Bed Summary and Key Lessons

“Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World” is a book by Admiral William H. McRaven, based on a commencement speech he gave at the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. 

The book expands on the core message of that speech, presenting profound principles McRaven learned during his training and service as a U.S. Navy SEAL. These lessons are distilled into ten chapters, each originating from a fundamental habit or principle that can lead to insane personal success.

Make Your Bed Summary

The first and titular principle of starting your day with a complete task emphasizes the importance of beginning each day with a small win—making your bed. 

This simple act is symbolic of the larger discipline required in life, providing a sense of pride and a foundation to accomplish further tasks throughout the day. McRaven extends this lesson to life’s challenges, illustrating that tackling the small things can prepare us for the more significant, more complex tasks that come our way. 

This segues into the book’s second principle, which is about finding someone to help you paddle. 

McRaven uses anecdotes from SEAL training to demonstrate that no one achieves success alone; partnerships and collaborative efforts are crucial to overcoming life’s challenges.

In subsequent chapters, McRaven delves into the theme of resilience. 

He recounts grueling SEAL training scenarios, particularly “ The Circus ,” a punishing extra workout designed to test the limits of trainees’ physical and mental stamina. 

The lesson of not backing down from the sharks is a metaphor drawn from a harrowing night swim with sharks. It suggests that in life, one must face fears head-on to move forward, rather than shy away from them. 

Another principle, “ You Must Be Your Very Best in Your Darkest Moments ,” stems from survival training, emphasizing the importance of maintaining one’s composure and excellence under pressure.

Hope and Belief

McRaven also discusses the importance of hope and belief to drive action. 

He shares a story of an innovative approach during an obstacle course, highlighting that sometimes taking risks and breaking with convention can lead to significant rewards. 

It’s about daring to take the initiative, to approach problems with creativity and courage.

Another lesson is to “Don’t Ever, Ever Ring the Bell,” a reference to the bell that SEAL trainees can ring to quit training. This chapter speaks to the power of perseverance, encouraging the reader to push through difficult times without giving up, no matter how tempting it may be to stop.

The final chapters of the book resonate with themes of hope, courage, and the importance of doing the right thing . McRaven underscores the need for unwavering determination in the face of setbacks. 

His life lessons converge to a fundamental conclusion: the actions of individuals have the power to ripple outward, impacting others and, potentially, the world, culminating in the conviction that small , everyday practices, like making one’s bed, encapsulating the discipline and thoughtfulness will help in leading a truly impactful lives.

Key Lessons

1. the power of starting your day with a completed task.

The simple act of making your bed every morning is not only a practice of self-discipline, but it also sets the tone for the rest of the day and gives you a sense of pride in accomplishing a task. 

It symbolizes one’s dedication to taking charge of one’s life, no matter how small the initial task. This act can create a positive chain reaction of completing tasks throughout the day.

Application

Implement this lesson by establishing a morning routine that starts with a structured task, like making your bed. 

By doing so, you create a momentum that can carry you through more complex and challenging tasks with a mindset geared towards action and accomplishment. This ritual serves as a daily reminder that little things matter and that attention to detail can lead to larger successes.

2. The Importance of Teamwork and Relying on Others

No individual is an island, and success is often a collective endeavor. McRaven recounts his SEAL training exercises , where the importance of working together and supporting one another was constantly emphasized. 

Learning to rely on others and offering support when they need it is fundamental in any challenging situation, be it in the military, the workplace, or personal life.

Foster a culture of collaboration in your own life. 

At work, create and participate in team projects where each member can contribute their unique skills and support each other . In your personal life, nurture relationships where mutual support is a priority. Recognize that asking for help is not a sign of weakness but a strategy for greater strength and success. 

By helping others, you build a network of trust and collaboration that benefits everyone involved.

3. Facing Your Fears and Challenges Head-On

Fear is a natural response to danger, uncertainty, and challenge, but it should not paralyze you. 

McRaven shares his experience of night-swimming among sharks , which is a powerful metaphor for confronting one’s fears. He suggests that when we head straight into the dark waters of our fears, we often find the strength and courage we didn’t know we had. 

Moreover, actively confronting fears can diminish their power over us and sometimes reveal that what we feared wasn’t as insurmountable as we thought.

Identify the “sharks” in your life—those fears that are holding you back from achieving your goals. Confront these fears with calculated courage. 

This might mean taking on a project that intimidates you, speaking up in a meeting, or tackling a difficult conversation . By facing these fears instead of avoiding them, you’ll develop resilience and the confidence that you can handle the challenges that come your way. 

Moreover, you set an example for others who may be struggling with their own fears, creating a culture of courage and determination.

Final Thoughts

Throughout “Make Your Bed,” Admiral McRaven uses his experiences as a Navy SEAL to impart wisdom that transcends military life. 

The book is a compelling blend of memoir and self-help , offering a roadmap not only for individual success but also for contributing to the greater good. 

With its accessible prose and relatable storytelling, “Make Your Bed” aims to inspire us to achieve more through discipline, teamwork, and moral courage.

Read our other summaries

• Humans Are Underrated | Book Summary
• You are a Badass | Book Summary
• The Four Hour Body | Book Summary
• 10% Happier | Book Summary
• Late Bloomers | Book Summary

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Admiral McRaven “Make Your Bed” Commencement Speech Transcript

Admiral William H. McRaven gave a commencement speech at the University of Texas often referred to as the “Make Your Bed” speech. It’s considered one of the best and more inspirational commencement speeches. Read the full transcript of McRaven’s May 19, 2014 speech right here at Rev.com.

Admiral McRaven: ( 00:00 ) Thank you very much, thank you. Well, thank you president Powers, Provost Fenves, deans, members of the faculty, family and friends, and most importantly, the class of 2014, it is indeed an honor for me to be here tonight. It’s been almost 37 years to the day that I graduated from UT. I remember a lot of things about that day. I remember I had a throbbing headache from a party the night before. I remember I had a serious girlfriend who I later married. That’s important to remember by the way. And I remember I was getting commissioned in the Navy that day, but of all the things I remember, I don’t have a clue who the commencement speaker was and I certainly don’t remember anything they said.

Admiral McRaven: ( 00:59 ) So acknowledging that fact, if I can’t make this commencement speech memorable, I’ll at least try to make it short. So the university slogan is, what starts here changes the world. Well, I’ve got to admit, I kind of like it. What starts here changes the world. Tonight there are almost 8,000 students or there are more than 8,000 students graduated from UT. So that great Paragon of analytical rigor ask.com says that the average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime. 10,000 people, that’s a lot of folks. But if every one of you change the lives of just 10 people and each one of those people change the lives of another 10 people and another 10 then in five generations, 125 years, the class of 2014 will have changed the lives of 800 million people, 800 million people.

Admiral McRaven: ( 01:59 ) Think about it, over twice the population of United States go one more generation and you can change the entire population of the world. 8 billion people. If you think it’s hard to change the lives of 10 people change their lives forever, you’re wrong. I saw it happen every day in Iraq and Afghanistan. A young army officer makes a decision to go left instead of right down a road in Baghdad and the 10 soldiers with him are saved from a close in ambush. In Kandahar province, Afghanistan, a noncommissioned officer from the female engagement team senses that something isn’t right and directs the infantry platoon away from a 500 pound IED saving the lives of a dozen soldiers. But if you think about it, not only were those soldiers saved by the decisions of one person, but their children were saved and their children’s children, generations were saved by one decision, one person.

Admiral McRaven: ( 02:59 ) But changing the world can happen anywhere and anyone can do it. So what starts here can indeed change the world. But the question is, what will the world look like after you change it? Well, I’m confident that it will look much, much better. But if you’ll humor this old sailor for just a moment, I have a few suggestions that might help you on your way to a better world. And while these lessons were learned during my time in the military, I can assure you that it matters not whether you’ve ever served a day in uniform, it matters not your gender, your ethnic or religious background, your orientation or your social status. Our struggles in this world are similar and the lessons to overcome those struggles and to move forward, changing ourselves and changing the world around us will apply equally to all. I’ve been a Navy SEAL for 36 years, but it all began when I left UT for basic SEAL training in Coronado, California.

Admiral McRaven: ( 03:53 ) Basic SEAL training is six months, a long torturous runs in the soft sand, midnight swims in the cold water off San Diego, obstacle courses, unending calisthenics, days without sleep and always being cold, wet and miserable. It is six months of being constantly harassed by professionally trained warriors who seek to find the weak of mind and body and eliminate them from ever becoming a Navy SEAL. But the training also seeks to find those students who can lead in an environment of constant stress, chaos, failure and hardships. To me, basic SEAL training was a lifetime of challenges crammed into six months. So here are the 10 lessons I learned from basic SEAL training that hopefully will be a value to you as you move forward in life.

Admiral McRaven: ( 04:44 ) Every morning in SEAL training, my instructors who were at the time were all Vietnam veterans, would show up in my barracks room and the first thing they do is inspect my bed. If I did it right, the corners would be square, the covers would be pulled tight, the pillow centered just under the headboard and the extra blanket folded neatly at the foot of the rack. It was a simple task, mundane at best, but every morning we were required to make our bed to perfection.

Admiral McRaven: ( 05:13 ) It seemed a little ridiculous at the time, particularly in light of the fact that we 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 made 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.

Admiral McRaven: ( 05:51 ) If you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never be able to do the big things right. And if by chance 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 if you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. During SEAL training the students, during training the students are all broken down in a boat crews. Each crew is seven students, three on each side of a small rubber boat and one cox and to help guide the dinging. Every day your boat crew forms up on the beach and is instructed to get through the surf zone and paddle several miles down the coast. In the winter, the surf off San Diego can get to be 8 to 10 feet high and it is exceedingly difficult to paddle through the plunging surf unless everyone digs in.

Admiral McRaven: ( 06:45 ) Every paddle must be synchronized to the stroke count of the coxswain. Everyone must exert equal effort or the boat will turn against the wave and be unceremoniously dumped back on the beach. For the boat to make it to its destination, everyone must paddle. You can’t change the world alone you will need some help and to truly get from your starting point to your destination takes friends, colleagues, the Goodwill of strangers and a strong coxswain to guide you. If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle. Over a few weeks of difficult training, my SEAL class which started with 150 men was down to just 42. There were now six boat crews of seven men each. I was in the boat with the tall guys, but the best boat crew we had was made up with little guys, the munchkin crew, we called them. No one was over five foot five.

Admiral McRaven: ( 07:42 ) The munchkin boat crew had one American Indian, one African American, one Polish American, one Greek American, one Italian American, and two tough kids from the Midwest. They out paddled outran and out swam all the other boat crews. The big men in the other boat crews would always make good natured fun of the tiny little flippers the munchkins put on their tiny little feet prior to every swim, but somehow these little guys from every corner of the nation in the world always had the last laugh sewing faster than everyone and reaching the shore long before the rest of us. SEAL training was a great equalizer. Nothing mattered but your will to succeed. Not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education, not your social status. If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not by the size of their flippers.

Admiral McRaven: ( 08:38 ) Several times a week the instructors would line up the class and do a uniform inspection. It was exceptionally thorough. Your hat had to be perfectly starched, your uniform, immaculately pressed, your belt buckle, shiny and void of any smudges, but it seemed that no matter how much effort you’re put into starching your hat or pressing your uniform or polishing your belt buckle and it just wasn’t good enough. The instructors would find something wrong. For failing uniform inspection, the student had to run fully clothed into the surf zone, then wet from head to toe, roll around on the beach until every part of your body was covered with sand, the effect was known as a sugar cookie.

Admiral McRaven: ( 09:22 ) You stayed in the uniform the rest of the day, cold, wet, and Sandy. There were many of student who just couldn’t accept the fact that all their efforts were in vain. That no matter how hard they tried to get the uniform right, it went on appreciated. Those students didn’t make it through training. Those students didn’t understand the purpose of the drill. You were never going to succeed. You were never going to have a perfect uniform. The instructors weren’t going to allow it. Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform, you still end up as a sugar cookie. It’s just the way life is sometimes. If you want to change the world, get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward. Every day during training, you were challenged with multiple physical events, long runs, long swims, obstacle courses, hours of calisthenics, something designed to test your metal.

Admiral McRaven: ( 10:15 ) Every event had standards times you had to meet. If you fail to meet those times, those standards, your name was posted on a list and at the end of the day those on the list were invited to a circus. A circus was two hours of additional calisthenics designed to wear you down to break your spirit, to force you to quit. No one wanted a circus. A circus met that for that day. You didn’t measure up. A circus meant more fatigue and more fatigue meant that the following day would be more difficult and more surfaces were likely, but at sometime during SEAL training, everyone, everyone made the circus list. But an interesting thing happened to those who were constantly on the list. Over time those students who did two hours of extras, calisthenics got stronger and stronger. The pain of the circuses built inner strength and physical resiliency. Life is filled with circuses.

Admiral McRaven: ( 11:15 ) You will fail. You will likely fail often it will be painful. It will be discouraging. At times it will test you to your very core, but if you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the circuses. At least twice a week the trainees were required to run the obstacle course. The obstacle course contained 25 obstacles including a 10 foot wall, a 30 foot cargo net, a barbwire crawl to name a few, but the most challenging obstacle was the slide for life. It had a three level 30 foot tower at one end and a one-level tower at the other. In between was a 200 foot long rope. You had to climb the three tiered tower and once at the top you grabbed the rope, swung underneath the rope and pulled yourself hand over hand until you got to the other end. The record for the obstacle course had stood for years when my class began in 1977.

Admiral McRaven: ( 12:10 ) The record seemed unbeatable until one day a student decided to go down the slide for life head first. Instead of swinging his body underneath the rope and inching his way down, he bravely mounted the top of the rope and thrust himself forward. It was a dangerous move, seemingly foolish and fraught with risk. Failure could be an injury and being dropped from the course. Without hesitation, the students slid down the rope perilously fast instead of several minutes it only took him half that time and by the end of the course he had broken the record. If you want to change the world, sometimes you have to slide down the obstacles head first.

Admiral McRaven: ( 12:52 ) During the land warfare phase of training, the students are flown out to San Clemente Island, which lies off the coast of San Diego. The waters of San Clemente are a breeding ground for the great white sharks. To pass SEAL training there are a series of long swims that must be completed. One is the night swim. Before the swim the instructors joyfully brief the students on all the species of sharks that inhabit the waters of San Clemente. They assure you, however, that no student has ever been eaten by a shark, at least not that they can remember. But you are also taught that if a shark begins to circle your position, stand your ground, do not swim away, do not act afraid. And if the shark hungry for a midnight snack, darts towards you, then summons up all your strength and punch him in the snout and he will turn and swim away. There are a lot of sharks in the world. If you hope to complete the swim, you will have to deal with them. So if you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks.

Admiral McRaven: ( 14:02 ) As Navy SEALs, one of our jobs is to conduct underwater attacks against enemies shipping. We practiced this technique extensively during training. The ship attack mission is where a pair of SEAL divers is dropped off outside an enemy Harbor and then swims well over two miles underwater using nothing but a DEF gauge and a compass to get to the target. During the entire swim even well below the surface, there is some light that comes through. It is comforting to know that there is open water above you, but as you approach the ship, which is tied to appear, the light begins to fade. The steel structure of the ship blocks the Moonlight. It blocks the surrounding streetlamps. It blocks all ambient light. To be successful in your mission, you have to swim under the ship and find the keel, the center line, and the deepest part of the ship.

Admiral McRaven: ( 14:56 ) This is your objective, but the keel is also the darkest part of the ship where you cannot see your hand in front of your face or the noise from the ship’s machinery is deafening and where it gets to be easily disoriented and you can fail. Every SEAL knows that under the keel at that darkest moment of the mission is a time when you need to be calm, when you must be calm, where you must be composed. When all your tactical skills, your physical power, and your inner strength must be brought to bear. If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moments.

Admiral McRaven: ( 15:38 ) The ninth week of training is referred to as hell week. It is six days of no sleep, constant physical and mental harassment and one special day at the mudflats. The mudflats are an area between San Diego and Tijuana where the water runs off and creates the Tijuana slews, a swampy patch of terrain where the mud will engulf you. It is on Wednesday of hell week, which you paddle down in the mudflats and spend the next 15 hours trying to survive this freezing cold, the howling wind and the incessant pressure to quit from the instructors.

Admiral McRaven: ( 16:12 ) As the sun began to set that Wednesday evening, my training class, having committed some egregious infraction of the rules was ordered into the mud. The mud consumed each man until there was nothing visible but our heads. The instructors told us we could leave the mud if only five men would quit. Only five men, just five men, and we could get out of the oppressive cold. Looking around the mudflat it was apparent that some students were about to give up. It was still over eight hours till the sun came up. Eight more hours of bone chilling cold, chattering teeth and shivering moans of the trainees were so loud, it was hard to hear anything.

Admiral McRaven: ( 16:54 ) And then one voice began to echo through the night. One voice raised in song. The song was terribly out of tune, but sung with great enthusiasm. One voice became two and two became three and before long everyone in the class was singing. The instructors threatened us with more time in the mud if we kept up the singing, but the singing persisted and somehow the mud seemed a little warmer. And the wind a little tamer and the dawn, not so far away. If I have learned anything in my time traveling the world, it is the power of hope. The power of one person, a Washington, a Lincoln, King, Mandela, and even a young girl from Pakistan, Malala, one person can change the world by giving people hope. So if you want to change the world, start singing when you’re up to your neck and mud.

Admiral McRaven: ( 17:51 ) Finally, in SEAL training there is a bell. A brass bell that hangs in the center of the compound for all the students to see. All you have to do to quit is ring the bell, ring the bell, and you no longer have to wake up at five o’clock ring the bell and you no longer have to be in the freezing cold swims. Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the runs, the obstacle course, the PT, and you no longer have to endure the hardships of training. All you have to do is ring the bell to get out. If you want to change the world, don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

Admiral McRaven: ( 18:33 ) To the class of 2014 you are moments away from graduating, moments away from beginning your journey through life, moments away from starting to change the world for the better. It will not be easy, but you are the class of 2014 the class that can affect the lives of 800 million people in the next century. Start each day with a task completed. Find someone to help you through life. Respect everyone. Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often. But if you take some risks, step up on the times, you’re the toughest face down the bullies. Lift up the downtrodden and never ever give up. If you do these things, the next generation and the generations that follow will live in a world far better than the one we have today. And what started here will indeed have changed the world for the better. Thank you very much, hook ’em horns.

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Book Summary Make Your Bed , by William H. McRaven

Make your bed to start your day off right. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? But the simple act of making your bed has bigger implications for your life than you may think. Former Navy SEAL William H. McRaven teaches you how this menial task leads to big rewards in his book, Make Your Bed . Using advice he gave graduating college students during a commencement address, McRaven develops 10 lessons for life learned during his time as a SEAL. Follow these lessons to lead a more meaningful life, and you just might change the world in the process.

1-Page Summary 1-Page Book Summary of Make Your Bed

Military life is often exhausting, terrifying, and emotionally challenging. You have to be strong and disciplined to make it through the rigors of training and war. Admiral William H. McRaven, a retired Navy SEAL with 37 years of experience, faced many challenges during his career. He found strategies along the way that helped him through the difficult times. Many of these strategies resulted from his experiences as a SEAL-in-training and a Navy officer.

In 2014, McRaven organized his strategies into 10 life lessons for his commencement address at his alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin. Make Your Bed provides these lessons to you and expands on the experiences that formed them.

Lesson 1: Start Each Day with an Accomplishment

Start your day with one successful task completed, such as making your bed, and you will find the motivation to tackle others. When you make your bed first thing in the morning, you start the day with purpose and confidence. You will feel a sense of pride, and that same pride will greet you at night when you come to your made bed. This type of satisfaction will wash the day’s struggles away and prepare you for tomorrow.

McRaven learned the importance of a made bed during his training as a SEAL cadet. A perfectly made bed represented McRaven’s discipline. He started each day receiving acknowledgement from his superiors that he had fulfilled his duties successfully. This acknowledgement greeted him at the end of each day, and he went to bed proud of himself. When McRaven was recovering from a life-changing injury later in life, making his bed became a symbol of his determination to get better and desire to keep leading a productive life.

Lesson 2: Success in Life Requires Teamwork

Life is full of struggles. Going through hard times alone is much more difficult than relying on the help of others to get you through. You need people you can count on to help navigate life’s difficult moments. The same is true for achieving success in life. The more others support you, the stronger and more confident you become.

McRaven learned the importance of teamwork as a SEAL-in-training. He and his unit of cadets were required to carry an inflatable raft everywhere they went and row it for miles through the choppy ocean water. When one of them was unable to perform to a high standard, the others pitched in to fill the void. They all remained successful because they helped each other when times were tough. Because of this experience, McRaven was more willing to accept the help of others after his injury and not just recover physically, but emotionally and professionally as well.

Lesson 3: It’s What’s Inside that Counts

Everyone has more to them than what you’re able to see. You must look beyond skin deep to a person’s heart. You must reserve judgement and prejudice until you get to know who a person is. Even the meekest person can do great things, so value people for their character, not their appearance.

McRaven made the mistake of judging two men as being less suitable for the SEALs than he was because of how they looked. McRaven was tall and muscular, whereas these men were short and scrawny, respectively. Both men surprised him by showing courage in dangerous situations, and McRaven realized he misjudged the amount of heart they had because of what they looked like.

Lesson 4: A Setback Is Only Permanent if You Let It Be

It’s easier to assume the world is against you than it is to admit that sometimes life just isn’t fair. But at the end of the day, you are the only person responsible for determining your fate. Don’t complain and fall back on misfortune as an excuse for why you can’t be happy. When you face disappointment,...

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Make Your Bed Summary Preface

In 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven, a retired Navy SEAL with 37 years of experience, gave the commencement speech at his alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin. In his speech, McRaven provided guidance to the graduates on how to manage life’s challenges and lead a meaningful...

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Make Your Bed Summary Lesson 1: Start Each Day with an Accomplishment

Each day, you’re likely required to manage various tasks. These tasks may include working, raising children, cleaning your home, or completing a project. When faced with this long list of responsibilities, you may often feel overwhelmed. But if you can start your day with one successful task completed, such as making your bed, you can find the motivation to tackle others.

When you make your bed first thing in the morning, you start the day with purpose and confidence. You have accomplished something, and regardless of what else happens during the day, you will feel a sense of pride. In addition, the pride you feel when you come to your made bed at night provides satisfaction that washes the day’s struggles away and prepares you for tomorrow. Start each day by making your bed, and set yourself up for success.

The Backstory

While training to be a Navy SEAL, McRaven lived in the barracks off the coast of Coronado, California....

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Shortform Exercise: Start Your Day with Purpose

Making the bed is a simple task that everyone could do to start their day right. What are some other ways you can start your day feeling accomplished?

Do you make your bed first thing in the morning? If so, how do you feel after the bed is made? If not, what stops you from doing it?

Make Your Bed Summary Lesson 2: Success in Life Requires Teamwork

No one is guaranteed a life without pain. You will eventually experience painful and tragic moments, and you may have already. Going through these hard times alone is much more difficult than relying on the help of others to get you through. You need people you can count on to help navigate life’s difficult moments.

The same is true for achieving success in life. If you try to navigate the choppy waters toward your goals or dreams alone, you expend more energy than is necessary. You may also find yourself off course without another person to help you paddle. Find people to love and who love you back. Your ability to have a positive life depends on it.

McRaven and the other SEAL candidates were required to carry a ten-foot rubber raft everywhere they went. Seven men carried it to the chow hall and up and down sand dunes during training drills. They paddled it through rough waters along the coast for miles at a time.

It took all seven men to make sure the boat stayed aloft or afloat at all times. But...

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Shortform Exercise: Who Are Your Allies?

We’ve all experienced times when we needed assistance in one form or another. Let’s look at how others have supported you when you needed it.

Name one recent moment in which you were struggling? Did you ask for help? Why or why not?

Make Your Bed Summary Lesson 3: It’s What’s Inside that Counts

There’s more to you than meets the eye. You have talents, determination, and courage that aren’t visible to the naked eye. There have been times when someone has doubted or judged you based on what you look like. You had to prove yourself to this person to be accepted or believed in.

You are not alone in this scenario. Everyone has more to them than what you’re able to see. You must look beyond skin deep to a person’s heart. More than anything else, it is the size of their heart that matters. You must allow for people to surprise you. You must reserve judgement and prejudice until you get to know who a person is. Even the smallest person can do great things, so value someone based on their heart, not their appearance.

Proving yourself was a way of life for McRaven and his fellow SEAL cadets. Each day brought new tests meant to determine their toughness and capability of living up to the rigors of SEAL life. McRaven, a tall and strapping young...

Shortform Exercise: Do You Judge a Book by Its Cover?

We all tend to make split-second decisions about other people. How have McRaven’s experiences made you think differently about making assumptions about people?

Have you ever been proven wrong about someone you made an assumption about? Who was it?

Make Your Bed Summary Lesson 4: A Setback Is Only Permanent if You Let It Be

When things don’t go your way or you suffer a setback, you may want to blame external sources. It’s easier to assume the world is against you than it is to admit that sometimes life just isn’t fair. You may even look back over your past and find fault with your upbringing, your lot in life, or your lack of opportunities as the culprits for your current disappointment. But at the end of the day, you are the only person responsible for determining your fate.

Many great historical figures overcame adversity to reach great heights, such as Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and Stephen Hawking. Like these people, you must accept that sometimes, even if you try your best and have all the skill and talent in the world, you will face challenges. You must face these challenges with the same determination you bring to your successes. Don’t complain and fall back on misfortune as an excuse for why you can’t be happy. Take the hits and move forward in whatever way you can.

SEAL Lieutenant Martin, known as Moki, was one of...

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Shortform Exercise: What Really Happened?

When you’re frustrated with life, it’s easy to want to find something or someone to blame. How has this tendency shown up in your life?

When have you blamed someone or something in your past for your inability to accomplish a goal? Describe the situation.

Make Your Bed Summary Lesson 5: Use Failure to Your Advantage

Failure is part of life. No matter how hard you try to succeed or how much you try to avoid failure, at some point, you will fail. The law of averages dictates it. When you fail, you can cower with defeat and give up, or you can use failure to push yourself harder and grow stronger.

Accept that everyone makes mistakes. Learn from those mistakes. Don’t be afraid of trying again. If you can persevere through the consequences of failure, you will be better prepared for other difficult challenges that lie ahead.

In SEAL training, everyone has a swim buddy. These buddies are attached at the hip, figuratively and literally at times. If one buddy fails, both buddies suffer the consequences. McRaven learned this lesson after a particularly grueling training swim one day. He and Marc, his swim buddy, were well behind the other cadets when they crawled out of the water.

The training instructor ordered them to fall into the plank position and began berating them for their poor...

Make Your Bed Summary Lesson 6: Be Daring in Life

As you learned in the previous lesson, failure is an eventual certainty in your life. More than learning from your mistakes, you first have to be willing to make them. If you live in fear of failure, struggle, or humiliation, you will never do what is necessary to achieve your goals or reach your potential.

Much of life is a struggle. In difficult times, you’ll feel fear. If you play it safe and limit your actions to mitigate failure, you will never know what you’re made of. You must learn to have faith in yourself and push past your anxieties to accomplish your goals. You must be willing to push yourself to the limit to achieve something great. Dare greatly in life and receive great rewards.

SEALs-in-training must complete a strenuous obstacle course every now and then. Their times are recorded, and a poor time can mean joining the day’s Circus or...

Shortform Exercise: Are You a Risk-Taker?

It’s not easy to be daring in life. But sometimes it is necessary to get what you want.

Do you push yourself beyond your limits when faced with a challenge, or do you tend to play it safe? Why?

Make Your Bed Summary Lesson 7: Keep Courage Close

Courage is a powerful emotion. With courage, you can surmount any obstacle. With courage, you can stand up to any bully. Without it, you place yourself at the mercy of life and the actions of others. Just like a society rises up to defeat a nefarious dictator, you must find the courage to rise up and defeat whatever stands in the way of your success .

Every bully is the same. They feed on the fear of those they oppress to grow stronger. They are like sharks in the water, circling their prey and waiting for weakness. These sharks are everywhere in life, including work, society, and social circles. If you give in and cower, they will attack you. The consequences could be deadly either physically or spiritually. You have the courage inside of you to stand up to forces of oppression. If you want to...

Make Your Bed Summary Lesson 8: Stand Tall in the Midst of Darkness

Life encompasses many tragedies. You may lose a loved one, a job, or a dream. Terrorists may fly planes into buildings, and viruses may ravage a nation. There will be many moments in which your spirit gets crushed and makes you lose hope for the future.

These are the moments in which you must search for the best version of yourself. You must rise to the challenge of moving forward with strength and dignity. In the darkest moments, do what must be done to show the world your best, and you can survive anything.

One of the most difficult tests the SEAL trainees had to pass was the final dive training mission. They were required to swim underwater for 2,000 meters and attach a practice mine to the bottom of a target vessel in San...

Shortform Exercise: Be a Paragon of Strength

Finding strength when faced with tragedy is not always easy. But often it is the only way to keep moving forward.

Name one time you found strength in the midst of darkness in your life. What attitudes or beliefs allowed you to find and maintain this strength?

Make Your Bed Summary Lesson 9: Inspire Others with Hope

Life is nothing without hope. In the face of life’s most difficult challenges, a little hope can go a long way in bringing people back from darkness. With hope, you can give even those suffering the most a reason to keep moving forward.

You and those around you will find yourselves stuck in the mud. You will feel exhausted and at the end of your rope. In these moments, sing loudly for all to hear. In other words, raise your voice during dark times to inspire those around you. Be the one who makes a difference in someone else’s life by giving them hope for the future. It only takes one person to show someone that tomorrow will come.

Hell Week in SEALs training was the ultimate test of whether the trainees had what it took to be in the toughest branch of the military. For six days, cadets did not sleep, suffered constant harassment from the instructors, and moved through endless endurance activities. More cadets quit their training during this week than at any other moment. One of the most grueling activities of this week took place in the Tijuana mudflats.

After McRaven and his group arrived at the mudflats, they were ordered into the mud. They ran...

Make Your Bed Summary Lesson 10: No Matter What, Never Give Up

When life gets tough or things don’t go your way, it is much easier to give in and quit than continue forward. Life is full of moments in which the odds of success seem so small, you can’t imagine ever winning. Throwing in the towel seems like the most logical thing to do. You can do that. You can feel pity for yourself, blame others, and complain about how unfair the world is. If you do these things, your life will be a long and uncomfortable journey.

When you reach the precipice between quitting and continuing, hold steady and take another step forward. Refuse to back down. Stand your ground and work despite the odds. As long as you keep moving forward, your life will be in your control. No one can stop you from doing what you love. Only you can quit, and you will likely regret it forever. Never, ever, under any circumstances quit. If life is going to beat you, make sure you go down fighting.

McRaven stood at attention with 150 other SEAL hopefuls the first day of training. A commanding officer strode across the courtyard and stood next to a bell. He told the men what they could expect from the next six months. He would push them to their limits. He...

Shortform Exercise: Stand Your Ground

There is no shame in opting for the easy way out sometimes. Everyone has done it at least once. The key is to finish what you’ve started more times than not.

Think of a time when you quit something when the going got rough? Describe the situation.

Table of Contents

Make Your Bed Summary

Little things that can change your life… and maybe the world, start your day with a task completed, no person is an island, size only matters when it comes to your heart, accept that life's not fair, what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger, dare greatly, make courage your friend, rise to the occasion, give people hope, never, ever quit, in conclusion, continue your learning.

Sam Thomas Davies

Make Your Bed by William H. McRaven

Buy on Amazon: Hardcover | Audiobook  |  Get My Searchable Collection of 100+ Book Notes

The Book in Three Sentences

• Make Your Bed is based on Admiral William H. McRaven’s commencement speech for the graduating class from the University of Texas at Austin.
• In it, McRaven shares the ten lessons he learned from Navy SEAL training.
• They are simple lessons that deal with overcoming the trials of SEAL training, but the ten lessons are equally important in dealing with the challenges of life—no matter who you are.

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Make your bed summary.

• Start your day with a task completed
• You can’t go at it alone
• Only the size of your heart matters
• Life’s not fair—drive on!
• Failure can make you stronger
• You must dare greatly
• Stand up to the bullies
• Rise to the occasion
• Give people hope
• Never, ever quit!

If you want to change the world … start off by making your bed.

Nothing can replace the strength and comfort of one’s faith, but sometimes the simple act of making your bed can give you the lift you need to start your day and provide you the satisfaction to end it right.

If you want to change the world … find someone to help you paddle.

You cannot paddle the boat alone. Find someone to share your life with. Make as many friends as possible, and never forget that your success depends on others.

If you want to change the world … measure a person by the size of their heart.

If you want to change the world … get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward. (If a Navy SEAL fails to follow basic requirements (such as making their bed perfectly), they’re instructed to roll around on the beach until they’re covered head to toe with wet sand—referred to as a “sugar cookie”).

The common people and the great men and women are all defined by how they deal with life’s unfairness:

Sometimes no matter how hard you try, no matter how good you are, you still end up as a sugar cookie. Don’t complain. Don’t blame it on your misfortune. Stand tall, look to the future, and drive on!

If you want to change the world … don’t be afraid of The Circus. (In Navy SEAL training, “The Circus” is another two hours of additional calisthenics, combined with non-stop harassment by SEAL combat veterans who want only the strong to survive the training.)

In life, you will face a lot of Circuses. You will pay for your failures. But, if you persevere, if you let those failures teach you and strengthen you, then you will be prepared to handle life’s toughest moments.

True leaders must learn from their failures, use the lessons to motivate themselves, and not be afraid to try again or make the next tough decision.

If you want to change the world … slide down the obstacle head first.

Life is a struggle and the potential for failure is ever present, but those who live in fear of failure, or hardship, or embarrassment will never achieve their potential. Without pushing your limits, without occasionally sliding down the rope headfirst, without daring greatly, you will never know what is truly possible in your life.

If you want to change the world … don’t back down from the sharks.

In life, to achieve your goals, to complete the night swim, you will have to be men and women of great courage. That courage is within all of us. Dig deep, and you will find it in abundance.

If you want to change the world … be your very best in the darkest moments.

Advice from one of McRaven’s chief petty officers: “Tonight, you will have to be your very best. You must rise above your fears, your doubts, and your fatigue. No matter how dark it gets, you must complete the mission. This is what separates you from everyone else.”

At some point, we will all confront a dark moment in life. If not the passing of a loved one, then something else that crushes your spirit and leaves you wondering about your future. In that dark moment, reach deep inside yourself and be your very best.

If you want to change the world … start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.

We will all find ourselves neck deep in mud someday. That is the time to sing loudly, to smile broadly, to lift up those around you and give them hope that tomorrow will be a better day.

If you want to change the world … don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

Of all the lessons McRaven learned in SEAL training, this was the most important. Never quit. It doesn’t sound particularly profound, but life constantly puts you in situations where quitting seems so much easier than continuing on. Where the odds are so stacked against you that giving up seems the rational thing to do.

Life is full of difficult times. But someone out there always has it worse than you do. If you fill your days with pity, sorrowful for the way you have been treated, bemoaning your lot in life, blaming your circumstances on someone or something else, then life will be long and hard. If, on the other hand, you refuse to give up on your dreams, stand tall and strong against the odds—then life will be what you make of it—and you can make it great. Never, ever, ring the bell!

Recommended Reading

If you like Make Your Bed , you may also enjoy the following books:

• The 7 Habits of Highly-Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
• Ego Is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
• The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday

Buy The Book: Make Your Bed

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Make Your Bed Summary and Review | Admiral William H. McRaven

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William McRaven’s Perspective

William McRaven is a retired United States Navy four-star admiral who served as the ninth commander of the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) from August 8, 2011 to August 28, 2014. From 2015 to 2018, he was the chancellor of The University of Texas System. McRaven was designated as the first director of the NATO Special Operations Forces Coordination Centre (NSCC). Here he was charged with enhancing the capabilities and inter-operability of all NATO Special Operations Forces.

Introduction

Make Your Bed is an outline of all the lessons that William McRaven learned during his distinguished career. The book begins by suggesting you wake up and make your bed. The following advice relates to human nature and how you can overcome adversity. Admiral McRaven’s original speech on this topic went viral with over 10 million views. He then packed all these popular ideas into one book.

StoryShot #1 – Wake Up and Do the Right Thing

 If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. As a SEAL trainee, Billy’s first task of the day was to make his bed for inspection. Making the bed correctly was not an opportunity for praise. It demonstrated his discipline and his attention to detail. It was also a reminder that, no matter what happened that day, he had done something well. He had something to be proud of.

If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.

StoryShot #2 – Teamwork Is Key

If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.

In SEAL training the value of teamwork is emphasized. The need to rely on someone else may mean life or death during combat. Everywhere McRaven went during SEAL training, he and his fellow classmates were required to carry a 10-foot rubber raft and paddle it in the ocean. On the days that McRaven was exhausted or sick, the other members picked up the slack. When they weren’t feeling a hundred percent, Billy returned the favor.

You need people in your life to help you through difficult times. You cannot paddle the boat alone.

StoryShot #3 – Always Look to the Future

If you want to change the world, make sure you are moving forward. It is easy to blame your struggles in life on some outside force. It is also easy to not try because you believe fate is against you. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ordinary people are all defined by how they deal with life’s unfairness. Sometimes no matter how hard you try, no matter how good you are, you will fail. Don’t complain if this happens. Stand tall, look to the future, and drive on.

StoryShot #4 – Determination Is More Important Than Talent

If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart. Determination and grit are always more important than talent. Seal training was a great equalizer. Nothing mattered but your will to succeed.

StoryShot #5 – Don’t Be Afraid of Failures

If you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of The Circus. The Circus in SEAL training involves lots of hours of training to become successful and for the performers to maximize their performance. Whenever McRaven or his swim buddy failed in an event, they would both be subjected to The Circus. This was additional training every afternoon at the end of the day. Two hours of calisthenics.

Every time Billy entered The Circus, he’d be even more charged the next day. This caused him to fail another event and go back to The Circus. As the circuses kept coming, their swims got better and easier. They were now stronger, faster, and more confident. In life, you will face a lot of circuses. You will pay for your failures. That said, if you persevere and let those failures teach you and strengthen you, you will be prepared to handle life’s toughest moments.

True leaders learn from failure. Use lessons learned and make the next tough decision.

We rate this book 4.1/5.

Make Your Bed PDF, Free Audiobook, Infographic and Animated Book Summary

Comment below and let others know what you have learned or if you have any other thoughts.

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This was the tip of the iceberg. To learn the details and support the author, order the book or get the audiobook for free .

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Make Your Bed Summary (William H. McRaven)

Want to learn how from the best? William McRaven was a four-star US Navy Seal Admiral and distils his life advice into ten timeless pieces of wisdom to help us live the good life. Based on a commencement speech (which you can watch below), these life principles have allowed McRaven to succeed in his career as a Special Forces supervisor. So if you’re a leader looking to inspire or want to turn your own life around, the Make Your Bed summary is required reading. Main takeaway: Little things, repeated often, can often make the most difference.

1. Start your day with a task completed

“If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed”

In military movies, bootcamp scenes invariably focus on recruits making their beds with the utmost precision. In the author’s own training, failure to perform this ritual was punishable by the ‘sugar cookie’, whereby cadets dived into the ocean before rolling in hot sand. This small task may seem benign and insignificant, but it’s actually an essential way to start the day. By accomplishing any task first thing in the morning, however, easy, helps build momentum that we can carry into the next productive activity. This ensures it’s easier to work our way down the to-do list, fostering a feeling of happiness and productivity. A good start can also help us end the day in the right way and we can reflect with pride on that small achievement.

2. You can’t go it alone

“If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle”

No man can make it through SEAL training or combat alone. McRaven learnt this the hard way after suffering a serious parachute accident and receiving help from his wife during his months of recovery. Find someone to share your life with and make as many friends as possible. We all need people in life to help us through difficult times and any achievement depends on input from others.

3. Only the size of your heart matters

“If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart”

When McRaven visited a recruitment centre to learn more about becoming a Navy Seal, he encountered a small man, frail in appearance, who turned out to be a Vietnam war hero. Never make the mistake of judging someone other than by the size of their heart. And before placing your confidence in them, ask yourself what you really know about them.

4. Life’s not fair—drive on!

“If you want to change the world, get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward”

Often the sugar cookie punishment was inflicted without good reason, which taught McRaven an important lesson. Don’t expect life to be fair and reasonable. When you spend enough time running around with sand chafing your body, you realise it’s futile to resist facts and waste time and try to evade life’s challenges. We’re all defined by our response to life’s unfairness. So pick yourself up and march on.

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5. Failure can make you stronger

“If you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the circuses”

In SEAL training, “The Circus” is a strenuous endurance test combined with instructor harassment, designed to separate the strong from the weak. By introducing cadets to failure, it simultaneously made them stronger [The Circus training caused McRaven and his team to go from last to first place in the assessment.] We all face such circuses in our lives and failing is inevitable. Although it’s a word imbued with much negativity, when reframed, it can be used as an advantage. Despite its tendency to cause pain and suffering, we can use it to spark strength and determination, preparing us for the toughest life challenges.

6. You must dare greatly

“If you want to change the world…sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle headfirst”

If we let our anxieties and insecurities control our decisions and actions, we won’t get far. Without pushing our limits and without daring greatly, we’ll never know what’s truly possible. In order to win big, we must be willing to take big risks.

7. Stand up to the bullies

“If you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks”

Life is full of challenges, especially when confronted by bullies and false friends, or as in the case of McRaven, shark invested waters. During his SEAL training, he had to do a 4-mile night swim, with reports of sharks in the area. McRaven had to overcome his fears and take the plunge. Sometimes it feels easier to shy away rather than accept the challenge, but we must dig deep and remain courageous to reach our goals.

8. Rise to the occasion

“If you want to change the world, be your very best in the darkest moments”

Life is full of dark moments, from serious illnesses to death, and it’s how we respond that counts. McRaven has seen many fatalities in war, but it’s the endurance and resilience of friends and loved ones that have been striking. In life’s toughest moments, we must rise to the challenge and put our best selves forward.

9. Give people hope

“If you want to change the world, start singing when you are up to your neck in mud”

At some point, we’ll all be neck-deep in mud, at which point we should sing, lift up those around us and give them the confidence that tomorrow will be better. After all, how often have you been at the end of your proverbial tether, just to speak to a friend and gain a fresh perspective? We should all endeavour to be that friend, someone who can instil hope and lead others forward.

10. Never, ever quit!

“If you want to change the world, don’t ever, ever ring the bell”

[Ringing the bell is a SEAL hell week ritual, where when a cadet wants to quit, they must confirm it by ringing a bell on the compound, after which there’s no going back] Life will frequently want to make us quit. But when the going gets tough, remember that life is beautiful, made possible by great and terrible moments alike. Don’t blame others or feel sorry for yourself, but rather put in the effort. After all, we only get out what we put in and by giving nothing, regret is inevitable. So do away with self-pity, stand tall and proud and know that life is what we make of it – and we can make it great.

The Make Your Bed summary

• Wonderfully simple and yet profound life advice
• Battle tested by a higher performer
• Simple, yet not easy
• Will require courage and practice to implement
• Watch the video below for the commencement speech

• Combine this with the Can’t Hurt Me summary , another fantastic read by David Goggins, former US Navy SEAL.
• Also, see the best books on executive presence .
• Like this? Then  browse more book summaries .

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Book Summary: Make Your Bed by William H. McRaven

Table of Contents

The Book in Three Sentences

Make Your Bed is based on an uplifting graduating speech from a Navy SEAL. In this summary of Make Your Bed , you’ll learn the principles that allowed Admiral William H. McRaven to face challenges in life. Ever since the commencement speech was made available for everyone to watch, it has inspired millions of people to have more determination, courage, honor, and compassion.

Make Your Bed Summary

This book is based on a commencement speech Admiral McRaven gave to a graduating class from the University of Texas on May 17th. The speech resonated with the class for its universal appeal and it was based on ten lessons McRaven learned from his Navy SEAL training.

Chapter One: Start Your Day with a Task Completed

Making your bed is the first task of the day and it’s important because it shows discipline and attention to detail and it’s a reminder of a job well done at the end of the day. The simple act of making your bed can be motivating.

Chapter Two: You Can’t Go It Alone

Relying on someone else to help you with certain tasks is important. When you’re too tired, you need someone else who can work a little harder than you. When the situation comes, you should return the favor. No one’s immune to tragedy, so we all need someone to believe in and someone who sees our potential too. You can’t go through life alone. Your success depends on others.

Chapter Three: Only the Size of Your Heart Matters

One of the most important lessons you can learn is that size doesn’t matter. Likewise, the color of your skin doesn’t matter and money doesn’t make you better. Always remember that determination is more important than talent.

Chapter Four: Life’s Not Fair – Drive On!

Life isn’t fair. Sometimes you’ll be rewarded and sometimes you won’t. Whether you’re rewarded or punished, keep moving forward. How you deal with life’s unfairness defines you and it doesn’t depend on how you were raised, how you were treated as a child, or where you were born. When you’re punished and you don’t deserve it, don’t complain and don’t blame anyone, just move on.

Chapter Five: Failure Can Make You Stronger

A series of failures makes most people quit, don’t. A series of failures will make you stronger, faster, more confident, and better. Those who quit are unable to handle failure and pain. They learn nothing. The pain and suffering that failure brings pay off eventually. Failure prepares you for life’s most difficult moments. Failure strengthens you and teaches you. Never forget that no one is immune to mistakes. If anything, mistakes are lessons you can use to motivate yourself.

Chapter Six: You Must Dare Greatly

Obstacles can beat you unless you take risks. To overcome problems, tackle them directly and trust yourself. Despite what most people think, risk is calculated and thoughtful, even when certain decisions are taken in the spare of the moment. In life in general, there’s always the chance of failure, but those who live in fear never get to their full potential. To push your limits, face your greatest fears and the obstacles that stand in your way.

Chapter Seven: Stand Up to the Bullies

As long as your goal is noble, you’ll get the courage you need to keep moving forward. You need courage to forge your own path, fight bullies, achieve goals, and defeat evil. Everyone has courage, but sometimes we have to dig deep to find it.

Chapter Eight: Rise to the Occasion

Try to be your best in the darkest moments. At some point in life, we all have to face these bad moments, moments when you wonder how to move on. When those moments arrive, try to be your best.

Chapter Nine: Give People Hope

One person’s enough to bring people together. One person can inspire everyone around him. One person shows that if he or she can, anyone can. Hope is a powerful force because it inspires others. Someone with hope can make a difference.

Chapter 10: Never, Ever Quit

To conclude this summary of Make Your Bed , quitting is something you’ll regret for the rest of your life because quitting doesn’t make things easier. There will be times when quitting seems acceptable and rational, but it never is. Life is longer and more difficult when you complain and blame others for your problems, so don’t. Life is what you make of it, so make it great.

Further Reading

If you liked this summary Make Your Bed, you might also like :

• The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
• How Will You Measure Your Life? By Clayton M. Christensen
• The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday

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Book Summaries

‘make your bed’ book summary: review and key takeaways.

Sudarshan Somanathan

Head of Content

April 16, 2024

Before you read the book, the act of making your bed may not seem like a fulfilling task that evokes a feeling of accomplishment when completed. It is a mundane chore at best.

However, Admiral William Mc Raven, in his book Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World says otherwise . He presents it as a deep metaphor for handling life’s toughest moments. He talks about how small, deliberate actions can be a window to a life of discipline, resilience, and fulfillment. 

Make Your Bed takes readers on a journey of self-improvement, helping them unravel the secrets to conquering adversities.

In this Make Your Bed book summary, we pick out the nuggets of vital learnings from the treasure trove of life lessons from the toughest military training programs in the world—the SEAL training.

• Make Your Bed: The Book at a Glance

1. Start the day off by making your bed

2. find someone to help you paddle, 3. measure a person by the size of their heart, 4. get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward, 5. don’t be afraid of the circuses, 6. slide down the obstacle head-first, 7. don’t back down from the sharks, 8. be your very best in the darkest moments, 9. start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud, 10. don’t ever, ever ring the bell, popular quotes from make your bed: little things that can change your life…and maybe the world, start the day with a task completed, small, deliberate actions cultivate discipline, find someone to help you paddle, start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud, slide down the obstacle head-first, only the size of your heart matters.

• Excel in Making Your Bed— and Much More—with ClickUp

Make Your Bed : The Book at a Glance

The book Make Your Bed originated from a profound commencement speech by Admiral William H. McRaven. While addressing the graduates of The University of Texas, Austin, the Navy veteran shared his insights from SEAL training and how it contributes to character building. It is an inspirational guide emphasizing the values of success, resilience, and persistence while navigating life’s challenges.

Before diving into the depths of Make Your Bed summary, here’s a quick overview of the book:

• Author : Admiral William H. McRaven
• No. of Pages : 144 pages
• Goodreads Rating : 4.0/5.0 
• Year Published : April 4, 2017 (First edition)
• Publisher : Grand Central Publishing
• Estimated Reading Time : 2.5 hours
• Listening Length : 2 hours

Essential Lessons from Make Your Bed Book by William H. McRaven

In Make Your Bed , Admiral William McRaven draws inspiration from his experiences during the Navy SEAL training to share valuable life lessons.

Here are 10 lessons from the book that will transform your personal and professional goals :

McRaven opens by talking about how his instructors, who were SEAL combat veterans, would inspect the beds first thing in the morning. A well-made bed had square corners, tight covers, a centered pillow positioned just below the headboard, and an extra blanket folded neatly at the base of the rack.

The daily habit was no challenge for those willing to undergo a strenuous 6-month basic training to become Navy SEALs. However, it had a lasting impact on their psyche.

Making the bed set a positive tone for their day. It is a sign of discipline and offers a sense of pride—you complete a task as soon as the day begins! The feeling of accomplishment bright and early will motivate you to conquer the following tasks until the day’s done.

Even on bad days when you do not experience the ripple effect of productivity, you can always come back to a bed made and take solace that tomorrow would be better.

It highlights how sometimes the simple act of making your bed correctly could be the foundation of excellence and a positive attitude. Committing to small tasks with precision and consistency cultivates habits that influence larger aspects of our lives. 

McRaven then focuses on the importance of teamwork. 

He talks about how Navy SEAL students were divided into boat crews of seven to paddle a small rubber boat miles down the West Coast. Six students, three on each side, were responsible for the paddling, while one would take charge as the coxswain.

Navigating the Pacific Ocean coast was no easy feat, unlike making a bed, with the winter surf peaking 8-10 feet high. Everyone had to work together. Those paddling had to exert equal effort to keep the boat balanced and moving. Similarly, the coxswain (the person in charge of a boat) had to synchronize every paddle stroke and expertly navigate the seas.

The idea that you must find someone to help you paddle is a testament to a universal human experience—success is rarely a solitary endeavor. Those looking to change the world must rely on strong relationships and a supportive network to make the voyage more manageable.

Working in a team requires trust, communication, and mutual reliance to navigate personal and professional complexities. Seeking help in these moments will improve the likelihood of triumph and ease the burden of the journey.

So, make as many friends as possible and help them as they help you. After all, true strength lies in unity.

Continuing with the above anecdote, Admiral William McRaven talks about how the class of 150 students dwindled to a mere 42 in just a few weeks of Navy SEAL training. With just seven boat crews remaining, everyone wanted to belong to the crew with the tall, buff guys.

However, the most exceptional performers were a bunch of ‘misfits’—called the munchkin crew.

The munchkin crew included an American Indian, an African American, a Polish American, a Greek American, an Italian American, and two kids from the Midwest, all five feet five inches or less. However, they outdo all the other teams in paddling, swimming, and running. 

This Navy SEAL training was a humbling experience for the big guys who made fun of the little flippers the munchkins put on, only to eat their dust later. It made McRaven realize that no external appearance, social parameter, or superficial metrics can grade someone’s grit, endurance, and willpower.

Success depends on daring greatly, and the munchkins proved that only the size of their hearts matters as it dramatically overshadows the size of their flippers.

Next in the Navy SEAL training came the part where the instructors carried out a weekly uniform inspection. The evaluation was meticulous and stringent, with very high standards to match.

Students had to have a perfectly starched hat, an immaculately ironed uniform, and a shiny, smudge-free belt buckle to pass this inspection. The students gave it their all, but the instructors would discover something amiss despite their hard work. 

Cue the punishment.

Students then had to brave the surf zone, fully clothed. Once they were wet from the head to their toes, they had to roll around on the beach until they were caked in sand. They called this sugar cookie. The sugar cookies had to stay in this state throughout the day: cold, wet, and gritty with sand. 

Of course, it was discouraging to several students who became sugar cookies no matter how they tried. They didn’t understand that the system was created to make everyone a sugar cookie. The lesson was that failure is a part of life, and you must learn how to roll with the punches. The objective is to get over the self-pity and keep moving forward.

Continuing with the theme of accepting failure as a possible outcome of an endeavor, McRaven discusses the circus list.

The Navy SEAL training is physically and mentally challenging. Students must participate in activities like long runs, obstacle courses, long swims, hours of calisthenics, and more.

Each activity had specified standards to be met within a prescribed schedule. Failure to do this would result in being placed on the circus list. The list was posted at the end of the day, and those shortlisted had to put in two additional hours of calisthenics.

Ending up on the circus meant two things:

• Your performance didn’t measure up for the day
• You’re going to be more fatigued the following day, which could potentially subdue your performance—enough to get you on the next day’s circus list

Nobody wanted to be on the circus list, but there were a few recurring names. The extra two hours of calisthenics strengthened them even more. The pain forged strength and resilience.

McRaven believes that life is full of circuses and that failing will be painful. However, failures teach us resilience and persistence, making us stronger and one step closer to success.

Students had to run an obstacle course at least twice weekly during the Navy SEAL training.

The obstacle course featured 25 obstacles, such as a 10-foot wall, 30-foot cargo net, barbwire crawl, and more. However, the most intimidating of the lot was the Slide for Life.

It had a three-tiered 30-foot tower at one end and a single-tier tower at the other, between which was a 200-foot-long rope. Trainees had to climb the larger tower, grab the rope, and reach the other end. They would suspend their bodies under the rope and inch across, pulling their body weight hand after hand.

Until one day, one brave trainee mounted the top of the rope and launched himself head-first down the line. This seemingly foolish and risky approach helped him break the record for the obstacle!

Setting aside the mechanics or logistics of the approach, it becomes evident that tackling challenges head-on directly and assertively is more effective in charting the path to success. 

Rather than allowing fear and uncertainty to cloud our judgment, we must visualize challenges as opportunities to grow and learn. Head-on confrontation of these challenges cultivates resilience and grit, preparing us for anything life throws our way. 

During the land warfare phase of basic SEAL training, students are flown to San Clemente Island, just off the coast of San Diego. The waters here are breeding grounds for great white sharks.

To pass the SEAL training, students must complete long swims, some even in the pitch dark of the night. Before departing on this journey, instructors would brief the students on the different species of sharks inhabiting the waters.

They start by assuring students that no shark has ever eaten anybody. Then, they share some survival skills, such as standing your ground if a shark starts circling your position.

The instructors tell the students to avoid swimming away or acting afraid, as sharks can sense fear. Finally, if a shark were to attack, students are taught to punch them on the snout with all their might. This will cause them to turn and swim away.

Equipped with this knowledge, the students swim through the shark-infested waters and complete their tasks.

Through this, McRaven teaches the lessons of courage and steadfastness. You’ll come across several sharks in your life—that’s inevitable. The goal is to remain calm while facing these formidable challenges.

In the next part of ‘ Make Your Bed ,’ McRaven gives some background on how Navy SEALs perform underwater attacks. A pair of SEAL divers are dropped off outside the enemy harbor. These divers only have a compass and a DEF gauge to guide them to the target as they swim two miles underwater.

During a large portion of this swim, they have moonlight, ambient light, and surrounding streetlamps to illuminate the way. Plus, they are comfortable knowing they’re swimming in open waters.

However, as they draw closer to the target ship, the vessel blocks the light. Since the objective of the exercise is to find the ship’s keel, the divers have to get to the deepest parts.

Making your way to the darkest part of the ship, devoid of light and overwhelmed by the loud sounds of the ship’s machinery, is one of the most anxious moments of the mission. The effect can be mentally disturbing to the extent that it jeopardizes the mission.

But in these darkest moments, the Navy SEALs must remember to stay focused and composed. Stepping out from such dark moments helps them recall their physical prowess, tactical skills, and inner strength and emerge as victors. 

This poignant lesson highlights how the dark moment illuminates our true character. Strive to be your best even in difficult times, and you will cultivate the perseverance to thrive in adversity.

The ninth week of SEAL training is known as Hell Week. This seven-day endurance test involves no sleep or rest and constant physical and mental harassment.

On the Wednesday of Hell Week, students are taken to a swampy patch called the mudflats. They must endure 15 hours in the mudflats battling the howling winds, freezing cold, and the instructors’ pressure to quit SEAL training.

McRaven’s Hell Week had his class dig deep in the cold mud and sit in these holes as the sun began to set—a punishment for an infraction. The mud closed in on all students, with only their heads above the ground.

The instructors told the class they would let everyone out of the mud if five men quit. They still had about eight hours of training left and the night’s cold to bear. Naturally, several trainees looked like they were about to quit.

Until one loud voice rang out in a song. The song was out of tune but enthusiastic, causing others to start singing. Somehow, this simple rebellion tuned out all the discomforts and gave people hope to endure the mudflats.

McRaven reminds us that we will find ourselves neck-deep in mud someday. However, success depends on giving people hope. Those who dare greatly ignite hope and possess the power to change the world.

The final lesson in Make Your Bed is never to ring the bell.

In the SEALs training campus, a brass bell hangs in the compound’s center. The bell is for all students to see—it is their key to quitting the training and returning to a life where they no longer have to follow bed-making code, become a sugar cookie, swim with sharks, or sit neck-deep in mud. Ringing the bell gets you out.

Despite the lure of a life of normalcy where every day is no longer a test of endurance, McRaven advises against ringing the bell. After all, ringing the bell is a metaphor for surrendering, submitting to challenges, and abandoning their goal. By refusing to ring the bell, individuals can set immovable goals , tap into strong resolve, and persevere through hardships until they reach success. 

Here are a few popular quotes from the book Make Your Bed :

I know that anything I achieved in my life was a result of others who have helped me along the way.

The common people and the great men and women are all defined by how they deal with life’s unfairness: Helen Keller, Nelson Mandela, Stephen Hawking, Malala Yousafzai, and—Moki Martin. Sometimes no matter how hard you try, no matter how good you are, you still end up as a sugar cookie. Don’t complain. Don’t blame it on your misfortune. Stand tall, look to the future, and drive on!

Hope is the most powerful force in the universe.

Making my bed correctly was not going to be an opportunity for praise. It was expected of me. It was my first task of the day, and doing it right was important. It demonstrated my discipline. It showed my attention to detail, and at the end of the day, it would be a reminder that I had done something well, something to be proud of, no matter how small the task.

Quitting never makes anything easier.

How to Apply Learnings from the ‘ Make Your Bed’ Book with ClickUp

A project manager’s day starts by setting the agenda, organizing activities, conducting team meetings, taking stock of any backlog, and catching up on emails and messages. These are routine tasks but crucial nonetheless—something as symbolic as making your bed!

Use ClickUp to set daily goals , centralize communications, manage change requests, and orchestrate tasks and activities. The self-discipline of following the routine methodically helps you start the day with a completed task!

Staying on top of these everyday responsibilities kickstarts the day positively and helps you check one item after another off your list.

Use ClickUp’s Task Management to organize your tasks. Set deadlines, assign priorities, identify dependencies, create recurring tasks, notify stakeholders, and more.

ClickUp allows you to track and complete tasks, follow through on your commitments and cultivate a sense of discipline in your work. Your team will also appreciate the order and structure available through ClickUp.

They will also be more engaged in the work at hand as they visualize the impact of every activity in goal attainment as teams inch towards the larger objective. 

ClickUp is all about teamwork and collaboration. It is a highly versatile platform that allows businesses to set up shared workspaces so that teams can collectively organize tasks, documents, and communication over a centralized location. Such an arrangement breaks through siloes and allows everyone to paddle together.

ClickUp supports various communication channels, such as chat, comments, and notes, through which team members can discuss project specifics, share updates, and collaborate.

Teams can come together and brainstorm ideas using ClickUp Whiteboard or commit to creating, editing, and collaborating on documents using ClickUp Docs .

All in all, ClickUp is a collaboration powerhouse that will help you tame the highest surfs!

Regarding collaboration, ClickUp makes it possible through intentional, meaningful, and value-loaded communication.

Communication is the song that keeps the morale high when things get challenging. It offers assurance when projects turn awry and things look bleak.

ClickUp patches teams together through various communication channels to help them sing to each other. The Chat View allows teams to communicate with each other in real-time, while ClickUp Email Management takes care of asynchronous communication.

So, whether it is sharing updates or announcing the fallback on Plan B, ClickUp ensures that the teams are all singing the same tune while braving the winds.

In Make Your Bed , McRaven encourages readers to approach challenges proactively. ClickUp supports this mindset through effective goal-setting.

ClickUp Goals allow users to take on challenges head-on by breaking them down into smaller, manageable tasks.

The resulting work breakdown structure with specific and measurable targets allows teams to face complex problems or projects with tight deadlines fearlessly. Teams can set daily, weekly, and monthly goals and automatically track their progress in real-time.

Effective goal management also contributes to project flexibility, as you can respond to change requests instantly and execute a change management plan by revising the goals.

They say success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing heart.

ClickUp allows teams to dare move on while ensuring that one’s faith remains unshakeable. Use ClickUp Dashboards to measure and track various metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs).

Even if your project is slow to take off, ClickUp allows you to reevaluate all your moves and activities. This allows you to stay on track for continuous improvement and eliminate the fear of failure. Acknowledging failures and treating them as an opportunity for learning will help you forge forward.

Excel in Making Your Bed — and Much More — with ClickUp

Make Your Bed is an excellent story of discipline, perseverance, and fortitude. Don’t just read the book; apply its ten lessons in your personal and professional life, and you’ll be no less than a Navy SEAL in whatever you choose to do.

Train your military units using tools like ClickUp until they no longer fear failure and make their metaphorical bed perfectly. Sign up for free to learn more!

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Make Your Bed Summary

Summary of  Make Your Bed   Book by Admiral William H. McRaven

Short summary, making your bed can be an accomplishment, find people to rely on.

Make peace with the imperfection of life

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, don’t fear, dare, in the darkest time, there is always light, what is make your bed about.

In this inspiring and practical book, a highly decorated Navy SEAL Admiral shares valuable life lessons he learned during his military career. Through anecdotes and personal experiences, he emphasizes the importance of making your bed every morning as a simple yet powerful habit that can set the tone for success in all areas of life. With wisdom and humility, he encourages readers to embrace discipline, resilience, and teamwork to overcome challenges and make a positive impact on the world.

Who should read Make Your Bed

Anyone seeking practical advice for personal growth and success.

Military personnel and veterans looking for inspirational stories and lessons.

Individuals interested in making a positive impact on the world.

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Home » Make Your Bed PDF Summary

Make Your Bed Summary

Emir Zecovic | Posted on July 27, 2018 |

6 min read ⌚ 

Little Things That Can Change Your Life… And Maybe the World

You want to change the world.

Start off by making your bed.

Don’t believe us?

Then, let us rephrase that in the words of a decorated United States Navy admiral:

“ Make Your Bed !”

Who Should Read “Make Your Bed”? And Why?

In “Make Your Bed” Admiral William H. McRaven shares the 10 most valuable life lessons he learned by being a part of the US military.

As he says himself, they are universally comprehensible and applicable, so it doesn’t matter who you are or whether you like the military or not.

“Change in the world can happen anywhere,” emphasizes McRaven, “and anyone can do it.”

About William H. McRaven

He last served as the commander of the United States Special Operations Command (2011 – 2014), a position he got after serving for three years as the Commander of Joint Special Operations Command (2008 – 2011).

Back in 1995, “ Spec Ops, ” the first of the two books he has so far authored was published.

In 2012, he was played by Christopher Stanley in the Academy Award-winning movie chronicling the manhunt for Osama bin Laden, “ Zero Dark Thirty ,” and a year later he appeared as himself in the documentary “ Dirty Wars .”

“Make Your Bed PDF Summary”

William H. McRaven is 1977 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and a decorated United States Navy admiral.

How are these things related between themselves, or, for that matter, to this book?

Well, McRaven retired from the Navy – after more than 37 years of service – on August 28, 2014.

About three months before that, as still the Commander of United States Special Operations Command, he addressed the Class of 2014 at the University of Texas at Austin.

The commencement speech went viral and has been viewed, in different versions, more than 10 million times.

We link it below.

But, before you watch it, we feel obliged to add a “spoiler alert” tag: it’s basically this book in 20 minutes minus some of the anecdotes and stories:

As you might have already heard (in case you decided to watch McRaven’s speech before going on to read this summary), Admiral McRaven was inspired to share the 10 most valuable lessons he learned as part of the US military by the slogan of his alma mater: “ what starts here changes the world .”

The question is – he adds after pointing this out – what the world will look like after it is changed.

So as to make sure that it looks better (of which he has no doubt to start with), he makes ten (once again: universally applicable) suggestions, which, chiseled and polished up a bit, make up the titles of the ten chapters of his book.

So here they are, “the 10 lessons [McRaven] learned from basic SEAL training that hopefully will be of value to you as you move forward in life.”

Key Lessons from “Make Your Bed”

1.      Start Your Day with a Task Completed 2.      You Can’t Go It Alone 3.      Only the Size of Your Heart Matters 4.      Life’s Not Fair – Drive On! 5.      Failure Can Make You Stronger 6.      You Must Dare Greatly 7.      Stand Up to the Bullies 8.      Rise to the Occasion 9.      Give People Hope 10.      Never, Ever Quit

#1. Start Your Day with a Task Completed

One of the first things you’ll learn if you want to take part of the basic training for being a member of the US Seal team is – the proper way to make your bed.

And that is lesson #1: always start your day by making your bed.

How will that change the world, you ask?

Well, it’s actually not the making of the bed that matters; it’s the discipline you put into it and, more importantly, the fact that, by making your bed, you are starting your day on a high note: already with a task completed.

The bonus: no matter how bad the rest of the day is, you’ll always come home to a made bed.

#2. You Can’t Go It Alone

Even a superhero has a sidekick – and you need plenty of them. To use McRaven’s example: if you want to steer a boat faster , you’ll need to find people to paddle with you.

And if you suffer a near-fatal parachute incident, you’ll need a partner to carry you through the pain and the depression (yes, that actually happened to McRaven):

None of us are immune from life’s tragic moments… It takes a good team of people to get you to your destination in life. You cannot paddle the boat alone. Find someone to share your life with. Make as many friends as possible, and never forget that your success depends on others.

#3. Only the Size of Your Heart Matters

“Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man,” wrote a fairly obscure poet sometime in the early 20 th century ; “but sooner or later the man who wins/ is the one who thinks he can!”

McRaven has, basically, the same advice: the best team during his Navy training was actually the one who was most often the butt of the jokes on account of the size of its members’ flippers.

But, it’s not the size of the paddles that counts; it’s the size of the heart. The passion and the perseverance .

So, please, don’t judge a book by its cover. Judge it by its content.

#4. Life’s Not Fair – Drive On!

“The universe,” writes Neil deGrasse Tyson , “is under no obligation to make sense to you.”

In other words, there’s a big chance that life is not going to treat you fair.

But blaming your lot on some outside force is both easy and wrong. What’s right is learning how to accept and rise above the unfairness.

“The common people and the great men and women,” concludes McRaven, “are all defined by how they deal with life’s unfairness.”

#5. Failure Can Make You Stronger

During his SEAL Navy training, McRaven was part of a swimming team which always finished last.

Their punishment?

The Circus, i.e., an endurance test which has made many cadets give up.

However, in the case of McRaven, the failure to win the swimming races only made him stronger: for the graduation test, he was part of the winning team.

So, keep calm – and fail forward .

#6. You Must Dare Greatly

Don’t be afraid to take risks:

Life is a struggle and the potential for failure is ever present, but those who live in fear of failure, or hardship, or embarrassment, will never achieve their potential.  Without pushing your limits, without occasionally sliding down the rope headfirst, without daring greatly, you will never know what is truly possible in your life.

#7. Stand Up to the Bullies

As part of their training, McRaven and his teammate were once commanded to swim four miles through potentially shark-infested waters. Refusing the task meant not completing the SEAL training.

So, as afraid as they were, they didn’t.

The lesson?

You’ll encounter many sharks – whether bullies or personal fears – on your path to greatness.

Stand up to them.

#8. Rise to the Occasion

Sometimes it’s inevitable that you’ll lose a loved one.

Unfortunately, no amount of shouting and screaming, no amount of sulking or depression, will ever change that.

Being a soldier, McRaven has learned this the hard way.

What you’re left with is to rise to the challenge and endure .

#9. Give People Hope

Sometimes, all it takes is just a little pat on the shoulder.

For example, during McRaven’s Hell Week (the dreaded seven-day endurance test which makes or breaks a SEAL), one of the guys was about to call it quits, when another started singing a song.

Soon, everybody joined in.

And even though it was past midnight and they were all covered in cold mud, somehow, they felt a bit more hopeful.

And they persevered!

#10. Never, Ever Quit

Don’t give up!

If a Navy SEAL who has lost both legs can find some meaning in life, certainly you can too, no matter how bad your day is.

No matter what happens, it’s your job to be unbroken .

Like this summary? We’d like to invite you to download our free 12 min app , for more amazing summaries and audiobooks.

“Make Your Bed Quotes”

Our Critical Review

Though certainly not groundbreaking (far from it), “Make Your Bed” is as inspirational as is William McRaven’s brilliant commencement speech.

Meaning: it’s one of those books you just can’t buy only one copy of.

Take our word for it: we’ve given at least six of them as gifts.

And had we known you personally, we probably would have gifted one to you as well.

Emir is the Head of Marketing  at 12min . In his spare time, he loves to meditate and play soccer.

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Make Your Bed

30 pages • 1 hour read

Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...and Maybe the World

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapters 9-10

Key Figures

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Chapters 3-4 Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 3 summary: “only the size of your heart matters”.

During training, a fellow recruit was looked down upon for his small stature: “The student, a seaman recruit and brand-new to the Navy, was about five foot four in height. The SEAL instructor, a highly decorated Vietnam vet, was well above six foot two and towered over the smaller man” (23). While the instructor browbeat the trainee about an upcoming exercise—a daunting open-ocean swim—the smaller man gave back as good as he gets, demanding to be taken seriously and assuring the instructor that he will not fail. Sure enough, the trainee finished ahead of most of the other recruits. McRaven points out that the training they were forced to undergo “was always about proving something” (23). Most of the time, they needed to overcome what would typically be considered obstacles or barriers to entry by the size of their hearts, and their determination.

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