On May 17th, 2014, US Navy Four Star Admiral William McRaven gave a commencement speech at the University of Texas that made social media history.
In front of thousands of aspiring graduates Admiral McRaven shared 10 tips from his lifelong experience in special operations. The young millennials listened in anticipation of a robust to-do list filled with unique, but hopefully familiar success strategies; each tool McRaven provided held the potential to confirm this generation’s understanding of the pathway to success. Go to college. Check. Start your own business. Check. Stay out of debt. Check. Use social media wisely. Check. Build lasting relationships. Check.
However, much to the people’s surprise, merely one minute into his speech Admiral McRaven shared his experience with military bed inspections, concluding that if you want to change your life and even the world, make your bed.
What? Make your bed! Could it be that simple? I had to find out for myself so I dug into a little research to see if there are actual benefits to routine bed making. Here are just a couple of the subtle but significant findings:
“The little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never be able to do the big things right.”
-US Navy Admiral William McRaven
A Well-Started and Well-Ended Day
According to the National Sleep Foundation’s Bedroom Poll, around 70% of Americans make their bed each morning. When you make your bed each morning you complete a simple task. Even more, you complete it successfully, and with very little effort. Bed making is a task that 99.9% of adults can be 100% successful at.
“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,” McRaven said. “By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter.”
You begin your day in your bedroom. There, in that room in a prominent position is your bed. It cared for you while you slept last night. It now stands waiting to do the same tonight. By making your bed, not only do you tell it, “thank you” but you also create a profoundly visual difference in the one room of the house that is all yours. In a matter of mere minutes, you turned a large heap of chaos into a well-tamed order.
Increased Productivity
Many people strive to find the motivation and the desire to be more productive on a day to day business. Whether you are a stay at home mom who needs to do laundry, dishes and make dinner or a businessperson with a daily calendar loaded with meetings, if you start your day completing a simple task, you will generate motivation to complete another one. Check out some of the other habits bed makers tend to acquire:
According to a poll of 2,000 Americans, people who make their bed also are more likely to:
- Be a morning person
- Wake up without an alarm
- Nap for 43 minutes on average
- Work in health or technology fields
- Enjoy jazz music, watch “House Hunters” and romantic movies
- Be adventurous, confident, sociable and high-maintenance
People who don’t make their bed are more likely to:
- Be a night person
- Snooze the alarm clock in the morning
- Work in business or financial fields
- Enjoy rock music and watch “Seinfeld” and comedy movies
- Be shy, moody, curious and sarcastic
Building the Habit
Want to become the next bed maker? Try a few simple steps to foster the habit:
- Write a note to yourself or set a reminder on your phone.
- Link bed making to another morning ritual you perform. If you are already diligent at brushing your teeth, tag bed making right behind it. Got getting dressed down pat? Consider dressing your bed as well.
- Commit to obeying the nudge. When you get the internal reminder to make your bed, obey right away. It only takes a couple of minutes and they are likely minutes you will gain as a result of increased productivity throughout the day. If you put it off, you train your brain to ignore your own impressions. Furthermore, following your premonitions trains your brain to be consistent. Soon you will be making your bed every day without much thought.
Hire a House Cleaner
What happens if you want to become the world’s next habitual bed maker but don’t feel you have the time to foster the habit?
That’s okay. There are plenty of people who can help foster the habit. Did you know that professional cleaners will make your bed with each housecleaning service? All you have to do is put out a set of clean linens at the edge of the bed. The cleaners will strip the used linens off of your bed and place them on your washing machine. Then they will neatly make your bed and turn down your sheets so that you can slide in after a long day.