Notes and Takeaways from Make Your Bed
Source: Google
When I read it: November 2020
Why I read it: “Make Your Bed“ is the name of both a book and a speech by Admiral William H. McRaven. The book is based on the speech of the same name, which was given at the University-wide Commencement at The University of Texas at Austin on May 17, 2014. I reviewed the speech transcript recently and wanted more. So, I read the book too. Here are my combined notes and takeaways from both the book and the speech, Make Your Bed.
Go to the amazon listing for the book, review the speech, or scroll down for my notes.
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My notes:
About Admiral William H. McRaven
Admiral McRaven (“Bill”) is the author of Make Your Bed and Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations. In his thirty-seven years as a Navy SEAL, he commanded at nearly every level. He’s now retired.
About Make Your Bed
In the speech, Bill walks through 10 lessons he learned from basic SEAL training on how to change the world / deal with life. In the book, he builds on these 10 lessons in each chapter.
10 lessons for changing the world / dealing with life
If you want to change the world:
Start off by making your bed
Find someone to help you paddle.
Measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.
Get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.
Don’t be afraid of the circuses.
Sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.
Don’t back down from the sharks.
You must be your very best in the darkest moment.
Start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.
Don’t ever, ever ring the bell.
1. Start off by making your bed.
Translation: Start your day with a completed task.
Life is hard ⇒ days are long and filled with anxious moments ⇒ sometimes it seems that there is little you can do to affect the outcome of your day.
Daily life requires a sense of structure ⇒ the simple act of completing a task can give you the extra pride / motivation you need to seize the day.
“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. Throughout my life in the Navy, making my bed was the one constant that I could count on every day.”
2. Find someone to help you paddle.
Translation: Don’t go it alone.
In life, you will face difficult tasks that require you to rely on others ⇒ this requires teamwork.
It takes a team of good people to get you to your destination ⇒ Find someone to share your life with ⇒ Make as many friends as possible ⇒ Never forget that your success depends on others.
“I had numerous setbacks, and in each case, someone came forward to help me: someone who had faith in my abilities; someone who saw potential in me where others might not; someone who risked their own reputation to advance my career. I have never forgotten those people and I know that anything I achieved in my life was a result of others who have helped me along the way.”
3. Measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.
Translation: Grit and determination trump talent.
The size of your heart is all that matters.
“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.”
4. Get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.
Translation: Life is not fair; get over it.
You will not always be rewarded for your hard work / performance.
It’s easy to give up / stop trying when you think life is unfair ⇒ But life isn’t fair and the sooner you learn that the better off you will be ⇒ sometimes no matter how hard you try / how good you are, you will fail.
When something isn’t fair, don’t complain ⇒ The common people and the great men and women are all defined by how they deal with life’s unfairness ⇒ Examples: Helen Keller, Nelson Mandela, Stephen Hawking, and Malala Yousafzai.
“In all of SEAL training there was nothing more uncomfortable than being a sugar cookie… Not just because you spent the rest of the day with sand down your neck, under your arms, and between your legs, but because the act of becoming a sugar cookie was completely indiscriminate. There was no rhyme or reason.”
5. Don’t be afraid of The Circus.
Translation: Don’t fear failure; embrace it.
Noone is immune ⇒ In life, you will face failure ⇒ and that failure will spiral ⇒ initial failures often compound into additional failures.
Embrace this failure ⇒ it will make you stronger ⇒ for every failure, there will be hundreds of successes.
“What made The Circus so feared by the students was not just the additional pain but also the knowledge that the day after The Circus you would be exhausted from the extra workout and so fatigued that you would fail to meet the standards again. Another Circus would follow, then another and another. It was a death spiral, a cycle of failure that caused many students to quit training… But as The Circuses continued a funny thing happened. Our swims got better, and Marc and I began to move up in the pack. The Circus, which had started as a punishment for failure, was making us stronger, faster, and more confident in the water.”
6. Sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.
Translation: Take calculated risks.
To make change, you will have to assume risk that is calculated, thoughtful, and well planned ⇒ this requires you to overcome your anxieties / trust your abilities ⇒ know your limits, but trust yourself enough to try.
“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. Don’t back down from the sharks.
Translation: Stand up to bullies.
Bullies are all the same in all phases of life (school, workplace, government) ⇒ they rule on terror; they thrive on fear and intimidation.
Bullies gain their strength through the timid and faint of heart ⇒ like sharks that sense fear in the water and circle to see if their prey is struggling ⇒ they will probe to see if their victim is weak.
Don’t show weakness to bullies ⇒ find the courage to stand your ground ⇒ it is within you.
“In December 2003, U.S. forces captured Saddam Hussein… Saddam Hussein, the now former president of Iraq, sat on the edge of an old Army cot clad only in an orange jumpsuit. Having been captured by U.S. forces twenty-four hours earlier, he was now a prisoner of the United States. As I opened the door to allow the new Iraqi government leaders into the room, Saddam remained seated....Although I was positive Saddam would no longer be a threat to the other men in the room, the Iraqi leaders were not so certain. The fear in their eyes was unmistakable. This man, the Butcher of Baghdad, had for decades terrorized an entire nation. His cult of personality had drawn to him followers of the worst sort. His murderous thugs had brutalized the innocent and forced thousands to flee the country. No one in Iraq had mustered the courage to challenge the tyrant. There was no doubt in my mind that these new leaders were still terrified of what Saddam might be able to do—even from behind bars.”
8. You must be your very best in the darkest moment.
Translation: Rise to the occasion when life gets hard.
We all confront dark moments from time to time ⇒ when this happens, reach deep inside yourself and be your best.
“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.”
9. Start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.
Translation: Give people hope when times are tough.
Hope is the most powerful force in the universe ⇒ it only takes one person to inspire it in others.
Hope is contagious == when times get hard, infect others with hope.
“Once again, we had learned an important lesson: the power of one person to unite the group, the power of one person to inspire those around him, to give them hope.”
10. Don’t ever, ever ring the bell.
Translation: Never quit.
Life is full of difficult times ⇒ but someone out there always has it worse than you do.
Refuse to give up on your dreams.
“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.”
The 10 lessons, translated
If you want to change the world:
Start your day with a completed task.
Don’t go it alone.
Grit and determination trump talent.
Life is not fair; get over it.
Don’t fear failure; embrace it.
Take calculated risks.
Stand up to bullies.
Rise to the occasion when life gets hard.
Give people hope when times are tough.
Never quit.