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

Change: 10 lessons you can learn from Retired Navy SEAL Admiral William H. McRaven

Admiral William H. McRaven is a retired four-star Admiral and served thirty-seven years in the US Navy as a?Navy SEAL.??

McRaven commanded at every level and oversaw the?Navy SEAL?operation?Neptune Spear?in Pakistan that killed OBL in 2011.??In his final assignment he was Commander of all U.S. Special Operations Forces.??As Commander, McRaven led of force of 69,000 men and women and was responsible for conducting counter-terrorism operations worldwide.

Since 2018 McRaven joined the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs – The University of Texas at Austin as a professor in National Security.

On May 17, 2014, retired?Navy SEAL?Admiral William H. McRaven gave one of the?most famous commencement speeches?ever for the graduating class from the University of Texas at Austin.??Taking inspiration from the university’s slogan, “What starts here changes the world”.??McRaven shared?10 lessons?he learned from?Basic SEAL?training?on how to “change yourself and the world for the better”.??

McRaven offers the suggestion that if you can change the lives of just 10 people in your lifetime, which will happen for sure, and these 10 people will themselves change another 10 people, who themselves will change another 10 people … in five generations or 125 years this will change the lives of 800 million people.??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, you’re wrong.??Changing the world can happen anywhere, and anyone can do it.

So, a first message here is that you have a responsibility.??Even if you don’t have big plans, you are the center of a network and people will be influenced by your attitude and actions.

Whether you want to change the world, influence others or simply live a better life, for sure you will find here below something that can help you or help people around you.??

Enjoy the read!

If you want to change the world …

1. … Start off by making your bed.

2. … Find someone to help you paddle.

3. … 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!

5. … Don’t be afraid of the Circus.

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!

1???????Start off by making your bed

Making your bed properly is the first task during Basic SEAL training.??Every morning you are required to make your bed to perfection.??A simple task, that seems a little ridiculous and mundane.??Especially if you are dreaming of action, having an impact on the world, changing things around you … But how could we trust you with big things if you can’t do the small things properly first???Your biggest achievements are the result of small and simple accomplishments repeated every day.?

Making your bed demonstrates discipline, attention to detail.??Making your bed can give you the lift you need to start your day with a completed task and provide you with the satisfaction to end it right.

2???????Find someone to help you paddle

During SEAL training the candidates are broken down into boat crews.??Each crew is 7 students, three on each side of a ten-foot rubber boat and one coxswain.??It takes the whole team paddling in the same direction to pass through big waves or to carry these sand filled boats over their heads.??SEAL candidates not carrying their fair share of the load will be rejected by the group.

“Working well with others is a mandatory pillar of success.??Not just in your career but in all of life” (Mark Divine – retired Commander Navy SEALs).

You can’t paddle the boat alone.??Never forget your success depends on others.

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

At Basic SEAL training, boat teams are organized by height.??There is always a team gathering the smallest candidates, also called the “Smurf boat crew”.???But it is not too rare, despite the smaller size of their fins for the Smurf crew to win races or swims … SEAL training is always about proving something.??Proving that size doesn’t matter.??Proving that determination and grit are always more important than talent.

The will to succeed and improve is the only differentiator.

4???????Get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward!

When recruits make a “mistake”, they have to jump into the surf zone, roll around in the sand and make themselves look like a “sugar cookie”.??There is nothing more uncomfortable than being a sugar cookie.??There are a lot of things more exhausting, but being a sugar cookie tests your patience and determination.??Not just because you spent the rest of the day, cold, wet and sandy … but because the act of becoming a sugar cookie is completely indiscriminate.? Sometimes no matter how hard you try, no matter how good you are, you still end up as a sugar cookie.??There is no rhyme or reason.??

To many of the SEAL trainees it is hard to accept that all their effort was in vain.??They don’t understand the purpose of the drill.??It is a way to teach an important lesson …

Life is unfair!??Sometimes no matter how hard you try, how good you are … you will fail.??Don’t complain … Get over it!

5???????Don’t be afraid of the Circus

When recruits fail to meet the standard, or simply can’t follow the rest of the group, they often receive extra punishment sessions called “Circus sessions”.??Meaning 2 hours of extra calisthenics exercises that will get them even more exhausted.??This is of course adding pressure and often results in recruits dropping out because they can’t keep up with this added pressure. Besides additional pain, the recruits also know that the day after the Circus sessions they will be exhausted from the extra workout and so fatigued that they probably will fail to meet the standards again.

But where the Circus started as a punishment for failure, it can also be an opportunity to become stronger, faster and more confident.

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm” (Winston Churchill).

In life you will face a lot of Circuses.??You will pay for your failures.??But if you learn and embrace failure, it will make you stronger.

6???????Slide down the obstacle head first

Obstacle courses are an important part of any military training, it is a collection of obstacles that candidates must pass through in a limited amount of time.??For years, there was an established time record, and it was believed that no one could do better.??One day though, a young recruit decided to try another approach on the “slide for life” obstacle.??Instead of hanging under the horizontal rope that goes from one tower to the other, he decided to go over the rope and to slide downward head first.??Needless to say that with the height of the rope, falling would have meant serious injury and being expelled from the selection. But the approach was successful, and the candidate even broke the time record.

The motto of the British Special Air Service, the famed SAS is “Who Dares Wins”.

To make change, you will have to assume risk that is calculated thoughtful and well planned. Without pushing your limits, without occasionally sliding down the rope head first, … you will never know what is truly possible in your life.

7???????Don’t back down from the sharks

During the 3rd?phase of the selection – Land Warfare, SEAL candidates are stationed on?San Clemente island to learn land navigation and explosives.??The waters of San Clemente are a breeding ground for great white sharks.??To pass SEAL training there are a series of long swims that must be completed.??One is the night swim.??Being alone, at night, in the middle of the ocean, knowing that beneath the surface …. Before the swim the instructors like to remind the participants of all the various species of sharks swimming in these waters.??Telling them that “nobody has ever been attacked by a shark – at least not recently”.??But if a shark would show interest in taking a bite, they should face the shark and punch him in the snout, instead of swimming away.

In life, to achieve your goals, you will face a lot of sharks. Don’t run away from these challenges, but confront them head on!

8???????Be your very best in the darkest moments

One of the missions as Navy SEAL is to conduct underwater attacks against enemy shipping.??To be successful in your mission, SEALs have to swim under the vessel and find the keel, the deepest and darkest part where it is easy to get disoriented and fail.??And yet they have to remain calm and execute the mission.

Stay calm and be the best in the worst situations

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

The 9th?week of training is referred to as "Hell Week".??More recruits quit during Hell Week than at any other time in Basic Seal training.??130 hours of suffering, it’s a test that goes way beyond the physical.??The purpose is to eliminate the weak, those not tough enough to be SEALs.??It’s a mind game, not to find the fittest recruits, but to find the strongest minds. Hell Week usually starts on a Sunday night and finishes on the following Friday afternoon. During this 5 day period, recruits will sleep a maximum of 3 or 4 hours and will be constantly required to perform physical challenges and group exercises.??The recruits are ordered into the mud fields of San Diego Bay.??Hours of races and competitions designed to keep them cold, wet and miserable.??All with the intent to isolate the weakest and invite them to quit.

Instructors tell the group that all they need is to have 5 quitters.??Just 5, and the rest of the class will be relieved form the pain, cold and mud.??Sometimes is happens that one of the recruits starts singing.??Slowly, others will join the improvised choir and somehow the mud will seem a little warmer, the fatigue and pain less severe … and finally none quits.

Sometimes, all it takes is one person to take the initiative, one person to unite the group or one person to inspire those around him.??… Be that person!??Don’t wait on the side…

10???Don’t ever, ever ring the bell

All through SEAL training??there is the opportunity to quit.??There is a bell, that hangs in the center of the compound for all the recruits to see.??All they have to do is ring the bell 3 times. Everybody will think about quitting at some point.??Most candidates will go through a phase of discouragement.??But the ones who become Navy SEALs simply don’t act on that doubt, they simply don’t quit… Whatever you’re trying to achieve, don’t quit!

Life constantly puts you in situations where quitting seems so much easier than continuing on.??If you quit, you will regret it for the rest of your life.??Quitting never makes anything easier.

Life is hard … you will be challenged … just don’t quit!

10 lessons, if you want to change yourself, the world, for the better …

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 is 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!

If you want to watch the full video:

If you want to read the book:

McRaven, W. (2017).??Make your bed.??Little things that can change your life … and maybe the world.??New York: Gale.

Other books from McRaven:

McRaven, W. (1996).??Spec Ops.??Case studies in special operations warfare: theory and practice.??New York: Presidio Ballantine Books.

McRaven, W. (2019).??Sea stories.??My life in special operations.??New York: Grand Central Publishing.