Make your Bed if you want to get a head start

If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a sense of pride and will encourage you to do other tasks and take on the day with energy and freshness. Making a bed will reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do little things right, you will never do the big things right.

Its the small things which add on to the BIG thing. Recently a friend gifted me a book, “Make your Bed” by William H. Mc. Raven. The title intrigued me and the fact that it was written by a Navy Seal my interest was all the time high. These days I am reading a lot about Navy Seals and grueling training they undergo.

The Writer takes me on a walk through 10 lessons he learned from his basic SEAL training. They are 10 lessons for changing the world or in other words dealing with life. These lessons are universally applicable.

If you want to change the world:

• Start off by making your bed

Life journey is long and arduous. Moment to Moment we oscillate between life state of Anger, Hell,Animality,Hunger,Humanity,Rapture,Learning,Realisation,Bodhisttava and Buddhahood.

More than often day controls us rather than we controlling the day and its outcomes. Our daily lives require a sense of structure, simple act of completing a task can give us a high, a sense of accomplishment and motivate us to seize the day instead of circumstances and days moments controlling us.

• Find someone to help you paddle.

No one is self made. In life, you will face challenges that require you to rely on others. Teamwork and a good support system is very important. It takes a team of good people(It can be your personal advisory board) to get you to your destination. Make as many as friends as possible. Find people to share your life with. Success in whatever we want to accomplish depends on others.

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

The size of your heart is all that matters. It is the heart which is important.

“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.”

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

Life is not fair; accept it and 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 has been unfair. But life isn’t fair and the sooner you accept the better off you will be. Sometimes no matter how hard you try / how good you are, you will fail. Failure is not bad at all…

When something isn’t fair, don’t complain. Complaining is pointless. History is replete with examples how great men and women are all defined by how they deal with life’s unfairness.

• Don’t be afraid of the circuses.

Don’t fear failure; embrace it. No one is immune. Embrace failure as part of life journey. You will emerge stronger.

• Sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.

Take calculated risks.

To bring change, you will have to assume risk that is calculated, thoughtful, and well planned. This requires you to overcome your doubts and trust your abilities. Know your strengths and limits.

“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.”

• Don’t back down from the sharks.

Stand up to bullies.

Bullies are everywhere and we encounter them every ow and then. They rule on terror and 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 and find the courage to stand your ground. You have the power within you.

• You must be your very best in the darkest moment.

Rise to the occasion when life gets hard. Challenges are springboard to soar higher. We all confront dark moments/challenges from time to time. When this happens, dig deep inside. You will get the direction to taken on.

“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.”

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

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.”

• Don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

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.”