Make Your Bed by William H. McRaven – Book Summary

Make Your Bed is a semi-autobiography from the seashores that U.S. Navy dominates. In May 2014, the author, a retired admiral of the U.S. Navy, gave a commencement speech at his alma mater the University of Texas in Austin. His speech covered ten lessons he had learned from his SEAL training. These ten lessons apply to grappling with the challenges in anyone’s life.

The speech, which went viral online, resonated with many people. And three years down the line, this book came into being. It explains in more detail, those ten lessons which shaped his life.

 

What Turned A Navy SEAL’s Life Into ‘Make Your Bed’ Life Lessons?

Training for the US Navy SEAL is a six-month-long grueling process. This is not just a physical struggle, but also a mental and emotional one. It doesn’t matter what financial background you come from. Or what your identity is in terms of race, religion, or color. The struggle is the same for everyone.

Social status and physique don’t determine whether you become a great soldier, your determination and perseverance do. The SEAL class which McRaven talks about started with 150 men but dropped to 42 in the course of the training.

Life is no different. If humans had restricted themselves based on what they were born with, or into, they would not have progressed to where they are now.

In this book, you learn about McRaven’s 10 lessons for getting through life.

 

Lesson 1: Making Your Bed Is Enough If You Haven’t Made Anything Else

Meeting the high standards of the US Navy SEAL is no joke. Discipline is a way of life for those in the army, and that discipline extends to even the smallest things – such as making your bed every morning. If you have done your bed right, no one will praise you for it; it is an expectation from you. It is a mundane task that left many training SEALs wondering why they should do it at all.

In 2003, when U.S. forces captured Saddam Hussein and held him in confinement, the author noted that Hussein did not make his bed. Life is full of curveballs and there is little you can do to stop them, but sometimes the simple act of making your bed can help kickstart your day.

 

Lesson 2: Friendship Helps You Win Over Time

One of the things that those hoping to become Navy frogmen learn is the importance of teamwork. They have orders to carry a ten-foot rubber raft wherever they went. The raft needed every one of them to be rowing so that it could move forward easily. This meant that when someone was ill, the others would pick up the slack. People need other people to help them through difficult times.

Twenty-five years later, this became apparent after the author suffered a nasty pelvic injury while parachuting. During his recovery, his wife changed his bandages and took care of him. She never let him forget that he couldn’t give up on his life. Likewise, people he had built friendships with, reached out to him on his path to recovery and helped him get back into the SEAL despite all odds.

 

Lesson 3: Appearance Deceives, See Deep Inside

If you want to change the world, look at people’s hearts, not their appearance. Short men made up the best boat crew in a Seal class. Which the other taller men would poke fun at. However, these little men – “the munchkin crew” – out-paddled, outran, and outswam every other boat crew. The instructor pulled aside one out of the men. He was a little over five feet. Further, the instructor said that the man was too small to face the waves. This seaman ended up becoming one of the first recruits to finish the swim.

In another incident, the author noticed a short and frail-looking man in the corridor. He thought the man was an ordinary civilian, however, that man was Tommy Norris, a Vietnam vet, and the last SEAL Medal of Honour recipient. So, always remember, your first impression should never be your last impression.

 

Lesson 4: Welcome The Ups & Downs Of Life

McRaven reminisces that during his SEAL training, uniform inspections were a part and parcel of army discipline and happened several times a week. But no matter how perfectly you did it, the instructors would find something wrong. As punishment, cadets had to run fully clothed to the beach, and roll around on it till the wet sand had covered them completely, and then stay that way for the rest of the day. This was known as being a “sugar cookie”.

Sometime later, a Vietnam veteran and SEAL officer that the author looked up to, got into a bicycle crash. The accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. He went on to become an accomplished painter, fathered a beautiful girl, and founded the Super Frog Triathlon. Though sentimental, he didn’t blame his circumstances for his condition; he chose to move forward and make something of his life despite his circumstances.

 

Lesson 5: Circus Is Not Something To Be Afraid Of

In SEAL training, the Circus is the worst thing a soldier receives orders to do. It is an additional two hours of training coupled with nonstop harassment by combat veterans. The extra workout means that you’ll feel exhausted the next day. And you have to get on the Circus list again, and the cycle would continue until you gave up. If you refused to give up though, the continuous Circuses would toughen you up and get you used to the rigor of training. Life will throw many Circuses at you but if you keep persevering, those failures will strengthen you.

In 1983, when the author went up for trying to change the traditional system of the squadron, he chose to continue being an officer, but it was only two decades and much hard work later that he was entrusted with a SEAL team again. Don’t be afraid of the Circus. You will get it at some point.

 

Lesson 6: Take Risks When Required

If you don’t take risks, you will never push yourself to be the best you can be. This was a lesson the author learned early on during an obstacle course when not taking risks meant that he crossed the finishing line with a disappointing time. The lesson served him well when in 2004, a risky hostage rescue situation compelled him to trust his and his men’s instincts to allow them to disembark in broad daylight and conduct the mission.

The famed British SAS (Special Air Service) motto reflects the same idea: “Who Dares Wins.” There is always the potential for failure, but if you restrain yourself because of it, you will never achieve your full potential.

 

Lesson 7: Don’t Fear Of Bullies

One of the most terrifying parts of SEAL training is the night swim off the waters of San Clemente in pitch darkness with the imminent fear of being eaten by a great white shark. The author and his swim buddy were able to complete it because they remembered the task at hand and dared to be courageous enough to take the plunge.

When U.S. forces captured the former president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, they asked new Iraqi leaders to speak to him. However, what started as a mission to make him fear them, turned on its head when, knowing his emotional power over them, he commanded them to sit down and listen to him. Every day after that, when the author visited him in his cell, he was treated as someone of no importance. His emotional power was taken away.

Bullies are the same everywhere. They gain strength from intimidating others and putting fear into their minds. Like sharks, they sense fear. If you don’t have the courage to stand your ground, they will strike.

 

Lesson 8: Give Your Best When The Moment Is Most Demanding

Training is given to Navy SEALs so they conduct underwater attacks against enemy shipping. The challenges of the training for this mission are many: only using a depth gauge and a compass with a small green light, it is an expectation from you to find the keel or the deepest part of the ship. It is when you’re swimming near the keel that you have to be your calmest and strongest.

The darkest moment of a soldier’s life is when their fellow soldier is no more in combat. It is in these tragic times that those who survive – their team, their family, their town, their country – come together to pay their respects, and then, move on with life. Everyone has their dark moments, but at those times, we must find it within us to be our very best.

 

Lesson 9: Make Your Bed With Never Losing Hope

During McRaven’s training, more students quit during Hell Week than any other time, and the toughest part of it was surviving the mudflats race. During this race, a SEAL instructor offered a way out of the torture for the whole class if at least five men quit. It was a tempting offer and some students were ready to move out of the marshland when one man started singing a popular song. Others joined in, and the ones who thought of quitting went back to their places and joined the singing. Nothing the instructor did to quieten them made them stop, and the singing motivated them to stick out the challenge.

During the War on Terror, a helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan, killing the 38 men on board. The grieving families left behind were left dazed and inconsolable. Only Marine Lieutenant General John Kelly was able to console them. He shared a common tragedy with them: he had lost his son to battle, and he knew exactly how to give these grieving families hope for the future. Hope is the single strongest emotion in this world.

 

Lesson 10: Do Not Quit Ever

After the grueling six-month SEAL training, only 33 men were left standing at graduation out of the 151 students who started the training together. A hundred and eighteen men had pulled the brass bell in the courtyard to escape the painful training and the harassment that pushed one to his limit. They had quit when the going had gotten rough, and possibly regretted it their whole lives. This never-give-up attitude was strong in a severely injured 19-year-old Ranger, who assured the author that he would be alright, in sign language.

A year after that hospital visit, the same Ranger was standing tall on his prosthetic legs and challenging his fellow teammates to a pull-up contest. If you let life’s hardships get you down, life will be long and hard. But if you refuse to give up on your dreams and fight all odds, then life will work out how you want it to. Don’t ever give in to your circumstances.

 

Conclusion Of Make Your Bed

It is quite interesting and motivating read, Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life… And Maybe the World.

• The bottom line is that life doesn’t always go the way as planned, so accept your circumstances and go on living.
• Start each day with a task completed.
• Find a friend in life. Don’t judge a person’s appearance.
• Take risks.
• Stand up to bullies.
• Give hope to those who need it, and never, ever give up.
• If those who read this book do all this today, think of how many more generations will benefit from the positive decisions this generation makes.