Leadership Strategy & Performance
Do You Make Your Bed?
Published Guide updated 1 min 52 sec
Sharon borrows Admiral William H. McRaven’s point that making the bed is a serious start to the day. Done properly, it gives the brain one completed task in the first five minutes and a reason to take the next one. If the small standard slips, the larger work has nothing to stand on.
Key takeaways
- A mundane task, done properly, tells you the day has already started well.
- The first completed task makes the next one easier to begin.
- The standard is diligence, not the bed itself.
- Small tasks are the evidence you can be trusted with the important ones.
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Edited transcript
Sharon takes the point from US Navy Admiral William H. McRaven’s university speech: if you want to change the world, start by making your bed. It sounds facetious. Done to a proper standard, and done mindfully, it sets up the rest of the day. She connects it to the morning routine.
The task tells the brain that one thing is already finished, in the first five minutes out of bed, and finished well. The next question is what to work on next. One completed task encourages another, and by the end of the day there is a run of work behind you, some of it simple and some of it not.
She then turns the question around. If you will not take a couple of extra minutes to do a simple task properly, where does the organisation and diligence for the important work come from? If the little things are not done right, the big things will not be either.
