Make Your Bed

Outline

Make Your Bed (2017) expands William H. McRaven’s widely shared 2014 commencement speech at the University of Texas at Austin into ten lessons drawn from his Navy SEAL training and military career. Starting with the simple habit of making your bed each morning, McRaven shows how small disciplines, teamwork, perseverance, and courage in the face of failure can help people handle hardship and make a difference in the world.

• Making your bed each morning is a small first win that sets the tone for the rest of your day.
• The book turns a 2014 University of Texas at Austin commencement speech into ten lessons from Navy SEAL training.
• Small daily disciplines add up and help people get through hardship.
• Teamwork matters: hard goals are reached together, not alone.
• Perseverance and courage in the face of failure are what let a person make a difference in the world.

William H. McRaven is a retired United States Navy four-star admiral and former Navy SEAL who served as commander of U.S. Special Operations Command. He oversaw the 2011 operation that killed Osama bin Laden and later served as chancellor of the University of Texas System. His other books include Sea Stories, The Hero Code, and The Wisdom of the Bullfrog, which draw on his experience in leadership and service.