12 William McRaven Quotes from Make Your Bed That’ll Change Your World

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Excerpt: What does making your bed have to do with changing the world? These quotes from Make Your Bed by William McRaven will shake your ‘room’ view.

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Introduction: Changing Your World

You cannot transform a wall without transforming each individual brick. You cannot transform a sports team without transforming each of the individual players. You cannot transform a relationship without transforming each of the individual actions.

What most people miss is the immediate opportunity in exchange for a grandiose vision. Our opportunity to change the world is right in front of our faces every day, but so many of us are too busy thinking about how we can change the whole world that we end up doing nothing at all instead.

How many times have you wanted to transform the world and thought up some great ideas to one day implement? And how many of those ideas made their way to the light of day? If you’re anything like the rest of us, my guess is not many.

We tend to have way more ideas than we could ever rightfully act on. And part of the reason why so many of them are so hard to act on is because of their sheer scale. In order to transform the world, you need a world’s worth of resources! You need an abundance of time, money, energy, effort, or skills that can be scaled across the globe—and that’s, to say it lightly, unimaginably hard.

Don’t miss what’s right in front of your face because you’re too busy in your head thinking.

…Thinking about how you can change people’s lives at a massive scale with your massive business, or massively successful book, or your massively followed social media accounts, if only you could figure out a way to get there. Or thinking about how it’s the responsibility of the people who have the massive businesses, books, and accounts that should be doing all of the changing for you. Or thinking about how you would act if you were in their shoes that would be so much better than how they are acting.

Just stop all of that. Enough with the hypotheticals. It’s not what we need.

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What we need are more people who are going to come awake to reality, take responsibility for their own lives, and reach out to help the lives of those around them. That’s what we need. We need people who are going to pick the trash up in their own neighborhoods rather than just cursing all of the litter. We need people who are going to donate food, clothes, and toiletries to those less fortunate rather than people who are going to amass incredible wealth and resources to maybe give away later. We need people who are going to be honest, open-minded, kind, vulnerable, forthright, and who are going to take the initiative to build connections with the people around them rather than people who are going to hide away from the world because nobody is acting that way towards them.

…We need people who are willing to make their beds.

Don’t get it twisted. You don’t create a massive business, a massively successful book, or a massively popular social account and then change the world—no. You create a massive business, a massively successful book, or a massively popular social account by changing your world along the way. Think about it like this. If you’re not willing to help one person out of a group of ten, what makes you think you’d be willing to help 10 people out of a group of 100, or 100 out of 1,000, or 7 million out of 7 billion?

Get really good at what you’re doing right now, where you are, with what you have—which is exactly what these quotes from Make Your Bed by William McRaven will inspire you to do as you read them below. And from there, continue to improve each day in small, tangible ways—and let the rest unfold how it may.

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The List: 12 William McRaven Quotes from Make Your Bed That’ll Change Your World

“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right. And, if you by chance have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made—that you made—and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.”

William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 111)

“Life is hard and sometimes there is little you can do to affect the outcome of your day. In battle soldiers die, families grieve, your days are long and filled with anxious moments. You search for something that can give you solace, that can motivate you to begin your day, that can be a sense of pride in an oftentimes ugly world. But it is not just combat. It is daily life that needs this same sense of structure. Nothing can replace the strength and comfort of one’s faith, but sometimes the simple act of making your bed can give you the lift you need to start your day and provide you the satisfaction to end it right.”

William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 9)

“None of us are immune from life’s tragic moments. Like the small rubber boat we had in basic SEAL training, it takes a team of good people to get you to your destination in life. You cannot paddle the boat alone. Find someone to share your life with. Make as many friends as possible, and never forget that your success depends on others.”

William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 21)

“We will all find ourselves neck deep in mud someday. That is the time to sing loudly, to smile broadly, to lift up those around you and give them hope that tomorrow will be a better day.”

William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 94)

“At some point we will all confront a dark moment in life. If not the passing of a loved one, then something else that crushes your spirit and leaves you wondering about your future. In that dark moment, reach deep inside yourself and be your very best.”

William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 81)

“Life is full of difficult times. But someone out there always has it worse than you do. 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. If, on the other hand, you refuse to give up on your dreams, stand tall and strong against the odds—then life will be what you make it—and you can make it great.”

William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 103)

“Our goal, which we believed to be honorable and noble, gave us courage, and courage is a remarkable quality. Nothing and nobody can stand in your way. Without it, others will define your path forward. Without it, you are at the mercy of life’s temptations. Without courage, men will be ruled by tyrants and despots. Without courage, no great society can flourish. Without courage, the bullies of the world rise up. With it, you can accomplish any goal. With it, you can defy and defeat evil.”

William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 68)

“Bullies are all the same; whether they are in the school yard, in the workplace, or ruling a country through terror. They thrive on fear and intimidation. Bullies gain their strength through the timid and faint of heart. They are like sharks that sense fear in the water. They will circle to see if their prey is struggling. They will probe to see if their victim is weak. If you don’t find the courage to stand your ground, they will strike. In life, to achieve your goals, you will have to be men and women of great courage. That courage is within all of us. Dig deep, and you will find it in abundance.”

William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 72)

“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.”

William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 63)

“They said [Tommy Norris] was too small, too thin, and not strong enough [to be a SEAL]. But, Norris proved them all wrong and showed that it’s not the size of your flippers that counts, just the size of your heart.”

William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 34)

“I realized that the past failures had strengthened me, taught me that no one is immune from mistakes. True leaders must learn from their failures, use the lessons to motivate themselves, and not be afraid to try again or make the next tough decision.”

William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 54)

“It is easy to blame your lot in life on some outside force, to stop trying because you believe fate is against you. It is easy to think that where you were raised, how your parents treated you, or what school you went to is all that determines your future. Nothing could be further from the truth. The common people and the great men and women are all defined by how they deal with life’s unfairness: Helen Keller, Nelson Mandela, Stephen Hawking, Malala Yousafsai, and—Moki Martin.”

William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 42)

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If you enjoyed these quotes from Make Your Bed, you should read William A. McRaven’s book in full. It comes warmly recommended:

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