Believe it or not, this post’s title actually makes a worthwhile interview question.
Last year, Navy Adm. William H. McRaven — the man who commanded the SEAL team that hunted for Osama bin Laden — gave University of Texas graduates some unusual advice during his commencement speech: “If you want to change the world, start by making your bed.”
Here are his six reasons why:
- It helps you start the day off right. Completing the simple chore of making your bed can be the start of a productive day.
- Happy people make their beds. In a survey of 68,000 people by Hunch.com, 71 percent of bed-makers consider themselves to behappy people while 62 percent of non-bed-makers say they’re unhappy.
- You’ll sleep better. A National Sleep Foundation survey found that people who make their beds every day or almost every day were 19 percent more likely to report getting a good night’s sleep than those who don’t make their beds.
- It helps establish good habits. In his book, The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg writes, “Making your bed every morning is correlated with better productivity, a greater sense of well-being, and stronger skills at sticking with a budget.”
- It can reduce stress. Living in a cluttered, messy space causes stress, which is why Marie Kondo, best-selling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, makes the argument that keeping your physical space in order can help you put your mental space in order as well.
- It just feels good. Sleeping in a freshly made bed tops the list of things that make us feel good, according to a survey of 2,000 people by Bupa.
This was originally published on Mel Kleiman’s Humetrics blog.