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1. Start Your Day with a Task Completed
If you want to change the world… start off by making your bed.
Making your bed correctly is not an opportunity for praise. As a Navy SEAL, it’s expected. As the first task of the day, doing it right is important because it demonstrates discipline.
Making your bed shows attention to detail, and at the end of the day, it is a reminder that you did something well, something to be proud of, no matter how small the task.
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.
If you want to change your life and maybe the world—start off by making your bed!
2. You Can’t Go It Alone
SEAL training teaches the value of teamwork—the need to rely on someone else to help you through the difficult tasks.
No SEAL could make it through combat alone and by extension you need people in your life to help you through the difficult times.
McRaven explains, “During my time in the SEAL Teams I had numerous setbacks, and in each case, someone came forward to help me: someone who had faith in my abilities; someone who saw potential in me where others might not; someone who risked their own reputation to advance my career.”
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.
3. Only the Size of Your Heart Matters
If you want to change the world… measure a person by the size of their heart.
SEAL training was always about proving something. Proving that size didn’t matter. Proving that the color of your skin wasn’t important. Proving that money didn’t make you better. Proving that determination and grit were always more important than talent.
Ultimately, it’s your heart and passions that prove who you are.
4. Life’s Not Fair—Drive On!
If you want to change the world… get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.
Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform you still end up as a sugar cookie. 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, and Stephen Hawking, and Malala Yousafzai.
Don’t complain. Don’t blame it on your misfortune. Stand tall, look to the future, and drive on!
5. Failure Can Make You Stronger
If you want to change the world… don’t be afraid of The Circus.
Life is filled with circuses. You will fail. You will likely fail often. It will be painful. It will be discouraging. At times it will test you to your very core.
You will pay for your failures. But, if you persevere, if you let those failures teach you and strengthen you, then you will be prepared to handle life’s toughest moments.
McRaven recalls, “As month after month of the overseas deployment wore on, I used my previous failure as motivation to outwork, outhustle, and outperform everyone in the platoon. I sometimes fell short of being the best, but I never fell short of giving it my best. 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.
6. You Must Dare Greatly
If you want to change the world… slide down the obstacle headfirst.
As a Navy SEAL, McRaven learned that assuming risk was typical of special operations forces. They always push the limits of themselves and their machines in order to be successful. In many ways this is what set them apart from everyone else. However, contrary to what outsiders saw, the risk was usually calculated, thoughtful, and well planned. Even if it was spontaneous, the operators knew their limits but believed in themselves enough to try.
The British Special Air Service—the famed SAS—had this motto, “Who Dares Wins.” The motto is more than about how the British special forces operated as a unit; it is about how each of us should approach our lives. 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.
7. Stand Up to the Bullies
If you want to change the world… don’t back down from the sharks.
If a shark begins to circle your position—stand your ground. Do not swim away. Do not act afraid. And if the shark, hungry for a midnight snack, darts toward you—then summon up all your strength and punch him in the snout, and he will turn and swim away. There are a lot of sharks in the world. If you hope to complete the swim you will have to deal with them.
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, to complete the night swim, 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.
8. Rise to the Occasion
If you want to change the world… be your very best in the darkest moments.
Every SEAL knows that under the keel, at the darkest moment of the mission, is the time when you must be calm—composed—when all your tactical skills, your physical power, and all your inner strength must be brought to bear.
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.
9. Give People Hope
If you want to change the world… start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.
SEAL Training taught McRaven an important lesson: the power of one person to unite the group, the power of one person to inspire those around him, to give them hope. If that one person could sing while neck deep in mud, then so could we. If that one person could endure the freezing cold, then so could we. If that one person could hold on, then so could we.
Hope is the most powerful force in the universe. With hope you can inspire nations to greatness. With hope you can raise up the downtrodden. With hope you can ease the pain of unbearable loss. Sometimes all it takes is one person to make a difference. 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.
10. Never, Ever Quit!
If you want to change the world… don’t ever, ever ring the bell.
In SEAL training there is a bell, a brass bell that hangs in the center of the compound for all the students to see. Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the freezing cold swims. Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the runs, the obstacle course, and you no longer have to endure the hardships of training. Just ring the bell.
Of all the lessons learned in SEAL training, this was the most important. Never quit. It doesn’t sound particularly profound, but life constantly puts you in situations where quitting seems so much easier than continuing on.
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 of it—and you can make it great. Never, ever, ring the bell!
McRaven ended his speech with this encouragement, “Remember… start each day with a task completed. Find someone to help you through life. Respect everyone. Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often. But if you take some risks, step up when times are toughest, face down the bullies, lift up the downtrodden, and never, ever give up—if you do these things, then you can change your life for the better… and maybe the world!”