Admiral McRaven: Advice From A Navy Seal Who Became An Admiral
Make Your Bed: Life Lessons from a Navy SEAL Admiral
Inspiring Advice for Success, Resilience, and Making a Positive Impact
“Admiral McRaven: Advice From A Navy SEAL Who Became An Admiral” is a renowned commencement speech delivered by Admiral William H. McRaven to the graduating class of the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. The speech quickly gained widespread attention after it was posted on YouTube, capturing the hearts and minds of millions of viewers around the world.Admiral William H. McRaven: Admiral William H. McRaven is a retired United States Navy four-star admiral who served as the ninth commander of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Throughout his distinguished military career, Admiral McRaven played a pivotal role in numerous high-profile operations, including the capture of Saddam Hussein and the raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden.The Speech: In his commencement address, Admiral McRaven shares invaluable life lessons and insights gained from his experiences as a Navy SEAL and military leader. Drawing from his extensive training and missions, he offers practical advice on how to overcome challenges, achieve success, and make a positive impact on the world.The speech is structured around ten key principles for life and success, each illustrated with compelling anecdotes and stories from Admiral McRaven’s own journey:- Start Your Day with a Task Completed: Emphasizing the importance of discipline and productivity in achieving goals.
- You Can’t Go It Alone: Highlighting the significance of teamwork, collaboration, and mutual support in accomplishing missions.
- Only the Size of Your Heart Matters: Encouraging compassion, empathy, and kindness towards others, regardless of their background or circumstances.
- Get Over Being a Sugar Cookie: Acknowledging that failure is inevitable but emphasizing the importance of resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity.
- Don’t Be Afraid of the Circus: Encouraging individuals to embrace challenges, take calculated risks, and step out of their comfort zones.
- Slide Down the Obstacle Head First: Advocating for courage, determination, and a willingness to confront obstacles and difficulties head-on.
- Don’t Back Down from the Sharks: Encouraging individuals to stand up for their beliefs, values, and principles, even in the face of opposition or criticism.
- Be Your Very Best in Your Darkest Moments: Highlighting the importance of maintaining integrity, character, and moral courage, especially during times of adversity.
- Start Singing When You’re Up to Your Neck in Mud: Encouraging optimism, resilience, and a positive attitude, even in the most challenging circumstances.
- Don’t Ever, Ever Ring the Bell: Urging individuals to never give up, no matter how difficult the journey may become, and to persevere until they achieve their goals. Impact and Legacy: Admiral McRaven’s commencement speech resonated deeply with audiences worldwide, inspiring countless individuals to embrace the principles of courage, resilience, and service in their own lives. The video of the speech went viral on YouTube, garnering millions of views and sparking widespread discussion and reflection on its timeless wisdom.Admiral McRaven’s words continue to serve as a source of inspiration and motivation for people from all walks of life, from students and professionals to military personnel and leaders. His message of perseverance, teamwork, and integrity has left an indelible mark on those who have had the privilege of hearing it, reminding us all of the power of courage and determination in the face of adversity.Transcript:What starts here changes the worldI have a few suggestions that may help you on your way to a better worldand while these lessons were learned during my time in the military,I can assure you that it matters not, whether you ever served a day in uniform, it mattersnot your gender your ethnic or religious background, your orientation or your social status.Our struggles in this world are similar and the lessons to overcome those struggles and to move forwardChanging ourselves and changing the world around us will apply equally to allSo here are the ten lessons I learned from basic Seal training that hopefully will be of value to you as you move forward in lifeEvery morning in seal training my instructors who at the time were all Vietnam veteransWould show up in my barracks room. And the first thing they’d do is inspect my bed if you did it right,the corners would be square, the covers would be pulled tight,the pillows centered just under the headboard and the extra blanket folded neatly at the foot of the rack.It was a simple taskmundane at best but every morning we were required toMake our bed to perfectionIt seemed a little ridiculous at the time particularly light of the fact that we were aspiring to be real warriors tough battle-hardened sealsBut the wisdom of this simple act has been proven to me many times over.If you make your bed every morningYou will have accomplished the first task of the dayit will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task andAnother and another and by the end of the day that one task completed will have turned into many task completedMaking your bed will also reinforce the fact that the little things in life matterIf you can’t do the little things, rightYou’ll never be able to do the big things right and if by chance you have a miserable dayYou will come home to a bed that is madeThat you madeAnd a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be betterSo if you want to change the worldStart off by making your bed[Music]During seal training the studentsDuring training the students are all broken down into boat crewsEach crew is seven students three on each side of a small rubber boat and one Coxon to help guide the dinghyevery day your boat crew forms up on the beach andIs instructed to get through the surf zone and paddle several miles down the coast in the winterThe surf off San Diego can get to be eight to ten feet high and it is exceedingly difficultThe paddle hook through the plunging surf unless everyone digs inEvery paddle must be synchronized to the stroke count of the CoxonEveryone must exert equal effort or the boat will turn against the wave and be unceremoniously dumped back on the beachFor the boat to make it to its destinationEveryone must paddleYou can’t change the world aloneYou will need some help and to truly get from your starting point to your destination takes friends colleaguesThe good will of strangers and a strong Coxen to guide you if you want to change the worldFind someone to help you paddle overA few weeks of difficult training my seal class which started with 150 menWas down to just 42 there were now six boat crews of seven men each. IWas in the boat with the tall guysbut the best boat crew we hadWas made up of little guys the Munchkin crew. We called them. No one was over five foot fiveThe Munchkin boat crew had one american-indianOne african-american one Polish American one Greek American one Italian American and two tough kids from the MidwestThey out paddled out ran and out swam all the other boat crews the big men and the other boat crewswill always make good-natured fun ofThe tiny little flippers the munchkins put on their tiny little feet prior to every swimBut somehow these little guys from every corner of the nation in the world always had the last laughSwimming faster than everyone and reaching the shore long before the rest of usSEAL training was a great equalizerNothing mattered, but your will to succeed not your color. Not your ethnic background, not your education, not your social statusIf you want to change the worldmeasure a person by the size of their heartnot by the size of their flippersSeveral times a weekThe instructors would line up the class and do a uniform inspectionIt was exceptionally thoroughYour hat had to be perfectly starched your uniform immaculately pressed your belt buckle shiny and void of any smudgesBut it seemed that no matter how much effort you put into starching your hat or pressing your uniform or polishing your belt buckleIt just wasn’t good enoughThe instructors would find something wrongFor failing the uniform inspection the student had to run fully clothed into the surf zoneThen wet from head to toe roll around on the beach until every part of your body was covered with sandthe effect was known assugar-cookieYou stayed in the uniform the rest of the day cold wet and SandyThere were many a student who just couldn’t accept the fact thatAll their efforts were in vain that no matter how hard they tried to get the uniform right,It went unappreciated those students didn’t make it through training those students didn’t understand the purpose of the drillYou were never going to succeed you were never going to have a perfect uniform the instructors weren’t going to allow itSometimes no matter how well you prepareOr how well you perform you still end up as a sugar cookieIt’s just the way life is sometimesIf you want to change the worldGet over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forwardEvery day during training you were challenged with multiple physical events long runs long swims obstacle courses hours of calisthenicsSomething designed to test your mettle every event had standards times you had to meet if you fail to meet those timesThose standards your name was posted on a list and at the end of the dayThose on the listwere invited to a circus aCircus was two hours of additional calisthenics designed to wear you down to break your spirit to force you to quitNo one wanted a circus a circus meant that for that dayYou didn’t measure up a circus meant more fatigue and more fatigueMeant that the following day would be more difficult and more circuses were likelyBut at some time during seal training everyoneEveryone made the circus listBut an interesting thing happened to those who were constantly on the listOver time those students who did two hours of extra calisthenics got stronger and strongerThe pain of the circuses built inner strength and physical resiliencyLife is filled with circusesYou will failYou will likely fail often it will be painful. It will be discouraging at times. It will test you to your very corebut if you want to change the worldDon’t be afraid of the circusesAt least twice a week, the trainees were required to run the obstacle coursethe obstacle course contained 25 obstacles including the 10-foot wall a30-foot cargo net a barbed wire crawl to name a few but the most challenging obstacleWas the slide for lifeIt had a three level 30-foot tower at one end and a one level Tower at the other in between was a 200-foot long ropeYou had to climb the three tiered Tower and once at the top you grabbed the Ropeswung underneath the rope andPulled yourself hand over hand until you got to the other endThe record for the obstacle course had stood for years when my class began in 1977. The record seemed unbeatableUntil one day a student decided to go down the slide for lifeheadfirstInstead of swinging his body underneath the rope and inching his way down. He bravely mounted the top of the rope andThrust himself forward it was a dangerous moveSeemingly foolish and fraught with riskFailure could be an injury and being dropped from the course without hesitationthe students slid down the Rope perilously fastInstead of several minutes. It only took him half that time and by the end of the courseHe had broken the recordIf you want to change the worldSometimes you have to slide down the obstacles headfirstDuring the land warfare phase of training the students are flown out to San Clemente Island which lies off the coast of San Diegothe waters off San Clemente are a breeding ground for the great white sharks toPass seal training. They’re a series of long swims that must be completedOne is the night swimBefore the swim the instructors. Joyfully brief the students on all the species of sharksThat inhabit the waters off, San ClementeThey assure you however that no student hasEver been eaten by a shark at least not that they can rememberBut you are also taught that if a shark begins to circle your positionStand your groundDo not swim awayDo not act afraidand if the shark hungry for a midnight snack darts towards you then summons up all your strength andPunch him in the snout and he will turn and swim awayThere are a lot of sharks in the worldIf you hope to complete the swim you will have to deal with themSo if you want to change the worldDon’t back down from the sharpestAs Navy SEALS, one of our jobs is to conduct underwater attacks against the enemy’s shippingwe practice this technique extensively during training theShip attack mission is where a pair of SEAL divers is dropped off outside an enemy harbor and then swims well over two milesUnderwater using nothing, but a depth gauge and a compass to get to the targetDuring the entire swim even well below the surface. There is some lightThat comes throughIt is comforting to know that there is open water above youBut as you approach the ship which is tied to appear the light begins to fadeThe steel structure of the ship blocks the moonlight. It blocks the surrounding streetlamps. It blocks allambient lightto be successful in your missionYou have to swim under the ship and find the keel the centerline and the deepest part of the ship. This is your objectiveBut the keel is also the darkest part of the showwhere you cannot see your hand in front of your face where the noise from the ship’s machinery is deafening andWhere it gets to be easily disoriented and you can failevery SEAL knowsthat under the keel at that darkest moment of the mission is a time when you need to be calm whenYou must be called when you must be composed when all your tactical skills your physical power and your inner strengthMust be brought to bearIf you want to change the worldYou must be your very best in the darkest momentsThe ninth week of training is referred to as hell weekIt is six days of no sleepConstant physical and mental harassment and one special day at the mud flatsthe mud flats are an area between San Diego and Tijuana where the rough water runs off and creates the Tijuana sloughs aSwampy patch of terrain where the mud will engulf youIt is on Wednesday of hell weekthat you paddle down in the mud flats and spend the next 15 hours trying to survive this freezing cold theHowling wind and the incessant pressure to quit from the instructorsAs the Sun began to set that Wednesday eveningMy training class having committed some egregious infraction of the rulesWas ordered into the mudThe mud consumed each man till there was nothing visible but our headsThe instructors told us we could leave the mud if only five men would quitOnly five minutes just five men and we could get out of the oppressive coldLooking around the mud flat it was apparent that some students were about to give upit was still over eight hours till the Sun came up eight more hours ofBone-chilling cold a chattering teeth and the shivering moans of the trainees were so loudit was hard to hear anything andThen one voice began to echo through the nightone voice raised in songThe song was terribly out of tune, but sung with great enthusiasmOne voice became two and two became three and before long everyone in the class was singingthe instructors threatened us with more time in the mud if we kept up the singing but the singing persisted andSomehow the mud seemed a little warmer and the wind a little tamer and the dawn not so far awayif I have learned anything in my time traveling the world it is the power ofthe power of one personThe Washington a Lincoln King Mandela and even a young girl from Pakistan Malala one person can change the worldBy giving people hope so if you want to change the worldStart singing when you’re up to your neck in mudFinally a SEAL training there’s a bell abrass bell that hangs in the center of the compound for all the students to seeAll you have to do quit. All you have to do to quit is ring the bellring the bell and you no longer have to wake up at 5 o’clock ring the bell and youNo longer have to be in the freezing cold swimsRing the bell and you no longer have to do the runs the obstacle course the PT and you no longer have to endurethe hardships of trainingAll you have to do is ring the bell to get outIf you want to change the world don’t ever everRing the bellIt will not be easyStart each day with a task completedFind someone to help you through lifeRespect everyone know the life is not fair that you will fail oftenbut if you take some risksStep up on the time through the toughestFace down the bullies lift up the downtrodden and never ever give up. If you do these things the next generation and theGenerations that follow will live in a world far better than the one we have todayAnd what started here will indeed have changed the world for the better?Thank you very much