How making our beds can change the world!

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On 17th day of May, 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven was honored to give the commencement speech during the graduation class at the University of Texas Austin. Although the University was his Alma Mata, he was worried that a military officer, whose career has over the years been defined by several wars, might not find a welcoming Audience among the many college students seated there. However, to his greatest surprise, the graduating class loved and accepted his speech. The 10 lessons Admiral William learned from Navy Seal training which formed the basis of his remark seemed to have a universal appeal.

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These were simple lessons that centered on overcoming the rigorous seal training, the lessons were also important in dealing with the challenges of life-notwithstanding who you are, nationality, color and religion etc. Quoting his own words..." Over the past three years, I have been stopped on the street by great folks telling me their own stories: How they didn’t back down from the sharks, how they didn’t ring the bell, or how making their bed every morning helped them through tough times" (McRaven, 2014).

Every morning they ( Navy Seals) were required to make their bed to perfection. It seemed a little ridiculous by then, especially as they were aspiring to be real warriors, tough battle hardened Seals—however, the wisdom of this simple act has been proven to McRaven many times over. As such, at the commencement speech, he beautifully narrated it thus ;
“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 by chance you 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. If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.”

Admiral McRaven continues on in his Ten Lessons to discuss the power of hope. While his focus is more on things to do if you want to change the world, he pointed out the power that one person with hope can have on others. Loss of hope is one of the key traits of depression; maintaining that hope can make an enormous difference in your life. I pointed this out because I noticed that many steemians are becoming less hopeful in this wonderful platform because having low earnings after investing long hours in a great post, they tend to become hopeless and depressed.

Furthermore, after watching the rest of McRaven’s wonderful speech which to me was the best commencement speech I have seen so far, I cried for myself. In just about 10 minutes, Admiral McRaven was able to expose every one of my character flaws starting from not making my bed myself. More so, considering so many things I have done wrongly in my life, if there is anything to cry about and ask for forgiveness, I will never guess that a simple thing like making my bed will make me cry. It is only a brilliant warrior and great leader could expose the enormity of such a supposedly little flaw and for which I am ever grateful to MCRaven.

From Admiral MCRaven’s speech, you get to learn no matter your size there is strength in diversity and power of being stronger together. If we stand together as minnows ( small guys), we can stand up to the Dolphins and whales (tall guys) and compete in the rough waters full of hungry sharks & whales to succeed at last which is synonymous of steemit community.

Be aware steemians, nothing matters but the wheel to succeed, not even your color, your ethnicity, your background, not your education or social status. Just have the will to succeed and you will make it, no matter how long it takes...

Finally, If i have learned anything these past 7 weeks of steeming hot, it is the power of hope and perseverance. The power of togetherness, working together we can change our status as Minnows by giving one another support, so if you want to make it in steemit, start each day by being active... read peoples posts, comment, engage, chat on steemchat...join competitions, send great contents, follow successful steemians and learn from them, respect one another in steemit, be strong at this tough times, face down the bullies, help lift up the downtrodden, expose spammers and never ever give up! If you do these things, soon you will join the league of extra ordinary gentlemen and ladies taking steemit to all corners of the globe changing lives positively and empowering people...thereby making the world a better place.