Make Your Bed: Difference between revisions

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== Introduction ==

 

📘 '''''{{Tooltip|Make Your Bed}}''''' is a concise self-help book by retired {{Tooltip|U.S. Navy}} admiral William H. McRaven that expands his 2014 {{Tooltip|University of Texas at Austin}} commencement address into ten everyday principles for resilience and leadership.<ref name="HBG9781455570249" /><ref name="UTSpeech2014">{{cite news |title=Adm. McRaven Urges Graduates to Find Courage to Change the World |url=https://news.utexas.edu/2014/05/16/mcraven-urges-graduates-to-find-courage-to-change-the-world/ |work=UT Austin News |date=16 May 2014 |access-date=5 November 2025}}</ref> Drawing on {{Tooltip|SEAL}} training and operational experience, it presents brief, anecdote-driven chapters that translate military lessons into civilian habits and leadership practice.<ref name="NCOReview">{{cite web |title=Make Your Bed (review) |url=https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/NCO-Journal/Archives/2019/March/Make-Bed/ |website=Army University Press – NCO Journal |date=6 March 2019 |access-date=5 November 2025}}</ref> The book is structured as ten short chapters—each built around one rule—and includes the text of the UT speech.<ref name="WorldCatOCLC992743501">{{cite web |title=Make your bed : little things that can change your life-- and maybe the world |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/992743501 |website=WorldCat |publisher=OCLC |access-date=5 November 2025}}</ref> It was published by {{Tooltip|Grand Central Publishing}} on 4 April 2017 and runs 144 pages in the first U.S. hardcover edition.<ref name="HBG9781455570249" /> The publisher bills it as a #1 {{Tooltip|New York Times}} bestseller.<ref name="HBG9781455570249" /> Trade reporting showed strong early sales—25.7k print units and #1 in Hardcover Nonfiction in its third week—scaling to 354k U.S. print copies by October 2017 and 811k by mid-2019.<ref>{{cite news |title=This Week’s Bestsellers: May 1, 2017 |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/73473-this-week-s-bestsellers-may-1-2017.html |work=Publishers Weekly |date=28 April 2017 |access-date=5 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=This Week’s Bestsellers: October 30, 2017 |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/75224-this-week-s-bestsellers-october-30-2017.html |work=Publishers Weekly |date=27 October 2017 |access-date=5 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=This Week’s Bestsellers: June 3, 2019 |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/80326-this-week-s-bestsellers-june-3-2019.html |work=Publishers Weekly |date=31 May 2019 |access-date=5 November 2025}}</ref>

 

== Chapters ==

 

''—Note: The above summary follows the {{Tooltip|Grand Central Publishing}} hardcover edition (4 April 2017; ISBN 978-1-4555-7024-9).''<ref name="HBG9781455570249">{{cite web |title=Make Your Bed |url=https://www.grandcentralpublishing.com/titles/admiral-william-h-mcraven/make-your-bed/9781455570249/ |website=Grand Central Publishing |publisher=Hachette Book Group |date=4 April 2017 |access-date=5 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="MarmotTOC">{{cite web |title=Make your bed : record & contents |url=https://buenavistapl.marmot.org/Record/.b54360250 |website=Marmot Library Network |publisher=Buena Vista Public Library |access-date=5 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="HBGsheet">{{cite web |title=Admiral William H. McRaven — Title details (includes page count) |url=https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Admiral-McRaven.pdf |website=Hachette Book Group |publisher=Grand Central Publishing |date=2024 |access-date=5 November 2025}}</ref>

 

== Background & reception ==

 

🌍 '''Impact & adoption'''. The publisher reports that McRaven’s original UT speech surpassed 10 million views, helping the book circulate as a graduation-gift staple and a shorthand for habit-first leadership.<ref name="HBG9781455570249" /> The message has also been referenced in public-sector leadership talks—for example, a 2019 {{Tooltip|U.S. SEC}} speech used McRaven’s ten lessons to frame entrepreneurial guidance.<ref>{{cite web |title=Start Off by Making Your Bed: Translating Military Lessons to Entrepreneurship |url=https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/miller-translate-military-lessons-entrepreneurship |website=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission |date=9 October 2019 |access-date=5 November 2025}}</ref> The franchise extended to younger readers with the picture-book adaptation ''{{Tooltip|Make Your Bed with Skipper the Seal}}'' from {{Tooltip|Little, Brown Books for Young Readers}}.<ref>{{cite news |title=William McRaven Adapts ‘Make Your Bed’ for Kids |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/william-mcraven-adapts-make-your-bed-for-kids/ |work=Kirkus Reviews |date=14 February 2021 |access-date=5 November 2025}}</ref>

 

 

{{Youtube thumbnail | pxBQLFLei70 | UT Austin commencement address}}

{{Youtube thumbnail | TBuIGBCF9jc | Edited speech highlights (Goalcast)}}

 

{{Digital Minimalism/thumbnail}}

{{Four Thousand Weeks/thumbnail}}

{{The Magic of Thinking Big/thumbnail}}

{{The Compound Effect/thumbnail}}

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== References ==

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