English Speech Admiral William McRaven Start By Making Your Bed with big subtitles

thank you very much thank you well thank

you president powers Provost fenves

Dean’s members of the faculty family and

friends and most importantly the class

of 2014 it is it is indeed an honor for

me to be here tonight

it’s been almost 37 years to the day

that I graduated from UT I remember a

lot of things about that day I remember

I had a throbbing headache from a party

the night before I remember I had a

serious girlfriend who I later married

that’s important to remember by the way

and I remember I was getting

commissioned in the Navy that day but of

all the things I remember I don’t have a

clue who the commencement speaker was

and I certainly don’t remember anything

they said so acknowledging that fact if

I can’t make this commencement speech

memorable I won’t least try to make it

short so the university slogan is what

starts here changes the world well I’ve

got to admit I kind of like it what

starts here changes the world tonight

there are almost 8,000 students there

more than 8,000 students graduated from

UT

so that great paragon of analytical

rigor ask.com says that the average

American will meet 10,000 people in

their lifetime 10,000 people that’s a

lot of folks but if every one of you

change the lives of just 10 people and

each one of those people change the

lives of another 10 people and another

10 then in five generations 125 years

the class of 2014 will have changed the

lives of 800 million people 800 million

people

think about it over twice the population

of the United States go one more

generation and you can change the entire

population of the world eight billion

people if you think it’s hard to change

the lives of ten people change their

lives forever you’re wrong

I saw it happen everyday in Iraq and

Afghanistan a young army officer makes a

decision to go left instead of right

down a road in Baghdad and the ten

soldiers with him are saved from a

close-in ambush in kandahar province

Afghanistan a noncommissioned officer

from the Female Engagement Team senses

that something isn’t right

and directs the infantry platoon away

from a 500-pound I Edie saving the lives

of a dozen soldiers but if you think

about it not only were those soldiers

say by the decisions of one person but

their children were saved

and their children’s children

generations were saved by one decision

one person but changing the world can

happen anywhere and anyone can do it so

what starts here can indeed change the

world but the question is what will the

world look like after you change it well

I’m confident that it will look much

much better but if you’ll humor this old

sailor for just a moment I have a few

suggestions that may help you on your

way to a better world and 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 matters not 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

forward changing ourselves and changing

the world around us will apply equally

to all I’ve been a Navy SEAL for 36

years but it all began when I left UT

for basic SEAL training in Coronado

California basic SEAL training is six

months a long torturous runs in the soft

sand midnight swims in the cold water

off San Diego obstacle courses unending

calisthenics days without sleep and

always being cold wet and miserable it

is six months of being constantly

harassed by professionally trained

warriors

who seek to find the weak of mind and

body and eliminate them from ever

becoming a Navy SEAL but the training

also seeks to find those students who

can lead in an environment of constant

stress chaos failure and hardships to me

basic SEAL training was a lifetime of

challenges crammed into six months so

here the 10 lessons I learned from basic

SEAL training that hopefully will be of

value to you as you move forward in life

every morning in SEAL training my

instructors who at the time were all

Vietnam veterans would show up in my

barracks room and the first thing they

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 task

mundane at best but every morning we

were required to make our bed to

perfection it seemed a little ridiculous

at the time particularly in light of the

fact that we were aspiring to be real

warriors tough battle-hardened seals but

the wisdom of this simple act has been

proven to me many times over 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 and by the

end of the day that one task completed

will have turned into mini task

completed making your bed will also

reinforce the fact that the little

things in life matter if you can’t do

the little things right you’ll never be

able to 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 so if you want to change the

world start off by making your bed

during seal training the students during

training the students are all broken

down into boat crews each crew is seven

students three on each side of a small

rubber boat and one Coxon to help guide

the dinghy every day your boat crew

forms up on the beach and is instructed

to get through the surf zone and paddle

several miles down the coast in the

winter the surf off San Diego can get to

be eight to ten feet high and it is

exceedingly difficult to paddle through

through the plunging surf unless

everyone digs in every paddle must be

synchronized to the stroke count of the

Coxon everyone must exert equal effort

or the boat will turn against the wave

and be unceremoniously dumped back on

the beach for the boat to make it to its

destination

everyone must paddle you can’t change

the world alone you will need some help

and to truly get from your starting

point to your destination takes friends

colleagues the good will of strangers

and a strong Coxon to guide you if you

want to change the world find someone to

help you paddle over a few weeks of

difficult training my seal class which

started with a hundred fifty men was

down to just 42 there were now six boat

crews of seven men each I was in the

boat with the tall guys but the best

boat crew we had was made up of little

guys the Munchkin crew we called him no

one was over five foot five the munchkin

boat crew had one American Indian one

African American one Polish American one

Greek American one Italian American and

two tough kids from the Midwest they out

paddled out ran and out swam all the

other boat crews the big men and the

other boat crews will always make

good-natured fun of the tiny little

flippers the munchkins put on their tiny

little feet prior to every swim but

somehow these little guys from every

corner of the nation in the world always

had the last laugh

sewing faster than everyone and reaching

the shore long before the rest of us

SEAL training was a great equalizer

nothing mattered but your will to

succeed not your color and

• ethnic background not your education

not your social status if you want to

change the world

measure a person by the size of their

heart not by the size of their flippers

several times a week the instructors

would line up the class and do a uniform

inspection it was exceptionally thorough

your hat had to be perfectly starched

your uniform immaculately pressed your

belt buckle shiny and void of any

smudges but it seemed that no matter how

much effort you put into starching your

hat or press in your uniform or

polishing your belt buckle it just

wasn’t good enough the instructors would

find something wrong for failing uniform

inspection the student had to run fully

clothed into the surf zone then wet from

head to toe roll around on the beach

until every part of your body was

covered with sand the effect was known

as a sugar cookie you stayed in the

uniform the rest of the day cold wet and

sandy there were many a student who just

couldn’t accept the fact that all 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 drill you were never going to

succeed you were never going to have a

perfect uniform the instructors weren’t

going to allow it sometimes no matter

how well you prepare or how well you

perform you still end up as a sugar

cookie it’s just the way life is

sometimes if you want to change the

world get over being a sugar cookie and

keep moving forward every day during

training you were challenged with

multiple physical events long runs long

swims obstacle courses hours of

calisthenics something designed to test

your mettle every event had standards

times you had to meet if you fail to

meet those times those standards your

name was posted on a list and at the end

of the day those on the list were

invited to a circus a circus was two

hours of additional calisthenics

designed to wear you down to break your

spirit to force you to quit no one

wanted a circus a circus meant that for

that day

you didn’t measure up a circus meant

more fatigue and more fatigue meant that

the following day would be more

difficult and more circuses were likely

but at some time during seal training

everyone everyone made the circus list

but an interesting an interesting thing

happened to those who were constantly on

the list over time those students who

did two hours of extra calisthenics gets

stronger and stronger the pain of the

circuses built inner strength and

physical resiliency 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 but if you don’t if

you want to change the world don’t be

afraid of the circuses at least twice a

week the trainees were required to run

the obstacle course the obstacle course

contained 25 obstacles including the

10-foot wall a 30-foot cargo net a

barbed wire crawl to name a few but the

most challenging obstacle was the slide

for life

it 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

rope you had to climb the three tiered

tower and once at the top you grabbed

the Rope swung underneath the rope and

pulled yourself hand over hand until you

got to the other end the record for the

obstacle course had stood for years when

my class began in 1977 the record seemed

unbeatable until one day a student

decided to go down the slide for life

headfirst instead of swinging his body

underneath the rope and inching his way

down he bravely mounted the top of the

rope and thrust himself forward it was a

dangerous move seemingly foolish and

fraught with risk failure could be an

injury and being dropped from the course

without hesitation the students slid

down the Rope perilously fast instead of

several minutes and only took him half

that time and by the end of the course

he had broken the record if you want to

change the world sometimes you have to

slide down the obstacles headfirst

during the land warfare phase of

training the students are flown out to

San Clemente Island which lies off the

coast of San Diego the waters off San

Clemente are a breeding ground for the

great white sharks to pass seal training

they’re a series of long swims that must

be completed one is the night swim

before the swim the instructors joyfully

briefed the students on all the species

of sharks that inhabit the waters off

San Clemente they assure you however

that no student has ever been eaten by a

shark at least not that they can

remember but you were also taught that

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

towards you then summons 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 so if you want to change

the world don’t back down from the

Sharks

as Navy SEAL is one of our jobs is to

conduct underwater attacks against enemy

shipping we practice this technique

extensively during training the ship

attack mission is where a pair of SEAL

divers is dropped off outside an enemy

harbor and then swims well over two

miles underwater using nothing but a

depth gauge and a compass to get to the

target during the entire swim even well

below the surface there is some light

that comes through it is comforting to

know that there is open water above you

but as you approach the ship which is

tied to appear the light begins to fade

the steel structure of the ship blocks

the moonlight it blocks the surrounding

streetlamps it blocks all ambient light

to be successful in your mission you

have to swim under the ship and find the

keel the centerline and the deepest part

of the ship this is your objective but

the keel is also the darkest part of the

ship where you cannot see your hand in

front of your face where the noise from

the ship’s machinery is

deafening and where it gets to be easily

disoriented and you can fail every seal

knows that under the keel at that

darkest moment of the mission is a time

when you need to be calm when you must

be calm when you must be composed when

all your tactical skills your physical

power and your inner strength must be

brought to bear if you want to change

the world you must be your very best in

the darkest moments the ninth week of

training is referred to as hell week it

is six days of no sleep constant

physical and mental harassment and one

special day at the mud flats the mud

flats are an area between San Diego and

Tijuana where the rut water runs off and

creates the Tijuana sloughs a swampy

patch of terrain where the mud will

engulf you it is on Wednesday of hell

week but to paddle down in the mud flats

and spend the next 15 hours trying to

survive this freezing cold the howling

wind and the incessant pressure to quit

from the instructors as the Sun began to

set that Wednesday evening my training

class having committed some egregious

infraction of the rules was ordered into

the mud the mud consumed each man till

there was nothing visible but our heads

the instructors told us we could leave

the mud if only five men would quit only

five men just five men and we could get

out of the oppressive cold looking

around the mud flat it was apparent that

some students were about to give up it

was still over eight hours till the Sun

came up eight more hours of

bone-chilling cold a chattering teeth

and shivering moans of the trainees were

so loud it was hard to hear anything and

then one voice began to echo through the

night one voice raised in song the song

was terribly out of tune but sung with

great enthusiasm one voice became two

and two became three and before long

everyone in the class was singing the

instructors threatened us with more time

in the mud if we kept up the singing but

the singing persisted

and somehow the mud seemed a little

warmer and the wind a little tamer and

the dawn not so far away if I have

learned anything in my time traveling

the world it is the power of hope the

power of one person a Washington a

Lincoln King Mandela and even a young

girl from Pakistan Malala one person can

change the world by giving people hope

so if you want to change the world start

singing when you’re up to your neck and

mud finally a seal training there’s a

bell a brass Bell that hangs in the

center of the compound for all the

students to see all you have to do quit

all you have to do to quit is ring the

bell ring the bell and you no longer

have to wake up at 5 o’clock ring the

bell and you no longer have to be in the

freezing cold swims ring the bell and

you no longer have to do the runs the

obstacle course the PT and you no longer

have to endure the hardships of training

all you have to do is ring the bell to

get out if you want to change the world

don’t ever ever ring the bell to the

class of 2014 you are moments away from

graduating moments away from beginning

your journey through life moments away

from starting to change the world for

the better it will not be easy but you

are the class of 2014 the class that can

affect the lives of 800 million people

in the next century 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 on the time through the toughest

faced down the bullies lift up the

downtrodden and never ever give up if

you do these things the next generation

and the generations that follow will

live in a world far better than the one

we have today and what started here will

indeed have changed the world for the

better

thank you very much horns

[Applause]