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]