Many different schools of thought share the belief that taking a moment to make your bed each morning can set the tone of your entire day.
It takes minutes to make your bed each morning. Fluff your pillow, tug the sheets – done!
However, we manage to find a million excuses not to make our bed; it’s only going to become unmade again, I don’t have time, nobody will see it, it’s not important, and so on.
Making our bed may seem unimportant or we simply can’t be bothered but besides making your entire room look better, it can be more beneficial than you might imagine.
We’re experiencing a brave new world with more people working from home than ever before. In the same way that we need to adjust to working with a new team at an office, working from home brings its own challenges and obstacles.
There are also many pluses. For starters, no longer travelling to work can easily grant us an extra hour or two of free time every day which really adds up over time. However working from home may blur the line between your work commitments and private time. While being in your home environment may be pants-optional much of the time (with the exception of video calls obviously) making the effort to dress in something a little more formal than your bathrobe could help you to switch in to work mode more easily. Something as simple as taming your hair with a brush can boost your sense of self confidence, self worth and self esteem. Making your bed could make even more of a difference to your day.
Even if your bedroom is otherwise organised and neat, an unmade bed can ruin the effect and create the impression that your whole room is a mess. Make your bed and your room will instantly look cleaner. You might be surprised to find that the discipline of making your bed will encourage you to keep other things tidy during the day.
Once you’ve tended to your bed, you’re likely to be inspired to keep going with other parts of your home that need tidying; like getting those clothes off the floor and reorganising your wardrobe.
Could it also make you more productive? In his book “The Power of Habit,” Charles Duhigg claims that making our bed is a habit that can kickstart a chain of positive decision making throughout the day and give you a sense of taking charge.
On average, you spend a third of your life in your bedroom and your environment can have an effect on your mood. It can be difficult to feel relaxed when surrounded by chaos. Making your bed can assist with reducing stress levels and an orderly space supports a positive state of mind. According to Gretchen Rubin, author of “The Happiness Project,” one of the simplest changes you can make to boost your happiness is making your bed each morning.
What catches your eye when you first walk into a hotel room? Picture one with a neatly made bed, then think of one with a messy bed. Completely changes the feel of it, right?
According to Naval Admiral William McRaven, Commander of U.S. Special Operations, making your bed each morning sets the tone of what’s to come for the rest of your day.
In a 2014 talk, the Admiral shared his thoughts on the matter at the University of Texas at Austin. “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.”
Just incase his stance on the subject wasn’t clear, the Admiral wrote a bestselling book called “Make Your Bed.”
We all experience good days and bad days. On our most challenging days it can be reassuring to know there’s a freshly made bed, ready and waiting for us at the end of the day. So take a moment each morning to make your bed and it may just improve your life.
By Grant J Everett, Panorama Magazine
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