Around six years ago I saw a college
commencement speech
by a US Navy Admiral called William H McRaven...
...which also
happens to be the most American sounding name
I've ever heard in my life!
I mean come on he may as well been called
"freedom McBride Eagle"!
Now his
speech went somewhat viral at the time
because it talked about a subject that
was quite relatable and seemed to
resonate with a lot of people; which was
simply the importance of making your bed.
He talked about how that little victory,
that little win at the start of your day
would set you up for success for the
rest of your day.
And if for whatever reason you had a rubbish day anyway;
at least that night you'd get into a
made bed; providing at least that little
bit of encouragement
that tomorrow will be better.
In short, he suggested that
just making your bed would increase your
productivity and therefore your overall
success.
Now when I saw this six years ago
I was in my second year of
university.
Now in second year of University,
the idea of making my bed
every morning was about as ridiculous to me
as the idea of not getting drunk on a
Monday night!
And also, the thought that something as serious and consequential as
your own success could be influenced
by something as completely
inconsequential as whether or not you
made your bed in the morning to me was
absolutely ridiculous.
But in recent years i've re-explored this concept and
I can now see with a certain degree of certainty
that very least for me...
It works!
For me, it especially seems to work
in times when you're lacking motivation.
When everything just seems a little bit at a standstill
and you don't really seem
to be getting anywhere.
When overall, just nothing really seems
to be happening for you.
You know... when you spend a whole day sitting and just
staring a scream hoping that that important piece of work
gets done and
before you know it that day has turned
into a week and you've achieved exactly
zero...
So I did a bit of digging.
Why does this work?
What's the theory, the
psychology, the thinking behind this?
And I found a principle. A principle I've
applied time and time again since.
A principle which I don't think it would
be unfair to say has totally changed my
approach to productivity.
I utilise the "do something" principle.
Really simply, the "do something" principle is just a
means to take action when you don't have the motivation to do anything.
Let me explain.
Now we typically tend to think that
motivation looks a little bit like this:
That in order to take action on
something, you need to be motivated to do so.
And in order to be motivated you need
to be inspired by something.
But in reality it's not a simple three-step
process like this.
In reality; it's a loop!
Very often it's actually our own actions
that serve as the inspiration for that next thing
So if we take advantage of
this knowledge we can actually reorient
our mindset in the following way:
putting the action first.
In more basic terms, what this means...
The little Pug's joined me... Lola!
You're interrupting my filming...
Look at this lil' dog...
You wanna be in the video? You can be in the video...
It's like having a real-life teddy bear!
Okay where are we...
In the most basic terms all this means is
that if you lack the motivation
to make an important change in your life
then instead just do something.
And then you can simply harness your reaction to
that action and use it as a way to begin
motivating yourself.
Now this is a process that I know
that you all have unwittingly gone through before.
For me, I recognise it most when I have
to clean the house.
I'll start off by doing a task which is small
but still needs to be done.
Something as simple as unloading the dishwasher.
Then, once I've completed that task I just
kind of find myself starting to wipe
down surfaces.
Then before you know it I'm sweeping the floor...
and then before you know it that small task of just dealing
with the dishwasher has led to the
motivation to do a
much bigger and much more productive task.
Now the best part
about this process is that inevitably
the appropriate action that you're
looking for will occur.
Because let's face it; in this situation,
the motivation is natural, the inspiration is genuine.
And really it's just a general overall
far more pleasant way of achieving your goals.
So if you're finding yourself in a
bit of a rut,
at a bit of a dead end or just unable to
find the motivation
to do the things you need to do;
Just do something...
Anything! Even something simple like
brush your teeth, go for a walk, do the
dishes or maybe even just make your bed!
Good luck!
Thank you so much if you've
made it to the end of the video.
I really appreciate you guys taking the time to
watch these whole things
I do put quite a lot of work into them and honestly
I'm really enjoying making them.
If you are enjoying these videos then you might consider subscribing to my channel.
I'm planning to put out a few more of these I've
got lots and lots of ideas
that I've been thinking about recently.
So there's gonna be a fair few more of these to come!
You can also hit me up on
Facebook on Instagram and all the social medias as well so feel free to check me
out there.
The inspiration for this video came from the author Mark Manson.
He is one of the most popular self-help and self-development authors.
He's written a very famous book called - the subtle art of not giving a f*ck
and if that's something
that interests you it's a brilliant book
I highly recommend it
I'll leave a link in the description to where you can pick that book up.
And if you're interested in
some more reading about the
"do something" principle I'll link you to the article he's got on his blog on his website below, as well.
Thanks again for watching
and I will see you in the next one!
