Tag: bed

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Make Your Bed – It Helps

Make Your Bed - It Helps

A two-minute decision that powers your morning

I never made my bed.

I didn’t because I thought it a waste of time.

“No one is coming back to this but me, and I am just going to ruin it anyway.”

The underlined passage above affected my day. As a result, I engaged in self-defeated talk. The self-defeated talk took away my agency every morning. Starting off the day with an excuse is a powerful way to stay ineffective.

I noticed something shift after deciding to make my bed after hearing this:

I always wondered why the Army movies emphasized making your bed. It didn’t come together for me, however, until I watched this video.

After a few days of taking on the simple task of making my bed, I saw the points that Admiral McRaven make come true.

The most powerful thing has been the last point about the power of just seeing a nice bed after a rough day. 

Coming home to a made bed gives you a reason to think about a better day. A messy bed, rather, reminds you of inefficiencies.

Little things can make you feel powerful. Take advantage.

 

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Don’t Rush – Box Breathe and Chill :-)

How do you get out the bed?

Your technique matters:

  • When you leap, you are on a one-track, emotionally led mindset. When you jump out of bed on Christmas morning or race to catch your international flight, the energy behind them is the same. It’s frantic, and you miss everything except your objective (oooh presents…)
  • When you slither, you are groggy, and you meander. You spend a lot of time trying to orient yourself. Your mind isn’t healthy yet. You hope you don’t crash into anything on your way to the bathroom. It’s not fun, and potentially painful (ouch!)
  • When you do so calmly, you are alert. You smoothly get out of bed as you stretch, check the clock, and yawn. You feel like you have a choice.  This form of waking up is ideal. (Yay!)
The first two ways of getting up are reactive states, either by prompt or circumstance.
The last way is a proactive state, where you have the energy to decide and the head space to think through it.
This mindset doesn’t just affect getting up, but everything we do.  Sometimes the other two states are necessary, but only in emergencies. In life, being proactive is better.

Exercise

  1. Think about the act of what you are doing, is it reactive or proactive?
  2. If it’s reactive, ask yourself, do you have to be?
  3. If it doesn’t have to stop for a second breathe deeply for 4 seconds in, hold your breath for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds, and hold for 4 seconds (if you are curious – this is box breathing, and it’s a Navy Seal technique).
  4. Reassess and get proactive 🙂
 Every once in a while, just ask yourself if you are reactive. If you are, this exercise gets you back into that working space.
Drive slow, homie :-).
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Making My Bed To Reframe

I used to hate to make my bed.

Every day I would avoid it. When my mother asked me as a child if I made my bed I would lie to her.

I don’t know why I hated making my bed so much, if it was an act of rebellion or a fit of laziness, but I would make it a point to actively avoid it. This behavior followed me from childhood in the DC area to being an adult in New York City. For years I never made my bed.

It seemed like a waste of time either way, and I didn’t care to “waste” time.

On the other hand, when I went into a place that had a made bed, say a hotel, I was more organized. I felt a sense of relief once I got to my room. The calm that I had when I had a made bed (and a clean room for that matter) helped me center and get a better grip on the next day.

I didn’t see the connection.

Life is funny that way, where the connection doesn’t stick until it does. We often see with our brains, and our brains get locked into certain habits. When those old habits break, there is an opportunity for new habits and connections to form.

It happened when I laid on my bed for a week while it was “made.”

Let me explain. I had a maid come by after a New Years Party and had the gift of a bed that was ‘made.’ My apartment has the heat on a temperature I like to call “hell” during the winter. So, for a few days I had a bed that was made and an apartment too hot to sleep in it. I spent the time laying on top of the covers.

After a few days I noticed the same habits I had in a hotel. I noticed I got organized before bed and started to think about my day ahead.What I thought was a waste of time turned into a time saver.

That new connection happened because I saw an old place in a new way. My old habit snapped and it gave me the opportunity to see something different. It took different circumstances in the same place to see a better alternative.

I try to think of that every time I stay in the same place too long. I use the question, “didn’t I used to hate to make my bed?” to reframe my situation and try to get to new ground.

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