Make your bed and watch the rest of your life fall in place

Making your bed may seem like a small thing, but like all micro-goals, it sets you up for success for the day, and the rest of your life. Learn more.

I’ve been fascinated by micro-goals since learning about doing just one pushup from one of my SFM mentors when we were hanging out.

Micro goals are things that are easy to do, and so meeting that goal makes you do more of it. I recently read “Make Your Bed” by William H. McRaven, a Navy Seal veteran, retired United States Navy admiral who served in many high-profile roles from commander of the United States Special Operations Command to chancellor of The University of Texas System.

He credits his success with “making his bed”…

When he was in Navy Seal training, one of the things he had to do daily was to make his bed. Failure to do so was met with punishment.

So, what’s the big deal with making your bed? Well by getting one job done, you can get on to the next one and steadily check all your “to-dos” off your list, and end your day feeling productive. It all started with making your bed.

I’ve found that the most productive times in my life have been when I have an early morning routine…

Now that I’ve run my online business for some time, I’ve noticed a pattern. During the school holidays, I’m much less productive. It’s easy to blame kids being home etc, but if I take a hard look at myself – it is me – not them. It is choosing to wake up later, because the “school run” isn’t on, or skipping the gym. Somedays, even the bed goes unmade.

Because I work from home, it’s incredibly important for me to keep to the routines otherwise work either won’t get done, or it will spill over into other areas – and I need to remind myself that the reason I run this home business is to have time to do the things that are really important to me.

During my 20 years as a corporate lawyer, this was never an issue because I never worked from home. I had to be in the office in the morning, and typically stayed so late that it didn’t really make sense to bring work home except for the weekends.

Now, since I choose to work only on certain days of the week, I need to make sure things do run like clockwork.

With the kid’s exams recently over, and the school holidays starting, the temptation to sleep in beckons. Establishing and keeping a morning routine of micro goals will stand me in good stead.

Whatever it is you wish to change in your life, just start with something small and easy to accomplish…

If you desire to work from home, run a business, have more time for families or hobbies. Take the first step. Make it a simple, easily achievable step. The rest will follow.

To learn to run an online business using the same blueprint I did, click here.