Make your bed

Dear Parent,

In this month’s Ohana SEL+ Program we are working on HARD WORK and HABITS.

We have given your child some of the tools and tricks successful people use and leverage to set good habits. Now armed with these tools it is time to practice. This is your part!

Here is the simple three step morning routine habit:

1. Wake yourself up one minute early.

2. Make your bed.

3. Do a small, easy personal development thing for yourself.

These may seem small but they are not!

How you start your day is HUGE. It sets the tone, energy and emotions for the rest of your day. Compare being early to your bus stop, well-fed and feeling good . . . versus running to the bus stop after being yelled at to get out of bed ten times, eating your breakfast while running then realizing you forget your homework.

I want to share an excerpt from the famous speech given by Navy Admiral MacRaven at the 2014 University of Texas graduation ceremony about making your bed:

“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 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. 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. If you can't do the little things right, you will never 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.

If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.”

So, making your bed and how you start your day is NOT a small thing.

Yours for stronger kids,

Sensei