Making your bed might be the world’s easiest success habit, according to the Huffington Post.
The simple, mundane task of pulling up your sheets, tucking in the corners, and centering your pillow may seem like a silly waste of time, especially when you’re hard pressed for time getting ready for school. However, this is one of the most beneficial chores. You should not skip it.
According to a Hutch.com survey of 68,000 people, 59 percent of people don’t make their beds. Only 27 percent do. (The other 12 percent pay someone to make their beds for them).
Of those surveyed, a whopping 71 percent of people who make their beds say they are happy. Only 38 percent of people who don’t make their beds say they are happy.
How can this 2-minute chore impact your happiness so drastically?
Navy Seal and Naval Admiral William McRaven explained it during a commencement speech he gave at the University of Texas, Austin (watch the video HERE):
“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.”
He says that even if you do have a miserable day, at least you will come home to a bed that is made. Even on your worst day, you accomplished something. That encourages you.
Online news website Elite Daily says making your bed helps you mentally prepare for your day.
Marie Kondo (author of “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”) says decluttering your space reduces your stress. A tidy space equals a tidy mind.
Gretchen Rubin (New York Times bestselling author on happiness) says making your bed is the number one most impactful change to becoming happier.
“Your bed is a symbol of you,” she said. “There’s something about having your bed feel orderly that makes your life feel that way.”
By starting your day with a chore you don’t really want to do, you’re mentally preparing to do other things you don’t really want to do that day. This starts a chain reaction of other productive habits.
It’s not just a good habit for kids. Bed makers are more likely to like their jobs, own a home, exercise regularly, and feel well rested. Alternatively, non-bed-makers are more likely to hate their jobs, rent apartments, avoid the gym, and wake up tired, according to Judy Dutton on Psychology Today.
When you wake up tomorrow morning, make your bed. Start a chain reaction of good habits and focused work all day long.
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