In this Inspiration video series post we present an incredible speech from Admiral William H. McRaven to the class of 2014 University of Texas about how to change the world. In his speech he outlines how his experiences in the Navy Seals have taught him 10 key ways that we all need to apply in order to change the world.
The physical and mental choices that we make will form the basis of our results. There is an inherent journey of character building that comes with a structured and progressive training regime. It starts with the small things, and gradually builds into the pursuit for perfection. One of the most important character traits that is not directly mentioned but shines through as a result of applying these 10 lessons is resilience.
In my opinion resilience is one of the most difficult character traits to develop for any individual as it requires facing sustained difficulty, develops over a long period of time, and takes huge amounts of will power. The individuals who display high levels of resilience are those that we see constantly pick themselves up from failure, who are willing to push harder than the rest, and achieve feats that others can only marvel at. The Admiral perfectly sums up the first step of that journey, by starting with doing the small things right and building from there.
Every athlete starts somewhere, and the basis of every great athlete starts in their everyday life. Apply the lessons of your daily life to your training, and the lessons of your training to your daily life, and you will see positive transformation in both.
The ten lessons from Admiral William H. McRaven to change the world:
"If you want to change the world start off by making your bed.
If you want to change the world find someone to help you paddle.
If you want to change the world measure a person by the size of their heart not by the size of their flippers.
If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.
If you want to change the world don't be afraid of the circuses.
If you want to change the world sometimes you have to slide down the obstacles head first.
If you want to change the world don't back down from the sharks.
If you want to change the world you must be your very best in the darkest moments.
If you want change the world start singing when you're up to your neck in mud.
If you want to change the world don't ever, ever ring the bell."
Start by doing the little things right.