In Scott Stump’s article, “Navy Seal’s Advice to Grads” he writes about U.S. Navy Admiral William H. McCraven’s advice to his alma mater in 2014. McCraven said, "If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. 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. And 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 the little things in life matter. If you can't do the little things right, you'll never be able to 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."

When I saw this blurb of Admiral McCraven’s commencement speech on TV, I couldn’t believe someone in his position would be making his own bed. His advice left such an impression on me that I began making my bed every day (well, unless I’m at a hotel). Prior to this I thought, “Why make my bed when no one in MN who comes into my house, ever goes past the foyer. Who is going to see my bedroom?” What a game changer - one task did turn into another.

Last year, I decided to run one mile a day for a year starting with the first day of 2019. It’s not an earth-shattering goal. It’s not unreasonable, crazy or unattainable. Today I ran my 365th mile in a year. I ran more than a mile on some days but I can confidently say that I ran at least a mile a day for 365 days in a row. I didn’t miss one day. There was no making up a missed day by running 2 miles the next. This is an example that the little things in life matter. One mile a day adds up to 365 miles - which is like 13 marathons in a year.

I was inspired to run a mile a day by a friend when we were in Big Sky, Montana. One evening, we started hovering around in the kitchen pouring ourselves drinks. Jill excused herself from the group but said she’d be right back. When she returned, she jumped back into the GNO mode and started drinking with us. It was later revealed that Jill left our group, ran a mile but was back to party. We were impressed but she casually explained that she knew it would be hard to go for a run after she had a few to drink and since she was committed to running a mile every day, she made it happen. What stuck in my head all these years was that this commitment didn’t take up a lot of time. In fact, I don’t even think that I got thru half my drink in the time that Jill was gone. I’m proud to say that today marks Jill’s 9th year in a row of running at least one mile a day!

The combination of the admiral’s advice to make my bed every day and the inspiration of Jill’s daily mile run leads me to think: What other daily tasks can I accomplish? Should I add an extra mile a day as a goal for 2020 or should I take the opportunity to carve out time do something else beneficial like:

1. Meditate for 5 minutes a day (in hopes to get to 5+ minutes by the end of the year)

2. Write for 30 minutes a day

3. Read for 20 minutes a day

Admittedly, there was a 4th choice which was to floss my teeth every day. But thanks to my new AP24 toothpaste and my Smile Direct trays, flossing isn’t a problem anymore. I have now flossed my teeth for 18+ days in a row! Friends, my teeth only got flossed, at the most, 4 times a year. This includes the two times a year that my teeth are flossed by the hygienist at my cleanings. I have walked out of the dentist office vowing to floss every day and I start off with good intentions but I never picked up the floss again until the next cleaning. It’s pretty pathetic that I didn’t make time to floss but NOW it’s part of my daily routine.

As a thoughtful pinch to myself, I will only choose one out of the three new tasks this year. Of course I will try to do the other activities but I’m only going to commit to doing one of these new tasks every day for 365 days. All of them are small commitments but in a year, imagine what that would add up to.

Not that I have to explain, but in case you’re thinking I should just add another mile to my daily run (2 miles a day), it’s all about the recovery time. My recovery for one mile is super minimal- it’s a 5 minute walk and sometimes I stretch (most days I don’t). If I ran two miles a day, the recovery time is longer. Not to mention that I would get really sweaty, which means that I would have to wash my hair more frequently. It’s totally vain, but not having to wash my hair means more time to do more tasks.

Besides making your bed every day, what is your 365?

Pinches,

Barb