I watched a video a few years ago that claimed to make your bed every day is the key to success. You can watch the video here. Although I didn't want to believe any of it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. How could something as simple as making your bed cause you to be more productive and therefore more successful?
I'm not gonna lie, for the majority of my adult life, I never made it a habit to make my bed. I would roll out of bed every morning; I would go about my day and come home to an unmade bed every day. When I was younger my mom always encouraged me to make my bed, but I never listened to her.
This school year I made it a goal to make my bed every day. The video that I linked above had resurfaced on my Facebook so I decided maybe I would give it a try and see how it goes. I started off making my bed every morning; but alas my snoozing tendencies get the best of me some days. When I hit snooze for too long and don't make my bed I feel a difference in the way I act and just my overall mood for the day. I'm a little more grumpy and a little more anxious than I usually am. This affects how I am with my friends, in my classes, at my job, and how effective I am at getting my work done.
When I wake up and make my bed it's like my day already starts off with this small success. Overall during the day, I'm usually very positive and I feel like I can do so much more with my day. I'm generally in a much more productive state when I make my bed which seems crazy. I know that I get to come home to my first accomplishment of the day after a long day of school, work, and studying. It actually relaxes me to see my bed made once I'm home.
After making my bed for the majority of the last 3 months, I decided to do a poll on my Instagram to see if other people felt a difference. I asked if people felt like their days were more productive when they make their bed. 25 out of the 31 people who voted said that they did feel more productive.
I decided to dig a little deeper and found that Randall Bell, Ph.D. studied successful people over a span of 25 years, and found that all of them made their bed every day. Also, Charles Duhigg wrote a book called "The Power of Habit" which you can find here that goes into detail about how habits affect your day to day productivity. He claims in the book that making your bed as a habit helps you be productive because humans are creatures of habit.
So, are you gonna start making your bed now?
