MAKING THE BED...

 by Phillip Starr

It's something I do every day, within an hour after getting up. I make my bed. I've done this since I was a boy. I viewed a video of a speech given to a large group of college graduates by a Navy Admiral, who was involved in training our famous SeALS. He stressed the importance of making your bed. Every day.

It's much more than just keeping a part of your bedroom neat. It's a discipline; one that should be instilled in every child (and by the way, it's never too late to develop it yourself). Self-discipline is absolutely essential for developing real martial arts skill. A martial artist whose bed looks like something that was used to muffle a grenade probably possesses martial skills that look about the same. His uniform may look like he's slept in it for the last week, too. The lack of discipline is obvious and lack of discipline in one area (of life) easily bleeds over into all other facets.

So, am I telling you that you need to make your bed? Yes, I am. Discipline is discipline. Lack of one form of discipline leads to lack of many other forms of discipline. I know, I know...”Why bother making the bed? I'm just going to sleep in it again tonight.” Well, why bother washing your butt?

Build discipline. It's something that has be done almost constantly and oftentimes, it isn't a lot of fun. But it's important...especially if you want to become a truly skilled martial arts practitioner.