Musings from the CU Suite

Written by Anthony Demangone

I just didn't get it. 

My mother always bugged me about making my bed when I was young. 

It didn't make sense. 

I was just going to mess it up again, wasn't I? 

You've heard the saying...The older I get, the smarter my parents become. Well, it is true.

I'm a semi-convert to making my bed now. I can't control the world, but I can control my patch. And that patch will be neat.

Why the talk of beds? There has been a recent rash of articles about the benefits of making your bed. Here's one that was published in May of this year.  It gathers a number of reasons why making your bed is a good idea.

Frame of mind. You may recall that I wrote about a commencement speaker last May who urged graduates to make their bed. 

Every morning in basic SEAL training, my instructors, who at the time were all Viet Nam veterans, would show up in my barracks room and the first thing they would inspect was your bed.

If you did it right, the corners would be square, the covers pulled tight, the pillow centered just under the headboard and the extra blanket folded neatly at the foot of the rack—rack—that's Navy talk for bed.

It was a simple task—mundane at best. But every morning we were required to make our bed to perfection. It seemed a little ridiculous at the time, particularly in light of the fact that were aspiring to be real warriors, tough battle hardened SEALs—but the wisdom of this simple act has been proven to me many times over.

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. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter.

Happiness. According to an article published by Psychology Today, making your bed may play a factor in happiness. 

In a survey of 68,000 people by Hunch.com, 59 percent of people don’t make their beds. 27 percent do, while 12 percent pay a housekeeper to make it for them. Here’s what disturbed me: 71 percent of bed makers consider themselves happy; while 62 percent of non-bed-makers admit to being unhappy. Bed makers are also more likely to like their jobs, own a home, exercise regularly, and feel well rested, whereas non-bed-makers hate their jobs, rent apartments, avoid the gym, and wake up tired. All in all, bed makers are happier and more successful than their rumple-sheeted peers.

It reminds me of something a tour guide said to me once while visiting Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. Someone remarked at how much President Jefferson had accomplished. Without missing a beat, the tour guide rattled off a famous quote made by the President.

While I have no data to prove it, I bet President Jefferson's bed chamber was neat and tidy.

So, what do you all think? Is there anything to the idea that making your bed is tied to greater glory? Or it is all something concocted by the bed-makers lobby?

Oh, and here's a poll, faithful readers.  Do you make your bed each morning?