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Did You Make Your Bed This Morning?

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Last Updated on Wednesday, 02 November 2016 14:55

 

For many of us with ADHD the answer is “NO”.

 

We typically use excuses like:

  •  I don’t have time; I’m always rushing around in the morning
  • What’s the point? I’ll only mess it up again tonight 
  • It’s boring!
  • It’s just something else I have to ‘do’.
  • I live on my own, no one will notice.
  • I have more important things to do.

 

Those that want to change the world should start off by making their beds!

Making our bed every morning can, however, make a huge difference in our lives. During a commencement speech at the University of Texas, Admiral McRaven, a battle-hardened Navy Seal, claimed the wisdom of this simple act had been proven to him many times over. He reasoned,  “If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the very first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. At 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 will 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 the encouragement that tomorrow will be better. So if you want to change the world start off by making your bed”.

 

Bigger benefits for those with ADHD

Jacqueline Sinfield from ‘Untapped Brilliance’ suggests those of us with ADHD have even more to gain from making our beds. 

  1. It allows us to experience our first ‘win’ for the day - This means that we get our first shot of dopamine for the day, which improves our productivity by giving us the urge to do something else.
  2.   It improves our self-esteem - Because we are crossing things off our to do lists
  3.   It gives us an opportunity to take care of and nurture ourselves - This is something many ADHDers aren’t accustomed to doing!  
  4.   It makes our whole room look tidier - ADHDers find it very difficult to tidy up after themselves because it’s boring. Now we are doing a bit of tiding up without even thinking about it!
  5. When we feel accomplished and good about ourselves, our mood is brighter - We feel happier and that has a knock-on effect for the rest of the day.

 

Making the bed doesn’t have to take long.

If you have a duvet, all you really need to do is pull it up to the pillows and straighten it out a little. For a more advanced technique, you could plump the pillows and it would still take you less than a minute.

 

 

Resources 

 http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/how-making-your-bed-every-morning-can-improve-your-life.html

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgzLzbd-zT4

 http://untappedbrilliance.com/why-its-important-to-make-your-bed-when-you-have-adhd/

 

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