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Back in film school, I came across a book called “What They Don’t Teach You at Film School: 161 Strategies For Making Your Own Movies No Matter What.” One of the 161 strategies was to always make your bed. The rationale in the book was that no matter how long of a day you have (in this case, on a movie shoot), that you have a well made bed to come home to.

Lately, I have been hearing more people citing this habit of making your bed to be one of the most important habits to build. Charles Duhigg describes in his book, The Power of Habit and How to Hack It, that a “keystone” habit, such as making your bed can trigger other positive behaviors.

Admiral William H. McRaven was interviewed on CNN and said this habit is of the highest importance. He went on to say that ‘if someone can’t make their bed, why should I entrust him with something more important.’ Being the same Admiral that led the team against Bin Laden, he is most qualified to talk about handling important matters.

Clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson doesn’t exactly say “make your bed.” Instead he says to make it a priority to “clean up your room.” The whole point he is making is that ‘if you want to change the world, you start from yourself and work outward, because you build your competence that way.’

Confucius said, “To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order; we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.”

If you aren’t making your bed, why not give it a try?