University of Texas at Austin 2014 Commencement Address - Admiral William H. McRaven
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended in life-advice and motivation threads as worth watching in full, especially for its point about starting small by changing yourself.
What it is
Admiral William McRaven's 2014 University of Texas commencement address, built around lessons from Navy SEAL training. It famously opens with the case for making your bed every morning.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2017 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec wizardforhire · 2020-01 · on “Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it”
Obligatory UT Admiral William H. McRaven Commencement Address[1] Worth the whole watch, however it’s makes he makes a very compelling argument for making your bed in the morning. I’ll add cleaning as part of the morning routine is also highly effective to get moving. [this video]
Recommends musha68k · 2017-04 · on “The relationship between social media use and well-being”
That's why I call it DeplorablesBook but that's also where the problem lies maybe. Most probably. Maybe certainly. We need to engage in those tiresome discussions collectively. We need to talk more, with more people from more diverse backgrounds if we want to change anything actually. Let's educate everyone so that we get an even better internet than the one we came to love back in the 90s and early 00s! Just got a recommendation for this great correlating speech by a friend actually: [this video]
Recommends jefflombardjr · 2019-04 · on “Ask HN: What are good resources for life advice?”
First and foremost, what you are describing is metacognition - thinking about the way you think. Hopefully that will aid you in your search for things! Secondly, here are some of my favorite influential material: - Li Ka-Shing, Tips on Life. My takeaway: invest in yourself. [LINK] - Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture. My takeaway: don't limit yourself [LINK] - Guy Kawasaki, Make Meaning. Aimed for startups, but equally applicable in life. My takeaway: Have the proper motivations for doing things. [LINK] - Admiral William H. McRaven, Make your bed. My takeaway: if you want to change the world, start by changing yourself. [this video] - David Foster Wallace, This is Water. My takeaway: Take a big pictu
Cites neilv · 2026-03 · on “Attractive students no longer receive better results as classes moved online”
It could be that height says nothing about competence as a CEO, or it could be that the people who attain CEO and succeed despite height bias need to have an exceptionally strong mix of merit/will/effort. I've heard the latter theory at least a couple times about US Navy SEALs. The first time, it was a retired SEAL I knew (well over 6', and a brick wall) who one day out of the blue said something like, "You shouldn't feel bad about being short. The best SEAL I knew was a short guy, and he could kick my ass." Later, I heard a similar anecdote in a speech: [this video]