Get busy living or get busy dying.

The Shawshank Redemption. Have you seen it? It’s hard to choose an all-time favorite movie. Near impossible to say “this IS the best movie of all time.” But If I had to choose just one, this would be it. I’ll spare you the recap and spoilers and just tell you to go watch it! And if you’ve seen it, give it another go. It’s a classic filled with all kinds of great life advice that seems to hit just right regardless of which stage of life you find yourself.

As amazing as this movie is there is a line at the heart of it that cuts through the rest. The central character, Andy Dufresne, tells us “I guess It comes down to a simple choice really. Get busy living or get busy dying.” We see Morgan Freeman’s character, Red, echo this thought at the end of the movie as well. Such a simple idea really. Get busy living or get busy dying. I suppose none of us are trying to get busy dying. But are you ready to get busy living?

This line, like most memorable ideas, gets misquoted a lot. Most quotes will leave out that first part. “A simple choice…” This is the part I love the most. Andy, a man who has had his life and freedom stripped away, an innocent person, still looks at life as a choice. Wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he did not commit Andy chooses not to be a victim. He chooses to get busy living.

We don’t have to be victims of circumstance. We, and we alone, have the power to choose. He could have chosen to give up, chosen to die. But no. Andy chose not to be a victim. He chose to live.

What’s holding you back from living?

I’m a night owl. I love the night. The cool darkness of it. I find I am most creative in the late hours of the evening. And if I had my way, I would sleep in every day and stay up late. Life has a different plan for me, though. My struggle is getting up in the morning. I am a snooze button machine. I love those extra ten minutes of snooze heaven.

As a kid, I got in trouble a lot trying to sneak some TV after bedtime. In college, I skipped more eight AM classes than I can count, had to drop a few courses as well. But now, as an adult, with a company to run and kids to raise I have lost the luxury of sleeping. Yet, the struggle remains.

In his great work, Meditations, Marcus Aurelius, the last emperor of the Pax Romana and considered the last good Emporer of Rome, writes, surprisingly, about his own struggles of getting out of bed in the morning.

Of all the wisdom we can take from a Roman emperor from nearly 2,000 years ago, the importance of getting out of bed is by far the most refreshing. I love knowing an emperor struggled just as I do with the simple act of waking up.

Think about it. Here is a man with the most powerful job in the world. Unlimited wealth, nearly unlimited power. Generals, senators, and nobles, all wait on him. Countless servants waiting for his orders to serve him how he saw fit. If he wanted to sleep till noon every day, then Rome would rise at noon.

And yet, under the weight of responsibility, he took it upon himself to rise at dawn ready for the day. He chose to get busy living. You can too. I can too.

You probably know I’m an Aggie. A Fight’n Texas Aggie, in point of fact, class of 2007. I was in the Corps of Cadets - but that is a story for another day. Texas A&M has a bit of a rivalry with the University of Texas, for obvious reasons. So when I tell you about a commencement speech from Admiral William H. McRaven down in the small town of Austin you know it will be a good one! Check out the full speech here, University of Texas at Austin 2014 Commencement Address.

Apparently, the slogan at UT is, What happens here changes the world. A bold and noble belief, to be sure. I’m not one for rivalries, so I thought I might give this speech a listen. And wow, this one hit right at home for me.

Admiral McRaven gives a short and powerful speech about how to change the world. He talks about his time at Texas University and his time in SEAL training. The speech has a lot of great advice. He talks about not giving up, taking on the hard things, and accepting that life just isn’t far. But for me, the core of this impassioned speech is about the importance of making your bed every morning.

In SEAL training, Admiral McRaven tells us, he was required to make his bed every morning, accomplishing the first task of the day. This would give him the encouragement needed to take on the next task and then the next. No matter how hard the day, no matter how beat up he was he always completed the first task of the day, he made his bed. And when he came back after that long hard day, he came back to a made bed. This simple task inspired him to get up the next day and, of course, make his bed.

“If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.” Sound, simple advice.

Get busy living. Get up and go to work as a human being. Make your bed.

We have the power to choose to live or die. We don’t have to be a victim. We can choose to rise at dawn and take on the day. And we can have a huge impact on the world just by making our beds.

Seem’s simple enough. But damn if that blanket doesn’t just feel so warm in the morning.

I’m going to push myself to get up earlier, snooze less, and make my bed.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these thoughts for your self-examination. See you next week.

-CT

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