Get Over Being a Sugar Cookie

The winner of commencement address of the year seems to be Naval Admiral William H. McRaven.

The former Navy SEAL’s address to graduates at the University of Texas at Austin has made a huge splash online–a million views on YouTube so far.

McRaven offered 10 lessons gleaned from his 36-year military career. One of the most popular involves a sugar cookie. I’ll get to that in a bit.

More powerful that any of the lessons, though, was the larger theme that it is easier than people think to change the lives of people around them.

That great paragon of analytical rigor, Ask.Com says that the average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime.

That’s a lot of folks.

But, if every one of you changed the lives of just ten people—and each one of those folks changed the lives of another ten people—just ten—then in five generations—125 years—the class of 2014 will have changed the lives of 800 million people.

800 million people—think of it—over twice the population of the United States. Go one more generation and you can change the entire population of the world—8 billion people.

If you think it’s hard to change the lives of ten people—change their lives forever—you’re wrong.

-McRaven

In the context of the military, it is easy to see how a decision can literally save lives. But for people whose daily decisions are not life and death, sometimes that power gets forgotten.

More than ever, people are looking for a career that has meaning, however they define it. About 35 percent of workers 18 to 34 say having a job that makes a positive social impact is very important, and 19 percent of those over age 35, according to a recent survey by CreativeLive. Others leave traditional jobs for work they define as a calling, a purpose, a mission.

McRaven’s address reminds us that everyone makes an impact. “Our struggles in this world are similar, and the lessons to overcome those struggles and to move forward — changing ourselves and the world around us — will apply equally to all.”

Now for the sugar cookie.

McRaven explained how soldiers are required to have their uniforms pressed and their shoes and buckles shiny to pass inspection. But they were also called out for failing to measure up—which happened much of the time. Offending soldiers had to wade into the surf and get soaked, roll around in the sand, and spend the rest of the day cold, wet and sandy– “sugar cookies.”

Because perfection is pretty hard to come by, the soldiers were being taught to learn  from failure. “You were never going to succeed. You were never going to have a perfect uniform. Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform you still end up as a sugar cookie. It’s just the way life is sometimes,” he said. “If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.”