Make Your Bed With Admiral William H. McRaven
Jill on Money with Jill Schlesinger
Audacy
4.6 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
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Summary
It's our annual Memorial Day tradition, as we're once again re-airing an interview we did back in 2017 with retired Admiral William “Bill” McRaven. If Bill’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he presided over the 2011 Navy SEAL raid that resulted in the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
A few years later in 2014, the four-star admiral and 37-year Navy SEAL veteran delivered the commencement speech at his alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin. Little did McRaven know that his address, which spoke to how students could overcome challenges and change themselves, would become a viral hit with 20 million views online.
McRaven was eventually encouraged to expand his commencement speech into a book, Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World.
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Instagram: @jillonmoneyWe are planning on one more kid but the school tuition is certainly piling up. I think we are okay but would like some reassurance.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Jill on Money Show. It is Monday, May 25th. It is Memorial Day. And, you know, this is a tough day for me and my family because we are always mourning 20 years later, our beloved relative who died in Iraq 20 years ago. I can't even believe it. And I always feel weird |
| 0:23.7 | going on the air and having a conversation with people on this day. So Mark and I had a great idea. |
| 0:30.2 | And that is we wanted to bring you an interview that we actually conducted back in 2017. And the interview is with none other than the most |
| 0:41.4 | amazing guest, probably our favorite guest ever, Admiral William H. McCraven. At the time, |
| 0:47.5 | he was retired. Of course, what made him famous was he was the guy who spearheaded the entire |
| 0:53.4 | Osama bin Laden raid. He had an |
| 0:56.3 | incredible career in the military. He went on to take over the University of Texas system, |
| 1:02.7 | and he wrote a book called Make Your Bed, Little Things That Can Change Your Life and Maybe |
| 1:07.7 | The World. I can't think of a better interview to air than this one with |
| 1:12.9 | Admiral McCraven. Mark and I were just so captivated by him and we always relish the chance |
| 1:19.5 | to put it back on the air and bring it to you as if it happened yesterday. So it is Memorial Day. |
| 1:25.4 | Think about those who served and gave their lives. |
| 1:28.1 | Think about the people who are serving today. |
| 1:30.2 | And take this interview in Admiral William H. McCraven. |
| 1:34.4 | Describe just a little bit about having to present the president with options. |
| 1:39.8 | Will he then say, Bill, what do you think? |
| 1:43.2 | Or do you immediately say, here are your five options. This is what I think you should do. No, no. At least with President Obama and I have not met President Trump, so I can't speak to President Trump. But I'm sure the process is pretty much the same, which again, the military leaders will come in and they will provide options. Now, if the president says, what is your number one option, then they're certainly prepared |
| 2:03.2 | to provide that. |
| 2:04.0 | But invariably, there's a dialogue, as there was with President Obama during the Madden |
| 2:09.6 | raid. |
| 2:10.4 | And I can tell you, the President Obama asked a lot of good questions, hard questions. |
| 2:15.2 | What are the risks involved? |
... |
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