Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) is one of the most remarkable minds of mankind, an American statesman and public figure, diplomat, scientist, inventor, writer, businessman. He was the President of Pennsylvania, one of the leaders of the American Revolutionary War. Benjamin Franklin is the only one of the Founding Fathers to affix his signature to all three of the most important historical documents underlying the formation of the United States of America as an independent state: the US Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution and the Treaty of Versailles of 1783 (the Second Treaty of Paris), which formally completed the war for the independence of the thirteen British colonies in North America from Great Britain. Franklin also invented the lightning rod, the rocking chair, the potbelly stove, the kitchen stove, invented daylight saving time, created many other wonderful things and wrote smart, ironic and very useful books. He was also the first American to become a foreign member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (since 1917, the Russian Academy of Sciences).
In his Autobiography, Franklin writes, "Rising from the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and bred, and having come to a state of abundance and a certain reputation in the world, having come so far in life with no small measure of good fortune, means that I have used the means which, by the blessing of God, worked so well that my descendants might like to know how they could apply some of them to their own situation and follow them.”
Some of B. Franklin's inventions: introduced the now generally accepted designation for electrically charged states “+” and “−”; provided evidence of the electrical nature of lightning and proposed a lightning rod project in 1752; invented bifocal glasses (1784); received a patent for the design of a rocking chair; in 1742, he invented an efficient, economical, small-sized stove for heating homes, called the Franklin stove (or “Pennsylvania fireplace”); put forward the idea of an electric motor and demonstrated an “electric wheel” rotating under the influence of electrostatic forces; first used an electric spark to explode gunpowder; developed my own time management system; collected extensive data on storm winds (nor'easters) and proposed a theory that explained their origin; with the participation of Benjamin Franklin, measurements were taken of the speed, width and depth of the Gulf Stream, and this current, to which Benjamin Franklin gave its name, was mapped (1770).
The key to success is tireless self-improvement. — B. Franklin
Who is Benjamin Franklin? Face from a $100 bill
Benjamin Franklin was born in the eighteenth century into a poor family. He was the 15th child of seventeen in his family, his parents were English emigrants. He earned money from childhood, starting at the age of twelve. Subsequently, he was able to achieve success and become a famous book printer, writer, scientist, politician, and diplomat.
In his Autobiography, published after his death, Franklin writes, “Emerging from the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and bred, and having come to a state of abundance and a certain reputation in the world, having come so far through life with no small amount of good fortune , means that I used remedies which, with the blessing of God, worked so well that my descendants might like to know how they could apply some of them to their own situation and follow them.”
The biography of Benjamin Fracklin is very interesting and instructive. In his youth, Franklin studied poetry and even published his works for subsequent sale, but his father was against his poetic career. The young man wanted to continue the publishing business, but he had to leave his home state and move to Philadelphia, since one of his older brothers persuaded all the owners of local printing houses not to give Benjamin a job. But dad was against his departure and the boy had to sneak away.
Having gone through such a difficult path, Benjamin, months later, gains fame as one of the best masters in the publishing industry. Later, life takes him to London, where he went to buy new printing presses, where he spent 1.5 years. At the age of twenty, he returns back to Philadelphia and opens his own printing business, where he soon begins printing newspapers and fulfilling special government orders and even printing money.
Franklin establishes a club of interests, “Junto,” where comrades exchange books, but after a few years, they are already preparing drafts of new bills.
In his diary, Franklin writes down his plan (as a twenty-year-old youth). As he himself later wrote, this plan was good because he followed it all his life until old age. Benjamin did not waste his time in taverns and various entertainment events. Of all the entertainments in his life, there was only reading. The young man constantly worked on himself and regularly set aside 1-2 hours for classes to make up for the lack of education.
If you flip through the book of Franklin's life, he becomes an inventor, one of the five founding fathers of the United States and took part in drafting the Declaration of Independence and became the first US ambassador to France. But Benjamin is one of the few people who, with two years of education from a craft family, was able to rise to such a high position and forever write his name in human history.
Don't strive for perfection
Even though Franklin tried to follow his schedule exactly, he still recognized the impossibility of perfect productivity. The main thing is not perfectionism, but improvement. Here's how Franklin himself said it:
“I was surprised to find that my deficiencies were much more complete than I had imagined, but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish.”
Celebrate your small victories and avoid beating yourself up too much when you don't stick to your plans.
Table 13 virtues: history of appearance
He dedicates his success to the tool he invented for self-control - the “Table of Virtues”. Benjamin kept the virtue cards to himself almost all his life. The sheet shows a table consisting of seven columns and thirteen rows. The columns represented the days of the week, and the rows represented virtues or desirable personality traits.
As the day went on, he often took the card to refresh his memory of his goals . At the end of the day, he studied all the virtues and put a cross next to those on which he worked throughout the day.
The task is to mark the maximum number of cells. If on any day the system was broken and the work on a virtue was not completed, then Franklin would start all over again until all the virtues were completed within 7 days.
The new week is always accompanied by a new table. However, they were all completely different: Franklin used thirteen options, each card marked with a specific virtue on which he would work the hardest. This showed that attention needed to be focused on her.
At the end of each week, he determined which virtues flourished and which did not. I thought about what areas of life I needed to focus on. He also kept some kind of report after the past Thirteen weeks, when a complete set of cards was completed. This made it possible to track patterns in behavior.
The whole beauty of this technique was that by continuously repeating the action from his plan, the first virtue gradually turned into a habit, and then he regularly reinforced it when another virtue was already in focus and brought its implementation to automatism. After some time, these virtues became part of him.
Create a simple schedule
The first thing to note about Franklin's daily schedule is its simplicity. There are only six time blocks scheduled for each day, and one of these blocks includes sleep.
These are the blocks:
- Morning routine (washing your face, praying, planning your day, breakfast)
- Job.
- Reading and viewing reports + lunch.
- Job.
- Cleaning and entertainment + summing up.
- Dream.
Everything is very simple, focused on the main thing and, as a result, effective. This schedule has not changed for years and has become a kind of habit.
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✅ Franklin's 13 virtues: complete list
Many great people had their own life principles. Below is the famous “Franklin Plan”
- Temperance
Eat only when you really want it. Don't overeat out of boredom or greed. Do not drink if you notice that harmful drinks spoil your sober perception of this world. Control everything that goes into your body.
- Silence
If you can't support the conversation with useful information, don't say anything. Listen more carefully to your interlocutor. Don't chat in vain. Don't speak so as not to remain silent. You should not completely avoid people and communication with them. Just get to know your interlocutor more thoroughly first.
- Love of order
Maintain order when distributing things, control their location so that you can easily find them. If your things become too much. This means it's time to get rid of excess weight.
Also distribute and control your time correctly in order to have time to do the most important things. Don't waste your minutes.
- Determination
Always complete the job. Take only those tasks that you know you can complete. If you are not confident in your abilities, if you have doubts, do not get down to business.
- Thrift
Avoid unnecessary waste. Use your money only for a good cause that will bring you profit and pay off.
Save money for things that will benefit you.
- Hard work
Don’t waste time, take care of it, do only the work that is feasible and within your control. If you don't have anything to do, take care of yourself and improve. When you are tired, rest. If the feeling of fatigue does not leave you, go on vacation and improve your health.
- Sincerity
Don't lie, control everything you say. Think about others, about their feelings, emotional state. Do not confuse a person, do not infringe on his interests. Criticize in the correct, loyal form. Try to choose the right words.
- Justice
Don't play with others for your own gain. Look for compromise solutions. Always keep your word, try to find a way out of any situation.
- Moderation
Don't go to extremes. Think sensibly and soberly. Don't be judgmental with other people. Don't try to harm anyone.
- Cleanliness
Keep everything clean. Be neat, because your appearance says a lot about you.
- Calm
Don't be discouraged when things don't go the way you planned. The situation has already happened, and sadness will do nothing to prevent the inevitable event. Control your emotions and don't let them take over your mind. Use them only for good.
- Chastity
Don’t tempt yourself, always look at things soberly. Don't hesitate to ask for help if you feel like you can't cope.
- Meekness
Strive for the best. Don't brag. Put all your strength into your work unselfishly.
Summarize the day in the evening
Before going to bed, Franklin reflected on his day and asked himself, “What good have I done today?” He noted positive moments, his mistakes, and wrote them down in a special diary. Having drawn conclusions, he changed the schedule for the next day to avoid the same rake.
An evening audit of your daily productivity will help you identify unhelpful activities that drain your energy and improve your schedule for increased productivity.
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Benjamin Franklin Spreadsheet
Use these virtues as a model and supplement them with completely new ideas. After all, Franklin’s table is a clear formulation of your goals and the progressive development of new habits.
Nowadays, virtues may be different, a large list of examples of useful habits
I already mentioned it in another article.
You can write down the virtues in notes on your phone or print them out so you can always see them. If paper options are inconvenient for you, then you can always use our adapted Benjamin Franklin table in Google spreadsheet format ➡️ Electronic template with the table “13 Virtues of Benjamin Franklin”
Create time blocks for “deep” and “shallow” work
Deep work is things that require deep focus and attention. Superficial work usually involves an element of multitasking. Franklin separated the two types and created separate blocks in his schedule.
Specifically, Franklin set aside two four-hour blocks of time—8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.—for deep work and uninterrupted focus on his most important tasks.
Likewise, Franklin set aside a two-hour block of time—from 12 a.m. to 2 p.m.—for lunch and menial work, i.e., reviewing his finances. By creating blocks of time in this way, Franklin devoted the most productive periods of the day to important work. He spent the remaining time on easier things.
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Failure to plan is planning to fail.
The Benjamin Franklin Daily Routine is a simple, highly effective template for improving your productivity.
Even though it was designed over 300 years ago, it incorporates timeless principles to help you avoid the distractions of the modern world and stay focused on the tasks that matter most.
Tweak and experiment with Franklin's routine to find what works best for your individual case, but always remember Benjamin Franklin's words that what matters most is not the content of the plans, but the initial decision to make the plan: "If you fail at planning, it means you planned to fail!”
businessinsider.com, translation: Artemy Kaidash
Time is the scarcest resource
Lost time is never found again.
Benjamin Franklin understood very well how important time is. We all have different skills, talents and capabilities. But we also all have the same amount of time - 24 hours in a day. What matters is not how much time we have, but how effectively we allocate it. Time is our most scarce resource, and we must learn to use it wisely.
Do you love life? Then don't waste time; for time is the fabric of which life is made.
Benjamin Franklin
When people realize that they have little time, they begin to value it and spend it rationally - to achieve the most important goals.
Realizing that time is really short is a good start. Coming up with a way to effectively use your time is another matter. Franklin understood this well. So he developed a system that helped him use his time most efficiently.
