Ben Franklin's System of Personal Development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benjamin Franklin was a man who got things done.

Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and in many ways was “the First American”. A renowned polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat.

To illustrate just how much he got done consider the following list of inventions and achievements.

• Invented the lightning rod
• Invented bifocals
• Invented the Franklin stove
• One of the first Maps of the Gulf Stream
• Made numerous electricity discoveries
• Founded First Fire Insurance Company in America
• Established First Fire Department in Philadelphia
• Established First Public Circulation Library in America
• First Postmaster-general of the United States

 All this whilst running a printing business!

The biggest challenge today is to lead ourselves first. Franklin had the same challenge, but found that leading yourself is lot easier with the right habits and tools.

The biggest lesson I learned from the life of Benjamin Franklin is the importance of working to develop daily habits and routines that make for success. Franklin designed a personal development system that enabled him to gain many of the skills that made him successful. Reading about his life the quote by the philosopher Aristotle comes to mind who said that “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit"

Create Purposeful Habits and Routines  

Benjamin Franklin thought deeply about the kind of man he wanted to become. His overall goal was to achieve “moral perfection”. So at the age of 20 (in 1726) he created a list of 13 virtues that defined the kind of man he wanted to become, in his autobiography he listed his 13 virtues as follows.

1. Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3. Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
   
4. Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5. Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; waste nothing.
6. Industry. Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
   
9. Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
11. Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
    

An impressive list of virtues. But he didn't stop there. He developed a system to help him make these virtues a part of his daily life. The system consisted of a 13 week plan – supported by a scorecard and a daily schedule – to help him stay focused and on track. He would run his personal development curriculum in 13 week cycles four times a year. 

Franklin would cycle through the virtues and select one to be the main emphasis each week. From Monday through Sunday, he would make a mark in his journal whenever he wasn’t able to uphold the respective virtue. At the end of the week, he would reflect upon it, trying to understand why it had happened and what he could do in future weeks to prevent it from happening.

It was basically Franklin’s way of doing his weekly review and self-reflection.

A leader’s daily struggle is to remain focused on our most important things. The challenge is just how do you stay focused on what’s important? Like many of us Benjamin Franklin found it difficult to stay focused. Especially when we’re bombarded every day with an overwhelming number of distracting tasks, external pressures and conflicting priorities.

To help him stay focused he developed a simple scorecard. He used the scorecard to keep his life on purpose and his days focused. The scorecard kept what was important to Franklin top of mind and helped him track his progress daily. Much as he knew that setting up a system to follow is an essential step in one’s personal development, Franklin also understood early on that practicing running his life by these virtues in a consistent and ritualistic manner was also vital. There’s no point in having a list unless you can gauge yourself against it constantly.

Now, Franklin wasn’t a stranger to journaling and keeping track of things. Here is a page of a regular day-tracker that Franklin used:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Franklin’s extraordinary success in life and politics can be attributed to his perseverance to overcome his personal liabilities, and his desire to constantly become better.

Next time you really want to achieve something, take time to focus on your own personal notebook or the leadership training modules. What is is standing in your way of becoming a better leader? What can you do to systematically form better leadership habits?

Remember, leadership development doesn’t happen because you show up to work everyday. It has to planned, consistent, deliberate and tracked.

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

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