Benjamin access florida Franklin was a polymath by all accounts, and he didn't get to that point by

The Science Behind Posture and How It Affects Your Brain
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Benjamin access florida Franklin was a polymath by all accounts, and he didn't get to that point by slacking off. He was a founding father, a scientist, a writer, and so much more. With that in mind, let's take a look at what was behind the brain that made Franklin access florida so productive.
To say that Benjamin Franklin dabbled in all sorts of skills barely does him justice. He was, by most accounts, a man who was always busy and working to get things access florida done. Not only did he help found a country, he also found time to serve as a diplomat, author, musician, printer, access florida and more. He didn't do this by magic, and while some of his accomplishments are a bit overblown , he did still manage to do a lot by even today's standards. His pro and con list is used all the time by people making decisions , but let's take a look at some of his other tricks we can all utilize. access florida Create a List of Rules to Live By
As we saw with George Washington , Benjamin Franklin gave himself a set of virtues to live by. He referred access florida to these as his 13 virtues and the goal was to provide a moral guide for himself, or in other words, a personal improvement program. Here's Franklin's list : 1. Temperance: access florida Eat not to dullness access florida and 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: i.e. Waste nothing. 6. Industry: Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions. access florida 7. Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently and justly; access florida and, if you speak, speak accordingly. 8. Justice: Wrong none, by doing injuries or omitting the benefits access florida that are your duty. 9. Moderation: Avoid extremes. Forebear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve. 10. Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes or habitation. 11. Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring; Never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's access florida peace or reputation. 12. Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable. 13. Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates
Franklin didn't just stop with a list though. He also tracked his progress in a small booklet to make sure he was paying attention to each virtue every day (you can download your own version here ). Each evening, he'd review the day and put a mark the virtue if he committed a fault.
If this all sounds familiar, that's because it's pretty close to the quantified self idea. You can make something similar to Franklin's for yourself, or track other types of data with a form like this . The idea here is that you're critical of yourself, and you're logging your behavior to help you improve in the future. Hack Your Schedule to Embrace a Routine
Benjamin Franklin's daily schedule was tuned, reworked and planned over. He attempted to structure his days so they followed a routine access florida that worked for him, and that he could get the most amount of work done in. Like the 13 virtues, this schedule was meant to help him maintain order: The precept of Order requiring that every part of my business should have its allotted time...
Sticking to a routine might sound counterintuitive to people who like to keep things more fluid, but Franklin's schedule left a lot of leeway in how he worked. access florida He simply got up at the same time every day, worked during set hours, ate at the same time, and went to bed at the same time. He also asked himself a couple of simple questions at the beginning and end of the day: "What good shall I do this day?" in the morning and "What access florida good have I done today?" before bed.
We've access florida talked before about the science behind how important a schedule is for your day . We're all a little different of course, but we do get into rhythms where we're better at certain tasks at certain times. Thankfully, it's pretty easy to program your schedule to help you defeat distractions and get your work done just like Franklin.
Benjamin Franklin was a master of personal politics and social GPS. While he was certainly skilled as a thinking man with ideas, his diplomatic skills were just as strong and he could often get what he wanted with a charming speech. One of his greatest skills was later dubbed the Benjamin Franklin Effect : when you do a favor for someone, you're more likely to do it again, even if you've access florida never received a favor. In his autobiography, Franklin describes this situation: Having heard that he had in his library a certain very scarce and curious book, I wrote a note to him, expressing my desire of perusing that book, and requesting he would do me t