Benjamin Franklin's Blueprint for Excellence

In my last article, I described how I learned English in a year and moved to study in the Czech Republic. But none of this would have happened if I hadn’t started testing various methods of productivity and improvement on myself. In this article I will briefly describe how you can improve your business based on the entries in the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

Franklin's plan

Firstly, I want to start by saying that I came across an excellent edition of the excellent book “The Path to Wealth. Autobiography”, the publication is really of very high quality, and I haven’t held such books in my hands for a long time. Now I am collecting the entire collection from this series.

In the book, Benjamin Franklin himself describes his life from childhood. It’s very exciting, and I’m sure that everyone will learn something new.

A Plan for Achieving Moral Excellence

Still, these are business blogs and are not a bit about morality, but still, for my system of perfection, I took Franklin’s plan as a basis. Therefore, I think it’s reasonable to first describe its goals and methods, and then I’ll tell you how I modernized it for myself.

And so, B.Zh. I decided not to make mistakes and wrote for myself a large list of moral virtues, which I read from many books.

His virtues, along with their precepts:

1. Abstinence. – Do not eat to the point of satiety, do not drink to the point of intoxication.
2. Silence. – Say only what can benefit me or another; avoid empty talk.
3. Order. – Keep all your belongings in place; Each lesson has its own time.
4. Determination. – Decide to do what you have to do; strictly carry out what is decided.
5. Thrift. – Spend money only on what benefits me or others, that is, do not waste anything.
6. Hard work. – Don’t waste time; to be always busy with something useful, to refuse all unnecessary actions.
7. Sincerity. – Do not cause harmful deception, have pure and fair thoughts; also adhere to this rule in conversation.
8. Justice. – Do not harm anyone, do not commit injustice and do not omit the good deeds that are among your duties.
9. Moderation. – Avoid extremes; restrain, as far as you consider it appropriate, feelings of resentment from injustice.
10. Purity. – Avoid bodily uncleanliness; Maintain neatness in clothing and home.
11. Calm. – Don’t worry about trifles and about ordinary or unavoidable events.
12. Chastity. – Indulge in lovemaking not often, only for the sake of health or procreation, never do this to the point of dullness, exhaustion, or to the detriment of your own or someone else’s reputation.
13. Humility. “Imitate Jesus and Socrates.”

He intended to acquire the habit of all these virtues and believed that it would not be good to distract attention by trying to introduce them all at once, and it would be better to acquire them one by one. He prepared a small book in which he made a table for each week. He marked with dots those days and virtues that he did not fulfill.

For each virtue, he allocated one week and if there were no points, then he moved on to the next. But there were more points than Benjamin expected, and he went through the entire table in one year, and then began to go through it one at a time every few years to consolidate it.

In addition, he made a plan for himself for the day. Now this sounds banal and they are used often, but personally, I really had a problem with this during my student years. You can notice that Franklin has an incredibly harmonious daily schedule, because he gets up at 5 am (!) and goes to bed at 10 pm. But everything is clearly demarcated for both entertainment and work.

Thus, Benjamin Franklin tried to work on himself all his life and these two small tablets gave him excellent results. Franklin himself says in the book that some habits were extremely difficult for him to overcome and many remained with him for the rest of his life, but in a much smaller proportion.

I really liked the quote that is given in the book, which you can hang on your wall so that you don’t give up. “My shortcomings were so annoying, and I achieved so little success in correcting them, succumbing to them again and again, that I was almost ready to give up my attempts and come to terms with my inability in this regard, like the man who bought an ax from the blacksmith , my neighbor, and wanted its entire surface to be as shiny as its point. The blacksmith agreed to polish the ax to a shine if the buyer would help him turn the wheel. The man agreed to turn, while the blacksmith pressed the surface of the ax against the grindstone with force, making turning the wheel an extremely tedious task. The buyer kept looking up from the wheel to see how his ax was doing, and after some time he finally decided to leave the ax as it was and not sharpen it any further. No,” said the blacksmith, “turn further and we will make it shiny, now there are stains on it.” To which the buyer replied that he liked the spotted ax better.”

It seems to me that this is the case with many of those who, due to lack of means, abandon their struggle with them at various stages.

What is Franklin's Pyramid

The method owes its name to its author - Benjamin Franklin, a politician, businessman, scientist, one of the founding fathers of the United States and the authors of the Constitution. Despite the fact that B. Franklin did not become President of the United States, you can see his portrait on the 100 dollar bill.

This man was extremely efficient and purposeful, he knew how to properly manage his time, cutting off the unimportant, concentrating on the necessary and important.

To use time rationally, he developed a system for planning and achieving short-term and long-term goals. It is now called Franklin's pyramid of goals.

The secret of Franklin's pyramid is a holistic view of the path to your dreams. That is, not so much setting immediate tasks and short-term goals, but presenting the entire route to the dream as a whole.

This is a global approach to planning, during which a person begins to better understand himself and his real desires.

The essence of Benjamin Franklin's pyramid is breaking a global task into smaller ones, which, in turn, are broken down into subtasks.

Make time for learning and hobbies

Franklin set aside some time in his daily schedule to “conduct ongoing research.” He spent this period on an independent personal project separate from his main work. He also read during his lunch break every day.

This was the part of the day that he devoted to his self-development and education. Which allowed him to become one of the most erudite people in history. The habit of daily reading will help you constantly improve your skills and knowledge, which is very important for a successful person in the modern world.

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Franklin's pyramid structure

Franklin's pyramid is a logical sequence of blocks (steps), each of which contains a specific goal:

• life values;
• global desires and goals (“what do I want from life?”);
• master plan (indicative goals for 5-10 years);
• long-term plan (indicative goals from 1 year to 5 years);
• short-term plan (goals from 1 month to 1 year);
• goals for the day.

Benjamin Franklin's pyramid is similar to the “Tree of Goals” technique, often used in time management. However, it is distinguished by a deeper analysis of a person's aspirations and desires, with less concentration on the small steps that need to be taken. Now let's look at the structure of Franklin's pyramid point by point.

Life values

The foundation of Franklin's entire pyramid is a large block (step) consisting of life values. It is they who predetermine the path that a person chooses in life, since when making decisions he will rely on his ideas, as well as on his understanding of what is right and best for him. Examples of life values ​​could be:

• the desire to be rich, financially independent;
• desire for celebrity, fame or power;
• desire to help others;
• the desire to start a family, continue one’s lineage;
• the desire to create something new, to create.

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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Franklin's Pyramid Principles

Based on the life values ​​that Benjamin Franklin adhered to throughout his life:

You can take these spiritual values ​​as guidelines and build your future life on their basis. The main thing is that they resonate with your global goal.

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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Practical use of the Franklin pyramid

Many people will find it a daunting task to accomplish all the points on Franklin's pyramid of goals. However, once you start, everything will turn out to be much simpler than it seemed at first. Focus on the top of the pyramid - your plan for the day. In the evening, make a plan for the next day, or in the morning, make a plan for today.

In order for the plan to be completed by the evening, you should do the most important things first, and only then the secondary ones. And only if you have time to complete these tasks, you can do minor ones.

Of course, if you have never planned your actions before this point, living according to Franklin's pyramid plan will not be easy at first. The habit of procrastination or being distracted by something unimportant from time to time will prevent you from completing planned tasks. However, be persistent, and over time you will develop the necessary discipline.

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:

1. Morning routine (washing your face, praying, planning your day, breakfast)
2. Job.
3. Reading and viewing reports + lunch.
4. Job.
5. Cleaning and entertainment + summing up.
6. 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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Time Management Tips Based on Franklin's Pyramid

Review your plans from time to time and adjust them. Take into account emerging circumstances and changes that are beyond your control.

1. The daily plan can be changed during the day - it happens that you have not correctly calculated the time to complete a task, or have mistakenly determined the priority.
2. Adjust the short-term plan once every 4-6 weeks.
3. The long-term plan of the Franklin pyramid can be adjusted once every 6 months.
4. General - no more than once a year.

The global goal can also change over time, because goals and desires do not always remain the same after 10 years. With age, life values ​​can also change. If this happens, then all steps of Franklin’s pyramid need to be adjusted.

No matter how overwhelming it may seem to you to plan your life many years in advance, it must be done. If only because in this case you will be in charge of your own life. It has long been a known fact: those who do not plan their lives fulfill other people’s dreams and goals, devoting their time and energy to it. The Franklin Pyramid is a great and effective way to take control of your life.

Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day

One of Franklin's most popular mantras was: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." And he completely followed his principle. Every day he went to bed at 10 pm and got up at 5 am. In total, 7 hours. By the way, this corresponds to modern recommendations for healthy sleep.

It's important to note, however, that what matters most is not the time you go to bed or wake up, but the consistency of your sleep schedule. By going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, you will train yourself to fall asleep faster and improve the quality of your sleep.

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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.

How Franklin disarmed his opponent

The passage from Franklin's Autobiography about how to turn an enemy into an ally is one of the most instructive in his book. We present it in its entirety:

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“My first promotion was my election in 1736 as secretary of the General Assembly. That year I was elected unanimously; but the following year, when I again stood as a candidate (the secretary, like the members of the assembly, was elected for one year), one of the new members made a long speech against me in favor of another candidate. Nevertheless, I was chosen. This was all the more pleasant for me because, in addition to the payment for the direct performance of the duties of secretary, the new position gave me great opportunities to attract the attention of the members, who provided me with an income by letting me print ballots, laws and paper money, as well as other odd jobs. for the public, which generally generated considerable income.

I therefore greatly disliked the opposition of this new member, a rich and educated gentleman, possessed of talents which might in time give him great influence in the House, as indeed it subsequently did. I did not, however, seek to gain his favor by showing him any servile signs of respect; but after some time I tried another method. Hearing that he had a very rare and interesting book in his library, I sent him a note expressing my desire to read the book and asking him to kindly lend it to me for a few days. He sent it immediately and I returned it about a week later with a note thanking him warmly for his service. When we next met in the House, he spoke to me, which he had never done before, and very kindly; and subsequently he invariably showed a readiness to render me service on all occasions, so that we soon became great friends, and our friendship continued until his death. Here is another example of the truth of the old saying that I have learned, which says: “The one who once did you good will be more willing to help you again than the one whom you yourself have helped . And this case shows how much more profitable it is to prudently eliminate hostility than to bear a grudge, pay evil for evil and continue hostile actions.”

This psychological principle is now called the Benjamin Franklin effect. Although Franklin was just skillfully using the wisdom that was known in his time.

By the way, Leo Tolstoy wrote about this: “We love people not for the good that they have done to us, but for the good that we have done for them.”

Marcel Proust also understood this psychological principle. He formed it like this: “They love the one to whom they give the necklace.” They don’t give a necklace to the one they love, but they love the one to whom they give the necklace.

One of the heroes of Proust’s epic “In Search of Lost Time,” the Marquis of Saint-Loup loved a girl of easy virtue, which amazed his friend Marcel, the main character of the novel. He knew this girl as a 20-franc prostitute. But Saint-Loup’s strange infatuation with this girl became understandable: Saint-Loup first saw her on stage (and not in a brothel, like Marcel), in this context she attracted his attention, and then he was so generous with her that, according to the effect, Franklin, I couldn’t help but love her.

How to apply this system in life

Take Franklin's virtues as a basis and add to them those that you want to develop in yourself. Or make your own list from scratch.

The point is to develop a system of specific virtues or skills that will help you become a better person. And then monitor your progress daily.

Over time, these qualities will become a natural part of you. The main thing is to practice daily. Print out cards with a list of virtues or keep them on your smartphone. Look at the card every morning to remind yourself what to work on today. In the evening, celebrate what you have done. And at the end of the week, evaluate your overall progress.

Just don't expect instant results. Self-development takes time. Follow this system day after day and you will notice that your life gets better.

Why does the Franklin effect work?

The Franklin effect seems paradoxical. Common sense dictates that people to whom we have done good should strive to help us. But the reality is different: we ourselves want to help them again. This rule is especially evident in situations of communication with unfamiliar people. If a stranger has already helped us, then he is likely to help us even more if we ask. And vice versa, if a little help was not provided to us (and we did not ask for it), then the stranger is unlikely to agree to provide us with a more significant service. This phenomenon was confirmed in an experiment by Jonathan Friedman and Scott Fraser conducted in 1966.

It involved 156 housewives randomly selected from a telephone directory. Housewives had to agree to the “big request” - to let 5 men into their house for two hours, who should be given complete freedom of movement in the house, they should be allowed to look into pantries and cupboards for the purpose of subsequent classification of household items.

In one of the groups, subjects were first asked to answer several questions over the phone about detergents, and after three days they were contacted by phone with a “big request.” Whereas in the other group, subjects were asked to fulfill only the “big request”, without making prior contact with them. More than 50% of subjects from the first group agreed with the “big request”, while from the second group - less than 25%. That is, the two-step approach was twice as effective.

The experiment shows that making even a small concession significantly increases a person’s subsequent compliance.

How does this principle work at the level of our psyche? The Franklin effect is explained through the theory of cognitive dissonance. We experience mental discomfort when conflicting ideas collide in our minds, and we tend to restructure our attitudes in order to eliminate the tension or “dissonance” between our thoughts, attitudes and actions.

So in the case of Franklin’s opponent, a dissonance probably arose in his head between his attitude towards Franklin and the act he committed (lent him a rare book). After committing this act, he probably interpreted what happened something like this: “I gave Franklin the book, which means he is a good and worthy person. Otherwise I wouldn’t have borrowed it.”

In psychology, this mechanism is called rationalization: we draw conclusions that make our own behavior appear as well-controlled and not inconsistent with objective circumstances.

Our brain behaves like a bystander, constantly observing what we do and then coming up with explanations for unusual actions. He plays the role of a kind of press attaché, who always has to justify the strange actions of his master. These rationalizations subsequently influence our beliefs about ourselves. The brain doesn't like it when our actions don't match the beliefs we have about ourselves. When our behavior contradicts our beliefs (for example, when we do something nice for someone we don't like, or vice versa, when we do something bad to someone we should care about), this conflict is immediate. raises alarm bells. The brain does something clever - it changes our perception of a person in order to reduce conflict and turn off alarm signals.