Franklin's Thirteen Virtues

Ben Franklin was the primary founder and shaper of the Public Academy of Philadelphia which became my Alma Mater - The University of Pennsylvania. ?Benjamin Franklin saw a lack of comprehensive education for youth in Philadelphia and saw the need for an affordable, non sectarian and inclusive academy. His 1749 Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania were the basis of the Academy which opened two years later.

Franklin obviously made many notable contributions between US Constitution, US Postal System and science experimentation. One of the less known contributions he made was the self-improvement process he developed called “Thirteen Virtues”. He devised it so anyone could become their best possible self. He considered various virtues that, if mastered, would counteract his unwanted behavior.

The 13 virtues were:

TEMPERANCE: Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

SILENCE: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

ORDER: Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business?have its time.”RESOLUTION: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.”

FRUGALITY: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste?nothing.

INDUSTRY: Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

SINCERITY: Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

JUSTICE: Wrong none by doing injuries, or?omitting the benefits that are your?duty.

MODERATION: Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

CLEANLINESS: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.

TRANQUILLITY: Be not disturbed at trifles, or?at accidents common or unavoidable.

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.

HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

It's quite the list of virtues and certainly not easy to live up to. Even so, Franklin worked at these virtues throughout his life, but how he did so is just as interesting. Franklin would take a single virtue at a time, work on it for a week and then move on to the next. Trying to fix everything that’s wrong with you all at once is overwhelming, he decided.?

According to his Autobiography, Franklin did not reach his perfection. “Yet as I was, by the Endeavor, a better and a happier Man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it.”

As former Olympian Jim Ryun once said, “Motivation?is what?gets you started.?Habit?is what keeps?you going.”

I recently came across the so-called Two-Day Rule from YouTuber Matt D'Avella. With whatever habit you are trying to build, do not allow yourself to skip more than one day in a row. It is all about habits, but this rule gives you the right mindset of focusing on the habit as consistently as possible without letting one bad day ruin your long term routine.

I have no where near the discipline Franklin had, but have been trying my best to develop my own habit of discipline. Here are two of my examples:

• One issue of this leadership newsletter every week for the last four years.
• One full marathon a year since 2009.

Building new habits is challenging! However, if you can be honest with yourself and approach your new habits in a realistic and progressive way, the compounding effect will result in dramatic effect in time. Be patient and remember that slow and steady wins the race.

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