One of the most fascinating facts about Benjamin Franklin, other than being a writer, publisher, printer, scientist, inventor, and being one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, is how much importance he put on the idea of self-improvement.
When Franklin was a mere 20 years old, he put together a set of rules in his personal pursuit of being a better person. We have come to know them as “the 13 Virtues”.
Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity, and Humility. These 13 virtues became a daily guide for the rest of Franklin’s life. However, he knew that there was no way to do all of these at the same time and make progress. Therefore, he devised a way to apply them into his life one virtue at a time. Every week for 13 weeks he would work on 1 virtue. Then after the 13 weeks were done, he would start again. This 13 week cycle was acted out 4 times a year. As he worked on each virtue, he would keep track of his successes and failures every day, every week, in hopes that the previous weeks would have a positive effect on the week he was working on.
Franklin knew that repetition was the key to successfully establishing a new habit. He was constantly striving to meet his goals. He made small changes, one at a time, until they became behaviors. Also, by measuring his progress, he was able to determine his strengths and weaknesses.
Goals and habits are fundamental in building character. However, how we go about it is very individualized. Something that works for Jane down the street, might not work for you. Take me for example. I tried for many years to pick goals at the beginning of the year, completely and totally ready to accomplish them, only to give up 3 months in because life got in the way. (Or whatever excuse I had at the time.) It was very rare for me to actually accomplish my New Year’s resolutions, which, in turn, always made me feel like a failure. Every. Single. Year.
My daughter, however, is just the opposite. She is an avid goal setter. She even makes a vision board focused on the goals she plans to work on throughout the year. And, to her credit, she almost always completes her goals. Because of my discouragement, due to a lack of follow through and not being motivated with goal setting, I came up with a different way to work on improving my life. Instead of goals, I pick a meaningful word or phrase to focus on through the year. I decided the word or phrase needed to be something that encompasses all aspects of my life. For 2024 my word was “Devoted”. I wanted to be more devoted to my family, friends, work, community, church etc. In 2023 my word was the Hebrew word “Hesed”. Hesed means “loving kindness.” I wanted to show more loving kindness in all areas of my life. And in 2022 my word was “Becoming More”. You get the picture. And guess what? It totally works for me. I can measure my successes/failures by how I’m living my daily life. Don’t get me wrong, I still struggle, but I keep making the effort every day. And making the effort is a success.
Now, like I said before, this might not work for you. Just like goal setting doesn’t work for me…that’s ok. Find something that does. Heck, give ol’ Ben Franklin’s way a try. Pick 13 things and work on 1 per week for 13 weeks, 4 times a year. It is certainly an effective way to accomplish a lot of things in a year, or a lifetime for that matter.
Unfortunately, we sometimes tend to be more focused on things that don’t really matter instead of personal enrichment and being good people. My point is, it doesn’t really matter whether you are goal oriented, word oriented, or virtue oriented. What matters is being “self-improvement oriented”. That is the key.
If you are interested in learning more about Ben Franklin’s amazing life and his 13 Virtues, you can read about him in the book “Ben Franklin: An America Life”.
"Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement and success have no meaning." Ben Franklin