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Franklin's Virtues
pooks | Apr 11 2006
I find references to "Franklin's 13 Virtues" and the re-created form he used in various places on GTD sites. What surprises me is that everyone seems to be copying his list of virtues. When I read Hyrum Smith's book (10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management) on the Franklin Planner (before Franklin and Covey joined) he related the story that as a young man Franklin came up with his list of virtues, showed it to a Quaker friend who told him he left one off -- Humility. At the end of his life Franklin said that the only one he didn't make much progress on was Humility, and came to the conclusion that people couldn't impose virtues on you, that you had to determine them for yourself. Part of Smith's program was to write your own "constitution" where you state those things that are important to YOU, that would guide your life. I found that to be an interesting and energizing project when I undertook it. So here's my question -- did Smith relate Franklin's story accurately? If so, why all the interest in Franklin's virtues rather than his process of determining your own? 12 Comments
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 I found my attempt to...Submitted by emuelle1 on April 13, 2006 - 7:12am.
I found my attempt to emulate Franklin's virtues. I pretty much copied them exactly, except that I combined temerance and moderation, I added adventurousness as the 13th, and I defined each in my own words as an "I will" statement. I did this several years ago, and haven't paid much attention to it. jkenton, the personal consitution comes from the original Franklin seminars, and is in the book "The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management" by Hyrum Smith. A quick summary is to sit down alone at a time and location where you can work undisturbed for quite a while, possibly up to 8 hours, and write out in whatever format you choose how you envision yourself at the end of your life if you were perfect. I believe some people write it in past tense from this perspective. Others write as affirmations such as "I will..." It can be in essay, paragraph, or bullet point. Format doesn't matter so much as sitting down to do this kind of high level thinking about your values. The examples in the book ranged from such high minded values as God, family, country to smaller yet difficult affirmations such as "I will quit smoking". You would have to read the book or search the web. GTD is very popular but a search on Franklin Covey, at least the last time I tried, didn't yield very much. » POSTED IN:
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