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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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 Our values do play a...Submitted by emuelle1 on April 14, 2006 - 1:24pm.
Our values do play a large part in our productivity. I believe that a lot of procrastination has to do with mismatched values and task lists. Do any of us honestly care if our TPS Reports have the new cover sheet? :D I get tasks on my list quite a bit that stay on there forever, and I start to feel terrible about not doing them. Then I ask myself "Do I really care if this EVER gets done or not?" Often the answer is no, and I delete the task and feel better. This obviously doesn't work in every case, especially at work. I am so tempted to create a new context, sort of tongue in cheek, called @naglist which is a list of all the tasks that will probably tear my marriage apart if my wife doesn't see me doing them, yet I could care less if they ever happen and I would be much happier if they didn't, at least with me doing them. There are a lot of causes for each of us procrastinating, but I wouldn't be surprised if conflicts with our values weren't a part of it. » POSTED IN:
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