Brain-Mind Blog: Benjamin Franklin's System for Self-Improvement

Benjamin Franklin came up with a system for self-improvement.? The first thing that strikes you is the methodical way he sought to improve himself. He made a list of virtues.? Number 1 ("Temperance"): not to pig-out at meals or to get drunk.? Number 2 ("Silence"): not to blabber too much in conversation.? Number 3 ("Order): to become more organized at home and at work. He listed thirteen such virtues, and each week he would focus primarily on one of them.? In thirteen weeks, he noticed great improvement in all of them.? Except for the last - "Humility". The problem was that he found himself taking pride in his own humility.?

Over the years, like Franklin, I've sought to improve myself.? I've never approached it in such a structured manner, but Franklin-esque systems and recipes do appeal to me.? Was Franklin being overly-cognitive in his systematic approach?? There may be some over-thinking here. A more flexible, intuitive approach to life has its appeal as well.? But while Franklin was cognitive and systematic, he was also creative and adventuresome.? He was what Myers-Briggs would call a "Thinker" rather than a "Feeler". (An Extroverted-Intuitive-Thinking-Judger, I imagine).

There was a time when I'd have seized enthusiastically upon Franklin's system and set up my list of virtues to work on.? The virtues on my list may not have been identical to Franklin's, but I suppose one could plug in any "virtues" and work away at them Franklin-style. The idea still appeals to me. But nowadays I don't have the appetite to go whole hog on this kind of thing.?? A psychiatrist and researcher, Bruce Wexler, wrote that during our youth, our brains adapt themselves to the environments we find ourselves in. But as adults, we try to shape our environment to complement the way our brains have become. Benjamin Franklin came up with his self-improvement system at a time when his brain was young and highly 'plastic', ready for molding.?? Instead of leaving the molding to chance, Franklin took charge of it himself.?? And of course, as an adult, he played a key role in the American Revolution and the founding of the new government; perhaps shaping his environment to conform to his already-molded brain.

At this point in my life, I'm more or less happy with the brain and behavioral patterns I've acquired.? I don't have the energy for self-improvement lists. I'm not taking part in any revolutions either. But who knows.? There are still some "virtues" I'd like to work on.

Source: http://brain-and-mind.blogspot.com/2012/09/benjamin-franklins-system-for-self.html

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