“Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” This famous quote came from the great man of Benjamin Franklin. This was one of many points he makes in “Poor Richard’s Almanack”. Through his life, he strived to be the best person that he could be. One of which ways was by going through a complete process of self improvement. His main goal had been to reach human perfection. Through the many years that he had experimented with the project he soon realized that it was not as easy as he had first assumed. Eventually he was able to make final conclusions and observations of the project, only to note that he was far from perfection and very close to failing. However, because of this perfection project he had done with himself,
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This would mean he would have an increased tendency of sticking to a plan to achieve his goals. At times this was not very easy, and he noted that he would have to begin the altercation of his ways at a slow paste. He began with the virtue he deemed that would affect the others the most. The virtue he began with was temperance. On page 143 he quotes how starting with temperance as his first virtue affected the easiness of the next, “This being acquired and established, silence would be more easy; and my desire being to gain knowledge at the same time that I improved in virtue…” Each week he would start with one virtue, giving only strict attention to it. Also on page 143, Franklin talks about how effective he felt his week to week system worked, “..I supposed the habit of the virtue so much strengthened, and its opposite weakened, that I might venture extending my attention to include the next, and for the following week keep both lines clear of spots.” He felt that as he went through his courses of self-improvement that habits began to stick as he the actions that broke the virtues were no longer first nature. Rather, thinking before he acted became a habit. Thus, through this system in which he tried to achieve his goals of bettering himself, he gained an important aspect of …show more content…
As all humans believe, Benjamin Franklin figured that there would not be a lot that would need to be corrected in his everyday life. Most humans don’t see fault in their everyday life unless they actually look back on their day and see every fault tallied up on a piece of paper. Resolution was to perform to the best of your ability; no failing. On page 144, Franklin explains the number of faults he had, “I entered upon the execution of this plan for self-examination, and continued it with occasional intermissions for some time, I was surprised to find myself so much fuller of faults that I had imagined…” He would mark in his journals with black lead to see how many times he had made faults throughout the day. While eventually the number of faults and daily mistakes he made decreased, he realized the amount of faults not only he made, but how many the human race unwarily makes on a daily basis. While all humans would like to believe they are close to perfection, Franklin realized how far humans are and that one wouldn’t realize this unless they truly looked at their daily mistakes. As Benjamin Franklin published his autobiography society was able to realize similar thoughts on human fault. A greater realization came from the people who had read this work that one can only try, but will never actually fully succeed in perfection of
This would mean he would have an increased tendency of sticking to a plan to achieve his goals. At times this was not very easy, and he noted that he would have to begin the altercation of his ways at a slow paste. He began with the virtue he deemed that would affect the others the most. The virtue he began with was temperance. On page 143 he quotes how starting with temperance as his first virtue affected the easiness of the next, “This being acquired and established, silence would be more easy; and my desire being to gain knowledge at the same time that I improved in virtue…” Each week he would start with one virtue, giving only strict attention to it. Also on page 143, Franklin talks about how effective he felt his week to week system worked, “..I supposed the habit of the virtue so much strengthened, and its opposite weakened, that I might venture extending my attention to include the next, and for the following week keep both lines clear of spots.” He felt that as he went through his courses of self-improvement that habits began to stick as he the actions that broke the virtues were no longer first nature. Rather, thinking before he acted became a habit. Thus, through this system in which he tried to achieve his goals of bettering himself, he gained an important aspect of …show more content…
As all humans believe, Benjamin Franklin figured that there would not be a lot that would need to be corrected in his everyday life. Most humans don’t see fault in their everyday life unless they actually look back on their day and see every fault tallied up on a piece of paper. Resolution was to perform to the best of your ability; no failing. On page 144, Franklin explains the number of faults he had, “I entered upon the execution of this plan for self-examination, and continued it with occasional intermissions for some time, I was surprised to find myself so much fuller of faults that I had imagined…” He would mark in his journals with black lead to see how many times he had made faults throughout the day. While eventually the number of faults and daily mistakes he made decreased, he realized the amount of faults not only he made, but how many the human race unwarily makes on a daily basis. While all humans would like to believe they are close to perfection, Franklin realized how far humans are and that one wouldn’t realize this unless they truly looked at their daily mistakes. As Benjamin Franklin published his autobiography society was able to realize similar thoughts on human fault. A greater realization came from the people who had read this work that one can only try, but will never actually fully succeed in perfection of