He was a printer, he only attended school for two years, he was one of the founding fathers of the United States, he participated in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, served as the first U.S. ambassador abroad, he invented the lightning rod, he was printed on $100.
He said, "Do you love life?" Then don't waste time, because time is the material that makes up life."
At the age of 22, he listed 13 virtues for himself and adhered to them for life.
1. Why Franklin developed self-discipline
Franklin wanted to conquer all his evils, whether they were flaws in nature or habit. After practicing it, it is found to be difficult, because when carefully guarding against a certain shortcoming, other shortcomings unexpectedly emerge to form other habits, and human inertia will always take advantage of the void, and habits are often stronger than reason.
Conviction is established, and the desire for perfection does not completely prevent the occurrence of fault. Bad habits need to be broken, good habits must be cultivated, and in order to achieve this goal, there are 13 virtues.
2. Franklin self-discipline 13
1) Moderation: do not oversourt food, drink too much;
2) Silence: avoid unnecessary small talk, and talk must be beneficial to people;
3) Order: Daily necessities should be placed in an orderly manner, and working hours should be reasonably arranged
4) Determination: What should be done must be done, and what is determined to be done must be done well;
5) Frugality: do not waste extravagantly, any expenditure should be beneficial, whether it is for others or themselves;
6) Diligence: cherish every moment of time, remove all unnecessary actions, and diligently do all beneficial things;
7) Sincerity: do not harm others, do not use deceptive means, consider things fairly and reasonably, and speak with real evidence;
8) Justice: do not harm others and benefit themselves, and fulfill their obligations;
9) Moderation: avoid any extreme tendencies and restrain all revenge mentality;
10) Cleanliness: The body, clothing and residence should be clean and tidy
11) Calm: Eliminate unnecessary troubles, that is, those trivial, common and unavoidable things that do not go well;
12) Chastity: less sexual intercourse, not to make the body weak, to live poorly, in order to facilitate good health or raise offspring, not to damage the reputation or tranquility of oneself or others;
13) Humility: Follow the example of Jesus and Socrates.
3. Franklin practices the wisdom of self-discipline.
We may be because we read an article, or read Franklin 13 articles, soon to list the content of their own self-discipline, if only this is the case, maybe you have only learned the shape of self-discipline, Franklin in addition to the list of morality 13, but also listed for themselves the 13 ways to practice morality, I summarize it into the following points: examine the meaning and content of self-discipline; a period of concentration on a certain point; for self-discipline in order;
(1) Examine the meaning and content of self-discipline
Franklin found that virtues were varied, and that different author titles contained different meanings, and for the sake of clarity, Franklin's approach was to set more titles and contain fewer meanings, rather than to set up fewer titles and more content.
Am I looking at my own content and meaning again? Why these?
(2) A period of time is concentrated at a certain point
Franklin believed that because the purpose was to cultivate these virtues in himself, it was best not to try them all at once, otherwise it would be difficult to do so. So, focus on one of these points for a period of time, develop this habit, and then develop another.
Have we ever developed several habits at the same time, because we wanted more, or in order to show that we were very good, and finally found that a habit was not consolidated?
(3) Set the progress for the cultivation of virtue
Because the cultivation of certain virtues can promote the cultivation of other virtues, Franklin's 13 points of self-discipline are ordered. Temperance allows you to keep your mind calm and your thinking clear, so that you can always be vigilant and become a force against inertia. Silence is much easier after moderation. With silence and order, there is more time to study and practice plans, and once the virtue of determination is formed, it can firmly acquire other virtues, and so on.
(4) Reflect on your own behavior day by day
Franklin drew a table for daily reflection on his own behavior, putting small black dots on each virtue that violated. At the same time, strict monitoring of each virtue for a week, such as avoiding moderation in the first week, only general attention to other virtues, this virtue has no black spots a week, enters the second item, and if it goes well, it can go through a cycle in 13 weeks, 4 times a year.
If the gardener cannot remove all the flower bed grass at once, but can only remove one and then remove the other, the reduction of black spots can also be felt happy.
(5) Set an incentive inscription for yourself
In Franklin's manual, there are inscriptions for setting incentives for yourself. As in Cicero's poem:
Philosophy, you are the guide to life!
You are the explorer of virtue, the exorcist of sin,
Follow your guide to spend the day safely
It is better to live a hundred years than sinfully.