
Benjamin Franklin’s Daily Schedule - tortilla
http://log.scifihifi.com/post/161617118/benjamin-franklins-daily-schedule-via-nick
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zachbeane
Almost immediately after this schedule in his Autobiography is a lament that
he could not keep to it.

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jknupp
His autobiography, incidentally, is one of the finest I've read. Even those
with no interest in history will find it enjoyable.

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mahmud
According to a Dianne Rehm interview with a noted Ben Franklin biographer;
many Franklinisms have been invented left and right by American book
publishers searching for "American" role models for kids in the newly born
nation. They couldn't reach back to the continent which they have just severed
ties with for cultural lore, so they had to invent it as they went, at least
for the first two or so generations.

Franklin himself made no attempt to refute the grand achievements attributed
to him in his day (e.g. "I will neither confirm nor deny that I have
superhuman powers and can kick ass in major ways".)

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anamax
You write that like it's a bad thing....

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vijayr
The most interesting parts are the questions:

What good shall I do this day? and

What good have I done today?

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ujjwalg
I have tried doing "what have I done today and what shall I do tomorrow" in
that order, right before I go to sleep. It works amazing whenever I do it. I
just need to do it everyday.

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diN0bot
What do you think about adding "good" to those questions? Was that a
linguistical/cultural thing back then to mean 'meaningful' in reference to
himself, or did it mean 'good' as in The Public Good?

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ujjwalg
Given, we are talking about Ben Franklin, I would be more inclined towards The
Public Good rather than "meaningful" in reference to himself. And that is the
reason I avoid good in my questions because my questions relate to
"meaningful" to myself. :)

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chrischen
Shift everything in that forward by about 8 hours and you get my daily
schedule.

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benatkin
Where I live, there isn't much diversion available from 2 AM to 6 AM.

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edw519
I like this, but I have this bad habit of taking what's worked for successful
people and having it not work for me. I've tried every imaginable scheduling
technique until I realized that they just don't make much difference for me.

What does? The project itself. If I fall in love with the task at hand, I want
to work on it so badly, I don't need a schedule. If I'm not in love with the
task at hand, schedules don't work.

As a child, when I got a new baseball glove, I slept with it the first few
nights. Now I do the same thing with hard copies of clean compiles. That's
love.

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BigZaphod
Interesting. That's not much different than my typical day, although he
started and finished about 1.5 hours earlier than I do. The key bits, though,
are probably the notes about using his time for introspection and reflection.
I tend to use those corresponding time periods of my day for reading email/rss
or watching TV/movies - decidedly less wisdom-building activities.

~~~
nostrademons
Isn't this basically the same as most corporate wage slaves - particularly
ones with kids?

The major difference seems to be that there was no TV in Ben Franklin's day.
But other than substituting "TV" for "idle diversion", this could be the daily
schedule of any of about 100 million Americans...

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WilliamLP
Two hour lunch? What a slacker.

~~~
olliesaunders
Food is important. And he was probably eating with people
[http://www.amazon.com/Never-Eat-Alone-Secrets-
Relationship/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Never-Eat-Alone-Secrets-
Relationship/dp/0385512058)

In Defence of Food (Michael Pollan) suggests that the cultural labouring over
lunch didn't just emerge because it's enjoyable it may actually improve
nutrition too.

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10ren
I like how he "puts things back in their place" at the end of the day. It's a
very important task, but it doesn't require intelligence, courage or insight.
So leave it until the tired hours of the day, so you can devote your fresh
hours to the difficult tasks.

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sili
The first half of his autobiography is a good read on how to make yorself a
more acomplished person. Later on, though, he becomes too boastful.

~~~
ellyagg
If BENJAMIN FRANKLIN isn't entitled to boast, I don't know who is.

(Note: I've read his autobiography a couple times and don't think any of it
was inappropriately boastful.)

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tomjen
Thomas Jefferson is allowed to boast, but Franklin didn't build his own house.

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anamax
Jefferson's inventions are mostly one-offs, such as his house. Franklin's
inventions scaled.

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metra
For other interesting persons' daily routines look here,

<http://dailyroutines.typepad.com>

The Benjamin Franklin post is here
[http://dailyroutines.typepad.com/daily_routines/2007/07/benj...](http://dailyroutines.typepad.com/daily_routines/2007/07/benjamin-
frankl.html) and contains the same schedule.

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quizbiz
I wish I had the will power to rise at 5. But I don't sleep till way past 1.

// I would also love to know where this was taken from and what is written on
the opposite side of the page, its letters just barely visible.

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mshafrir
What is "Powerful Goodness"?

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kleevr
a cheeky name for "god"... basically he wanted to pray, but felt silly saying
'God' so he came up with something he thought sounded more rational

~~~
quizbiz
fascinating. Now (political) leaders seem to push the fact that god is tied to
their schedule.

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euroclydon
Only four hours of sleep?

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alanthonyc
it's seven...from ten pm to five am

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chrischen
Less than 7, since he probably leaves an arbitrary amount of time for
reflection and answering "What good have I done today?" while he lies in bed.

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dzlobin
I think that would fall under "examination of the day"

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chrischen
The left side I think purposely doesn't have defined borders to refer to a
general area. So I would actually assume that the contemplation would intermix
with examination of day and sleep. It's also between 9, and 10 o' clock.

Plus, he can't possibly fall asleep at 10 o' clock sharp.

