Tag: Philosophy

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Franklin’s Thirteen Subjects

1. TEMPERENCE : Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

2. SILENCE : Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation.

3. ORDER : Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time.

4. RESOLUTION : Resolve to perform what you ought, perform without fail what you resolve.

5. FRUGALITY : Make to expense but to do good to others or yourself ie waste nothing.

6. INDUSTRY : Lose no time; be always employed in something useful.

7. SINCERITY : Use no hurtfull deceit; think innocently and justly and if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. JUSTICE : Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9. MODERATION : Avoid extremes, forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10. CLEANLINESS : Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes or habitation.

11. TRANQUILITY : Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

12. CHASTITY : Rarely use venery but for health or offspring. Never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or anothers peace or reputation.

13. HUMILITY : Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Note: Franklin concentrated on each subject for a week at a time striving to get better at each. After the thirteenth week he would start again at number one.

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Poignant thoughts on priorities and focus

It was a great Thanksgiving weekend, despite having “walking pneumonia”. I’m still not recovered but sitting here trying to get my focus straight for the next week I have been reading a lot lately and found these thoughts I saved on a paper in one of my books. I don’t have a source, if you know it please send along:

Take a look around you, right this moment, and you’ll see the results of your past priorities. Whatever has been most important to you, whatever has been the focus of your time and commitment, has come to pass.

If you’re satisfied and fulfilled by where you are, you know what it took to get there and you can continue cheerfully along the same path. If you’re not completely pleased with the results of your past priorities, the first thing to do is change those priorities.

Every moment of every day you are committed to something. When enough of those moments are focused on a particular priority, on a particular possibility, that possibility will come to life.

Look at the possibilities that you’ve already brought to reality as the result of your focus and commitment. Whether you like the results or not, the fact is that you’ve definitely achieved results.

The question now is, what results would you like to achieve next? Aim your focus, aim your commitment, aim your priorities, aim the efforts of each moment in the direction of those results, and they will most certainly happen.

Time to get focused again.