This week, we continue getting "Better with Ben" as we examine the value that Franklin put on method. I hope you can apply this idea to your New Year's resolutions. By the way, I will have more to say about Franklin's insights into self-improvement in my free Zoom lecture on January 17 (Franklin's birthday). Click here to learn more and register.
New Year's resolutions typically focus on a what: a goal of losing weight or quitting a destructive habit, for example. The what is likely to fail, however, without a how — that is, a method for achieving the goal.
Benjamin Franklin became aware of this need for a how when he decided as a young man that he would pursue a very ambitious goal, something he called "the bold and arduous Project of arriving at moral Perfection." Now before you decide that Franklin was ridiculously proud or just nuts, I should explain that he had a dry sense of humor, which is on display in his autobiography. I'm pretty sure he knew how this ambitious project would have looked to his readers, but the basic idea — that he could make himself better through effort — is one he took very seriously. He goes on to explain:
I wish'd to live without committing any Fault at anytime; I would conquer all that either Natural Inclination, Custom, or Company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other.
Franklin was a logical thinker, and his words here lay out a clear, rational plan in line with the spirit of the age, which we now call the Enlightenment. During this time, also known as the Age of Reason, Franklin and others viewed humans as rational creatures who could understand and control their world, particularly by employing the principles of science and reason. He states his goal: "to live without committing any Fault at anytime." He acknowledges the forces that might get in his way: "Natural Inclination, Custom, or Company." Finally, he implicitly endorses the power of his free will to overcome these forces when he says, ". . . I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other." Simple, right?
Now, Franklin was writing this account many years later, in 1784, some 50 years after a much younger Franklin had embarked on this project. At that point, he knew — as most of us probably do — how naive his thinking was then. If becoming virtuous — or, for that matter, exerting our will to achieve other goals — were that easy, more people would be successful. The next few sentences are as important as they are humorous:
But I soon found I had undertaken a Task of more Difficulty than I had imagined: While my Care was employ'd in guarding against one Fault, I was often surpris'd by another. Habit took the Advantage of Inattention. Inclination was sometimes too strong for Reason. I concluded at length, that the mere speculative Conviction that it was our Interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our Slipping, and that the contrary Habits must be broken and good Ones acquired and established, before we can have any Dependence on a steady uniform Rectitude of Conduct. For this Purpose I therefore contriv'd the following Method.
I hope you enjoy this little taste of Franklin's dry humor. His account of being "surpris'd" by one fault while he was trying to avoid another is one of my favorite parts of his autobiography. It has an appealing visual quality. Imagine yourself beating down some bugaboo — your weakness for sweets, for example — and feeling a little smug, but then suddenly realizing that you have been distracting yourself with too much social media. One gremlin crept up on you while you were fighting another one.
Humor aside, Franklin's insight is invaluable. When it comes to self-improvement — or, for that matter, community improvement or world improvement — a simple goal is not enough. Knowledge is not enough. Even effort is not enough. We need a method.
Method is a powerful thing, more powerful than most of us realize. Motivation seems to come too rarely, and self-discipline is hard, but method, once set in motion, virtually guarantees success. Method is similar to something that Roy Baumeister and John Tierney discuss in their book Willpower. They use the term precommitment, and it amounts to a kind of promise we make to ourselves. For example, I precommit to writing something substantial as soon as I get into my office each morning. This method ensures that I will make progress on my various writing projects while also staying sharp. (I'm writing these words this morning, in fact, after arriving in my office about 15 minutes ago.)
Next time, I will share some of the fascinating details of Franklin's method. For now, I simply encourage you to recognize the value of method and commit yourself to devising your own method to achieve your goals. After all, as I put it in my book Ben Franklin's Lessons in Life, "Will needs a way."
Always insightful!