Benjamin Franklin's
self-improvement program included 13 virtues that he felt were important guides
for living along with principles for each that would, in his opinion, define a
person of good character. He developed a scorecard for evaluating how well he
measured up to his own ideals. Throughout his life, Franklin tried to live by
these virtues though not always successfully.
Review Ben's 13 Virtues and take the Virtue Quiz to find out how you measure up against Franklin's virtues.
Select three of Franklin's virtues and reflect upon them in your blog. Ask yourself, how can I include them in my daily life?
Review Ben's 13 Virtues and take the Virtue Quiz to find out how you measure up against Franklin's virtues.
Select three of Franklin's virtues and reflect upon them in your blog. Ask yourself, how can I include them in my daily life?
After taking the Virtue Quiz, I got that I was “on the right
path”, but still had areas to improve.
There are plenty of things I would like to work on in my daily life, as
I feel it would help with not only my overall happiness, but the way I see
myself and others, as well as the way I react to different situations. Some of the virtues that really stood out for
me as areas I would like to continue working on were silence, frugality, and industry. These three virtues are areas
that I struggle with on a daily basis, as everyday activities reach into our
lives. I find that these virtues focus
on “excellence to the common good, toward which we should strive and which
allow the full development of our humanity.” (Velasquez, Andre, Shanks, &
Meyer, 1988) These three virtues, I find
will help me to develop further to reach my potential in this area.
Silence is
something that I recognize that I struggle with, but try to work hard to
maintain. Benjamin Franklin spoke of
silence as “speak not but what benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling
conversation.” (PBS) Being more mindful
of what I say to others, especially in terms of gossip, is an area that I work
on daily. I work in a job that is all
females and gossiping runs wild there.
It can be difficult to avoid gossip when you associate it with
connecting to others. I think that by
making a connection between gossiping and the effects is can have on others
will help me to avoid this more.
Gossiping only causes stress, negativity, and anxiety for me. I do not like gossiping; however, I do find
it difficult to connect with my coworkers when I have very little in common
with some of them. Reflecting on the
image this places on myself, as well as what this says about others is an area
that can help remind myself of the negative impacts gossiping has. When it comes to speaking directly with
people, I find that I focus too much on being thoughtful and sincere. I never want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I
think this puts me at a disadvantage at times because I come off as a push
over. Finding a good balance between the
two is key for me.
Frugality,
according to Franklin is “make no expense but to do good to others or yourself,
i.e., waste northing.” (PBS) Avoiding
wasteful consumption is huge for me. I
am an avid recycler and anti-liter advocate, yet I find myself buying items
that are unnecessary and wasteful.
Placing more thought on the things that directly effect me, as opposed
to the things that do not effect me, can better help me be less wasteful.
Industry is
a big one for me to work on. I have so
many things I want to do and I have attempted to use a planner more times than
I can count, yet I still seem to waste my time away doing things that are huge
time wasters. Making the most of my time
would help to make me feel more productive, less of a procrastinator, and help
me to enjoy the things I love doing instead of constantly contemplating what I
should do next. Sometimes it can be so
hard for me to come up with what I want for dinner, that I end up just skipping
it all together. If I can allocate my
time better, a lot of things will be a lot easier and fall into place.
Overall,
the virtues that Ben Franklin attempted to follow seem to be very helpful in
terms of living a better, more thoughtful way of life. There are areas we can all improve on, but
recognizing what those areas are and what steps we need to take to get to that
stage are important for living a more virtues life.
References
Ben's
13 Virtues. (n.d.). Retrieved May 2, 2015, from
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/pop_virtues_list.html
Velasquez,
M., Andre, C., Shanks, T., & Meyer, M. (1988). Ethics and Virtues. Issues
in Ethics, 1(3).
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