Autobiography

"And I was not discourag'd by the seeming Magnitude of the Undertaking,
as I have always thought that one Man of tolerable Abilities may
work great Changes, & accomplish great Affairs among Mankind, if he
first forms a good Plan, and, cutting off all Amusements or other
Employments that would divert his Attention, makes the Execution of
that same Plan his sole Study and Business."
"When another asserted something that I thought an Error, I deny'd
myself the Pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, and of immediately
showing some Absurdity in his Proposition; and in answering I began
by observing that in certain Cases or Circumstances his Opinion would
be right, but that in the present case there appear'd or seem'd to me
some Difference etc. I soon found the Advantage of this Change in my
Manners. The Conversations I engag'd in went on more pleasantly."

Benjamin Franklin is best known as a historical figure, for his role
in the American Revolution and experiments with electricity. But
as Franklin scholar Ormond Seavey notes in his introduction to
the Autobiography, his great influence on the affairs of the eighteenthcentury
western world in business, politics, and science was built on his
skill as a writer. In the history books he looms large as a co-drafter of
the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution, but
the Autobiography has been lauded by biographer Richard Amacher as
"The first great book written in America."
It helped to create the modern literary form of the autobiography
and has been a bestseller for two centuries, despite the fact that it was
never finished or properly edited. Franklin's attitude to written work is
summed up in one of his own aphorisms:
"If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten,
either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing."
The book
The Autobiography was not a chronicle of Franklin's brilliance; the
idea was to show how a person's life and character could become a
noble one through constant self-assessment. Franklin, as a scientist,
wrote it almost as if it were a report on the failures and successes of
experiments in living.
At no point did he claim any special mastery over how to live life,
but he was committed to finding a formula that could assure a person
of some success. This motivation makes the Autobiography one of the
original self-help classics.
Franklin never tried to show superiority; he spoke directly to the
reader and laced the book with subtle humor, giving it the intimate feel
of a fireside chat. The first part detailed experiences with family, friends,
bosses, and work colleagues, in addition to travels and attempts to start
new businesses, all of which will strike chords with today's reader.
Creating the best possible self
Franklin believed that virtue had worth for its own sake, whether or
not it was to the glory of God. His background was Puritan and culturally
he remained one, self-examining and self-improving. In his famous
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber names
Franklin as a key exponent of this ethic. Franklin was a printer by
trade and believed that character was the result of correcting the
"errata" that prevent us attaining perfection. Life is not something we
must suffer through, but is ripe for endless tinkering.
This is why Franklin is seminal in self-help literature—he disregarded
any religious conception that we are naturally bad or good people,
but saw humans rather as blank slates designed for success. Seavey
notes, "It was always natural for Franklin to be trying on a fresh identity,
as if he were putting on new clothes." He was truly modern in seeing
that the individual was not a fixed proposition at all, but
self-creating.
Franklin's law of constant self-improvement
Franklin wrote the Autobiography as an old man, considered a great
man. He had arrived in Philadelphia from Boston with a couple of
shillings and three bread rolls, two of which, characteristically, he gave
to a woman in need. Instinctively knowing that mastery of words
would be his ticket out of mediocrity, he would persuade a friend
working at a booksellers to "lend" him books overnight, devouring
them between finishing his day's work and starting another. Franklin
would have agreed with the phrase "leaders are readers": Read at least
a dozen non-fiction books a year and your life will be immeasurably
enriched and improved.
Nevertheless, as a young man Franklin never dreamed of becoming
an independence leader or ambassador to France. The reader of his life
should not dwell on his actual accomplishments; they are less important
than the efforts to achieve self-mastery that he described.
Franklin's message is timeless: Greatness is not for the few, but is the
duty of all of us. We protest that we are not that special, that we don't have the talent or the drive, but Franklin knew that an ethic of constant
self-improvement is the yeast that makes an individual rise.
Franklin and the self-help ethic
The famous example of Franklin's self-help ethic is what has become
known as The Art of Virtue, in which he listed the 12 qualities he
aimed to possess.
By a system of graphs and daily self-appraisal, he claimed to have
(mostly) achieved the desired virtues, having some difficulty with Order,
or what we might now call time management; but realizing he was too
proud at having lived up to his own standards, he created a thirteenth,
Humility!
1 Temperance. 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 no Expense but to do good to others or yourself;
that is, Waste nothing.
6 Industry. Lose no Time. Be always employed in something useful.
Cut off all unnecessary actions.
7 Sincerity. Use no hurtful 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 Uncleanness in Body, Clothes or Habitation.
11 Tranquillity. 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 another's Peace or
Reputation.
13 Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Franklin also advocated use of a "morning question"—"What good
shall I do this day?"—and an "evening question"—"What good have I
done today?"
The Autobiography has had a major influence on self-help writing.
Anthony Robbins's blockbuster Awaken the Giant Within recommends
these questions as part of a daily success ritual. Franklin's slightly
bizarre idea of writing one's own epitaph early on in life, in order to
gain control of what you do in it, is now an established self-improvement
technique. Stephen Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
People) makes no secret of his debt to Franklin, whose life he describes
as "the story of one person's heroic effort to make principles the basis
of existence." This attention to character, rather than personality techniques,
is the foundation of Covey's seven habits.
The secret of influence
Finally, Franklin's built-in skill at winning friends and influencing people
did not escape the attention of Dale Carnegie. As a young man,
Franklin believed himself to be highly skilled in argument, but came to
the conclusion that this "skill" actually stood in the way of getting
things done. He developed the habit of only ever expressing himself in
terms of "modest Diffidence," never saying words like "undoubtedly"
or trying to correct people. Instead, he used measured phrases such as
"It appears to me..." or "If I am not mistaken..." The result was that,
even though he was not a great speaker, people focused on his ideas
and he was quick to gain credibility.
Final comments
Franklin's Autobiography is an up-by-the-bootstraps story representing
the freedom to create and prosper that is the essence of American
morality. Yet given the author's great sense of humor, his chameleon
qualities, and his skill at self-promotion, it would be naïve to take The
Art of Virtue or the Autobiography as one's gospel. Reverence is not a
very Franklinesque trait.
His prescriptions have not gone without criticism. Thoreau believed
that they made for a dreary race against time to amount wealth, never
stopping to enjoy nature or the moment. Franklin scholar Russel B.
Nye termed his subject "the first apostle of frugality and the patron saint of savings accounts." This comment was probably more directed
at Franklin's collections of aphorisms on money and thrift, The Way to
Wealth. The man's life, however, did not fit the image of pennypinching
Puritanism, for it is obvious that he lived with panache.
Franklin appreciated that the self-help ethic is not about earnest striving,
but more about excitement at the prospect of a richer life.