Ben Franklin: Calendar Assassin

Before flying kites in nasty weather to experiment with electricity, appearing in Scibblenauts Unlimited, Day of the Tentacle, or Assassin’s Creed III, Ben Franklin was a busy little guy, teaching himself to read Spanish, French, Italian, and Latin; opening the first fire house in the soon to be U.S., and many other public service projects in his residence of Philadelphia.

So how did he manage to get so much done?

Many little things, done with purpose, over and over, through successful day planning.

But the one thing that jumped out at me while reading his autobiography was his daily routine. In a little day planner of his own design, Franklin created a template for scheduling his day, with 6 distinct parts.

It’s worth noting that Ben was terribly disorganized by nature. He admits that he tended to rely on his memory rather than tools, so it took great effort for him to stick to much of a structure. In fact, he almost gave up hope on ever being organized (I can relate to that!). Ultimately, he realized the value in being intentional with each day, and the structure below became his’ template.

Here is how he attacked each workday:

Benjamin Franklin’s Order

1. Early Morning – “What good shall I do this day?”

An early riser, Ben would wake up at 5:00am each day, bathe, and thank God for another day. He would spend time until 7:00am identifying his goals, planning his workday, spend a little time reading, a quick game of Tetris, and then eat breakfast.

The whole section includes the powerful question: “What good shall I do this day?” Ask yourself this, and see what happens.

2. Work

From 8:00am until 12noon, he would attack his plan for the day. I personally have found this time of the day to be by far my most productive. Imagine showing up to work with a super clear plan, and four hours to make it happen! I have it on good word that he never would allow himself to play Candy Crush before noon. It ruins concentration like nobody’s business.

3. Noon

Franklin says that for the noon hour, he would read (blogs), check accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter), and dine (lunch). I can see him tweeting now: @TownOfPhilly “Take home my latest invention for FREE #TheFranklinStove.”

4. Work

Back at it after lunch, Ben tore through another 4 hours of work until calling it quits at 5:00pm. Another fine example of a 40 workweek – if it was good enough for him…

5. Evening – “What good have I done today?”

Wrapping up things with the answer to his morning question, Mr. Franklin’s evening time from 6pm until 10pm includes an examination of the day, music, conversation with others and dinner. He also found this time of day to be best for playing Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns.

How important it is to review the day and ask what you have learned! Don’t let those lessons go to waste, make sure to take the time to reflect and digest what mattered most about each day.

6. Night

Perhaps you have heard that the human being needs 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night. With a few exceptions, this is absolutely true. Benjamin Franklin, Calendar Assassin knew this, and understood the importance of adequate rest.

However, he managed to sneak in few runs of Lords of Thunder before bed. Because that’s how he rolled.

So what can you learn from Ben Franklin’s example? Which point would you like to try out in your own schedule?