I am thrilled to learn from every possible resource,
and learning from others is one of my favorites.
Recently, I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon at the Benjamin Franklin Museum in Philadelphia, and I couldn’t help but be inspired. With only 2 years of formal education, Franklin chose self-learning and self-improvement as his primary way of bettering his life. When he saw a need, he responded by finding a way to satisfy it! He spent much of his time working on new inventions and ideas, and daily he would sharpen his eye for constructive change. Often he would look about to find what was absent or needed, and then would use this observation as his inspiration for change. From the Franklin Stove, to a better street light design, to the invention of bifocals, Franklin spent very little time complaining about what was, but rather he kept looking for ways to make things better. Motivated to constantly improve his own life in addition to the world around him, his life’s work led to the creation of the public libraries, universities, firefighters, and fire insurance companies.
One of his habits which I found to be most inspirational,
was that he would daily ask himself,
“What Good have I done today?”
Inspired by both the attitude and accomplishments of Mr. Franklin, I could not help but think that his repetitive use of this simple phase, might somehow be connected to his long list of achievements. Could his conscious desire to contribute to the greater good, have something to do with his heightened awareness of what he could change, invent or create? Could it be possible that if we start asking ourselves this same question, that we too might become inspired to initiate creative changes for both ourselves and the good of the world around us? In order to explore the answers to the above questions, I started my own “Franklin Journey” to test the power that might reside in this simple phrase,
“What Good have I done today?”
I am only a few days into this adventure, however I can share with you that I have already noticed that my mind is much more aware of when, where and how I could do something to make a difference in either my own life or that of others. Knowing that Benjamin Franklin is also credited with the saying “Time is Money”, I would argue that his life’s work speaks to us about a value much greater than money,
a value that invites each of us to ask ourselves,
“What Good have I done today?”