Western CultureWestern CultureDISCOVERS THE SAME PRINCIPLES & SUCCESS FORMULA

“The best way to predict the future is to create it” -- Peter Drucker

Benjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin• Author (Poor Richard’s Almanac), Printer, Postman,

Statesman, Diplomat, Inventor (bifocals, stove, heating, armonica, lightning rod), Soldier, Philosopher, Scientist

• Co-founded 1st American hospital, 1st subscription library, started police force, fire company and street lighting in Philadelphia

• The only individual to sign all 4 founding documents of the United States (Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights) and shaped the Albany Plan of Union, Treaty with France, ...

• “The most accomplished American of his time”• “Of all those men who made independence possible,

none mattered more than Franklin and only Washington mattered as much”

• One of the most popular men of his time … and yet people DISLIKED him in his youth

Cicero for Rome and Franklin for America

Benjamin Franklin’s Plan for Moral PerfectionBenjamin Franklin’s Plan for Moral Perfection

“It was about this time I conceiv’d the bold and arduous Project of arriving at moral Perfection. I wis’d to live without committing any Fault at any time; 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. But I soon found I had undertaken a Task of more Difficulty than I had imagined. While my Attention was taken up in guarding against one Fault, I was often surprised 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 contrived the following Method.”

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, i.e. waste nothing.6. Industry - Lose no time; be always employ’d 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 uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.11. Tranquility - Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.12. Chastity - Rarely use venery but for health or offspring; never to dulness, weakness, or the

injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation13. Humility - Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

FOCUS (do once a week on a 3x5 index card):My intention being to acquire the Habitude of all these Virtues, I judged it would be well not to distract my Attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time; and, when I should be master of that, then to Proceed to another, and so on, till I should have gone through the thirteen; and, as the previous Acquisition of some might facilitate the Acquisition of certain others, I arrang’d them with that view.

RECORD, MONITOR, MEASURE:I made a little Book, in which I allotted a page for each of the Virtues. I ruled each page with red ink, so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the Week, marking each column with a letter for the day. I crossed these columns with thirteen red lines, marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the virtues, on which line, and in its proper column, I might mark, by a little black spot, every Fault I found upon Examination to have been committed respecting that Virtue upon the day.

Franklin’s Autobiography and The Art of Virtue ...

DAILY METHOD (CONSISTENCY, DISCIPLINE):

I determined to give a week’s strict Attention to each of the Virtues successively. Thus in the first week, my great guard was to avoid every the least offence against Temperance, leaving the other virtues to their ordinary chance, only marking every evening the Faults of the day. Thus, if in the first week I could keep my first line, marked T (for Temperance), cleared of spots, I suppos’d the habit of that virtue so much Strengthened, and its opposite Weakened, that I might venture extending my attention to include the next, and for the following week keep both lines clear of spots. Proceeding thus to the last, I could go through a course complete in Thirteen weeks and Four Courses in a year. And like him who, having a garden to weed, does not attempt to Eradicate all the bad herbs at once, which would exceed his reach and his strength, but works on one of the beds at a time, and, having accomplish’d the first, proceeds to a second, so I should have, I hoped, the encouraging pleasure of Seeing on my pages the Progress I made in Virtue, by Clearing successively my lines of their spots, till in the end, by a number of courses, I should be happy in viewing a Clean Book, after a Thirteen week’s daily Examination.

The Advantages The Advantages of this Programof this Program

• First, Ben Franklin had the satisfaction of seeing his errors gradually diminish due to this technique.

• Second, he was a better and happier man than he otherwise would have been had he not attempted the task.

• [Buddha once said that without meditation accomplishment, belief in karma and acting upon that belief was still the “best bet”since it would help you produce the best current life with certainty, and the best future life if it indeed existed.”]

• When he reached the age of seventy-eight, Franklin said that the process had made him a better and happier man, and concluded his autobiography by writing, “I hope, therefore, that some of my descendents may follow the example and reap the benefit.”

Franklin’s EpitaphFranklin’s Epitaph“The body of B. Franklin, printer, like the cover of an old book, its contents torn and stripped of its lettering and gilding, lies here food for worms, But the work shall not be lost, for it will as he believed appear once more in a new and more elegant edition revised and corrected by the author.” -- Age 22

“When I see nothing annihilated (in the works of God) and not a drop of water wasted, I cannot suspect the annihilation of souls, or believe that He will suffer the daily waste of millions of minds ready made that now exist, and put Himself to the continual trouble of making new ones. Thus, finding myself to exist in the world, I believe I shall, in some shape or other, always exist; and, with all the inconveniences human life is liable to, I shall not object to a new edition of mine, hoping, however, that the errata of the last may be corrected."

Many problems that seem intractable to modern psychology can be addressed by principles articulated clearly by Aristotle.

He pointed out that virtue, which he defined as the control of the appetites by the reason, is a kind of habit.

Learning what is good for you, and then developing good habits to practice it -- much as athletes practice for their sport -- and ultimately learning to like what is good for you, is the key to success and happiness.

Aristotle’s ViewpointAristotle’s Viewpoint

Frank BettgerFrank Bettger - How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling

“I followed his plan exactly as Benjamin Franklin told me how he used it. I just took it and applied it to selling. Of Franklin’s 13 subjects, I chose 6 and then substituted 7 others which I thought would be more helpful to me in my business, subjects in which I was especially weak. Here is my list and the order in which I used them:”

1. Enthusiasm. 7. Sincerity: Deserve Confidence.2. Order: self-organization. 8. Knowledge of My Business.3. Think in terms of others’ interests. 9. Appreciation and Praise.4. Questions. 10. Smile: Happiness.5. Key issue. 11. Remember names and faces.6. Silence: listen. 12. Service and Prospecting.

13. Closing the Sale: Action.

I made up a 3” x 5” card, a “pocket reminder,” for each one of my subjects, with a brief summary of the principles, … The first week, I carried the card on Enthusiasm in my pocket. At odd moments during the day, I read these principles. Just for that one week, I determined to double the amount of enthusiasm that I had been putting into my selling, and into my life. The second week, I carried my card on Order: self-organization. And so on each week.

After I completed the first thirteen weeks, and started all over again with my first subject—Enthusiasm—I knew I was getting a better hold on myself. I began to feel an inward power that I had never known before. Each week, I gained a clearer understanding of my subject. It got down deeper inside of me. My business became more interesting. It became exciting!

At the end of one year, I had completed four courses. I found myself doing things naturally, and unconsciously, that I wouldn’t have attempted a year before. Although I fell far short of mastering any of these principles, I found this simple plan a truly magic formula. Without it, I doubt whether I could have maintained my enthusiasm . . . and I believe if a man can maintain enthusiasm long enough, it will produce anything!

Frank McKinneyFrank McKinney

“Rock and Roll” Real Estate DeveloperMake it Big! 49 Rules for Building a Life of

Extreme Success

This simple planning process—setting aside one weekend a year to create a new personal vision statement, and then taking a couple of hours each Saturday to establish the goals that will help me turn that vision into reality—has been the bedrock underlying my success for the past 10 years. Once I started doing this, I found a marked change in my life and in my results. Sure, I was accomplishing more, since I was taking the time to plan my week. But more than that, I was linking my weekly goals to the vision of who I wanted to be.

A personal vision and mission statement is the agreement you make with yourself that this is who you want to be, how you want to act, what you will and won’t do, and how you want to appear in the world. It’s also a living, breathing document that will change over the years. I know there are some people who like to create 5- and 10-year plans for their lives, but I’m not one of them. Sure, I can have a sense of who I want to be 10 years from now, but I have found that redoing my vision every year keeps it fresh. It allows me to take into account the progress I have or haven’t made and set my direction based on what I see as my next step. After all, I have the big picture of my highest calling … that pulls me toward my ultimate future much more strongly than a 5- or 10-year plan. …

Having a mission or vision statement for your business is the first step. Tying it to your goals is the next. Do your quarterly or yearly goals have anything to do with your mission? …

The last step is to make sure your daily efforts represent the goals you’ve set and the vision you’ve created. When your business spends its days pursuing goals based on your corporate vision, your customers as well as the business community will see you as having integrity. And isn’t that the kind of reputation you want?

Setting a vision for your business is one of the most important tools in your entrepreneural toolbox. A vision is what sets entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs apart from workers who do their nine-to-five and go home. A vision makes work not just earning a paycheck but a means of creating something. Take the time to create a vision for yourself and your business. You never know what magic you will bring about as a result. …

Every Saturday afternoon …, I sit down with the previous week’s chart and a copy of my personal vision statement. I review my vision statement first, to remember the big picture of what I want my life to be about this year. Then I look at the previous week’s accomplishments and what hasn’t gotten done, and I ask, “How was this week? How did I approach things? What did I do well? What did I do wrong? Where did I fail, not only professionally but personally? Where did I not live up to my personal vision statement?” Then I ask the most important questions: “What can I learn from this? How can I be a better person next time?” I write the answers to all those questions on the back of the previous week’s chart. Once I have done my introspection, then—and only then—am I ready to plan a new week. Weekly introspection gives me the ability to grasp everything that’s going on around me and, for the most part, to feel in control of the direction of my life.

How to Win Friends and Influence PeopleHow to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie - Dale Carnegie

The president of an important Wall Street bank once described, in a talk before one of my classes, a highly effective system he used for self-improvement. This man had little formal schooling; yet he had become one of the most important financiers in America, and he confessed that he owed most of his success to the constant application of his homemade system. This is what he does. I’ll put it in his own words as accurately as I can remember.

“For years I have kept an engagement book showing all the appointments I had during the day. My family never made any plans for me on Saturday night, for the family knew I devoted a part of each Saturday evening to the illuminating process of self-examination and review and appraisal. After dinner I went off by myself, opened my engagement book, and thought over all the interviews, discussions and meetings that had taken place during the week. I asked myself:

“‘What mistakes did I make that time?’“‘What did I do that was right-and in what way could I have improved my performance?’“‘What lessons can I learn from that experience?’“I often found that this weekly review made me very unhappy. I was frequently astonished at my

own blunders. Of course, as the years passed, these blunders became less frequent. Sometimes I was inclined to pat myself on the back a little after one of these sessions. This system of self-analysis, self-education, continued year after year, did more for me than any other one thing I ever attempted.

It helped me improve my ability to make decisions—and it aided me enormously in all my contacts with people. I cannot recommend it too highly.”

If you want to be Successful in what you do, the Fastest WayFastest Way is to find other successful people and ModelModel them. Find out what they are already doing and Do Exactly what they do … You don’t have to suffer the pain of reinventing the wheel.

A RULE FOR LIFE:RULE FOR LIFE:

If you Want to Change Your Life, use Ben Franklin’s and Liao Fan’s method !

* Journal * Awareness (Meditation) * Merit practice and virtue * Mantra