This past weekend, I wrapped up The Haunting of Hill House and found myself a bit uninspired by the way the novel ended. There were moments of genuine eeriness and horror, but overall it was just an okay read. Finishing the book up freed up my reading commitment to hop back into the curious life of Ben Franklin. Now a postmaster of the American colonies, as well as a renowned printer and scientist, Franklin began to take his philosophies to the political realm.
Franklin was a royalist seeking to remain part of the British empire but also was highly opposed to the governors appointed by the crown and the group of aristocrats that organized the government of the colonies, the Proprietors. Franklin found himself in political wars with the group throughout his lifetime. An astute believer in individual contribution over government intervention, Franklin helped spark a matching policy in which the government provides partial contribution relative to what is given by private institutions and individuals, a policy still seen in America today.
He was a firm believer that the role of government was to provide security and something else?. Local militia was one of Franklin’s major contributions to American history as we know it. Militias were formed on a voluntary basis and officers were voted in thru democratic means and not appointed by a governing individual or group. Franklin himself was elected an officer due to his intelligence and charisma. His opponents feared the power he was gaining, but Franklin never abused his role to oppose them as they expected.
Franklin was a man who was contradictingly both ambitious and humble. He sought out to do great things, but almost never let his ego get the best of him. When he was colonel of the militia, he once returned to town in the middle of the night to avoid a celebratory return his supporters had planned. He did not seek greatness for his sake, but for the benefit of society. Another moment that truly spoke to this was his invention of a wood burning stove that was more efficient than existing models. He chose not to patent the invention in order to allow for further improvements to be made.
While Ben Franklin was out being a badass, I was over here being lazy as hell and hardly getting any reading done. As I type this, I’m down over one-hundred pages of reading. Day after day, I’ve tried to set up daily tasks to read, but I would put it off until last minute and now I haven’t read my full 35 pages in the past three days. This has reiterated a point I’ve made in the past on a post entitled Commitment. Defining what is the most important thing to do at a certain time, is the key to actually accomplishing your goals.
In order to do this, I am going to try and push myself to be a bit more schedule oriented. For a long time in my life, I’ve held some pretty loose standards when it comes to being punctual, and I’ve definitely tried to change that, but what I’ve tried so far hasn’t really worked. For most of my life, I have been very output driven, less focused on time put in and more focused on results. While this can be a good thing in some aspects of life, in others it can be detrimental. In a video game, for example, focusing on certain milestones can be good, until you start adding new milestones because “you’re so close.” My friends and I use the phrase, “one more turn-syndrome” in reference to the Civilization games. So many things are going on that every turn that passes, something else is just so close you can keep playing a few more minutes.
To help with this behavior, I’m going to try, starting today, is hardcore set up my Google calendar, possibly even over schedule, with everything from commuting to work, waking up, meals, exercise, leisure, etc. Along with this, set up alerts on my phone when I need to be switching an activity and commit to it. Did this suddenly become a double trial? What are your tips for staying on task or working towards your goals? Let me know in the comments! Maybe I’ll give em a whirl…
Trying Out Before Buying In 