I like to think of myself as a good person. (You probably do too, I imagine.) To be honest, it’s not something I think about a lot; at the age I am now, 55, most days I don’t even question it.
But sometimes there are moments — not often, just every now and then — when I ask myself, “well, are you sure? Would you even know if you weren’t?”
Most of us, most of the time, fall into habits of thinking, habits of being. You have to in order to get along in the world, don’t you? We all need a working model of who we are, and how the world works, so that we don’t become paralyzed with decision anxiety over every little thing.
The habits we acquire, though, have a way of becoming second nature to the degree that we aren’t even aware of them. We simply move through the world, acting the way we act and thinking the way we think, without giving them a second thought.
Sometimes you realize, maybe that’s not good enough. Even though you’ve made it this far in life just fine, thank you very much, maybe you need to take a look at yourself and ask, “is what I’m doing still working?”
Recently, I stumbled across an article on Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, which you’ve almost certainly heard of in history class, and which Franklin first sat down to write in 1771 and kept working on until his death in 1790.
The book starts in his childhood and ends with Franklin at age 52; he’d live another 32 years — three of the most consequential decades in American history — so presumably he would have covered more if he’d had the chance.
What struck me as I revisited the Autobiography is that for Franklin — often described as history’s best example of a “self-made” man — that wasn’t just a lofty, abstract ambition. He literally wrote down the ways he wanted to improve himself, setting goals and measuring his progress toward them.
Franklin was 20 years old when he did this; he’d attended school until he was 10, but his father didn’t have the money to pay for his education beyond that. So, he made up for what he lacked by reading voraciously while also working as a printer and newspaperman, swimming in the political and philosophical currents of his day.
At that point in his (still young) life, Franklin believed he knew right from wrong, that he knew what a good life was. It’s just that simple, right? Not exactly, he tells us:
“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 imagined.”
Franklin knew himself well enough; temptation pulled at him constantly, in every conceivable way. (Yes, in all the ways you’re imagining!) He was bound to lose his way, he feared, if he didn’t make a conscious choice to improve himself.
So when he sat down to write out a plan, he called on everything he’d ever read: religious, classical and philosophical texts, distilling their lessons into what he labeled the “thirteen necessary virtues”:
TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
MODERATION. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
Seeing these, all listed, hit me like a bolt of lightning. That’s because I often catch myself in thought, wishing this or that thing had gone differently in my day, wondering what I might have done differently. Those thoughts always evaporate, though, never to be heard from again.
What if I were to sit down and actually take an inventory of myself, and figure out the things I wanted to improve — and then actually try them? Take one virtue and practice it each week, just like Franklin did?
Some of his virtues I can easily see where I need work; others I think I’ve probably nailed by now. (But maybe not, who knows?)
Have you ever tried something like this in your own life? Made an inventory, and then attempted to make the changes that inventory called for?
I’d love to hear your story — as always, keep in touch and let me know how your running/life is going.
Your friend,
— Terrell
How did your running go over the past week? Especially if you’re following one of the training plans I listed last week, how did it go?
Here’s how our next week looks for the 12-week plan:
Thursday, Sept. 10 — 3 miles/30-35 minutes
Saturday, Sept. 12 — 4 miles/40-45 minutes
Sunday, Sept. 13 — 3 miles/30-35 minutes
Tuesday, Sept. 15 — 3 miles/30-35 minutes
Wednesday, Sept. 16 — 4 miles/40-45 minutes
And for the 16-week plan:
Thursday, Sept. 10 — 3 miles/30-35 minutes
Saturday, Sept. 12 — 4 miles/40-45 minutes
Sunday, Sept. 13 — 3 miles/30-35 minutes
Tuesday, Sept. 15 — 3 miles/30-35 minutes
Wednesday, Sept. 16 — off
If you’d like to run a 10-miler instead…
Thursday, Sept. 10 — 3 miles/30-35 minutes
Saturday, Sept. 12 — 3 miles/40-45 minutes
Sunday, Sept. 13 — 2-3 miles/20-30 minutes
Tuesday, Sept. 15 — 3 miles/30-35 minutes
Wednesday, Sept. 16 — off
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Much food for though, and a brilliant reminder that we are never really there, or done... :)