Benjamin Franklin S Method Of Habit Formation
Prior to the late eighteenth century, the teachings of modern social science were dominated by the considerations of ethics. With the rise of modern science, a new approach was needed in order to distinguish the meaningful actions that contribute to the health and wellbeing of a society from those that have no beneficial effect. Benjamin Franklin provided that approach with his publication The Poor Man's Economist, which was first published in 1781 and widely reprinted throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The central premise of his work is the creation of a method of social science known as the Franklin Method of Habit Formation.
Once the cause of a particular habit is established, the process of building new habits is more easily accomplished. Benjamin Franklin writes: "The habitual form in which habits take hold of a man's life is essentially different from what happens when he forms new habits; consequently the habit form which is formed in the context of a habitation should not be forgotten, and what needs to be revived is called a new form, or structure, of the habit."
Franklin describes a new form of forming new habits, the formation of a new habit by preparation of new habituation habits, or in the process of forming habits, by organizing existing habits. A process of formation that is repeated every day and over a period of several weeks. Following this method, the new habits can be formed through the formation of habits. Franklin explains: "By habiting you are making a habit of doing; that is to say, you are making a habit of having the form which, by becoming habitual to you, has been established in the action to which you habitually resort."
The Franklin Method consists of six steps: formation of habit by habitation, strengthening the habit by habitation, intensifying the habit, organizing the habit, increasing the effectiveness of the habit, and organizing oneself. Because the Franklin Method is a method of creating a habit, the notion of forming a new habit is not necessarily accepted; therefore, Franklin indicates in several places in The Poor Man's Economist that it would be best to use the term formation of a new habit instead of forming a new habit. Franklin says:
From what has been described in my Treatise on Public Observations about the Effect of Religions, and the Culture of Knowledge on Mental Functions (1749), may we understand the Method of Formation of Habits, which is done by preparing habits for the body, when the original habit is already formed.
Franklin explains further that new habits can be formed through establishing habits while existing habits are still intact. He writes:
Some of the habits which we have known to exist in all men from the earliest ages, are bound to be developed by the Practice of the Making of Habits; and the Body of Man's Habits, which are formed through the Weakness of the Mind, or through a Weakness of Memory, while the Original Habit of Thought may be in place in the Strength of the Body; those habits are not new habits, but merely change of a habit to the Occupation of the Mind.
Franklin uses this same idea in other sections of his work:
Remaining in a certain Place a Certain Amount of Time at Certain Times, with habitual Attention to something, and Repeating several Acts of the Life-Form (Certain Forms of Dance) will tend to form the Design of a new Habit.
Using this same approach to form new habits, Franklin tells of how people can become more creative by forming new habits. He writes: "Some men acquire their Creative Powers by forming their Ideas of Truth by Correspondence with the Kinds of Habit they are cultivating......
Franklin's remarkable achievements in life and politics can be attributed to his perseverance in overcoming personal responsibilities and his desire to be constantly better.
The next time you really want to achieve something, take the time to concentrate on your personal journal. What is your temptation that stands in the way of your glory? What can you do to make it a habit to succeed?
Tags:
Motivation