How Ben Franklin Structured His Day

Summary

Thomas Frank reviews the daily schedule Benjamin Franklin included in his autobiography, taking its habits as inspiration rather than as a formula everyone should copy.

Strategies and takeaways

• Set a daily intention: Franklin began by asking, “What good shall I do this day?” Frank recommends setting a morning intention to stay focused when distractions or urgent tasks arise.
• Make a concrete plan: Turn the intention into a daily plan by breaking important work into smaller tasks and deciding their order.
• Keep learning: Franklin’s schedule included time for study. Frank suggests maintaining a personal learning project, such as reading or language study, and giving it some attention before starting demanding work.
• Separate deep and shallow work: Franklin’s schedule appears to reserve longer blocks for focused tasks and time around noon for lighter activities, such as reading or reviewing accounts. Plan demanding work and lower-focus tasks separately.
• Take breaks: Franklin’s written schedule does not show breaks during work blocks, but Frank advises adding them. Walks, light exercise, and relaxation can help interrupt long stretches of work.
• Reset your workspace: Put things away at the end of the workday—a practice Frank calls “clearing to neutral”—so the space is ready for the next day.
• Make room for rest and connection: Franklin listed supper, music, diversion, and conversation. Frank sees this as a reminder to schedule relaxation and time with others.
• Reflect at the end of the day: Ask what went well and what did not. Use that reflection to identify problems and make adjustments for tomorrow.
• Personalize sleep and your schedule: Franklin’s 5 a.m. start and roughly seven hours of sleep are not universal recommendations. Frank advises considering your own chronotype and sleep needs, as well as real-life demands such as exercise, nutrition, commuting, and cooking.
• Treat routines as experiments, not rules: Borrow useful ideas from other people’s schedules, test them, and adapt them. If a day goes badly, accept it, forgive yourself, and begin again; Franklin himself acknowledged having faults.

Presenters and sources

• Presenter: Thomas Frank
• Historical source: Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography and the daily schedule described in it
• Other sources and people mentioned: Wikipedia, for a description of Franklin’s many roles; Martin, Frank’s example of a friend who studies languages; and an unnamed friend who introduced Frank to “clearing to neutral.”