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Photo courtesy of Florian Dreyer
You’ve heard Benjamin Franklin quotes a million times. So, I won’t finish these two:
- “a penny saved is…”
- “early to bed, early to rise, makes a man…”
But, other than his most common lessons, what can he teach us about success?
He was a successful entrepreneur, an inventor, and a scientist. He helped people see (created bifoculs), published a top-selling book (Poor Richard’s Almanac), and helped build the foundations of electricity (I know you remember the kite and the key). But what can he do for you and your business?
To find out, lets take a look at five more Benjamin Franklin quotes:
“Diligence is the mother of good luck.”
Self-made people don’t believe in luck and how could they? Many of them worked through millions of obstacles and came out ahead every time. But do you think it was an accident? Do you think the same people come out on top by sheer chance?
Benjamin Franklin didn’t think so and you shouldn’t either.
But what was the secrets to success?
They hold themselves accountable. They don’t talk about luck or the economy. They talk about what they need to do right now to get what they want.
“Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.”
I know you have heard expressions like, “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” but realistically, that is where you find money. “Oh, it’s only a dollar,” is how iTunes makes Apple millions of dollars. Or, how about we look at mutual fund fees? Those little numbers after the decimal point makes banks billions of dollars. This small stuff makes big things. So, you need to find your niche and “sweat the small stuff.”
“Well done is better than well said.”
People are obsessed with their ideas. They talk about them and say things like, “if only I had the time…” But lets look at this realistically. If Larry Page and Sergey Brin just talked about creating a search engine that tracked incoming links, we wouldn’t have Google. If Steve Jobs just talked about creating a consumer-friendly PC, we might have been stuck using mainframes and punchcards.
As Henry Ford would have said, “you can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do.”
“Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.”
Procrastination kills business and success. I have wanted to start Prevential.com for more than 2 years and for some reason I waited. Now instead of competing with 200 business blogs, I’m competing with 2,000,000. I’m fighting a war with a pellet gun and it is my own fault for waiting. So, don’t make the same mistake as me.
“Lost Time is Never Found Again”
Have you ever had someone ask you, “where do you find the time?” What a funny question, right? How can someone find time? We all have 24 hours a day. Yet, I still squandered my time.
When I started working, I had to commute for 45 minutes. I would sit on the train and either doze off or listen to music. After doing this for a few months, I thought to myself, “90 minutes a day, 5 days a week, 25 days a month” and I realized I was wasting a full week every month.
It was unbelievable. I was tossing 30 hours of my life out the window every month. So, I decided to start using it. In 2008 I read around 70 books by reading on the train. To put this in perspective, most people read less than 5 books a year.
Now tell me, can you “find any times?”
Do You Have A Favorite Benjamin Franklin Quote?
Why don’t you share it in the comments and talk about it?
{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
Very nice! When people say they just don’t have time to do something, I tell them this: Donald Trump is a billionaire. Wouldn’t you agree that his schedule is at least a million times more hectic than yours? What’s the one thing we have in common with the Donald, time. We all share the same amount of time each day. So don’t tell me that you don’t have the time when a guy the Donald is able to be a billionaire having the same amount of time you have each day.
Great post!
I’m a big Ben Franklin fan. His philosphies about work, productivity, and logic are still so applicable today, especially for business owners. Great annalysis of a few of his quotes, Derek.
@AJ Kumar You know, its not even about how you use your time. First, you need to use your time and then you need to use it well. Donald Trump didn’t make billions all by himself. He did it by using other peoples time as well.
@Your Friendly Do you have a favorite quote?
Very True Derek. Let me clarify though. Being a guy like Trump, or any big time success guru, your time is of the essence. People I’m refering to tell me things like they can’t go to school and work at the same time. or they can’t go to the gym because they have work. It’s about having a strict schedule and following it. Then you’ll be able to get more things done.
Do you get what I mean? Structure in your day is key for time management.
@Aj Kumar I totally get it!
Publisher, inventor and scientist – I’m wondering where did Franklin find the time?
@Phox he would wake up at 5am everyday of the week and work until 10pm.
I can’t think of any right off the top of my head, but I have his 12 virtues hanging on my wall and I try to live by them: Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity. Well, maybe all except the last one
@yourfriendly You know, I saw his 12 virtues and I was thinking about making it a blog series after Success Factors is done. However, moderation is no fun. We have to work everyday of the week much harder than the day before!
We all need to have a plan as to where we want to go just stop spending to much time thinking and worring about it. Instead do what we can to make it turn out in our favor. I agree with this penny earned thing. I have been thinking about all the money companies spend on banner ad, blogs, and search engine survey links clicking on these things cost money even if you get a little back who ever buys that product pays for that CLICK the 20 cents or what ever it might be plus the cost of development and placement. all these surcharges are driving up the price of consumer goods needlessly when was the last time anyone paid any attention to a banner ad??? banks credit card companies move decimals. Service companies charge you 50 for them to push one button constently over charge you 5 months in a row i was over billed on my cell phone and it would of cost me 5 grand to get out of my contract 5000 dollars can you believe that. They fill the web and tv with text this text that spending money on ads to get us to kjust give it back to them by texting it to all our friends 10 cents 3.99 and up America is being taxed by there corporations. Over and over again every day and after we are taxed the little can I put my nickels and dimes in tax me again. no wonder there is no money left for the government to tax me. If you agree e=mail me back.
12 virtues of Franklin. How boring and quoting a man like Franklin in an economi in peril, well I don’t see the relevance.
Franklin was behind the system that causes the economic termoil. Mind you if you see the benefit in fraud, lies deception and religion then go ahead.
No for me success is to do what I want when I want with my own virtues.
Have a great life. The Baldchemist
@Mel To wrestle consumerism is tough. You need to be diligent. You need to understand that you put yourself in your situation and you can take control of it by proactively monitoring where your money goes.
@Baldchemist you’re entitled to your opinion, but Franklin doesn’t have anything to do with the economy today. The last I checked, he was dead.
Really the life history and tips from the big and famous personalities are very important for our success. Thanks for you for this nice post and thanks for Benjamin Franklin for these nice tips.
My favorite is “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
@Message No problem Message
@Don That is a great quote. Although, I don’ tknow if he said it. I think that was in Poor Richard’s Almanac and I don’t think he wrote everything in it.
Interesting thoughts on luck. While I agree that successful people don’t expect to get lucky, they do seem to attribute some events to luck. In “Good to Great”, Jim Collins says that top CEOs in their study (who he calls level five leaders), often attributed their success to luck. They would do this more to deflect the success away from them than anything else – as a part of their humble nature.
@Success Professor Good leaders often attribute their success to luck because they’re humble. In reality, if it was just luck, there would many more “terrible” ceos who led great turnarounds. And, if you read Good to Great, you would know that is not true.
One of my favorite Benjamin Franklin quotes is, “All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.” Think about where you fall and then where you want to be. You will find the only way to get to where you want to go is to be a mover. Wise words by Mr. Franklin.
Nice post Derek.
Wonderful post! Thanks a lot!
Great article Derek! I have always loved the great quotes from BF and you’ve captured some of his best areas of inspiration with them as well. Love the series, I’m just going through the rest of it as well now! Excellent, I can see the work you’ve put into it as I’ve just finished writing my own series being published this month on leadership.
Derek,
A pleasure to read your work, and looking forward to following your blog in the future.
I also view every dollar as valuable, and don’t understand when people say “it’s just a dollar”…it really does add up!
@Mike So, what do you think of the rest of the series so far?
@Pinny Great to have you.
Heard so many times but often forgotten ….
It’s so simple when it’s written … why is that so difficult to apply sometimes !?
Anyway, i’m still trying to reach the objectives ….
Great list of the ever so simple ever so determining quotes. These are some of my favorites.
An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.
That’s really a fantastic post ! I added to my favorite blogs list..
I have been reading your blog last couple of weeks and enjoy every bit. Thanks
.I really impressed while reading your post…..Thank you so much , it will useful to every one….
The secret of success is to ensure you always win with the times and fail to be successful and is Mofleh Mofleh to believe in Allah and His Messenger Muhammad peace be upon him and those he mentioned, in the first Al-believers might say It contains the secret of success
Success factors
Success, so the thing sought by all people, and asks all people,
What is success?
And how to get to success?
There are no direct answers to these questions, because the success has many different factors determine how the individual will to succeed, and these factors vary among individuals and communities, but there are many common factors between success and successful, we are reviewing here without the details of a lengthy,
There is a message of life:
A factor common to all successful and talented, and the message is the end that the individual wants to achieve in his life, which is continuing and ending the death of the individual, so it is a continuous journey of success does not stop, which is in the stages of the great success at times be a failure or success dimmed, and the individual which put a message to his life and committed himself to in order to find more time and more eager to accomplish its objectives and achievements of prominent left after his death.
That is the first inter-successful, and there is a message of life.
Planning and goal setting:
This is understandable, because it is committed to the letter will perform in his life goals to achieve this letter, and will plan to gradually achieve its objectives, planning for life may be a general objectives and detailed plans may be detailed planning for a certain period, and planning helps man to focus and the dispersion in the side – achieve its objectives.
Time-management or self-management:
Planning a day, ie how this man will spend the day? And time management determines the individual success or failure in the end, because today the successful, which benefited the individual closer to success and to achieve some objectives and delivering the message, and the day did not benefit him and did not exploit Fisseok to achieve its objectives and the performance of his, so self-management, use of time is determines your success and your failure.
Dealing with others:
It is an art to be drawn by each person wishes to achieve its objectives, it is the success of relationships and success without dealing with others and cooperate with them,
Innovation and creativity:
Innovation and creativity go hand in hand, which are essential to every person, as the boring daily routine absorbs the energy and enthusiasm of Rights, Vlzim him to renew his life, renew aspects of the spiritual, mental and psychological and physical health, and you will find that successful keen to develop themselves through various means, and are keen to develop their means to achieve their goals.
I am happy to find so many useful information here in the post, thanks for sharing.
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