I Tried Ben Franklin's Daily Schedule For a Week: Here's What Happened – ep. 1

Benjamin Franklin is a fascinating man, and when I saw his morning routine and daily schedule, I knew I had to try it out for myself.

This was a little personal experiment of mine to go a little deeper into the life and mind of one of America's most influential people. I wanted to know more about how he was able to accomplish so much in his life.

So I tried his daily schedule out for a week!

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Thank you to Anaïs for the subtitles! Follow her on instagram: @anaispaturle

#benfranklin #dailyschedule #productivity #mentalclarity

[nathanieldrew]

Should I try more daily schedules in the future?

[Monosekist]

Move this forward 1 hour. Basically a school day.

[ChickenSoupMusic]

It was easier for Ben to fall asleep earlier with less lights and electronics everywhere.

[beatricedubois]

I remember watching a Warren Buffet interview where he said something to the effect of... make a list of all the stuff you want to accomplish in life, then discipline yourself to not pursue anything but your top 3 (?). Over the past few years nearing the end of my 30’s, I kept realizing how true that was and felt that was the key to productivity. Not doing more, but being focused on what you want to dedicate your life to, then embracing your limitations.

[PhantomSavage]

Keep in mind Ben Franklin's "work" involved being a diplomat and a publisher, and was also known to be a notorious socialite as evidenced by his "work" in France where he spent pretty much every day schmoozing it up with French high society, so I imagine many of his social needs were satisfied in the actual course of his work.

Also, Ben Franklin's idea of "fitness" was eating an apple.

[Traderjoe]

I read his book too. He walked from Boston to Philadelphia. In buckle shoes. Through the woods. In the early 1700’s. No roads, really. Just trails that the Native Americans had made. It must have taken a few days, so he had to have camped at night. How scary must that have been? But he had no problem doing it, and neither did other people back then. It’s pretty interesting to think that people back then lived pretty much the way the Romans did 2000 years ago. For all those thousands of years, human comforts barely improved. We exist in a world today that’s really only been like this for less than 60 years. I work with guy who is 73 years old and he grew up in a cold water flat. That’s an apartment without any heat or hot water. You’d have to use a fireplace for warmth in the winter and if you wanted a hot bath, you boiled water and dumped it into a big metal bucket that you sat in. After you were done you’d have to get rid of that water, bit by bit. He said he remembers horses on the street along with cars. The things he has seen about how the world has changed in just his lifetime are staggering. We are truly, truly blessed and the shit we complain about is absolute bullshit. The balls of us to complain, while living here, is incredibly offensive and a muddy kick in the face to those who came before us and fought to give us this freedom that many of us are just willing to throw away. Incredible.

[PeterSedesse]

I don't think his schedule is as important as the fact that he purposefully, at the start of the day, decided what he wanted to accomplish that day, and then at the end of the day made it a point to review how he actually did. He made daily goals and reviewed those goals every day. I am also pretty sure he allocated very little time to commenting on youtube.

[cyberneticbutterfly]

Very important advice: The point of a plan isn't to follow it. It's to have a plan.
A plan roots you. It's your default that you adjust back to. You can deviate from it without feeling bad about that. You just need to contemplate how much you deviate from it and if your deviation over the last week or month is destroying your rythm or if it's just occational justifiable deviations.

[evanbarnes]

I bet Franklin didn't have to do things like cook for himself or do chores. He was a wealthy person in a time when servants were common. That kind of thing honestly eats up a lot of time each day if you have to do it for yourself. He probably had his basic needs met for him by other people, which means that when you're done working for the day, you can just chill out, hang out with people, etc

[wds-net]

"Energy and persistence conquer all things." -Ben Franklin

[visitravenpointscom-thespa]

Awesome video Nate, I'm gonna try it tomorrow. Here are the videos timestamps:
1:04 Overview of Ben Franklin's daily routine
2:07 Day 1 - 5:45am wake up, meditated, studied Italian, fitness for later in the day, felt SUPER productive. So used to being rushed throughout the day. Lost steam around 4:42pm. 9:15pm really happy about the day.
4:49 Day 2 - 5am wake up - finding it hard to wake up at 5am... it is what is! Deep work in the 4 hour blocks. Journaling early in the day has a positive impact on his days.
6:21 Day 4 - Didn't see a day 3! - Problems, sleep he needs 8 hours and wants to get workouts in. Spending a bunch of time by himself, only 3 hours with other people.
9:44 Day 7 - Learnings
- it's been a huge challenge
- hard time keeping up with Ben's tempo
- lots of respect and saw first hard what it takes to become a high achiever
- there are sacrifices you have to make
- this was a window into a different time period


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[pindajung]

"I guess working out wasn't really a priority for him" Insert picture of his belly LOL :P

[marktaro]

One of my most different couple of months was living without internet or a cell phone (only could use public wifi). While I did go crazy for the first week, it became much easier to go to sleep early, and things like studying and going out to socialize came out of boredom rather than force. Along with the psychological changes than happen, I would recommend to anyone at least once in your life.

[MarshmilloJB]

I've been binge-watching your content, and it's amazing!

As someone who is also 21, and lives with my grandmother, I'd like to point out that people need less sleep as they age. It's natural for someone like us, who has not reached 25 (I think that's the age our frontal lobes are fully mature), to sleep more. We're still "growing" in a sense, whereas Ben Franklin was very much in his maintenance stage in life.

Cheers from Canada~

[TheModernHermeticist]

During that time, everyone went to bed early (nothing to do in the dark) and rose with the sun, so most people on a similar schedule.

[kristin]

We learned about Franklin's schedule back in high school and our teacher asked us to try it. I was probably one of the only students to actually try to do a variation of it, but I can say that it really did change how I perceived what was going on in my life. This video makes me want to try it again.

[NewEngland]

Franklins daily routine seems pretty common even today and the questions at the beginning and end of the day are Stoic traditions.

[swingtodivine]

Morning prayers help me a lot, I love giving God the glory He deserves for allowing me to wake up again! :-)

[andrewsmith]

Totally off topic but who hates the iPhone alarm

[AironsWorld]

Thank you for making videos! I get a ton of inspiration from you every day just to go about life with an open mind and to always try something new!