Monday morning, the coffee still too hot to sip, and a whole week spread out ahead like a clean page. Most of us begin by asking what we have to get done. Almost three hundred years ago, a young Philadelphia printer began his day with a better question.
He wrote it at the top of a little daily schedule in his notebook, right beside the hour he rose and washed. The Morning Question, What Good shall I do this Day? At night he closed the page with its twin, What Good have I done to day?
That printer was Benjamin Franklin. Long before the lightning experiments, the Declaration and his years in Paris, he was a young man trying to grow a little better each week, and his simple method still feels made for a Monday.
This is part of Timeless Authors, our daily series on the writers who change ordinary days. Yesterday Confucius showed us how to stay green through the cold. Today Benjamin Franklin shows us how to begin each day with one good question.
Benjamin Franklin (1706 to 1790)
American printer, writer, scientist and diplomat whose Autobiography and Poor Richard’s almanac still teach the art of daily self improvement.
The Teaching of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin taught that good character grows through small, steady practice. He named thirteen virtues, gave each one a week of focused attention and tracked his progress in a little book. His day opened with a question about the good he could do and closed with a kind look back at the good he had done.
The Morning Question, What Good shall I do this Day?
Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Section Thirty Eight, begun 1771)
Notice how small this question is. It asks for one good thing, today, and it turns an ordinary schedule into a quiet adventure. Franklin placed it at five in the morning, at the very start of his day, before work and before the world got loud.
In Their Own Words, Favorite and Lesser Known Quotes
Franklin wrote in English, so every quote below is his own wording, with his original spelling and capital letters. The Autobiography quotes come from the free text on Wikisource, and the proverbs come from a 1914 selection of Poor Richard’s Almanack, also free on Wikisource.
On Beginning and Ending the Day
Rise, wash, and address Powerful Goodness; Contrive Day’s Business and take the Resolution of the Day; prosecute the present Study
Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Section Thirty Eight, begun 1771)
Evening Question, What Good have I done to day?
Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Section Thirty Eight, begun 1771)
Franklin gave his mornings a gentle order. A moment of reverence, a plan, a resolution and a little study, then work. At night he looked back with honest curiosity, ready to begin again at sunrise.
On Order and Useful Work
Let all your Things have their Places. Let each Part of your Business have its Time.
Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Section Thirty Six, the virtue of Order, begun 1771)
Diligence is the mother of good luck.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack (1914 selection, no. 112)
A place for every thing and a time for every task. Franklin’s precepts are short enough to fit on a sticky note and strong enough to shape a whole week, and steady effort has a lovely way of turning into good fortune.
On Progress One Virtue at a Time
I made a little Book in which I allotted a Page for each of the Virtues.
Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Section Thirty Seven, begun 1771)
I was surpris’d to find myself so much fuller of Faults than I had imagined, but I had the Satisfaction of seeing them diminish.
Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Section Thirty Eight, begun 1771)
Franklin marked each slip with a small spot in his book, and week by week he watched the spots grow fewer. Progress you can see is progress you keep choosing.
On Reading and Learning
From a Child I was fond of Reading, and all the little Money that came into my Hands was ever laid out in Books.
Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Section Seven, begun 1771)
Every spare coin went to books. Franklin’s formal schooling ended at age ten, and reading became his lifelong classroom, the same classroom that opens for us every morning.
On Doing Good and Doing Well
the most acceptable Service of God was the doing Good to Man
Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Section Thirty Five, begun 1771)
Well done is better than well said.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack (1914 selection, no. 609)
For Franklin, goodness was something you do with your hands. A kind act, a finished task, a neighbor helped. Words matter, and deeds carry them home.
Who Was Benjamin Franklin?
Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, the tenth son among the seventeen children of a soap and candle maker. His formal schooling ended at age ten, and at twelve he was apprenticed to his older brother James, a printer, according to Britannica.
He built a thriving printing business in Philadelphia, published the Pennsylvania Gazette from 1729 and printed Poor Richard’s almanac every year from 1732 to 1757. With friends in his discussion club, the Junto, he started the Library Company of Philadelphia in 1731 and later helped form the American Philosophical Society.
His curiosity carried him into the new science of electricity, where he coined words we still use, like conductor and charge. He helped draft and signed the Declaration of Independence, represented the United States in France during the American Revolution and served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention.
Franklin began his Autobiography in 1771 and returned to it in 1784, after helping negotiate the treaty that established American independence. He died in Philadelphia on April 17, 1790, and the book became one of the most widely read autobiographies ever published.
What Virtue Really Means
For Franklin, virtue was a skill, something you practice the way you practice handwriting or music. He gave each of his thirteen virtues a short precept, from Temperance to Humility, and a friend urged him to publish his plan as a book on the Art of Virtue.
His method was gentle and patient. One virtue held his full attention for a week, then he carried it forward and added the next, so a full round took thirteen weeks and he could complete four rounds in a year.
So instead of asking how can I become a perfect person, try asking which one small virtue can I practice this week.
For more on how small repeated actions shape a life, read William James on attention and habit. To build your own weekly rhythm, try 52 Systems in 52 Weeks.
Why This Teaching Fits Today
This post arrives on a Monday in early November, with a fresh week ahead and the year heading into its final stretch. Franklin’s little book ran on a weekly rhythm, one virtue per week, so Monday is the perfect day to choose yours.
The darker November mornings also invite us inward. A warm drink, a notebook and one good question are all it takes to make the early hours feel bright.
Your Morning Practice, the Franklin Morning Question
- Rise and give thanks. Begin the way Franklin did, with a quiet moment of gratitude for the gift of a new day.
- Ask the question. Write What good shall I do this day at the top of a page and answer it with one specific act.
- Choose your virtue. Pick one of Franklin’s thirteen virtues, such as Order or Industry, and make it your focus all week.
- Read one page. Spend five minutes with the Autobiography or another good book before the day picks up speed.
- Close the loop tonight. Before bed, ask What good have I done today and mark your page with a small check.
Make it stick with an if then plan. If I open my notebook this Monday morning, then I will write Franklin’s question and one good act I will do today.
Essential Reading
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, his own story of work, learning and the thirteen virtues, free on Wikisource
- Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, a second free edition on Project Gutenberg
- Poor Richard’s Almanack, a 1914 selection of his proverbs, free on Wikisource
- Benjamin Franklin on Britannica, a readable biography of his whole life
Quick Answers About Benjamin Franklin
Who was Benjamin Franklin?
Benjamin Franklin (1706 to 1790) was an American printer, writer, scientist and diplomat. He helped draft and signed the Declaration of Independence, and his Autobiography became one of the most widely read autobiographies ever published.
What was Benjamin Franklin’s morning question?
In his Autobiography, the daily schedule he kept in a little book opens with the line “The Morning Question, What Good shall I do this Day?” Each evening he asked a matching question about the good he had done.
What are Benjamin Franklin’s thirteen virtues?
Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquillity, Chastity and Humility. Franklin gave each one a short precept and practiced them one week at a time.
Did Benjamin Franklin say early to bed and early to rise?
The line appears in Poor Richard’s Almanack, the yearly almanac Franklin wrote and printed. The full proverb reads “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
Where can I read Benjamin Franklin for free?
His Autobiography is free on Wikisource and Project Gutenberg. A 1914 selection of Poor Richard’s proverbs is also free on Wikisource.
One Good Question on a Monday
Tomorrow morning, before the inbox and the news, pick up your pen the way Franklin did. Five in the morning or seven, the hour matters less than the question you carry into it.
The Morning Question, What Good shall I do this Day?
Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Section Thirty Eight, begun 1771)
What one good thing will you do today?
Start early. Start good. Start today.
Complement this with Confucius on Learning, Kindness and Lifting Others, Emerson’s Case for the Life Only You Can Live and Henry David Thoreau on Mornings and Simple Living.
Want a calm, intentional start every day? Hold Until Sunrise is our little app for mornings that matter.
For a little goodness in your inbox every Sunday, join us here.
With love, Paolo
Sources
- Britannica, Benjamin Franklin
- Britannica, Autobiography, work by Franklin
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Wikisource
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Section Seven, Wikisource
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Section Thirty Five, Wikisource
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Section Thirty Six, Wikisource
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Section Thirty Seven, Wikisource
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Section Thirty Eight, Wikisource
- Poor Richard’s Almanack (1914 selection), Wikisource
- Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Project Gutenberg
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Carry this into tomorrow morning
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