10 Timeless Lessons From Benjamin Franklin

What makes a leader? Intelligence, passion, strength, devotion, charisma, tenacity, perseverance, generosity, forgiveness?

Franklin possessed all of these qualities and that is why he is considered to be one of the greatest American minds. He seems to embody and personify the American dream. Born the son of a candle maker, few people would have surmised that Franklin would master so many disciplines. His story proves that with determination and dedication, success is within anyone’s grasp.

Franklin is perhaps the single most multi-talented figure in American history. His accomplishments are too varied to fully describe here; they include signing the Declaration of Independence, serving as postmaster of Philadelphia, founding the first American fire insurance company, living in Paris as American ambassador to France, and inventing useful objects like the lightning rod, the Franklin stove, and bifocal glasses.

He was like a Microsoft founding father. He earned a bundle and retired at 42, which left him time to fly kites, invent things, foment revolution. He also packed his mega selling Poor Richard’s Almanac with tons of useful stuff about health, fitness, nutrition and success. And here are ten of his timeless lessons:

Fitness
1. Benjamin Franklin said: “No gains without pains.”
Why he is right: Weight training creates microscopic tears in muscles, which rebuild themselves bigger and stronger while you rest. So soreness is a likely result of these muscle tears and inflammation. But you have to know the difference between good soreness and bad pain. Here is the difference: if you feel sore while doing your normal workout, stop and wait 2 more days. If soreness persists, see a doctor.


Health
2. Benjamin Franklin said: “He’s the best physician that knows the worthlessness of the most medicines.”
Why he is right: Beware the doctor who dispenses antibiotics as if they were Pez - 75 percent of prescriptions for upper-respiratory infections are unnecessary, according to a recent study. Doctors often prescribe because of patients’ insistence, time constraints, and misconceptions about when antibiotics are necessary, says Vincenza Snow, M.D., the study’s author.

3. Benjamin Franklin said: “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy wealthy and wise.”
Why he is right: Researchers from the University of California/San Diego School of Medicine found that rising early in the morning elevated levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) by 70%. LH is involved in the production of testosterone, a hormone which can help men to build muscle, cut fat, and raise mood.

4. Benjamin Franklin said: “There can’t be good living where there is not good drinking.”
Why he is right: Drinking water is essential! Everything your body does it does better with a healthy supply of water, every system in your body depends on water.

Relationships
5. Benjamin Franklin said: “Speak ill of no man, but speak all the good you know of everybody” and “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.”
Why he is right: Everyone dislikes criticism and resents the criticizer. Criticism evokes negative feelings of tension, resentment, and hurt feelings. When dealing with people, we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity.

6. Benjamin Franklin said: “Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.”
Why he is right: Premarital counseling - or simply talking about their relationships - can help starry-eyed young couples with tough issues like money, kids, sex, and religion, says Al Cooper, Ph.D. After marriage, ignore her quirks and show tolerance, Cooper says. Don’t point out an annoying habit while she’s doing it. Wait till you have a few peaceful minutes.

Career
7. Benjamin Franklin said: “Take counsel in wine, but resolve afterwards in water.”
Why he is right: It’s okay to brainstorm a project over a beer. “Alcohol, when first taken in, loosens inhibitions. Diminished inhibition is the best spur to creativity,” says Morris Chafetz, M.D., president of the Health Education Foundation. But it’s important to review those cocktail-napkin notes the next day, to see what will really
work.

Nutrition
8. Benjamin Franklin said: “A full Belly makes a dull Brain.”
Why he is right: The gastric acid your stomach uses to digest a protein-heavy meal forms bicarbonate, which alters your blood pH and indeed causes “dullness in the brain,” says Philip Miner, M.D., medical director of the Oklahoma Foundation for Digestive Research. The best meal for a controlled release of energy throughout the afternoon: chicken on whole wheat with a piece of fruit and some juice.

Wealth
9. Benjamin Franklin said: “Time is money.”
Why he is right: A mathematical formula calculated by a British university professor has found that time actually is money. Economics professor Ian Walker, of central England’s Warwick University, says process can show people just how valuable their time is in relation to any task they have to perform, from a lie-in or cooking a meal to sleeping and working.

10. Benjamin Franklin said: “Patience in Market is worth Pounds in a year.”
Why he is right: If tech stocks make you twitch, consider old economy stocks like railroads and manufacturing. Then sit on them. On average, the stock market has grown 10.5 percent a year for 70 years.

Benjamin Franklin also said:

“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing.”

People have never forgotten Benjamin Franklin because he did both. He lived these words of wisdom by writing as much as he possibly could and by doing even more. And as we have seen earlier Ben’s ideas are still alive in our world today.