All About the Benjamins

I remember reading the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin a long time ago for school. I had friends at the time who were so envious of that guy, how much he accomplished in his life. When he was young, he wrote a list of everything he did, all the habits about himself that he didn't like. I don't remember what they were, swearing and stuff. Then he carried little notebooks with him for the rest of his life where he would put little dots next to the things he did, so he could monitor and improve his habits. I guess it worked for him. Actually, wait, I'll google it.

Ah, it was a list of virtues he hoped to achieve, and he'd put dots when he strayed from them. I guess it made him feel guilty about the things he did wrong and made him want to do better. I've never been one for guilt, so it might not work on me. I've never been one to envy the accomplishments of others either, so "the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection" might not be the thing for me at all. I've always been more into Batman than Superman, but at least he did good overall.