Benjamin Franklin's Daily Routine: What Good Will You Do Today?

There's much to be discovered in how to live a productive life, making the most of your day, in Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography.  

You can read it here at Gutenberg.org (or download it in several different formats, including Kindle).

It's in the public domain.

1.  Benjamin Franklin's Morning Prayer

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First off, Ben Franklin prayed.  Franklin wrote (p. 148):

And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, I thought it right and necessary to solicit his assistance for obtaining it; to this end I formed the following little prayer, which was prefix'd to my tables of examination, for daily use.

"O powerful Goodness! bountiful Father! merciful Guide! increase in me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest! strengthen my resolutions to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other children as the only return in my power for thy continual favors to me."

I used also sometimes a little prayer which I took from Thomson's
Poems, viz.:

          "Father of light and life, thou Good Supreme!
          O teach me what is good; teach me Thyself!
          Save me from folly, vanity, and vice,
          From every low pursuit; and fill my soul
          With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure;
          Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!"

2. Benjamin Franklin's Daily Routine or "Scheme"

You can find the daily routine he created for himself on page 148 as well.  Here it is (click on the image once to see a larger and easier-to-read version):

I love this "scheme."  I like how he wrote his own prayer to start the day, and how his question to himself is "what good shall I do this day?"

What good shall I do today?  What good are you going to accomplish today?