Back in the late 1720s, a young man by the name of Benjamin Franklin wrote out a plan.

A plan that he called a “bold and arduous Project of arriving at moral Perfection.”

He listed 13 virtues that he wanted to develop.

His plan was to spend one week on each virtue so that he could master it, and then move on to the next one. Cycling through the entire list 4x per year.

Today, we rarely discuss the importance of developing virtue.

The focus is on hacks. Methodologies. Frameworks. Tricks. Software tools.

There’s nothing wrong with these things. But they should sit on top of the foundational layer of virtue, character and commitment.

Hacks are fickle. Virtues are foundational.

If you’re lazy, a chronic procrastinator, and you consistently seek the easy path when you know internally that you should be seeking the difficult path…

A hack will not help you.

It might give you a temporary boost.

You might discover a new tactic for scheduling work blocks in your calendar. Or a new morning routine that supposedly energizes you.

But inevitably you end up back where you were: in a state of dissatisfaction—knowing that you’re capable of more—but not making the necessary commitment to fundamentally change yourself and your character.

When you commit yourself to developing virtues and developing your character, you find that it’s the opposite of fickle.

It’s robust. It’s anti-fragile. It’s foundational.

You strip yourself of the anti-virtues: laziness, procrastination, seeking the easy path…

And replace them with moral virtues: discipline, diligence, duty, doing what you know you should do.

Hacks only work in specific contexts. Virtues are transferrable.

People can employ productivity hacks in their work life, but in other domains they suffer because those same hacks don’t work.

That’s why you’ll come across people who are productive at work because they’ve optimized their schedule, use productivity timers, created a focus-friendly environment…

But when it comes to fitness, health, their home, or other areas of life—they’re a mess. They are only disciplined in one area, which means that they’re arguably not disciplined at all.

Virtues are transferrable. Those who are considered “consistent” and “diligent” are usually so across multiple areas of life.

Those who persevere do so across multiple areas of life.

Hacks are no match for feelings. Virtues override them.

Our modern culture has a high view of feelings.

You see it manifest itself in the extreme political correctness, but also in individuals who absolve themselves of responsibility because it’s uncomfortable and they don’t feel like it.

I’m not grandstanding. I’ve been there. I’ve wasted months, if not years of my life procrastinating and avoiding responsibility—simply because I didn’t “feel” like it and I treated those feelings as my compass.

The philosophers of old realized that feelings were often unreliable, and should be subjugated to virtue.

And really, they can only be subjugated to virtue. Hacks are no match for them. Knowing how to use the pomodoro technique will not overcome your negative feelings.

Just because I don’t “feel” like working, doesn’t mean I should play video games all day. If I embody the virtue of discipline, I’ll do the work anyway.

Virtue is a goal in and of itself

As Epictetus says, “Moral progress results in freedom from inner turmoil.”

Virtue isn’t a means to an end, but developing it is extremely likely to lead to better material outcomes.

When you lack virtue, or you embody the anti-virtues like laziness, frivolity, carelessness, dishonesty, impulsivity…

There’s a low-level anxiety and stress that pervades your life.

It’s like you can never truly relax. You can never truly be satisfied. Because you know something’s broken and you’re not fixing it.

But when you work towards developing virtue, you experience a sense of calm and peace.

You feel mentally and emotionally stronger. You are more willing to do your work and finish your projects. You are less shaken up by bad events and bad news. You stay the path and develop good habits.

Do you want to achieve something, or do you want to be someone?

Anyone can achieve fleeting success with a bit of luck and some focused effort for a brief period of time.

But we all know people who’ve done that and then failed to replicate it. Or they’ve become egotistical as a result of a single achievement, and they aren’t fun to be around anymore.

I don’t know about you, but when people talk about me behind my back, I don’t want them to talk about what I’ve achieved. I want them to talk about who I am.

I want to be known as the person who’s disciplined. Who has integrity. Who perseveres. Who’s patient and consistent.

Hacks might help you achieve something. Finish a project. Make some progress.

But cultivating virtue builds your true character. Who you are.

---

That's it for this week's newsletter!

-Sam

P.S. Last week I published a video on why you should develop Metaskills (and how to develop them). If you've been worrying about how to adapt with the changing times, it's worth a watch.