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Ben Franklin

Ben Franklin and the Virtues and Ills of Pursuing Luxury

In a letter written in 1784 to his friend Benjamin Vaughan, Ben Franklin has a very interesting cogitation on the aggregate effect of the pursuit of luxuries beyond our needs. Franklin displays a …

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A Brief History of the To-Do List

To-do lists are evil from a productivity perspective, it’s much more effective to schedule time. This is something New York Times science writer John Tierney and psychologist Roy F. Baumeister …

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Benjamin Franklin’s Rule for Making Decisions

When Charles Darwin set out to marry, he employed a technique pioneered half a century earlier by Ben Franklin. Despite his importance, the prolific Franklin often gave his practical wisdom to many of …

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The Ben Franklin Effect

Ben Franklin discovered that a person who has done someone a favor is more likely to do that person another favor than they would be had they received a favor. Or, as Franklin put it: “He that …

Continue readingThe Ben Franklin Effect

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