SUCCESS STORY
The Path to Success:
Benjamin Franklin and Legacies, Opportunities, and 10,000 Hours
By Peter Knutson | Business and Political Science Major
It was a scorching Pennsylvania summer afternoon, with sweat dripping off of the bodies of the 56 chosen men packed into the Congressional meeting. These men were called together to sign a new document called the Declaration of Independence. One man in particular, a wise, short, old, slightly chubby, balding man, far different from his counterparts, would draft, edit and sign this new creation. Little did he know, he would end up signing one of the greatest documents in history. Fast forward to that same Pennsylvania location, eleven years later, and this man would sign the Constitution: the governing guideline to one of the most powerful countries in the world. His name was Benjamin Franklin (Eliot 173).
Benjamin Franklin was not randomly selected to sign the Declaration of Independence or Constitution. He did not get selected by being lazy and putting in poor effort. He did not get selected by wasting his opportunities either. Benjamin Franklin was so successful and participated in these outstanding moments in history because of his family legacy, his excellent opportunities, and his 10,000 hours of meaningful work.
“In 1889, Louis and Regina Borgenicht boarded an ocean liner in Hamburg bound for America. Louis was from Galacia, a small town in Poland, while Regina was from a small town in Hungary. They had enough money to last a few weeks, at best … Like so many other immigrants to America in those years, theirs was a leap of faith” (Gladwell 139).
Success begins even before the hero is born; it begins in their family legacy. The Borgenichts story from Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers are a great example of this. Because they were Jewish, they were not allowed to own land, so they had to learn urban professions with occupational skill. They were looking for any way to pay their $8.00 per month rent. While these things may not seem to have been useful, they were a huge advantage. Being a garment maker in New York City in the 1890’s was extraordinarily fortunate, similar to living in Silicon Valley in 1986 with skills in computer programming. They put in meaningful work and took advantage of their background to use it for success. Their background not only benefited them, but it was also an advantage for their descendants (Gladwell 139–151).
In 1982, a sociology graduate student named Louise Farkas did an interview process on people like the Borgenichts, who came to New York in a wave of Jewish immigration at the turn of the century. She constructed a family tree and the occupations of the descendants were jaw-dropping. Every single one of the examples of third generation children turned out to be either a doctor or a lawyer — prosperous and well-educated professions. Gladwell sums it up: “These Jewish Doctors and lawyers didn’t become professionals in spite of their humble origins. They became professionals because of their humble origins” (Gladwell 151–153).
There exists a similar story in the life of Benjamin Franklin. In his autobiography, Franklin wrote to his son about his history and ancestry. In the beginning he wrote about how he emerged from poverty and obscurity to the state of affluence (Eliot 5) He then went on to describe his family, and how they lived in the same village of Ecton for at least 300 years. They lived on a freehold of thirty acres, which continued into the family until his son, the eldest son being bred into that business. Franklin then described how he was the youngest son of the youngest son of five generations back (Eliot 6–7). In his family he shows how the eldest son had the biggest perceived advantage in getting to take over the family business. He then explained his religious roots. His grandfather and father adhered to conventicles that were forbidden by law and forced them to leave the country. This Protestant background led them to New Endland in 1682 (Eliot 9).
When Franklin was a child, he was put into grammar-school at age eight. His father wanted him to grow up and serve in the Church. Franklin and his father Josiah did not agree on his career. His father could only afford school for him until he was twelve, so he dropped out to go be an apprentice in his brother’s printing business (Eliot 8–14). Most would look at his background and think nothing of it. It did not appear to give him any advantages; rather, it seems to put him at a disadvantage. Whether or not Franklin was aware of it, his family legacy gave him a jump-start in life.
His poor and Protestant beginnings gave him ideas and practical maxims of the American mind on building a nation: “Early to Bed, and early to rise, makes a Man healthy, wealthy, and wise”; “There are no Gains without Pains”; “Diligence is the Mother of Good-luck”; and “God gives all Things to Industry” were some of his most famous quotes. The Puritan ideals of hard work, self-examination, discipline and virtue were necessary ingredients for the development of the nation at that time (Effing 129). Because he was the youngest son of the youngest son, his father was not secured a job on the family farm, and Franklin himself was not secured an education. This allowed him to choose a destiny of printing rather than being forced into a profession that would not have allowed him to be successful at that time.
While Franklin disagreed with his father Josiah on some matters, he learned how to be successful from him. “From early struggles with his father and brother Franklin comes to recognize that legitimating and authorizing power depend on the function of the father” (Osborne 15). These struggles led him to a realization:
In other words rather than depending completely on patriarchal social norms bodied forth in the family, the father’s power also grew out of the set of material and cultural practices that legitimate particular kinds of individuals’ power and that exist above and beyond the actual individual (Eliot 15).
Franklin writes about his father’s ability to express this “understanding” and “judgment” (Osborne 16). All his life growing up Franklin was learning how to be a successful man just by watching and learning from his father. On top of all this, he was able to start out being successful because of his poor family. Yes, because he was not able to finish school, it allowed him to work at his brother’s printing press, where he would start his career as just a boy. Franklin utilized his background to propel him right from the start and did not look back. While background plays a key role in achieving success, it is merely the foundation. The opportunities that arise in one’s lifetime are another critical aspect of being successful.
“I had a better exposure to software development at a young age than I think anyone did in that period of time, and all because of an incredibly lucky series of events” — Bill Gates (Gladwell 55).
Malcolm Gladwell does a great job of explaining the importance of opportunities through the story of Bill Gates in Outliers. It starts with young Gates shipped off to Lakeside private school in Seattle. This school was one of the only in the country to have a mainframe computer at the time. He got to do real-time programming as an eighth grader in 1968. Another opportunity was that Bill Gates happened to live within walking distance of the University of Washington, which had free computer time at a convenient time-slot for Bill. On top of this, a founder of ISI named Bud Pembroke got a call from technology company TRW. TRW was located in Washington and needed programmers familiar with the software. Pembroke then called Bill’s school, and Bill managed to convince his teachers to let him do an independent study project of writing code (Gladwell 54). These series of opportunities presented to bill were incredibly extraordinary and laid a foundation for success.
Along with these opportunities is the coincidence of his age. For the personal computer revolution, the most important date was January 1975. This is when the first affordable PC came out. The best age to utilize this computer is 21 years old; when one is old enough to be a part of the revolution, but not too old to miss it. Lucky for Bill gates, he was born in 1955, the perfect date. He was the perfect age for innovation of the PC (Gladwell 63–65). All of these opportunities produced one of the richest most successful men in history.
There are many similarities in the life of Bill Gates and Benjamin Franklin. It starts with Franklin at a young age, just like Gates. At age 12, Franklin dropped out of school to work in his brother’s printing press (Eliot 13). This gave him a head start on the printing game at an age almost identical to Bill Gates. This meant that while other kids were in school or spending their time with other things, he was training in the art that was a breakthrough way of communication at the time. Another important opportunity was when he was brought back to Philadelphia. In Philadelphia he created his own printing house where he published The Pennsylvania Gazette. This was important because it allowed him to begin writing his own pieces, in which he would later write Poor Richard’s Almanac and printing in “Father Abraham’s Sermon”, which gave him recognition in the prominent city of Philadelphia. These skills and recognition launched him into government and diplomatic affairs, which were highly crucial during the time period of the American Revolution (Eliot 171–173). His series of opportunities one after another led him to success.
Other sources share about how important opportunity is, and how it related to Benjamin Franklin. In an interview with National Geographic photographer Brian Lehmann, he shared his tips for success. He talked about how to be successful he had to “drop everything to make it” and create his own opportunities (Lehmann). Franklin realized this when he quit school and went into the printing business right away. He also practiced this by creating his own business in Philadelphia and publishing his own works. In a recent Ted Talk, Ken Robinson shared his opinion on opportunities relating to success. “The real role of leadership is climate control, creating a climate of possibility. And if you do that, people will rise to it and achieve things that you completely did not anticipate and couldn’t have expected.” (Robinson). Lucky for Benjamin Franklin, he was alive and took advantage of his climate of possibility. He used his opportunities to create his own success, and understands the importance of them in achieving greatness. Family legacy and opportunities are building blocks for success, but in order to truly be successful, one must put in 10,000 hours of meaningful work.
“We got better and got more confidence. We couldn’t help it with all the experience playing all night long … In Hamburg, we had to play for eight hours, so we really had to find a new way of playing” (Gladwell 49).
This quote is an example of the 10,000 hour rule is proposed in Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. Gladwell focuses on the success of one of the greatest bands ever: The Beatles. In 1960 they were invited to play in Hamburg Germany. Hamburg didn’t pay well, didn’t have the best acoustics, or the best audiences either. The special thing about this place was the amount of time the band was forced to play. They traveled to Hamburg five times between 1960 and 1962. In those five trips they performed for 270 nights in just over a year and a half. This totaled up to 1,200 hours in that short period. Before these five excursions, they weren’t disciplined at all. They had to learn many numbers and covers of multiple genres including rock and jazz. When they came back they were better than everyone else. Most bands don’t even get to perform this many times in their entire careers (Gladwell 50). This is one of the most important things that set the Beatles apart. They put in the meaningful and efficient work to set them apart of the competition.
Benjamin Franklin’s life experiences and work ethic were similar to the Beatles in the sheer amount of hours he put in. He started young in the print shop, and worked his entire life at different occupations from printer, author, diplomat, statesman and scientists. He put in over 10,000 total in all of his work because he started so young (Eliot 171). In his autobiography he writes about his 13 virtues to live by. One of these is Industry, in which he writes “lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.” (Eliot 83). Here he explains how he was always doing something to get ahead in life, and always striving to be successful.
Business insider also has a take on one of Franklin’s virtues. One of his virtues was “resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.” Business insider translate it to modern language, recommending that to be successful one needs to not let small problems bother them but rather set their eyes on the prize and follow through (Popper). Franklin helped to inspire his fellow Americans through his self-help literature. His enlightenment values described men as being good and as always striving to become better. He says “that man is not even at present a vicious and detestable animal, and still more … that good management may greatly amend him” (Effing 128). He utilized his 10,000 hours to try to be as successful as possible. Franklin understood that it took hard work to be great and his 10,000 hours created one of the most interesting men of the American Revolution.
There the old man sat, pondering old memories and past experiences. He began writing an autobiography of his entire life to his son. He wrote about his past jobs, starting from printing apprentice, moving up the ladder to publisher and businessman, and climbing all the way up to diplomat. He wrote down all of his titles, including scientist, politician, author and statesman. He wrote about all the places he travelled, including Boston, Philadelphia and London. To conclude his incredible life story, he wrote about drafting and signing two of the greatest documents in American history. This man’s name was Benjamin Franklin. (Eliot 3–4).
The spectacular stories and achievements of Franklin appear very unique. Most people are fascinated by the life of Franklin, and how a man could come from such humble beginnings and still become one of the smartest men in the world. His life is intriguing, but when explored and examined more precisely, it is not as surprising as some would see it. Benjamin Franklin was destined for greatness; it just takes more investigation to understand why. Franklin’s family legacy helped him even before he was born, his opportunities created gateways to success, and his 10,000 hours of hard, yet efficient work propelled him to become perhaps one of the most famous founding fathers of our country.
Works Cited
Effing, Mercé Mur. “The Origin and Development of Self-Help Literature in the United States: The Concept of Success and Happiness, an Overview.” Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies. 31.2. (2009): 125–141. Web. 6 May, 2015.
Eliot, Charles W. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. New York: P F Collier and Son. 1909. Print.
Fabian, Nelson. “Real Power!” Journal of Environmental Health. 73.8. (n.d.): 42,34. Web. 7 April, 2015.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008. Print.
Lehmann, Brian. Personal Interview. 26 February. 2015.
Osborne, Jeff. “Benjamin Franklin and the Rhetoric of Virtuous Self-Fashioning in Eighteenth-Century America.” Murray State University Press. 23.9 (2008). P. 14–30. Web. 9 March, 2015.
Popper, Ben. “Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Secrets to Business Success.” Business Insider. Business Insider Inc. 2 Aug. 2010.Web. 5 May, 2015.
Robinson, Ken. “Ken Robinson: How to Escape Educations’ Death Valley.” Ted. Los Angeles. April 2013. Web.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Peter Knutson, a freshman from Bloomington, MN currently studying business and political science at Bethel University in St. Paul, MN. Knutson likes Taylor Swift, popcorn, and America.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED
One semester of college writing taught me how to write as much as all my previous years combined.
Dropping the reader in a moment hooks the reader in. It is the best way to get attention to one’s paper.
Great writers “name the dog”, making things more relatable and interesting.
Great writers have guts and take the reader to a different place.
Details enhance and change the sentence for the better. As an example, take the sentence “an old ugly car”. This sentence comes off as vague and subjunctive. Add details making it “A 1973 two-tone green Ford F-150 pickup truck” and it becomes completely different. Now the reader can actually picture it in their mind.
While great writers put details in, they also leave trivial things out.
Originality is key. Great writers write sentences that have never been written before.
Authentic dialogue enriches the characters and the plot.
Readers want to see something before they hear it. Great writers utilize showing rather than telling.
Malcolm Gladwell utilizes these strategies in the best way possible. He has taught me how to be more organized and become better at storytelling. From Gladell’s writings, especially in Outliers, I learned that starting the paper off with a story draws the reader in. It helps the reader connect and understand more clearly. After telling the reader more about the story and supporting his thesis, Gladwell is great at finishing where he started. A paper with this organization provides clear and organized thoughts and ideas in a way best for the reader.
On top of learning how to write, I also learned what it takes to be successful.
Malcom Gladwell’s novel Outliers taught me some of the fundamentals of success.
Success begins with cultural and family legacy. One’s background and history set the building blocks for success.
Opportunities create pathways for success. It is up to people to take advantage of their opportunities.
Whether or not people believe it, they cannot achieve success alone. Other people are necessary for help.
In order to master something and become great at it, one must put in 10,000 hours of meaningful work.
A combination of strong family legacies, unique opportunities, and 10,000 hours of quality work foster and create successful people.
Below is an example of a Writing Covenant moment.
2:24 on a Thursday afternoon. One minute before college writing class started. Andy plopped down next to me, drinking out of his classic Bethel coffee cup. We chatted about the ensuing dead-lifts that were about to wreck our lower body muscles. Professor Winter hobbled up to the front of the class with robotic knee and thermos in hand.
“Crack out your journals to where you left off. Is this a class?”
“nooo…”
“That’s right this is a writing covenant. Eric put four minutes on the timer. Class, please write about a moment in one of your worst jobs. If you can’t think of one, write about anything you want, but don’t stop writing.”
Just an average day in college writing. But it was not average at all. That day was another day where I would be challenged into thinking and learning about writing, and improve my writing skills for the future.
