Jefferson's 10 point plan for improvement

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Thomas Jefferson's 10 Point Plan for Improvement

1. Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today

Jefferson rose before sunrise each day to get a head start on his massive to-do lists.

2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself

Jefferson believed on the spirit of personal as well as political independence and thought that it began with the ability to solve one’s own problems.

3. Never spend your money before you have it

Jefferson learned this the hard way by violating this advice repeatedly and suffering the consequences.

4. Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap; it will be dear to you later

Jefferson loved life and saw material objects as means to experience rather than ends in themselves.

5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst and cold

At the center of power for many years, Jefferson witnessed the disastrous effects of egotism and believing one’s own publicity on many powerful people.

6. We never repent of haven eaten too little

Jefferson’s extraordinary vitality was in part a function of his healthy diet and his practice of leaving the table before he was full.

7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly

As a natural optimist, Jefferson was able to choose to see the best in all life’s circumstances. This was his way of saying, “to get what you choose, choose what you’ve got.”

8. How much pain has cost us the evils which have never happened

Jefferson reminds us that worry is pointless. His optimism helped protect him from anxiety about the future.

9. Take things away by their smooth handle

Jefferson was an elegant mind with a talent for finding the path of least resistance.

10. When angry, count to ten before you speak; if very angry, a hundred

As a man of the Enlightenment, Jefferson championed the voice of reason and understood the great power of words to cause harm as well as good.

Thanks to my friend and longtime colleague, Blaine Greenfield, for these wonderful reminders!

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