Being Like the “Man of Letters”

David Hume said that Benjamin Franklin was “America’s first great man of letters.” And if you’ve ever read Franklin’s letters you would know why. He wrote something like 198 letters, just that we know about, and is considered one of the most prolific and influential writers in history.

As a former history teacher, his writings have always been interesting to me, as has his entire lifetime of work; however, what’s truly remarkable about his writing to me was his process.

Apparently one day when Ben was young his father came across a series of letters he had been exchanging with a friend concerning the topic of education. Ben thought women should be educated and his friend did not. His father told Ben what was good about his letters (mainly spelling and punctuation) and then he showed him where he was falling short compared to his friend. He said, “in elegance of expression, in method and in perspecuity, of which he convinced me by several instances.”

Instead of feeling defeated or accepting his current situation as his best, Franklin set off on an arduous journey towards improving his writing that most of us would never consider. One of the things he did was search out examples of writing that were far superior to anything he had ever come close to producing. He took the English periodical called The Spectacle and began dissecting the articles. First he would read the article and make notes on the meaning of each sentence. Next, a few days later, he would return to his notes and attempt to express the meaning of each sentence in his own words. Finally, he would compare his version to the original essay, find the flaws and then work to correct them.

One of the first things he realized he was lacking was an abundant vocabulary. In order to remedy the situation he decided to rewrite The Spectator essays in verse. He would walk away from them for a few days and when he returned he would write them in prose, always comparing his to the original.

When he noticed that he struggled with organization he came up with this idea where he would make short notes about each sentence from an essay and write each note on a separate sheet of paper. He would then walk away from the essay for a few weeks, until he had forgotten all about its structure and content, and when he returned to it he would mix up all of the slips of paper and attempt to put all of the notes back in the right order and rewrite the essay. Naturally he would then compare his to the original.

The amazing thing about this is that he did all of this on his own, no prompting from a teacher or a boss was required. He chose a target, writing that in is mind represented the best in prose, and he created a structured and deliberate practice so that he would see consistent improvement in his own writing.

We often talk about practicing things we want to get better at but many of us have not learned the art of deliberate practice. Or maybe we knew what it was like as kid but we’ve let it go. Many essay writers who want to become better essay writers often just try and write more essays. But that’s not necessarily practice. It’s just more writing.

Deliberate practice requires practicing what is the most challenging. Tiger Woods did not become the golfer he is because he spent hours every day playing 18 standard holes of golf. He’s the best because he spent hours on end in the rough, chipping shots out of the weeds and hitting the ball into the wind. Just playing 8 hours of golf a day is not enough. Playing 8 hours a day of the hardest golf you will ever see might be.

I think the most important part about practicing is first knowing where you want to go. And the knowing has to be real, true and come from deep within. Unless you really know you want something and you are willing to do whatever it takes to get there, then your commitment will falter. That’s why many projects die on the vine, the final chapters are never written and the screenplay never gets finished.

I also think many people struggle their whole lives to find something they want bad enough to practice no matter how challenging and how miserable it is. I have always been so envious of people who found something early on and stuck with it their whole lives whether it was a sport or a musical instrument or a profession or creative endeavor. I envied not only what they were doing but so admired their commitment to one thing and how much time and effort it must have taken them to achieve the level they have.

And yet at 40 I wonder if their is still time. I wonder if there is still time to be great. With all of the books about talent and hours and mindset that I have running through my head I sometimes have my doubts. Then I hear the stories about people who pick up piano at 40 and are playing Carnegie Hall by 50. Actors who get their first part at 47 and spend the next 30 years in movies.

So, yes – I know it can happen. On some level I know it. Maybe I’m scared to know that because it strips away an excuse.

And maybe, just maybe, if I keep practicing, one day I will be one of those late bloomer stories that will keep others in the game.

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