Arnold Schwarzenegger success principles

Arnold’s Lessons for Flexing Your Own Selling Muscles
By Malcolm Fleschner

Plot Your Growth
Even from his earliest days as an amateur bodybuilder in Austria, the teenage Schwarzenegger was already planning his assault on Hollywood. Rather than merely dreaming about fame and fortune, however, Arnold carefully outlined the steps he needed to take to turn his dreams into reality.

Accept No Limitations
If Arnold had a nickel for every time someone told him, “You can’t do that,” even he couldn’t lift them all. His remarkable personal story proves that there is no substitute for an unshakable faith in your own ability to overcome obstacles.

Seek out the Best
Contrary to his action-star image as a solo flyer with no use for the opinions of others, Schwarzenegger has in fact always sought out mentors, surrounded himself with successful people and learned from other high achievers.

Remember to Stretch
Complacency is the enemy of true high achievement. Whether as a bodybuilder, businessman, actor or politician, Arnold has never been content to rest on his laurels or bask in the glow of his achievements. He has always looked for new challenges, eager to leverage today’s accomplishment to help launch tomorrow’s success.

This Time It’s Personal
Arnold understands that he is his own best advocate. Whether releasing a new movie, opening a Planet Hollywood restaurant, publishing a new book on fitness, or running for governor, Arnold has always dedicated as much personal energy to promoting his work as to the work itself.

Failure Is Not an Option
In 1993 Schwarzenegger starred in The Last Action Hero, which would prove to be the biggest box-office flop in history. You wouldn’t have known it to look at Arnold, though. He remained cheerfully upbeat and refused to listen to critics who called him washed up. The next year he bounced back with the blockbuster True Lies. Today few even remember the Last Action Hero debacle.

Use Your Personal Charisma
Now that he’s governor of California, Arnold has taken his negotiating skills to a higher level. Taking over a state that has the fifth-largest economy in the world, but that also had fallen into a morass of deficits and debts, Arnold has taken his case directly to the people. He has proven that when you want to convince someone of something, you have to use the personal approach. When California residents came home to supper one night, who was on their voice mail? Arnold, asking them to support the new fiscal plan he was proposing.

Aim High
Arnold’s entire life proves that when you aim high, you’re bound to hit a worthwhile goal.

http://www.sellingpower.com/article/display.asp?Action=Sidebar&aid=SP4182687&sid=SP3625281

Mack Cuban success Principles

Mark Cuban (www.blogmaverick.com) build Micro Solutions, a one-stop(and one-man) computer hardware and software and installer. Sell to Compuserve in 1990 for US$6 millions

1995 build AudioNet, by 1999 renamed broadcast.com and exchange with Yahoo for US$5.7 billions worth of stock.

His principles of success.

1. Time is more valuable than money

You have to learn how to use time wisely and be productive. How wisely you use your time will have far more impact on your life and success than any amount of money.

2. Random Acts of Kindness

Being successful entails being able to not only get along with people, but also give something back. No one gets to the top on their own, and I believe we all should be able to make those around us smile.

3. No Balls, No Babies

This is something a blackjack dealer once told me when I asked him if I should hit or stick. It is also my favorite line and probably the thing I tell myself the most. Once you are prepared, and you think you have every angle of preparation covered. Then you have to go for it. No balls, no babies.

4. Work Hard Play Hard

I went 7 years without a vacation, but I sure managed to have fun. You have to find ways to blow off steam so you don't blow a gasket.

5. Don't let fear be a roadblack

You can use fear as a roadblock or as motivation. There is always going to be someone who is competing with you, and they are going to win sometimes. Rather than not doing something for fear of losing, take on the challenge. If you fail, get back up and go for it again. I have been fired from more jobs than most people have had! In the search for success, you can fail any number of times, but you only have to get it right one time.

6. Expect the unexpected, and always be ready

You don't wake up in the morning with someone telling you that everyone is going to be selling lemonade so whoever sells the most wins. It's the exact opposite. Life is unpredictable, which is exactly why we made The Benefactor unpredictable.

You never know when an opportunity will open or close. You have to realize this and always know that the game is on. Whatever your are striving to achieve isn't waiting in one static place for you to find it.

It's the opposite. Everyone has inside of them what it takes to be successful. You just have to be ready to unleash it when the opportunity presents itself.

7. It's ok to yell and be yelled at

One of the rules I have is that I don't mind if people raise their voice and even yell a little bit. At MicroSolutions, my partner Martin and I would have some knockdown drag outs. They were always short bursts. They didn't happen a lot. When they did, I knew, and he knew, that this was an issue we were passionate about.

As my businesses grew, it happened less often because people deferred to me more often. I hated that. If someone believed strongly enough in something and I was being passionate about something, I wanted them to match my level of passion if they felt that strongly about it.

So I told people that if they thought it was the only way to get through to me, to go for it. This may not work for you in corporate America, but anyone in a family business, or in a private business of any size with a partner or two, knows exactly what I am talking about!

8. Everyone gets down, the key is how soon you get back up

I can't count how many times I have gotten up in the morning dreading the day. I wasnt motivated, I was tired. I just wanted to crawl back in bed.

Other times, I had lost a deal, we had lost a game, something wasn't working. I just wanted to crawl under a rock and disappear.

EVERYONE goes through those moments. The key is how you fight through them.

Knowing that everyone has those days, the people who truly will be successful are those that fight through the quickest and come back stronger and smarter

9. It's not if the glass is half empty, or half full, it's who is pouring the water

This is one of my favorites. They key in business and success at any endeavor is doing your best to control your destiny. You can't always do it, but you have to take every opportunity you can to be as prepared and ahead of the competition as you possibly can be. Take the lead, and you can control your own destiny.

10. It's not in the dreaming, it's in the doing

Everyone has it in them to be successful. EVERYONE. Most people only dream about what they do if they were successful, or how they might get there.

Anyone can dream. Anyone and everyone does have ideas about how they might be successful. It doesn't matter if your definition of success is being a great parent, being an athlete, a business person, whatever.

When I catch myself daydreaming about how I'm going to do this or that, I always try to wake up and ask myself just how I'm going to get from where I am, to where I want to be. What EXACTLY is it going to take to do it, rather than dream about it.

11. Pigs Get Fat, Hogs Get Slaughtered

This is one I got from my partner Todd Wagner. He is right on. Sometimes you have to go for the jugular, but more often than not, the biggest mistake people make are getting too greedy. Every good deal has a win win solution. There is nothing I hate more than someone who tries to squeeze every last penny out of the deal. They often raise the aggrevation level to the point where it's not worth doing the deal. They also raise the dislike level to the point where even if a deal gets done, you look for ways to never do business with that person or company again.

Business happens over years and years. Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.

12. You only have to be right once

I have been fired from more jobs than most people have had. Some jobs I have had were so bad, the only way I could justify them to myself was that I was getting paid to learn (as opposed to paying to go to school).

I have started a stupid business that was doomed to fail (selling powdered milk). I have dated more girls that I wanted to. The beauty of success, whether it's finding the girl of your dreams, the right job, or financial success among many others, is that it doesn't matter how many times you have failed, you only have to be right once.

No one keeps score. There are so many ways that each of us can find happiness and success in our endeavors, that it never really matters how many times you fail. You only have to be right once

These are some of the things I use to guide myself in different situations.

Maybe they apply to your situation, maybe they don't, that's up to you to decide. They are the foundation for many of the tests and challenges, and the spirit of what I tried to do in The Benefactor

Oprah Winfrey Success Principle

Oprah Winfrey, whose show has remained the top-rated TV talk show for 20 consecutive seasons, says her success comes from maintaining her principles and serving others.

“My integrity is not for sale, and neither is yours,” Winfrey said at graduation ceremonies Saturday for Howard University, recalling times when she was under pressure to change course or avoid topics to boost ratings or appease advertisers. “Do not be a slave to any form of selling out.”

Winfrey recalled how early in her career at a TV station in Baltimore, executives told her she was “too black” and “too emotional.” She said they tried to have her TV name changed to something more recognizable, but she refused.

Finally, Winfrey was put on a talk show, she said, to run out her contract.

“And that was the beginning,” she told 30,000 people who crowded onto the Howard campus.

Winfrey drew repeated big cheers from the moment she took the stage. She called on the graduates to maintain their integrity and to “go forth and serve.”

“I stand here as a symbol of what is possible when you believe in the dream of your own life,” Winfrey said. “Don’t be afraid. All you need to do is know who you are.”

Winfrey said that while growing up her grandmother, a servant in 1950s Mississippi, hoped that Winfrey would “get some good white folks” to work for.

“I regret that she didn’t live past 1963 and see that I did get some really good white folks—working for me,” said.


source :http://www.boxxet.com/Oprah_Winfrey/Winfrey_Gives_Commencement_Speech_On_Success.59275857.details

EAT THAT FROG!

21 GREAT WAYS TO STOP PROCRASTINATING AND GET MORE DONE IN LESS TIME
by Brian Tracy

INTRODUCTION --- Eat that frog! (p1-6)

Your ability to select your most important task at each moment, and then to start on that task and get it done both quickly and well, will probably have more of an impact on your success than any other quality or skill you can develop!

If you develop the habit of setting clear priorities and getting important tasks completed quickly, you will run circles around a genius who talks a lot and makes wonderful plans but gets very little done.

An old saying is that "If the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long!" Your "FROG" is the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don't do something about it now! It is also the one task that can have the greatest positive impact on your life and results at the moment.

It has also been said that "If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first!" This is another way of saying that if you have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first. Discipline yourself to begin immediately and then to persist until the task is complete before you go on to something else.

You can think of it as a "TEST" or personal challenge. You must resist the temptation to start with the easier task! You must continually remind yourself that one of the most important decisions you make each day is your choice of what you will do immediately and what you will do later --- if you do it at all!

One final assumption is "If you have to eat a live frog, it does not pay to sit and look at it for a very long time!"

MAIN IDEA = The key to reaching high levels of performance and productivity is for you to develop the lifelong habit of tackling your major task first thing each morning. You must develop the routine of "eating your frog" before you do anything else and without taking too much time to think about it!

Successful, effective people are those who launch directly into their major tasks and then discipline themselves to work steadily and single-mindedly until those tasks are complete.

In the business world, you are paid and promoted for getting specific, measurable results. You are paid for making a valuable contribution that is expected of you. But many employees confuse activity with accomplishment and this causes one of the biggest problems in organizations today, which is failure to execute!

1) Set the table (p7-12)

RULE 1 --- Think on paper!

Step 1 = Decide exactly what you want

RULE 2 --- One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not be done at all!

Step 2 = Write it down!

Step 3 = Set a deadline on your goal

Step 4 = Make a list of everything that you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal

Step 5 = Organize the list into a plan

Step 6 = Take action on your plan immediately!

Step 7 = Resolve to do something every single day that moves you toward your major goal

Clear written goals have a wonderful effect on your thinking. They can motivate you and galvanize you into action. They can stimulate your creativity and release your energy. They can help you overcome procrastination as much as any other factor. Think about your goals and review them daily. Every morning when you begin, take action on the most important task you can accomplish to achieve your most important goal at the moment.

Once you start moving, keep moving! Don't stop. This decision, this discipline alone, can make you one of the most productive and successful people of your generation!

2) Plan every day in advance (p13-18)

ACTION EXERCISE = Begin today to plan every day, week, and month in advance. Take a notepad or sheet of paper and make a list of everything you have to do in the next 24 hours.

3) Apply the 80/20 Rule to everything --- "We always have time enough, if we will but use it aright! Goethe quote (p19-23)

RULE = Resist the temptation to clear up small things first! (p21)

Time management is really "life management" or personal management. It is really taking control of the sequence of events in your life. You are always "free to choose" the task that you will do next! Your ability to choose between the important and the unimportant is the key determinant of your success in life and work!

4) Consider the consequences (p25-29)

RULE = Long-term thinking improves short-term decision making! (p26)

RULE = Future intent influences and often determines present actions! (p27)

ACTION EXERCISE = Review your list of tasks, activities, and projects regularly and ask yourself: "Which one project or activity, if you did it in an excellent and timely fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on your life?"

5) Continually practice the powerful "ABCDE Method" or priority-setting technique that you can use every single day! The power of this technique lies in its simplicity. Start with a list of everything you have to do for the coming day. Think on paper by placing an "A, B, C, D, or E before each item on your list --- before you begin the first task. (p31-34)

6) Focus on "key result areas" (p35-40)

RULE = Your weakest key result area sets the height at which you can use all your other skills and abilities. (p38)

ACTION EXERCISE = Identify the key result areas of your work. What are they? Write down the key results you have to achieve to do your job in an excellent fashion.

7) Obey the law of forced efficiency (p41-45)

LAW OF FORCED EFFICIENCY = There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing! (p41)

RULE = There will never be enough time to do everything you have to do. (p42)

ACTION EXERCISE = Your most powerful thinking tool for success is your ability to discriminate between one priority and another. By taking a few minutes each day to sit quietly and think about your work and activities, you can get wonderful ideas and insights!

8) Prepare thoroughly before you begin (p47-50)

ACTION EXERCISE =

9) Do your homework (p51-55)

RULE = Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field. (p52)

ACTION EXERCISE = Resolve today to become a "do-it-yourself" project! Learn the key skills and core competencies that you will need to have in the future to lead your field. Whatever they are, set a goal, make a plan, and begin to develop and increase your ability in those areas. Resolve to be the very best at what you do!

10) Leverage your special talents (p57-60)

ACTION EXERCISE = Continually ask yourself these key questions. What are you really good at? What do you enjoy most about your work? What was most responsible for your past success? If you could do any job at all, what would it be? Whatever your answers, get started today!

11) Identify your key constraints (p61-65)

Successful people always begin the analysis of constraints by asking the question, "What is it in you that is holding you back?" They accept complete responsibility and look to themselves for both the cause and the cure of their problems.

ACTION EXERCISE = Identify your most important goal in life today. What is it? What one goal, if you achieved it, would have the greatest positive effect on your life? What one career accomplishment would have the greatest positive impact on your work life? Also, Why have you not accomplished the goal by now? What is it in yourself that is holding you back? Whatever your answers, take action immediately. Do something! Do anything! Get started!

12) Take it one oil barrel at at time (p67-70)

ACTION EXERCISE = Select any goal, task, or project in your life where you have been procrastinating and take just one step toward accomplishing it immediately. Sometimes, all you need to do to get started is to sit down and make a list of all the steps you will need to take to eventually complete the task. Just start and complete one item on the list, and then one more, and so on. You will be amazed at what you will eventually accomplish!

13) Put the pressure on yourself (p71-74)

ACTION EXERCISE = Set deadlines and subdeadlines on every task and activity. Create your own "forcing system" by raising the bar on yourself. Once you have set yourself a deadline, stick to it and even try to beat it! Write out every step of a major job or project before you begin. Then determine how many minutes and hours it will require to accomplish each phase. Organize your daily and weekly calendars to create time segments when you work exclusively on these tasks.

14) Maximize your personal powers (p75-79)

ACTION EXERCISE = Make an analysis of your current energy levels and your daily health habits. Resolve today to improve your levels of health and energy by asking the following questions:

[1] What are you doing physically that you should do more of?

[2] What are you doing that you should do less of?

[3] What are you doing that you should START DOING --- if you want to perform at your best?

What are you doing today that affects your health that you should STOP DOING altogether?

Whatever your answers are to these questions, TAKE ACTIONS TODAY!

15) Motivate yourself into action (p81-84)

ACTION EXERCISE =

16) Practice creative procrastination (p85-88)

RULE = You can get your time and your life under control only to the degree to which you dicontinue lower value activities! (p21)

One of the most powerful of all words in time management is the word "NO!" You can say "NO" to anything that is not a high-value use of your time and your life!

ACTION EXERCISE = Practice "zero-based thinking" in every part of your life. Ask yourself continually, 'If you were not doing this already, knowing what you now know, would you get into it again today? Examine eacy of your personal and work activities and evaluate it based on your situation today. If it is something you would not start up again today, knowing what you now know, it is a prime candidate for abandonment or creative procrastination.

17) Do the most difficult task first (p89-92)

ACTION EXERCISE = See yourself as a "work in progress!"

18) Slice and dice the task --- how to "swiss cheese" and "salami slice" your big work tasks for a specific time period.(p93-96)

ACTION EXERCISE = Happy, successful people are action oriented and they take on large, complex, multitask jobs.

19) Create large chunks of time to concentrate on specific goals or projects (p97-100)

ACTION EXERCISE = Make every minute count! Think continually of different ways that you can save, schedule, and consolidate large chunks of time. Use this chunk of time to work on important tasks with the most significant long-term consequences. Most of all, keep focused on the most important results for which you are responsible!

20) Develop a sense of urgency (p101-104)

ACTION EXERCISE = Resolve today to develop a sense of urgency in everything you do. Select one area where you have a tendency to procrastinate and make a decision to develop the habit of "fast action" in that area. Take action immediately when you see an opportunity or a problem. When you are given a task or responsibility, do it quickly and report back fast. You will be amazed at how much better you will feeel and how much more you will get done!

21) Single handle every task --- Every bit of planning, prioritizing, and organizing comes down to this simple concept. The key to high levels of performance and personal productivity is the ability to select your most important task, to begin it, and then to concentrate on it single-mindedly until it is complete! (p105-108)

ACTION EXERCISE = Take action!! Resolve today to select the most important task or project that you could complete and then launch into it immediately. (p108)

CONCLUSION --- Putting it all together (p109-113)

The key to happiness, satisfaction, great success, and a wonderful feeling of personal power and effectiveness is for you to develop the habit of eating your frog first thing every day when you start work! Fortunately, this is a learnable skill that you can acquire through repetition. When this habit of starting on your most important task first is developed, your success is assured.

Get more things done faster by learning the following 21 rules and principles until they are ingrained in your thinking and actions:

Below is the book where these principles summaries from.

3 success principles

"3 'A-Ha' Success Principles That Have Reshaped My Business"

by Alexandria K. Brown

Over the past three years I've immersed myself in learning. Because my business is marketing, I have mostly attended and spoken at marketing seminars. But I also make time to attend seminars and listen to audio programs on personal development as well.

Why?

You should actually work harder on yourself than you do on your business (or job). I first learned that from Jim Rohn, whom some call the father of personal development. Some call him America's foremost business philosopher. I just call him brilliant. (Jim was one of Tony Robbins' first mentors, too.)

There are three success principles I learned over the past year that I wanted to share with you. I call them my "a-has" because they put my attention on areas I'd never thought of. And following these guidelines has helped me skyrocket my business.

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1. You are the average of the five PEOPLE you hang around the most.

When I first heard this quote from Jim, it struck a big nerve in me. Robert Allen says something similar, that your bank account balance is typically the average of the five people you hang around the most. (Yikes!)

I realized I needed to surround myself with people whom I wanted to be like. I still love my old friends, but I make a specific effort to be around people who take risks, think big, and talk about great ideas instead of the latest celebrity gossip or how much they hate their jobs.

What first opened up my circle of influence was attending seminars. I continually go to seminars on marketing, business, and personal development. There are so many great seminars going on every month all around the country, at all price points. You have no excuse not to get out there and meet people who are playing big!

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2. Your HABITS create your future.

Brian Tracy talks a lot about this. Your daily habits create your long-term results. Your habits today will determine your outcomes tomorrow. If you want to be a millionaire, you've got to have millionaire habits. If you want to be a great leader, you must have the habits of a great leader. If you want to get in shape, you've got to have the habits of a fit person.

What new habit can YOU put into place right away?

I wanted to put into place a millionaire habit. Because I detest budgets (and enjoy spending), I needed an easy way to save money. So now I have 15% of my inflow automatically go into a savings account that I don't touch.

And because I enjoy looking and feeling great, I made the habit many years ago to hit the gym at least five days a week. (To kick this into gear, I hired a trainer, which forced me to make the habit to get my arse to the gym!) It was a struggle at first, but now I feel off-balance if I don't work out regularly.

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3. Make sure your ENVIRONMENT supports you in playing big.

Last year I had the chance to hear a dynamic woman named Artemis Limpert speak at an event in Dallas. In her talk, she pointed out that when you have a pet fish that's sick, you treat the water, not the fish. Your success depends more on your environment than you know, but it's extremely important that you give yourself an environment that supports you at the level you want to BE at. (Note that she did NOT say the level you are at now!)

My add-on to that is… pay attention to these three areas of your environment:

First, your physical environment. Do you love your office? Are you surrounded by attractive things? Do you have a nice view or at least a beautiful piece of art to look at? I pay a pretty penny for my beach pad, but I can't tell you how inspiring it is every day to look out at the peaceful ocean, sailboats, blue sky, and the sand. It fuels me. But you don't have to spend a lot of money on your environment. Little touches like candles, flowers, music you love, and photos of friends and family can go a long way. (Even if your office is the kitchen table!)

Second, your emotional environment. Are you getting the support you need from your family and friends? It's up to YOU to ask for what you need. If they cannot provide it, find a coach, a mastermind, or a support group. I find it wonderful to have a mastermind group for support. I can bounce ideas off them, ask for help with problem solving, share my victories, and sometimes just vent!

Don't forget your intellectual environment as well. Jim Rohn says, "Are you feeding your brain protein every day, or are you just giving it candy?" Most Americans sustain their brains solely on candy - that is, useless television shows, news, and gossip. Are you stimulating yourself with big ideas and new learning? Again, check out a seminar, take a teleclass, or buy some books or audio programs. (I love listening to programs on CD/MP3, so I can learn while driving around in my car or on plane rides.)

Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen," publishes the award-winning 'Straight Shooter Marketing' weekly ezine with 21,000+ subscribers. If you're ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.EzineQueen.com

[Resource http://www.musicbusinessblog.com/?p=186]

Paris Hilton Success Principles

When you are talking about 'Celebrities' what name pop up first ?
Paris Hilton!
a bad girl, but everyone is watching her or at least heard about her before.

What do your think her success principles ?
For me I think her principle is only 1 is 'Expose' no need the other 2 'E' Education and Experience
but like Mr.Kemmons Wilson (Holiday Inn Hotel founder) said 'success requires half luck and half brains.' Paris success is more than half luck.
No matter what she is doing, she keep getting more and more famous and more and more rich.

Benjamin Franklin 13 virtues

Benjamin Franklin 1706 - 1790
You probably know him as one of the Fathers of the United States, a great leader and diplomat. He signed the major documents of the founding of the U.S. including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Maybe you know him as an inventor, or as a scientist who flew kites in lightning storms, or as a writer and printing press operator.
But did you know that in 1726, at the age of 20, while on an 80-day ocean voyage from London back to Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin developed a "Plan" for regulating his future conduct? He was partially motivated by Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." He followed the plan he created "pretty faithfully" even to the age of 79 (when he wrote about it), and he was even more determined to stick with it for his remaining days because of the happiness he had enjoyed so far by following it.
His "Plan" was made up of 13 virtues, each with short descriptions:

1. Temperance: Eat not to dullness and drink not to elevation.
2. Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation.
3. Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time.
4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.
5. Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself: i.e. Waste nothing.
6. Industry: Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. Justice: Wrong none, by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. Moderation: Avoid extremes. Forebear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes or habitation.
11. Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring; Never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
12. Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
13. Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
    

He committed to giving strict attention to one virtue each week so after 13 weeks he moved through all 13. After 13 weeks he would start the process over again so in one year he would complete the course a total of 4 times.
He tracked his progress by using a little book of 13 charts. At the top of each chart was one of the virtues. The charts had a column for each day of the week and thirteen rows marked with the first letter of each of the 13 virtues. Every evening he would review the day and put a mark (dot) next to each virtue for each fault committed with respect to that virtue for that day.
Naturally, his goal was to live his days and weeks without having to put any marks on his chart. Initially he found himself putting more marks on these pages than he ever imagined, but in time he enjoyed seeing them diminish. After awhile he went through the series only once per year and then only once in several years until finally omitting them entirely. But he always carried the little book with him as a reminder.
Benjamin Franklin's 13 virtues are unique and obviously served him well since he is one of the most respected and most accomplished men in the history of the United States.