“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”

Benjamin Franklin was a true Renaissance man, and as a polymath accomplished much in the fields of business, politics and science. In these days of hyper-specialization, it’s ironic that the broader your knowledge base, the better your odds of not only providing remarkable products and service, but also of devising innovative ways to reach out to your target audience.

This post got me writing a piece on another of Franklin’s great sayings:  “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing”.  Then I bumped into him again when I was setting up the software to start reading my feeds (prompted by one of the posts in Mike Sansone’s excellent ‘newcomers guide to business blogging’) – it was a news feed reminding us of the anniversary of his death (17 April 1790).

Anyway by this time I was getting intrigued and had a bit of a rummage around the "quotes" sites.  Another connection – I found that the clock inscription on time that I’d written about a few weeks ago was based on a Franklin quote.  Here’s the whole thing:

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of."

And the sun-dial?  Well I’d been thinking for a while about a friend who has a most amazing talent that she’s not quite ready to share with the world.  I’d been trying to think of a story or a metaphor that might encourage her to go for it.  And I think this short, straight to the point comment might just do the job:

"Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What’s a sun-dial in the shade?"
 
Any other favourite Franklin quotes out there you’d like to share?

“Find out who you are and do it on purpose”

It reflects a lot of important coaching themes – and the things that happen within coaching.  Finding out who you are.  What’s important to you.  The values that drive you forward.  The actions, the choices that reflect those values and beliefs.  That make up and tell your story.

And once you are in that powerful state of knowing who you are, what really matters to you – well then you can get on with going out there and doing it on purpose.

So who was this philosopher who summed it up so wisely?  None other than Dolly Parton, a woman who is proud to define herself, to tell her own story.  Which means she should really get the last word…

“I’m not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes.

I know that I’m not dumb, and I also know that I’m not blonde”