The Ben Franklin method

- Benjamin Franklin is one of my favorite people in history.…We think of him as this great inventor, statesman and writer…but there was a point in his life…where he wasn't very good at writing.…He came up with a technique to train himself…to be a better writer.…What he did, is he'd take the most prestigious magazine…of his day, sort of like the New Yorker of the 1700's,…called the Spectator.…He'd take his favorite articles…and put them down next to his notebook…and sentence by sentence he would describe…in his own words, the sentences and paragraphs…of these articles.…

Then he'd put the magazine away, wait a couple of days…take his notes, take another notebook…and try to rewrite the article from his notes.…Then he'd compare his new article to the original article…and he'd see where he made mistakes,…where what he wrote was not as good…as what the article wrote…and he did this over and over and over again.…Comparing himself, deconstructing the best writing…of his day and reconstructing it…until he, in his own words,…