https://sundayeveningreview.com/tags/reflection/Recent content in Reflection on Sunday Evening ReviewHugoen-usFri, 19 Jun 2026 06:00:00 -0500https://sundayeveningreview.com/ideas/journaling-for-beginners/Fri, 19 Jun 2026 06:00:00 -0500https://sundayeveningreview.com/ideas/journaling-for-beginners/<p>In his early twenties, Benjamin Franklin designed what we would now call a habit tracker.</p> <p>He described it later, in his Autobiography, with the precision of a man who had given the matter considerable thought. He had a small book. Thirteen pages, one for each virtue he wanted to cultivate: Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity, and Humility, which he&rsquo;d added last at the suggestion of a Quaker friend who told him he was frequently insolent and overbearing and that his arguments, however correct, had a way of making everyone in the room feel small. Each page had a grid, seven columns for the days of the week and thirteen rows for the virtues. A black dot in any square meant he&rsquo;d slipped. He worked through all thirteen virtues in a thirteen-week cycle, repeating four times a year, fifty-two weeks.</p>