Benjamin Franklin was a true renaissance man. Throughout his life he worked and succeeded in just about every profession he tried: politician, writer, scientist, engineer, and businessman.

One of Franklin’s lesser-known secrets to his success was his decision-making method. According to his biography, Franklin developed the method when he was in his early 20s. He would continue to use it throughout the rest of his life, guiding him ever forward to success with each decision. Today, it is known as The Ben Franklin Method.

The Ben Franklin Method

In the summer of 1772, Franklin received a letter from his friend Priestley. Priestley was stuck on deciding whether or not he should quit his job to take a new, potentially more lucrative one. …

Your life is defined by your ability to make decisions. Your career, relationships, health — anything and everything about your present self — is a product of the decisions you’ve made in the past. Consequently, your future will be based on the decisions you make today. It is critical to your entire life that those decisions are made well.

Not only do your decisions need to be made well, but they also need to be made rather quickly. You can’t sit around waiting for years deciding which career path you should take or whether to invest in a certain asset. …

The 48 Laws of Power written by Robert Greene is a masterpiece of a book on the subjects of strategy, success, and ultimately power. It’s no wonder the book has been quoted by the likes of Jay-Z, Kanye West, Brian Grazer, and Dov Charney.

Once you learn the laws of power, you’ll have a much easier time succeeding in your life since you know the best strategies. To get you started, here’s the best and only book summary you’ll ever need of The 48 Laws of Power.

Law 1: Never outshine the master

Never make yourself look too much better than your master (boss, superior, or authority figure). They will resent you for it and make your life difficult. …

“Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for”

— Socrates

Reading books is the ultimate life hack.

There’s an author out there who’s done all of the hard work to learn about a particular subject. They could have spent years learning it and then even longer trying to summarize that knowledge and write a book about it. All you have to do to gain all of that hard-earned knowledge is read their book.

Many smart and successful people talk about the importance of reading books. All-star NBA coach Phil Jackson used to give his players reading assignments that would enhance their approach to the game. Robert Greene, author of the 48 Laws of Power references over 300 books for many of his works. …

“The object of studying philosophy is to know one’s own mind, not other peoples.”

— William Ralph Inge

Starting from a very young age, we are constantly told what we should and shouldn’t do. Parents and teachers say that you have to go to school and follow all the rules to succeed. Society puts pressure on us to go through a checklist: get a degree, get a job, get married, have kids, work, retire, die. Meanwhile, the media constantly spews out headlines about how we can become the next dropout billionaire like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.

But what if you don’t want to do all of that? What if your definition of a great life has nothing to do with any of the things parents, society, or the media is telling you? Maybe you prefer to aim for early retirement and travel the world. Or perhaps you’d like a nice and light day job while pursuing side gigs on evenings and weekends for more fun. In any case, you might want something different than what other people try to tell you is right. …

Philosophy is the study of how one can live through wisdom. That includes important things like learning the best ways to think, make decisions, and act in different situations of your life.

Unfortunately, philosophy tends to be taught quite poorly in schools. It is seen as more of an abstract discipline where everyone thinks theoretically, without consideration for real-world application.

But the philosophers of old weren’t monks or sages that locked themselves up in the library to ponder theories. They were practical students of life, and they created many of their own ways of applying philosophy in the real world. …

Hard work is a requirement for achieving any kind of important goal. Whether it’s a goal for career, finances, relationships, or anything else, you can bet that it will take some level of hard work to achieve it.

But there are also those who work hard that don’t end up achieving their goals. There are plenty of people who tried to climb the corporate ladder, become a top athlete, or start a multi-million dollar company that failed after putting in a ton of hard work. The problem isn’t the lack of work though, it’s the type of work being done. …