Shortly before he died in April 1790, an 84-year-old printer in Philadelphia added a codicil to his will. He left £1,000 to Boston and £1,000 to Philadelphia, with an unusual condition. The money was to be lent to young tradesmen at five percent interest, repaid, and lent again, for two hundred years.
In 1990, at the end of those two hundred years, Boston’s share had grown to about $4.5 million. Along the way, the money helped open a trade school in Boston and a science museum in Philadelphia, and both still welcome students and visitors.
The printer was Benjamin Franklin. That codicil was one tile of a larger picture, and he had set the other two decades earlier.
How did one life manage all three?
- Living each dayAs a young man, Franklin planned each day on a single page. He rose at five with the question “What good shall I do this day?” and closed each evening with “What good have I done to-day?” He also tracked thirteen virtues, giving one a week his full attention.
- Amplifying his givingHe planned the codicil to keep lending, and growing, for two centuries after his death.
- Sanctifying his story that left a markAt 22 he wrote his own epitaph, comparing himself to an old book awaiting “a new and more elegant Edition.” Decades later he wrote the autobiography that readers still open today.
Franklin had none of today’s words for this. Masterwork360 calls them the Three Wisdoms.
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Live Smart Multiply Your TimeDaily practices for body, mind, heart, and spirit, continuous learning, and habits that sustain vitality and inspire others. That vitality extends your active decades, and that is how you Multiply Your Time.
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Give Smart Amplify Your WealthContributing to causes you care about and conserving assets for the greater good through wills, estates, and trusts. Giving with intelligence and intention establishes a wellspring, and that is how you Amplify Your Wealth.
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Leave Your Mark Sanctify Your StoryThe essence of your masterwork. You capture your words, your actions, and your Relationship Riches, and share wisdom in forms that move toward a dynamic living legacy worthy of your character. Shared wisdom enriches values that last, and that is how you Sanctify Your Story. How did a carved line become a word for who you are?
All three revolve around investing in Relationship Riches. It’s the mortar that keeps the tiles in place, and mortar is sand bound with cement. Left as loose sand, Relationship Riches wash away with the tide. Set in cement, they keep the picture whole for decades. Sand or Cement?
Who steps back to see the whole picture?
You set the tiles during these decades, while you’re active. Family, colleagues, your community, and people you have yet to meet are the ones who step back and see the face appear.
Beyond you. Because of you.
Between Livelihood & Legacy
—That’s Masterwork,
Where your Wisdom
Leaves its Mark.™
Each tile you set today becomes part of the picture. Live Smart. Give Smart. Leave Your Mark.