My favorite Ben Franklin story...

3 Thoughts

I.

Normalize dedicating the first hour of your day to work on your most meaningful goals.

II.

You have to be potential maxxing. Build your body. Build your mind. Build your business. Build your network. Build your dream life. Because why not? You can just do things. And the moment you realize that, everything changes.

III.

Nothing will force you to be more creative than a looming deadline.

2 Quotes

I.

II.

1 Game-Changing Idea: Paris Politics

During the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin was sent to France with a nearly impossible task: win over one of the most powerful nations in the world without an army, without money, and without any real leverage.

John Adams went with him.

Adams approached diplomacy like a job interview. He woke up early, kept a strict schedule, and spent his days drafting letters and waiting for meetings.

Franklin didn’t bother.

He stayed out late, drinking in salons, telling stories, listening closely, and building relationships. He slept in. He missed the formalities. And somehow, he got more done.

Adams thought it was a disgrace.
This was the man who wrote “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Yet here he was, rolling out of bed at noon with wine on his breath.

But Franklin wasn’t being a hypocrite.
He was being pragmatic.

He knew the French didn’t make decisions at the table. They made them in the moments that didn’t look like work—over drinks, in hallways, between performances at the opera. That’s the way Paris Politics worked.

A lot of people show up to work like Adams.

They follow the rules. They do the prep. They wait their turn.
And then they wonder why the big decisions always seem to happen without them.

The real conversations don’t always happen in the meeting.
They happen in before and after the meeting… on the walk back to the car, at the bar after the event, when everyone’s a little looser and more honest.

Sometimes the “right” way is the wrong way. And sometimes the wrong way is the right way. You don’t stand out by being the best rule follower. You stand out by knowing when the rules don’t apply.

Where do you need to apply a little Paris Politics in your life?

Until next week,
Jay “Be Like Franklin” Yang

Ps. Poetry in motion.

Kind words for ‘You Can Just Do Things’

I really appreciate Sam calling out the length of You Can Just Do Things. That was intentional.

There’s a version of this book that could’ve been 300 pages—with more studies, more backstory, more filler. But that’s not the point.

The goal wasn’t to impress you. It was to move you. To get you to take action.

I compressed everything I knew—research, real stories, and raw ideas—into 146 pages so you could actually finish it and go do something with it.

You can grab your copy here.

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