# 13 Essential Virtues for an Extraordinary Life

An episode of [The Daily Mastery Podcast by Robin Sharma](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1521068608), 22 Oct 2026, 7:16.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1182776/episodes/19978520-13-essential-virtues-for-an-extraordinary-life.mp3

In a world that constantly pressures us to conform, true greatness comes from having the courage to walk your own path, honor your deepest values, and live by the virtues that define who you are. In today's episode, I share the 13 Essential Virtues of American Founding Father, inventor, and philosopher Benjamin Franklin—timeless principles for building character, strengthening self-discipline, and living a life of purpose, integrity, and extraordinary meaning. I'm truly super excited over the upcoming release of my new book The Robot and the Gardener: Being Fully Human in an Artificial Age (Penguin Random House). It's a parable and it's different (by far!) from any book I've ever written. You can join the list here if you'd like to be among the first to receive any updates. FOLLOW ROBIN SHARMA: Instagram Facebook YouTube

## Transcript

Let's take a closer look at Benjamin Franklin's ideas. The first is temperance. So he
writes, eat not to dullness, drink not to elevation. Second is silence. Basically, speak not
what may benefit others. Speak not. But what might. Excuse me? Speak not, but what
may benefit others. It's old English, but in other words, don't say something if you don't
have something good to say. It's a great rule, isn't it? And he also says avoid just
superficial conversation. You look around these days, there are a lot of people spending
the best hours of their greatest days and really superficial conversation, talking a lot about
nothing. Three virtue number three order in your home, in your workspace, in your life,
in your business. A time and place for everything. For resolution. You say you're going to
do something. Do it. You know, don't be one of those flaky performers who always are
talking, but never doing what they say. What they're talking about. I mean, a woman or a
man of strength and greatness resolves to do a 5AM run or The 20/20/20 Formula that I
talk about and walk you through in The 5AM Club book. Or you say, you know, I'm
going to write a book, or I'm going to do a screenplay, or I'm going to make a piece of
code, or I'm going to do my magnum opus and push it into the world to lift other people
up and inspire people. And then you do it. And that is part of what makes greatness. Five.
Frugality. Just don't spend too much and don't waste anything, especially in this world
affairs right now. I mean, let's protect the environment and honor Mother Nature, but not
wasting anything. Six industry hard work. Not that common of virtue anymore. There's
almost like a culture of entitlement. Give me without working for it. So industry is really
all about cognitive labor, physical labor, working really hard, bringing diligence to the
work that you do. And the universe has a great accounting system. You work really,
really hard. You deliver great value to your customers and the marketplace. In the
rewards come. Sincerity. Sincerity is just don't deceive. Be who you are. Be sincere.
What beautiful word. Right? Sincerity. Just you know. Where are your heart? On your
sleeve. Be who you are. Be true to yourself. Eight justice. The eighth virtue of justice is
just don't do injuries to anyone else. Be. Just treat everyone equally. And if you take on
some work, for example, do a great job actually overdeliver on the expectations. It's a
great way to build your good name. It's a great way to build your business. It's a great
way to build your your life. Nine is moderation, which is just a avoiding avoiding
extremes. Ten is cleanliness. Cleanliness of the body, cleanliness of all the places that
you inhabit. How about even cleanliness of your soul? You know, just by being honest,
by doing good deeds, by being kinder to more people. 11 is tranquility. Don't worry about
the little things. It makes me think of what Mark Twain said. He said, I've had a lot of
problems in my life, some of which actually happened. That's 12 chastity. So basically,
it's don't get involved in, superficial physicality. Let me just put it that way. That's what
he says around chastity, you know. And then 13, he said humility. And what he said here
is imitate Jesus and Socrates. And humility is just as you become more successful, be
even more humble. My father used to tell me when I was growing up. He said, he tree
that bears most fruit bows down. The greatest. And humility. I mean, one of the things
I've seen, I've worked with a lot of world class companies over these 24 years, and a lot
of Uber successful entrepreneurs and celebrity CEOs and professional athletes. One of
the things that destroys world class is who? Hubris. You start to fall in love with yourself.
You start not to listen to other people. You start to think you know every answer. You
stop doing the very habits that made you successful. Hubris. Arrogance. You think your
customers because your number one, they'll always be waiting to do business with you.
And you know, there's a very short fall between world class and obsolescence. And
humility is the antidote to hubris. That's probably worth writing down, isn't it? Humility
is the antidote to hubris, even for for you as a producer, never lose your white belt
mentality. The thing about a master is she never thinks she's a master. Okay, so those are
the 13 virtues of greatness. And as you apply them, you're going to find you. You
develop much better habits. Your willpower will soar, your ability to produce mastery
will heighten, your impact will grow, and you just might save your own life from a life of
misery, weakness, apathy, and mediocrity.

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