Great minds share a lot in common. Among them,self-appraisal and self-reflection is one of the most effective tools they employ to improve themselves.
Carnegie, the author of How to Influence people and Win friends, had been keeping a file named FTD (short for “Fool ThingsI Have done”) for 15 years. By doing this, he gradually realizes that nobody but himself is to blame for all his mistakes and troubles.
Ben Franklin, one of the found-fathers ofthe United States gave himself a sever going-over every night. He discovered that he had thirteen serious faults, including wasting time, stewing around overtrifles, arguing and contradicting people. He realized that he wasn’t going to get very far unless he eliminated these handicaps. Therefore, he battled with one of his shortcomings every day for a week, and kept a record of who had won each day’s fight. The next week, he would pick up another bad habit, put on hisgloves, and when the bell rang he would come out of his corner fighting. He kept doing this for more than two years.
For these great figures, they became their own most severe critics. That is exactly what Darwin did when he completed his book of the Origin of Species. He knew that his book would shock the intellectual and religious world. In order to better prepared for the debate,he spent another 15 years on checking his data, challenging his reasoning,criticizing his conclusion before his book was published.
