Chapter 58 positive and negative worries

The following is a letter from Franklin to Joseph Priestley.At that time, Joseph Priestley was invited to be the director of the library of Earl of Humberney, and he wrote to Franklin for advice.In his reply, Franklin detailed his own methods of solving problems and eliminating worries. Dear Sir: The issues raised in your letter are so important to you, and without fully understanding the facts, I dare not rashly tell you what you must do.All I can tell you are some solutions to the problem. The main reason why many problems are difficult to solve is that in the process of thinking, we do not present both positive and negative reasons for these problems in our minds at the same time.Sometimes it is this reason, sometimes it is another reason, the dragon sees the head but does not see the end, which makes us unable to think systematically and completely, and various confusions and troubles emerge.

To overcome these difficulties, my method is: take a piece of white paper and draw a line in the middle, divide it into two columns, write "Positive" in one column, and "Negative" in the other column.I will spend three days thinking, and write down the questions that come to mind in each column at any time.After it was all written, I began to evaluate the positive and negative weight of each cause.If I find that the components on both sides are almost the same, I draw them out.If you find that a "positive" factor is equal to two "negative" factors, draw all three of them out.If I find that two "negative" factors are equal to three "positive" factors, I will remove all five of them... In this way, I will finally find the essence of the problem.If no new factors are found after further thinking, the conclusion will come naturally.

Although it is difficult to measure the weight of each factor very accurately, after such careful thinking and comparison, the pros and cons of the whole issue are presented before my eyes, and I can naturally make a better judgment instead of taking rash actions . Sincerely hope you can make the best choice. Bless you, dear friend.