Environment: Respecting Your Space
· By Julien Poulin
Virtue #10 is Cleanliness.
Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
— Benjamin Franklin
We modernize this as Environment.
This might feel like the most superficial virtue. Who cares if your desk is messy if you're a genius? Einstein had a messy desk, right?
But Franklin, a pragmatist, understood that environment shapes behavior.
The Broken Windows Theory
There is a criminological theory called "Broken Windows." It states that visible signs of disorder (like a broken window) encourage further crime and anti-social behavior.
The same applies to your personal life.
If you let your physical environment degrade—dishes piling up, laundry on the floor, desktop covered in random icons—you signal to yourself that you don't matter. You signal that chaos is acceptable.
This subtle erosion of self-respect bleeds into other areas. It is harder to have a clear mind (Temperance) or a structured day (Order) when you are standing in a pile of trash.
Respecting the Instrument
Your body and your home are the instruments through which you experience reality.
- Body: Basic hygiene is a form of self-respect. It says "I am worth taking care of."
- Clothes: Dressing well isn't about vanity; it's about showing respect for present company and the occasion.
- Habitation: Your home should be a sanctuary. It doesn't need to be expensive, but it should be tended to.
The Digital Environment
Today, this virtue extends to our digital spaces.
Is your email inbox a disaster zone? is your phone full of unused apps demanding updates? Are your notifications a constant scream of demands?
Cleaning your digital environment is just as important as scrubbing the floor. A clean desktop background, a curated notification list, and an organized file system bring a sense of calm and control.
Cleaning is not a chore. It is a reset button. It is the act of restoring order to a chaotic universe, one washed dish at a time.
Read next
Resilience: The Art of Remaining Unshaken Why "Tranquillity" is the operating system for a world designed to annoy you.
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