For further personal reflection, I will take a closer look at three virtues and how to better include them in my daily life, specifically the virtues of resolution, industry, and cleanliness. Resolution is defined as "...performing what you ought," and to "perform without fail what you resolve." Industry is to always be "...employed in something useful" and not wasting actions. Finally, cleanliness is simply "tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes, or habitation." (PBS, n.d.)
With regard to resolution, I personally define this as a combination of doing what is expected of you, and completing not only these tasks but also any task that you set out to accomplish. Although the ideal would be for everyone to finish everything, and finish it well, the fact is that intents go unfulfilled and tasks fall by the wayside by way of sheer business, entropy or otherwise. I myself, while I more often than not complete my work and school tasks by a fairly large margin, do find myself with lingering tasks in my personal life. Household projects don't get tended to as often or as promptly as I would like, photos go for weeks without being uploaded and usually never get touch up, and although I have several personal writing projects that I've begun to pen I've only actually completed two in the last several years. To better meet the challenge of resolution, now that I've identified my own shortcomings, I can make it a point (and ideally will resolve to this) that I pause to schedule the time for my various resolutions and ultimately see them through.
Industry is another issue that I expect to be highly common in the modern, wired era of 24 hour news cycles, blogs, and near constant stimuli via on-demand entertainment, social media, and the generally easy availability of time-wasters. Although this is only for maybe a few minutes at a time, assuming an individual hasn't dedicated an entire half hour to an hour for a television program, those handful of minutes eventually add up to a great deal of time that could have been allocated towards other ventures. I myself am guilty as well of idling away time at home and at work reading short articles or reading up on information not immediately related to what I'm doing, and although in the grand scheme it may not seem so much, the fact is the time is still gone. Time is a finite, one use resource, and I would do well to be more conscious of how much bang I get for my investment.
Finally, very much tied to the previous two virtues is the virtue of cleanliness. Cleanliness is admittedly a very personal standard, as everyone has what they consider an acceptable level. Some individuals I know cannot stand even a piece of paper that is out of place, while others have their belongings scattered every which way or have their empty drink containers piled on the counter top. I admittedly move back and forth between the extremes depending on my level of business and whether or not I'm expecting visitor's, but I know my work space and home environment more often fits the stereotype of the absent minded professor that, although they themselves are not untidy in appearance or thinking, they tend to have a higher tolerance for books and papers piled high on every horizontal surface.
The key to any of these virtues and bringing them to practical application in my daily life is to first and foremost identify it as a goal or necessity, and perhaps take to heart Aristotle's idea of the virtues in question as being part of the path to the best life possible. From the initial application, I also believe that to see any enduring effect that the virtues would have to become consistent lifestyle habits. Although living by these and the other virtues prescribed by Frankly is not an impossible task, it is certainly an interesting challenge for these modern times that demands more of our time and energy in spite of advances in attempting to save the same.
Resources
LaFollette, H. (2007). The Practice of Ethics. Malden: Blackwell.
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