Small Beginnings That Compound Into Historical Change
Created at: September 5, 2025
Little initiatives compound; start one today and history will notice. — Benjamin Franklin
Franklin’s Law of Small Beginnings
At the outset, the line attributed to Benjamin Franklin echoes a maxim he did write: "Little strokes fell great oaks" in Poor Richard’s Almanack (1736). The idea is simple yet sweeping—small, steady actions gather force over time, eventually shaping outcomes large enough for history to record. By reframing progress as a compounding process rather than a single breakthrough, Franklin invites us to pursue modest starts without waiting for perfect conditions. In this light, beginnings are not trivial; they are leverage points. Each incremental move—whether a saved penny, a learned skill, or a convened meeting—accrues returns that are invisible today but unmistakable tomorrow.
Compounding You Can Count: His Bequests
To see this in action, consider Franklin’s will (1790). He left £1,000 each to Boston and Philadelphia, instructing the cities to loan the funds to young tradesmen and let the interest compound for generations. After 100 years, a portion would be used for civic works; after 200, the remainder would serve public purposes. By 1991, these once-modest sums had grown into millions, financing scholarships and community projects—proof that tiny, well-aimed initiatives can outlast their founders. Franklin’s ingenuity was less about windfalls than structures that turn time into an ally, demonstrating how patience and design make compounding visible.
Small Meetings, Big Institutions: The Junto
Likewise, he launched the Junto in 1727—a small weekly club for artisans and tradesmen to discuss mutual improvement. From that humble circle emerged enduring institutions: the Library Company of Philadelphia (1731), the Union Fire Company (1736), and plans that evolved into the Academy and College of Philadelphia, later the University of Pennsylvania (see The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, 1791). What began as dialogue scaled into civic infrastructure, illustrating social compounding: ideas gain momentum through networks. As participants returned each week, the meeting itself became a flywheel, producing outcomes larger than any single session promised.
How Habits Compound in the Mind
Psychology reinforces the point. Habits automate effort so that small actions repeat with less friction, multiplying their impact. In a field study, Lally et al. (European Journal of Social Psychology, 2009) found that habit strength typically plateaus after weeks of consistent repetition, making incremental behaviors self-sustaining. Popularizers like James Clear’s Atomic Habits (2018) capture the same principle with the notion of being 1% better each day. Meanwhile, hyperbolic discounting (Ainslie, 1975) explains why we postpone beginnings—overvaluing the present and undervaluing future gains. Starting today counters that bias, letting time do the compounding we’d otherwise forfeit.
Modern Proof: A Tiny Email, A Big OS
Contemporary technology offers a parallel. In a brief 1991 message to comp.os.minix, Linus Torvalds announced he was building “just a hobby” operating system. That small public step catalyzed a global collaboration, producing Linux—now underpinning servers, supercomputers, and Android. The initial act was modest; the structure invited compounding contributions, reputation, and code reuse. As with Franklin’s funds or the Junto’s meetings, the mechanism mattered: low barriers to entry, iterability, and shared ownership transformed a side project into infrastructure. History noticed not because the first step was grand, but because it was designed to invite the next thousand.
A Playbook to Begin Today
Therefore, start in Franklin’s spirit—with clarity and smallness. Ask his daily question from the Autobiography: “What good shall I do this day?” Then pick a five-minute action that can repeat—writing one paragraph, emailing one collaborator, setting aside one dollar. Capture progress in a simple log so the behavior becomes easy to resume tomorrow. Finally, add a social loop: share updates with a friend or community, the way the Junto sustained momentum. When time compounds consistency, the line from trivial to consequential shortens. If history is written by accumulations, your first sentence can be the smallest possible act now.