Thomas Jefferson's 10 Rules

Looking west toward the Blue Mountains from the golf course
in Monticello, Utah—my hometown, and one of
the most heavenly places on Earth.

I was born in Monticello, Utah, a farming and ranching community at the base of the Blue Mountains in the east-central region of the Colorado Plateau—which makes up a sizable chunk of the Four Corners area of the Intermountain West in the United States.

An obscure little hamlet that has never grown much beyond a couple thousand inhabitants, Monticello is hidden far away from the lights and noise of any big city, making my hometown a peaceful and gorgeous gem of an abode. It is also a unique vacation destination—and in my biased opinion, one of the best kept secrets in all the world.

It was a MARVELOUS place to grow up, and remains an oasis of peace, tranquility, and natural beauty I can escape to as needed to restore my soul.

Dorothy Marie Rasmussen Adams
(1910-1998)

"Restoring one's Soul" was a concept introduced to me by my dear, late, great aunt Dorothy Adams, who, due to her tireless civic service and love of community, is arguably the single most famous citizen in the history of Monticello, Utah.

During the summer of 1997, I had the special privilege of working for Aunt Dorothy at her ranch. Our "Soul Restoring" experiences would go like this...

Occasionally, usually in the late afternoons or early evenings, Aunt Dorothy would take me up to a small balcony in the upstairs room of her ranch house. Exiting the home and entering the balcony, we would proceed to look out at the picturesque Blue Mountains in the distance, inhale a deep breath of fresh air, and gratefully reflect on the glory and majesty laid out in such rich abundance before us. 

Such experiences really were SOUL RESTORING!  

Jefferson's Monticello

Founded in 1888, my town was named after Thomas Jefferson's "Monticello," which is located on the outskirts of Charlottesville, Virginia, home of the University of Virginia—a world-renowned institution of higher education founded by Jefferson in 1819, near the end of his life.

A noticeable difference between Jefferson's home in Virginia and my hometown in Utah is their respective pronunciations. Jefferson's home is pronounced "Monti-CHello" whereas locals pronounce my Utah hometown "Monti-Sello."

Why the difference in pronunciation, especially when one was named after the other?

I do not know the answer to that question, but my best guess is that early town founders—one of whom was my 2nd great-grandfather (George Albert Adams [1864-1935] who also happened to be Aunt Dorothy's father-in-law)—had never personally traveled to Jefferson's Monticello, and in those pre-television and pre-radio pioneer days of the late nineteenth century, had never heard Jefferson's pronunciation of the word.

On the other hand, maybe those early founders were simply following the old grammatical rule that states: "when c is followed by i, e, or y, it takes the soft sound (meaning 's'). Moreover, perhaps Jefferson's love of string instruments led him to pronounce "cello" as the orchestral musician that he was. Whatever the reason for the difference in pronunciation, Adams and his fellow founders admired Jefferson and his legacy enough to proudly take up the name for their new village in the wilderness. And my hometown has proudly borne the name ever since.  

The U.S. Nickel holds a special place
in the heart of all Monticelloans.

Growing up, I would hear my cousins speak of the preeminent place the nickel held in the pantheon of U.S. minted coins.

Why?

Because it had the word "Monticello" engraved thereon!    

Growing up, I lived near the end of a street on the outskirts of town. At the end of Silverstone Lane—catty-corner from our house—was the home of my Aunt Nedra, Uncle Bruce, and their five kids. Unsurprisingly, I spent a lot of time across the street at my cousin's home playing, eating meals, and sleeping over. 

Because of the sheer amount of time I spent in her home—and her endless kindnesses and service to my siblings and me—Aunt Nedra became like a second mother to me, a role and relationship that we have continued to share and cultivate up to the present day.

Over the years, I have grown to greatly admire Aunt Nedra for her endless cheerfulness, boundless love, and inspiring integrity—qualities that have only increased as the years have passed.

With Aunt Nedra and two of my cousins at my home in Monticello,
circa August 21, 1982, on my 3rd birthday.  This event, and
specifically the white cake with green letters that Nedra
lovingly baked, is my earliest recollected life memory.

A retired career educator, Nedra followed in her mother's (my grandmother's) footsteps by teaching hundreds of other people's children to read and write—in addition to raising five of her own. Along the way, and even more importantly, she (like Grandma) instilled within her students (and children) principles of personal leadership, moral character, and life-skills that would serve them well throughout their lives. 

Prior to teaching elementary school, Aunt Nedra and Uncle Bruce built and ran their own preschool. I myself was privileged to be one of her preschool pupils before moving to Mesa, Arizona, where I would attend first through seventh grade prior to moving back to Monticello for grades 8-11.     

Aside from her upstanding character, Aunt Nedra was also an outstanding cook, and I was richly blessed to have a seat at her table for many a sumptuous feast. One summer day when I was about ten years old, I was sitting at one of her barstools when I noticed a plaque hanging on her kitchen wall. On the plaque was a picture of Jefferson's Monticello home in Virginia, followed by a list of ten statements incorporating his personal rules for life.

These statements read:

Thomas Jefferson's 10 Rules for Life

1. Never put off til tomorrow what you can do to-day.

2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself. 

3. Never spend your money before you have it.

4. Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.

5. Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold. 

6. We never repent of having eaten too little.

7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly. 

8. How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened!

9. Take things always by their smooth handle.

10. When angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.

Like so many other personal leadership-oriented books, quotes, and related visual reminders I have come across over the years, this list caught my attention and had a positive impact on me as a boy. Countless similar experiences have led me to where I am today, turning me into the self-appointed "SAL Guy."

From the time I was a young student in grade school, I have been fascinated by the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. At one point in third or fourth grade, I fashioned for myself a "study" out in our garage, where I could escape the noise of my home to pore over my books.

I'll never forget one December in the late 1980s or early 1990s when I came across a wonderful biography of Thomas Jefferson. I sat enraptured as I consumed the contents of those pages to learn about Jefferson and his reddish-colored hair (kind of like my own auburn coif as a boy), his capacity for music and the violin, his fascination with studying foreign languages—and everything else for that matter. And then, of course, there was his unparalleled genius in composing what is arguably the most famous document the world has ever known or seen—the American Declaration of Independence.

During the 2000s, I spent a great deal of time drafting, revising, refining, and polishing my own Self-Declaration of Independence and Self-Constitution. During the 2010s, I spent a lot of additional time drafting, revising, refining, and polishing the Freedom Focused Declaration of Independence and Constitution, both of which can be found in the appendices of the SAL Textbook, Volume II.  

In the spirit of Thomas Jefferson's 10 Rules for Life, I decided to add my own rules for life to the end of the Freedom Focused Constitution. It may seem presumptuous to some that I would include my personal rules in a corporate policy and procedure manual. Nevertheless, seeing that so much of the SAL Theory and Model is derived from a detailed and conscientious autoethnographic study and analysis of my own personal experiences, it seems appropriate to include this list of life philosophies and practices in the Freedom Focused Corporate Constitution—not as an imperative demand upon my colleagues, but as an enthusiastic encouragement and invitation offered up for their individual consideration.

Statue of Thomas Jefferson inside of the
Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C., USA.

ADHERENCE to my own rules for life—I have 13 of them—is the magic formula that has gotten me to where I am today, both personally and professionally. Similar thoughts, speech, and behavior will be what gets me to where I want to be tomorrow, next year, next decade, etc. 

I'm confident Thomas Jefferson would echo this sentiment with regards to his own 10 rules for living, even though he would likely admit that he followed them imperfectly.

I am no different. In the end, my best efforts are still usually imperfect. Despite this fact, I believe that untold power exists in making an enthusiastic and indefatigable pursuit of IDEALS, however imperfectly our efforts to master them may prove to be.    

Next week, I will share my 13 Rules for Life. Then, in subsequent articles, I will provide additional background information and insights that further frame each rule and the important role it has played—and will yet play—in my life. I hope that doing so will be as helpful, meaningful, and motivational to you as it has been for me.

More importantly, I hope it will get you to thinking about what YOUR OWN "Rules for Life" might be, as well as how you might animate them as fully as possible in your own education, career, and life.

Until next week, I remain—as always—your fellow traveler along The Road Less Traveled.    

NOTE: This article is the 1st in a series of 22 articles on the subject of LIFE RULES.

Click HERE to access quick links to the other 21 articles.   

-Dr. JJ

September 1, 2021

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 227th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013. 

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 226 FF Blog Articles.  

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