The most efficient way to live reasonably is every morning to

The French thinker and Nobel laureate, Alexis Carrel, once declared: “The most efficient way to live reasonably is every morning to make a plan of one's day and every night to examine the results obtained.” In this teaching we find not a mere suggestion of habit, but a philosophy of life, a discipline as ancient as the stoics and as practical as the farmer’s toil. To plan in the morning and to reflect at night—this is the rhythm of a life lived with intention, a life not squandered to chance or chaos.

This quote reminds us of the eternal law of self-mastery. The man who rises without direction is like a ship without sails, carried wherever the winds of circumstance push him. But the one who marks his course at dawn, and who judges his voyage at dusk, holds the power of his own destiny. Carrel’s wisdom here is the wisdom of order: that by governing the day, we govern the years, and by governing the years, we shape the story of our lives.

History speaks with the same voice. Marcus Aurelius, emperor and philosopher, wrote in his Meditations that each morning one must prepare to meet fools, obstacles, and trials, yet must still cling to virtue and purpose. And each evening, he would reflect upon his actions, weighing them against the ideals of justice, courage, and wisdom. So too did Benjamin Franklin, who began his day with the question, “What good shall I do today?” and ended it with, “What good have I done?” These men, separated by centuries, walked in the same pattern Carrel described: plan, act, reflect, improve.

The meaning of Carrel’s words lies also in the marriage of humility and ambition. To plan in the morning is an act of hope, of ambition, of striving toward greatness. But to examine at night is an act of humility, of honest reckoning with the truth. Without the first, life is idle. Without the second, life is blind. Only together do they form the discipline of progress, the art of moving forward without losing oneself to arrogance or despair.

Consider the story of Thomas Edison, who pursued invention with tireless planning and relentless testing. His notebooks were filled each morning with outlines of tasks, and each evening with notes on failures and adjustments. Thousands of attempts to create the lightbulb ended in defeat, yet by examining each failure, he discovered the small refinements that led at last to triumph. Edison’s life is proof of Carrel’s teaching: that progress is born from daily cycles of planning and reflection.

The lesson for us is clear: do not let the day begin without intention, and do not let it end without reflection. In the morning, write your tasks, your goals, your hopes, no matter how small. At night, sit in silence and ask: What did I accomplish? Where did I falter? What must I change? This practice sharpens the will, trains the mind, and purifies the heart. Over time, the days form a chain of progress, and life itself becomes a masterpiece of deliberate action.

Thus, Alexis Carrel’s quote is not simply a piece of advice but a blueprint for wisdom. It calls us to live as craftsmen of time, shaping each day like a sculptor shapes stone, never neglecting the morning of hope nor the evening of judgment. Let us, then, rise each dawn with a plan, and lay down each night with reflection, so that in the end our lives will not be marked by waste, but by the noble record of days lived with purpose.