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How to Stop Procrastinating on Your Goals by Using the “Seinfeld Strategy”

jamesclear.com

31–40 of 95 posts

Re: How to Stop Procrastinating on Your Goals by Using the “Seinfeld Strategy”

#32
post #13

The funniest part of all this is it’s not true that Seinfeld ever said that. 1. Read the footnote in the article 2. Read this Reddit post by Jerry Seinfeld https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ujvrg/comment/ceitfx... I mean I definitely have increased my own skills over time by being consistent, but this is definitely a fake claim.

It also doesnt make much sense. You'll just optimize for red X's. If anything it will encourage bad writing.

I've found that the more I spend time on writing, the ideas that are being written about change in a way that generally coalesces into something better defined and of higher quality than just quickly writing down the initial form of the idea.

Forcing one's self to write, forces more in-depth thinking about the topic, which can lead to surprising and unexpected revelations (which I would refer to as quality writing).

One doesn't need to keep the journey, just publish the destination. The reader doesn't need the journey the writer took, but the writer sure does.

Re: How to Stop Procrastinating on Your Goals by Using the “Seinfeld Strategy”

#33

This is interesting to me because Seinfeld is a stabilizer-rationalist in general temperament. (Even if he didn't invent it, the concept REALLY fits his style well) He will generally tend to give you bell-curve advice based on stabilizing a routine. Seinfeld likes Cheerios and Superman and the old stand-bys and so on. This is a bell-curve person who sees that curve, socially and behaviorally speaking, as finding sani…

Lol sounds like we are similar people. I also enjoyed reading your massive profile.

BTW w.r.t. the OODA-loop I suppose you've made the connection with the chinese five element system? This is a general theory of digestion fwict, for example yoga has five stages of breathing, impro (by keith johnstone) has five stages of overcoming shame (unlocking creativity) etc.

There is also the overcoming cycle though, it's not just the generating relations!

Re: How to Stop Procrastinating on Your Goals by Using the “Seinfeld Strategy”

#34
post #13

The funniest part of all this is it’s not true that Seinfeld ever said that. 1. Read the footnote in the article 2. Read this Reddit post by Jerry Seinfeld https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ujvrg/comment/ceitfx... I mean I definitely have increased my own skills over time by being consistent, but this is definitely a fake claim.

It also doesnt make much sense. You'll just optimize for red X's. If anything it will encourage bad writing.

The point of the strategy is that "bad" writing is better than the alternative of no writing at all. That's why the linked article specifically says that Seinfeld said nothing about the goal, only consistency.

Re: How to Stop Procrastinating on Your Goals by Using the “Seinfeld Strategy”

#35
post #27

For years I spent a lot of time working on things that I thought were important but that nobody else seemed to really care about. There was no success involved in doing this. Procrastination was irrelevant. There's no correlation between working hard and 'success' in terms of revenue generation. As far as Seinfeld, he was pretty tepid and his work didn't threaten the corporate heirarchy and so he was 'successful'. Ha…

> Has he ever done anything memorable? Yes, his sitcom influenced a generation of TV and was one of the most highly rated and watched shows of all time. It introduced a number of phrases that are still part of the common lingo. He was at the forefront of the "observational" style humor. You don't have to "threaten the corporate hierarchy" to be funny, you just have to be funny. I love Carlin too, and Bill Hicks and a…

This is through rose-coloured glasses because I was at the right age for Seinfeld to be televised during my defining youth period - where music, movies, TV shows, etc. are remembered fondly forever.

I've recently watched a few Seinfeld episodes again, after a long Seinfeld-hiatus and a lot of TV experience throughout that time, and Seinfeld as a TV show holds up magnificently today. The density and weaving of the story-arcs is unbelievably clever, but also consistently unbelievably clever through so many episodes.

Seinfeld makes most other TV shows seem boringly linear, even 20-odd years later.

Rick and Morty is competitive with Seinfeld on density of story-arc, and that's saying something.

(all of this is subjective, and, as I disclaimed above, through my rose-coloured glasses memory of Seinfeld)

Re: How to Stop Procrastinating on Your Goals by Using the “Seinfeld Strategy”

#36
post #27

For years I spent a lot of time working on things that I thought were important but that nobody else seemed to really care about. There was no success involved in doing this. Procrastination was irrelevant. There's no correlation between working hard and 'success' in terms of revenue generation. As far as Seinfeld, he was pretty tepid and his work didn't threaten the corporate heirarchy and so he was 'successful'. Ha…

> Has he ever done anything memorable? Yes, his sitcom influenced a generation of TV and was one of the most highly rated and watched shows of all time. It introduced a number of phrases that are still part of the common lingo. He was at the forefront of the "observational" style humor. You don't have to "threaten the corporate hierarchy" to be funny, you just have to be funny. I love Carlin too, and Bill Hicks and a…

Well said. I appreciate the disruptive, philosophical, or societal-norm breaking comedians - but Jerry stuck to his bit and executes it well. I also really appreciated his respect for the art of comedy after watching his 'comedians in cars getting coffee' series. I imagine the Seinfeld show will stream into perpetuity. I still watch it occasionally and laugh despite being able to quote every line.

Re: How to Stop Procrastinating on Your Goals by Using the “Seinfeld Strategy”

#37
post #27

For years I spent a lot of time working on things that I thought were important but that nobody else seemed to really care about. There was no success involved in doing this. Procrastination was irrelevant. There's no correlation between working hard and 'success' in terms of revenue generation. As far as Seinfeld, he was pretty tepid and his work didn't threaten the corporate heirarchy and so he was 'successful'. Ha…

> Has he ever done anything memorable? Yes, his sitcom influenced a generation of TV and was one of the most highly rated and watched shows of all time. It introduced a number of phrases that are still part of the common lingo. He was at the forefront of the "observational" style humor. You don't have to "threaten the corporate hierarchy" to be funny, you just have to be funny. I love Carlin too, and Bill Hicks and a…

Seinfeld never threatened the interests of the advertisers and owners, that's why he made so much money. And, that's why he's forgettable.

Re: How to Stop Procrastinating on Your Goals by Using the “Seinfeld Strategy”

#38

The “Seinfeld Strategy” To have a big success early on and then coast off and build off that success. And huge syndication royalties. No one even cares about his standup anymore. Plenty of people do what he did and try to be consistent and get nowhere in life. major survivorship bias. The entertainment industry has more failures than anything. If you want to be successful you have to be really good. being consistent…

Seinfeld is arguably the greatest sitcom, and also arguably the greatest television show of all time. If creating arguably the best thing of a thing is not success then what is?

Re: How to Stop Procrastinating on Your Goals by Using the “Seinfeld Strategy”

#39
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Has he ever done anything memorable? Yes, his sitcom influenced a generation of TV and was one of the most highly rated and watched shows of all time. It introduced a number of phrases that are still part of the common lingo. He was at the forefront of the "observational" style humor. You don't have to "threaten the corporate hierarchy" to be funny, you just have to be funny. I love Carlin too, and Bill Hicks and a…

Seinfeld never threatened the interests of the advertisers and owners, that's why he made so much money. And, that's why he's forgettable.

Well, most people remember who Seinfeld is and millions of people still quote the show, so reality disagrees with you on what is and is not forgettable, but go on raging against the machine, I guess.

Re: How to Stop Procrastinating on Your Goals by Using the “Seinfeld Strategy”

#40
Stuck in a rut? Sick of scrolling through mediocre self-improvement articles with clickbait titles? Here’s one simple trick to break out of the slump and get moving again:

- Make and ship something in two hours.

- Make and ship something in a day.

- Make and ship something in a week.

If you’re still not ready to start your big project by this point, then make and ship something in a month.

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