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

jamesclear.com

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

#51

Post by akrakesh »

FPGAhacker wrote: post #9

The don’t break the chain thing is nice. I’ve used it a few times, but it can be very demotivational when you had a super long chain and you broke it. It’s very hard to get momentum again.

I've always thought 'don't break the chain' is a flawed technique. When you do something not because you want or have to do it, but for the sake of not breaking the chain, the first time you break the chain you'd realize that you can break it again by telling an excuse to yourself without much regret. Making excuses would become a habit, and you'd be back to square one.

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

#52

Post by blululu »

schwartzworld wrote: post #49

> year after year, he performs, creates, and entertains at an incredibly high standard. That's a strange way of saying "had one incredible show 20+ years ago and never did anything worth watching again". Comedians in Cars was so boring (and doesn't require the strategy above). The standup ive seen him do since the show ended was pretty mediocre too.

I'm not sure what you want here. Comedians in Cars was a success by any measure. It ran well beyond the point where they had any more good comedians to talk to. But along the way they had some of the greatest Comedians of the 20th century share their thoughts on life, the entertainment industry and comedy. The sitting President of the United States even appeared on the show.

For what it's worth a lot of the world doesn't really understand Seinfeld, but either was I don't think the creators over either show are losing any sleep over the fact that not everyone loves them.

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

#54

Post by themodelplumber »

openfuture wrote: post #33
themodelplumber wrote: post #7

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 j…

The massive profile is only here to please!

I don't know five elements from five animals...wait, actually I know about five animals. Does that count?

Five sailors in Captain Ron. Five toes on my right hand. Damn it shows up everywhere!

Seriously though I'll have to look into that, got me feeling proper cretinous throwing those casual supposals around!

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

#55

Post by krick »

Never really heard of this Seinfeld guy before, and indeed this is a common idea (the earliest attributable mention of this I remember was in Franklin's auto-biography, but surely it is way older than that). This advice (as many other advises do) always raises some concerns about survivorship bias, but I'm willing to ignore that, since the idea is fairly intuitive.

However, this tactic (really, it's a tactic, not a strategy) relies on the assumption, that you can identify the metric you want to "optimize", which I would claim is way more important on its own than any tactics for optimizing it.

I mean, do you really know what do you want to get better at? After all, Heinlein's "Specialization Is for Insects" quote sounds like the words to live by for many people (myself included). It is rare enough for a person to be completely sure about what he wants to do. In its strongest form (as in this blog post) it basically assumes you are already doing your dream job, which on its own is more like the end-goal for most of the "self-improvement advice" consumers. And even in its weaker form (like employed by Franklin) it is still only as useful as the metrics you were clever enough to chose, and perhaps the most prominent thing about Franklin's story was how pointless pursuing some of his chosen virtues (like orderliness) turned out to be.

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

#56

Post by carapace »

photochemsyn wrote: post #50
soared wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this true? I’m not aware of any topics that major and minor comics don’t discuss today.

Try Ukraine... the military industrial complex... the financialization of the economy... global trade policy and the Rust Belt... I mean, you can be edgy about social issues, I guess, but not about who owns Netflix and what their agenda is. Here's someone on the Vietnam War for comparison... But it's hardly a 'current event' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT1u8J9jyOk

Not to be crass or flip, but none of those things you listed are funny.

It would take a superhuman comedic genius to make a successful set out of those topics.

(edit to add: ...or John Oliver. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

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

#57

Post by satisfice »

Stop diseasing procrastination. It's not a problem, it's a behavior. It's not just a behavior, it's a tactic. It may be the right tactic for your situation.

If procrastination means that I have a deadline and instead of focusing on it with my mind and actions, I focus on something else, then I have procrastinated my way to a good living.

I learned when I was a kid that a good way to get myself to read a book is to wait until my Mom told me to clean my room. Then I would get an overwhelming urge to read. I have since given this a name: springboard procrastination.

I procrastinate on nearly everything, except, wierdly, chores my wife gives me. I tend to do those right away. I think because doing those chores helps me procrastinate better on my technical work.

My overriding professional strategy is not to do more than other people, but to make unique contributions. These take time to unfold in my mind, because all the obvious things have already been done.

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

#58

Post by listenallyall »

FPGAhacker wrote: post #9

The don’t break the chain thing is nice. I’ve used it a few times, but it can be very demotivational when you had a super long chain and you broke it. It’s very hard to get momentum again.

Agreed. I started playing Wordle. My streak was around 70 or 80 days. Then I lost once. I have never played Wordle since.

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

#59

Post by wiradikusuma »

My question is what if we have a dozen goals. In real life, you will want to:

1. Consistently exercise

2. Consistently do X for your day job

3. Consistently do Y for your side hustle (typical HN crowd)

So you put 3 calendars side by side?

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

#60

Post by jmfayard »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #26
cccsss wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took his reply in the AMA as “Yes I do this, but it’s dumb that I get credit for it because it’s a pretty common idea.”

It piques more people’s attention if it is attached to a famous name.

Sounds like a U.S. thing too. Worshipping of rich people, who must be rich because they are virtuous (Weber) therefore if you copy their habits you can be virtuous too, become rich and go to paradise.

On my way to make 9 babies in order to become the next Elon Musk.

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