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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”

#61

Post by listenallyall »

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 liked Comedians in Cars (and Seinfeld, of course), and enjoyed seeing him perform live about 7-8 years ago. However, like you, the idea that he is "remarkably consistent," along with the sentence you quoted, simply doesn't ring true. It's a phony setup about a phony anecdote for a phony article about a boring concept to (potentially) create a personal habit.

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

#62

Post by telesilla »

wiradikusuma wrote: post #59

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?

Add, and meaningful time and energy with loved ones while fulfilling your personal creative needs.. Its a puzzle

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

#63

Post by sirmike_ »

nonethewiser wrote: post #28
avg_dev wrote: 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.

Nah, that's optimizing practice. Eventually you roll into whatever because it's old hat. Would you tell BB King playing every day he was optimizing for nothing?

Haha. You can and will hit a bad streak, it's inevitable. There is value in doing the thing.

Pretty soon all that practice adds up. YMMV. But like the article said it's gotta be action.

What is doesn't say is this is a way to build small wins. It only takes a small chain to create momentum.

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

#64

Post by alexalx666 »

satisfice wrote: post #57

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 wa…

Chores are the best bc you can meditate on ideas whilst closing a tangible todo item

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

#66

Post by knorker »

photochemsyn wrote: post #37
imgabe wrote: 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.

Forgettable in the same way that The Wizard of Oz or Citizen Kane is forgettable.

That's to say: only to the extent that you don't even understand how it shaped so much else.

People today don't even know when they're using expressions from these (we're not in Kansas anymore, not that there's anything wrong with that), when they've not even seen the original material.

tl;dr: to a fish, water is forgettable.

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

#67

Post by knorker »

nonethewiser wrote: post #28
avg_dev wrote: 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.

Stack the deck in your favor.

After 10 years of doing a thing every day you'll be better than someone who didn't. And what's more they're likely never going to catch up, unless you completely stop and they start using your method.

And even then it'll take years.

And you should think of this other person as the alternative you.

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

#68

Post by ekianjo »

satisfice wrote: post #57

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 wa…

> It's not a problem, it's a behavior.

It's a problem in the way it's understood by most people: not achieving anything of importance at all day after day, month after month. Nobody is saying that you should not have any distraction in your life.

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

#69

Post by gmac »

satisfice wrote: post #57

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 wa…

I have since given this a name: springboard procrastination.

This is a nice name for it, but it also seems very close to what has elsewhere been called structured procrastination: http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/

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

#70

Post by h3mb3 »

tjr225 wrote: post #38
paulpauper wrote: post #23

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?

The truth is, he hasn't written (or at least presented) that much new material in his standup act in the decades after he finished the TV show. And that's OK, as a millionaire, I'd probably achieve far less than he has since the show (it's not not just standup he's been doing). But in an article praising his productive habbits, this strikes as a bit ironic.

In HBO's Talking Funny [1] (from 2011) there's a discussion (around 1:00–2:00), where it's pretty clear how his habbit of replacing old material in the act is far more infrequent and little-by-little compared to the other comedians around the table, who generally throw away their entire hour almost every year after a special.

[1] https://youtu.be/OKY6BGcx37k

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