The Seinfeld Strategy

by Christian Bossert

Early in his comedic endeavors, comedian Brad Isaac performed at the same club as legendary comic Jerry Seinfeld. While backstage, Isaac asked Seinfeld, “Any tips for a young comic?” Here is what Seinfeld told him:

“The way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day.”

Seinfeld insisted the young comic get a large wall-sized calendar and place it on a wall that he sees everyday. With a red marker, draw an ‘x’ through each day in which he wrote. Eventually a chain of red ‘x’s would appear. The main job was "not to break the chain."

Seinfeld didn’t say anything about results. The only rule was "not to break the chain." How did Jerry Seinfeld become one of the greatest comedians of our time? Through skills, talent AND a ton of discipline followed by consistency. He wrote every single day.

How can you use The Seinfeld Strategy to be fitter you?

This invaluable piece of advice can be applied to anything we want to better ourselves in. It focuses on the process rather than the end result. It’s not about your emotions, a bad workout, or a rough day of work. It’s about “not breaking the chain.” All you have to do is pick a single task a get a calendar (here’s a budget friendly one).  

The hard part

If you want to lose weight and/or get stronger the challenge is to do something simple, yet active every day. If you don't know where to start working out or you don't know how to exercise The Seinfeld Strategy is pure gold. 

Walk up and down the stairs five times. Mark the calendar. 

Go for a 15 minute walk. Count it. 

Lift weights for 30 minutes. Red check. 

Take a yoga class. Boom! 

Hold a 30 second plank. That counts too! 

It would be great if you could exercise hard core for an hour every single day, but that realistic? You can implement intentional activity into your daily life. You can. Look at your schedule and make it happen. I don't have enough time is the worst excuse not to exercise period! Are you telling me that you or someone close to you doesn't have 30 seconds to spare? 

The hardest part is conditioning the ‘sacrifice muscle’ in our brain. Delay gratification to get 1% better today. It’s not easy, but it’s totally worth it. There will be gaps in the calendar at first. My hope is for those of you who do give The Seinfeld Method a go you’ll find the discipline to “not break the chain.”