Regarded as one of the Top 100 Comedians of All Time by Comedy Central, Jerry Seinfeld is one of the most successful comedians ever. “Seinfeld”, the longest running sitcom, that boasts of hi-co-writing and creativity that has received a lot of awards and is believed to have the best of the episodes.
Considering factors such as being famous, wealthy and receiving critical acclaim, Jerry Seinfeld is one of the most successful writers and comics of the generation. However, all these set-aside, the consistency in his career of entertaining is worthy of admiration and inspiration.
This kind of consistency is what is sought by every person who wishes to bring the same to his work. Typically, a lot of candidates fail to be motivated, exercise and procrastinate the achievement of their goals.
Brad Isaac, on a quest to know what is required to make it big in the comedy circuit, was in the same club in which Seinfeld was performing. He had an interaction with Seinfeld and asked him a few tips on succeeding in the comic industry.
On being asked the question, Seinfeld asked him to write every day to keep creating better jokes. A big wall calendar with a red marker was to be maintained by Isaac, where after writing, he would mark a big X over whatever he wrote. There was no focus on results, he just asked him not break the chain.
In the case of competitive exams, the responsibility of candidates would be to apply the same technique and simply not break the chain of preparation for the examination. This would automatically elevate their standard to enforce good quality preparation for the examination.
Stop Procrastination
Top performers in every field stay highly motivated by showing up every day to be more consistent than their peers. The others always struggle with a battle of motivation and procrastination.
It is important to note that such top performers get back into their routine after a bad day, unlike their colleagues. The Seinfeld strategy at this point focuses on the process rather than the individual performance. It’s always not about how a candidate is not very brilliant, or his work is, it has always been about “not breaking the chain”.
However, the nature of the task to be chosen to apply this principle, the task must a simple and a sustainable one equivalent to writing. Simple tasks that help maintain and produce the required outcome should be selected.
Consistency, Then Perfection
Even living a healthy life and a happy one wherein you pursue your hobbies and interests requires a lot of consistency to it. Breaking the chain on workouts and eating habits, would reduce your morale and demotivate you to go for it altogether. A dedication placed for small and manageable tasks can help achieve perfection in the long term.
It could be about increasing your writing speed in the context of an example. Increasing your word count gradually on a day to day basis and setting targets required. The execution of the same would also be a practical demonstration of “Don’t Break the Chain”.
In a pursuit to make the most out of short-term awards, much more than long-term awards candidates always procrastinate any activity, knowing that it is not the right thing to do. This is about the ‘present self’ and the ‘future self’, wherein the ‘present self’ seems to value instant rewards while the ‘future self’ believes in the logic of working hard to receive awards on a long-term basis.
While your future self may envision, that perfect preparation done over a period of three to four months would guarantee good performance in the examination. The present self might not consider the same for execution, and hence, there arises a mismatch between what you typically think and do.
Always divide your long-term goal into short-term and manageable tasks without breaking the value chain to achieve instant results on whatever you are doing to make it most productive.
This theory, if implemented in the right sense by the students would help them do better in their examinations as well as attain mastery over their career fields in a short span of time.