June 2, 2025
This is Jerry Seinfeld’s simple system for getting his work done.
He has publicly disscussed how writing his material has always been a really painful, difficult process for him.
To combat his tendency to procrastinate, he uses the following method:
For a set amount of time, you can either write, or do nothing. You don’t have to write, but you can’t do anything else.
His thing was writing, but it can be used for anything. It just works.
Instead of forcing yourself to do the thing, you just artificially constrain your choices down to “boredom” and “anything else.” Boredom is one of the most painful things there is, so you “choose” the less painful option: the thing you need to do.