Jerry Seinfeld has a calendar with all twelve months on one page, and a red magic marker. He also has 46 Porsches, but that’s a conversation for later.
Every day that he takes the time to write material, he draws a gratifying X across that day on the calendar. When he accomplishes his writing goal for consecutive days, a row begins to form. Like the Very Hungry Caterpillar, the row of X’s grows and lengthens more and more.
Now, here is the genius in this highly effective motivational tactic: as his success materializes in red across the little calendar squares, his goals change. He becomes no longer tasked with taking the time to write, but with not breaking the chain.
And so, there is no coincidence that he is the expert of comedy.
“The thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That’s it. And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.” -Malcolm Gladwell: Outliers; The Story of Success
Americans today are estimated to see as many as 5,000 ads a day, according to CBS News—that is a lot of ads! Your job as an advertiser is to make sure that yours is the best. How do you do that? Follow Jerry Seinfeld’s lead, and get writing.
