Comedian Jerry Seinfeld believes there are just two healthy habits that “could solve just about anyone’s life”: Transcendental Meditation and weight training, he said during a recent episode of the podcast, “The Tim Ferriss Show.”
Seinfeld, 66, explained that incorporating these techniques into his routine have helped him stay productive, focused and creative throughout his career. Here’s what you need to know about weight training and Transcendental Meditation:
TM: ‘The ultimate work tool’
Transcendental Meditation (or TM) is a proprietary form of meditation that requires sitting for 20 minutes twice a day and repeating a mantra. (TM is taught by certified instructors and costs $380 to $960 on a sliding scale.)
Oprah Winfrey, hedgefund billionaire Ray Dalio and even singer Lady Gaga are proponents of TM, and credit much of their success and productivity to the practice.
Seinfeld agrees, calling TM “the absolutely ultimate work tool.”
So, what makes this type of meditation so special? Practicing TM “allows the active thinking mind to just, all of it to just settle down, and experience quieter levels of thought,” Bob Roth, TM instructor and CEO of The David Lynch Foundation, said in a 2014 YouTube video.
According to Seinfeld, TM helps to reduce stress and increase energy and focus. “As a standup comic, I can tell you, my entire life is concentration fatigue,” he said. “Whether it’s writing or performing, my brain and my body, which is the same thing, are constantly hitting the wall. And if you have [TM] in your hip pocket, you’re Columbus with a compass.”
Seinfeld practices TM twice a day or “any time I feel like I’m dipping,” he said. For example, if he isn’t feeling inspired during a writing session, he will meditate. “If I sit down and the pen doesn’t move for like 20 minutes, I know I’m out of gas,” he said.
Weight training three times a week
Seinfeld’s workout routine includes a mix of lifting weights for an hour and interval cardio training three times a week.
Seinfeld initially got into weight training by doing Bill Phillips’ “Body For Life” program, a 12-week diet and exercise regimen that includes exercising six times a week (three days for lifting weights and three days of high-intensity interval training) and eating six small meals a day. Now exercise is a crucial part of his daily routine.
“There are a lot of days where I want to cry instead of do it because it really physically hurts,” Seinfeld said. “But I just think it’s very balancing to the forces inside humanity that I think are just, they overwhelm us.”
There’s some science to this healthy habit: Studies have shown that resistance training workouts (exercises that strengthen your muscles using external resistance, like free weights, machines or your own bodyweight) can relieve symptoms of anxiety.
The physical activity guidelines for Americans suggest that adults get 150-300 minutes a week (or 20-45 minutes a day) of moderate-intensity activity, or 75-150 minutes a week (or 10 to 20 minutes a day) of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity.
Jerry Seinfeld: ‘Success is the enemy of irritability and crankiness’ — how to stay productive and motivated
So to what does Seinfeld credit his creativity and career longevity? “Having a very cranky nature,” he said during a recent episode of the podcast, “The Tim Ferriss Show.”
While Seinfeld may have been partially joking, he does have a process. Here the tips that keep Seinfeld motivated — and you can use them, too.
Accept frustrations
Seinfeld said the majority of his job requires writing, editing and developing jokes, often re-writing every word in a joke several times on a legal pad until it feels perfect. Indeed, “work time” can be incredibly frustrating and occupying, he said.
But that’s the same drive that keeps Seinfeld working: “Success is the enemy of irritability and crankiness,” he said. “Because now you have money, and you can remove the difficulties from your life and that’s not good.”
As someone who has made a lot of money, Seinfeld said, “the thing that did that really solve almost all of that issue is I got married,” he said. Being married and having kids means that the material will “never run out,” he said.
Set a time limit
“If you’re going to write, make yourself a writing session,” or a determine a digestible time that you’re going to use to write or work on something, Seinfeld said. For example, you could set an alarm for 30 minutes or 10 minutes, depending upon what you feel like you can handle.
“Don’t just sit down with an open ended,” he said, “that’s a ridiculous torture to put on a human being’s head.”
When you have an end point in sight, it also creates a reward to strive for, Steinfeld said on the podcast. “If you have the guts and the balls to sit down and write, you need a reward at the other end of that session,” he said.
Enjoy the accomplishment
To stay organized, Seinfeld said he has two phases of writing: “the free, play, creative phase, and then there is the polish and construction phase.” He often sits down with “15 or 20 pages of stuff that’s in various stages of development,” plus a smaller notebook with random notes and ideas, he said.
An idea “is like an archery target 50 yards away,” he told Ferriss. “I take out my bow and my arrow, and I go, let me see if I can hit that.” On a good day, he said he’ll write about half a page of a legal pad.
Seinfeld likes to spend “inordinate amounts of time refining and perfecting every single word” until he’s ready to share his material.
In fact, Seinfeld said he has a rule that he won’t show
people his writing right away. “I will always wait 24 hours before I say
anything to anyone about what I wrote,” he said. That way, he can enjoy
the satisfaction of having written something, without another person’s
opinion getting in the way.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/09/jerry-seinfeld-success-and-productivity-tips-on-tim-ferriss-podcast.html
