Becoming great means acquiring a great skillset, and improving on any skill takes a consistent and deliberate effort. Improvement is not something that comes easily or without conscious effort. The article, “How Jerry Seinfeld Made His Million” by Daniel DiPiazza perfectly articulates what I have implemented in my own life in order to work towards being a part of that top 1%. To be great at something, you have to design your life around it and work at it every single day.
This article focuses around comedy and talks about the advice that Jerry Seinfeld gave to Brad Isaac when he asked for tips as a young comic. He said “the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes, and the way to create better jokes was to write every day.” The idea behind writing a joke every day is getting you to integrate the action into your daily routine. Eventually it will become habit and you will have rewired your brain to always be thinking about writing new jokes. This repetitive action will have you significantly improving on write your jokes without even realizing it.
It’s important to understand that this type of action could be applied to anything- reading, drawing, flossing, etc. – it stretches beyond joke writing. It will work for anything that you are trying to improve on, but you also have to understand that every day might not be a “good day.” Life happens and sometimes you may only floss a couple of teeth or spend a minute drawing a quick sketch. However, it is important to still do the task every day. After completing your goal every day for a year, you are certain to see improvement as you will have practiced it 365 times. You will have learned more and will have seen a great difference from what you were producing a year earlier.
Pick what you want to get better at, find a way to do it every day, and do it. Over a year you will see tremendous improvement and be on your way to reaching the top 1%.
Read the article here!
Founder, The Anthem Group