As far as professional role models go, Homer Simpson probably isn’t at the top of everyone’s list. But what about Jerry Seinfeld? He’s certainly been successful. Plus, he’s real.
I bring them up because both apparently have much to teach us. According to one person, Homer is a master of work/life balance. Another expert recently passed along a productivity tip from Seinfeld.
So what can Homer teach us? Tom Stern, one of work and business experts who blogs at Fast Company, recently itemized the “Ten Reasons Homer Simpson Understands Work/Life Balance.” As a devoted Simpson’s watcher, I would argue that Homer’s secret is to never actually go to work while still somehow managing to support a family. But here are a few of Stern’s views on the yellow one:
1. Unlike us obsessed, overworked types, Homer can’t wait to get the heck out of work.
2. While at work, Homer does not take things too seriously, innately understanding that the everyday duties we get so stressed about are ultimately not that important. (All right, so he works in a nuclear facility. We’ll let that slide.)
4. Homer often goes to his wife Marge with problems that have been weighing on his mind, and even solicits her support and affection. Maybe it’s just that reassuring beehive of blue hair that makes him know he has a safe place to unburden.
9. Homer is rightly afraid of Mr. Burns, who represents the emptiness of wealth and achievement. Mr. Burns is the embodiment of that famous quote “for what does it profit a man if he gaineth everything but loseth his entire muscle mass?”
So, uh, be more like Homer. (Minus the repeated head trauma.)
As for Seinfeld, years ago he offered some productivity advice to Brad Isaac, who was then a young comic. Isaac is now a programmer, entrepreneur and productivity expert. Seinfeld’s advice was of course specific to the job of being a comic, but it can be applied to other pursuits.
“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,” writes Isaac on Lifehacker. “But his advice was better than that. He had a gem of a leverage technique he used on himself and you can use it to motivate yourself - even when you don't feel like it.”
Seinfeld forced himself to write by taking a full-year calendar and putting it in a prominent place in his house. When he did his joke writing he would mark off that day with a big red “x.”
"After a few days you'll have a chain,” Seinfeld said. “Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain."
Here’s how Isaac relates it to normal work life:
It works because it isn't the one-shot pushes that get us where we want to go, it is the consistent daily action that builds extraordinary outcomes. You may have heard "inch by inch anything's a cinch." Inch by inch does work if you can move an inch every day.
Daily action builds habits. It gives you practice and will make you an expert in a short time. If you don't break the chain, you'll start to spot opportunities you otherwise wouldn't. Small improvements accumulate into large improvements rapidly because daily action provides "compounding interest."
And yadda, yadda, yadda.
