Jerry Seinfeld

“A TV series is like a pretty big boat that you can run with a couple of people. A movie is a yacht, there are so many people, it is a beautiful thing, there is a lot of money involved, everybody wants it, and everybody thinks it’s the ultimate way to go across the water. And stand-up, for me, is a surfboard, it’s just you. You paddle out, you try and catch the energy, your all on your own, and you can do it and go home and nobody but you really will know what happened. I think the more people you add to the vessel, the faster you are going to struggle to maintain its progress through the water.”

Here is a link to Seinfeld’s Wikipedia.

I stopped running, came home, and wrote this down as soon as I heard it. What a perfect analogy, I thought.

Although the quote describes forms of comedic entertainment, it applies in multiple industries. 

I have worked for large companies, medium-sized companies, and small companies, and I regularly find, in medium to small-sized companies, if you can prove you are valuable, you generally have more freedom than you realise. If you focus on the task at hand, productivity can be achieved on your own terms.

Finally, part of the reason I enjoy writing this blog is the freedom to write whatever I want, with my own tone and style. I do not have the stress of meeting someone else’s vision. Although I find some publications inspiring to read, and would love to write for some of them, such as WIRED, for example, I do enjoy surfing. It’s just me, and that is what makes this so fun.