Seinfeld's 12 rules for comedy

"If you're efficient, you're doing it the wrong way. The right way is the hard way." And much more...

David Perell: Here are Jerry Seinfeld’s rules for comedy…

1. Talent wins: "Get good at something. That’s it. Everything else is bullshit.”

2. Embrace the difficulty of writing: The problem with writing isn’t that it’s hard. The problem is that people want it to be easy, so they run away when it gets difficult.

3. Seinfeld's writing routine: Full focus, no distractions, do it every day.

4. Want to crush your creative spirit? Aim to make something that everybody will like.

5. "If you're efficient, you're doing it the wrong way. The right way is the hard way."

6. The work never stops: Good comedians are always looking for jokes.

7. Coming up with new ideas is important, editing is important, but it's important that you don't try to do both at the same time.

8. Cut the distractions when you write. No Twitter, no Instagram, no texting, no email. Seinfeld says: “You can’t do anything else. You don’t have to write, but you can’t do anything else.”

9. Distraction is the enemy. It's not just getting distracted during writing sessions that crushes productivity. It's building a distracting life that kills people. Seinfeld skipped the admin work, skipped the speaking opportunities, and skipped all the schmoozing that famous people get into.

10. Forget about your audience: The fountain of creativity cannot flow when the judgmental eye of your audience is top of mind as you're creating.

11. Write a lot, publish a little.

12. Never stop focusing on the craft: Seinfeld says that in most TV shows, the writers spend roughly half their time working on the show and the other half dealing with nonsense. But Seinfeld and Larry David spent 99% of their time writing. Just the two of them. With the door closed.