Jerry Seinfeld has meditated every day for more than 50 years.
Which makes me wonder: Why would someone whose time is THAT valuable deliberately spend part of every day doing… nothing?
After all, Seinfeld has spent decades writing, performing, touring, producing, and creating at an incredibly high level. Yet, instead of squeezing another task into every available minute, he has consistently made meditation part of his routine.
And maybe that tells us something.
Jerry Seinfeld’s 50-Year Experiment
Seinfeld began practicing Transcendental Meditation in 1972. Moreover, he has described meditation as something that helped him handle the extraordinary workload of creating Seinfeld.
In fact, during the television show’s run, Seinfeld has said that he would meditate while everyone else took lunch. Then, he would eat while working. Therefore, those few quiet minutes weren’t necessarily taking time away from his productivity—they were helping him sustain it.
Additionally, comedian Sebastian Maniscalco has discussed Seinfeld getting him interested in meditation. Subsequently, Maniscalco has spoken about how valuable the practice became in his own life.
So, perhaps meditation isn’t really about escaping from work.
Instead, it may be about becoming better prepared for it.
Meditation Is Training, Too
As a personal trainer, I think there’s an interesting parallel here.
Most people understand that constantly training your body without recovery eventually becomes counterproductive. However, we rarely apply the same logic to our brains.
We answer texts while watching TV. Meanwhile, we check email between meetings. Furthermore, we scroll through our phones while waiting in line. Consequently, the brain rarely gets a true break from incoming information.
Meditation interrupts that pattern.
According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, meditation and mindfulness practices may help with stress, anxiety, sleep, and overall well-being. Research also suggests meditation may influence attention and emotional regulation.
In other words, doing “nothing” may actually be doing something.
The High-Performer Trap
For busy professionals and men over 40, this can be particularly relevant.
As responsibilities increase, it becomes easy to assume that productivity means filling every available minute. However, more activity doesn’t automatically equal better performance.
Similarly, this is something I emphasize with my personal-training clients in Broadview Heights: recovery isn’t the opposite of performance. Recovery is part of performance.
That applies whether you’re recovering between sets, between workouts, or between stressful parts of your day.
Therefore, meditation doesn’t have to become another complicated item on your wellness checklist. Instead, start ridiculously small.
Try five or ten minutes.
Put the phone away. Sit somewhere quiet. Focus on your breathing. Inevitably, your mind will wander. When it does, simply bring your attention back.
Then, go about your day.
Ten Minutes That Could Change the Other 23 Hours
Ultimately, I think Seinfeld’s habit provides a useful lesson for anyone trying to perform at a high level as they get older.
Sometimes, the answer isn’t doing more.
Instead, the answer may be creating enough space to do everything else better.
At ScardinoFitness, I help busy men over 40 in Broadview Heights and the Cleveland area build strength, mobility, energy, and sustainable habits without allowing fitness to take over their lives.
Likewise, meditation can fit that same philosophy: if it’s not sustainable, it’s not successful.
So, you don’t necessarily need an hour-long morning ritual, a meditation room, or a sudden interest in incense.
You might just need ten quiet minutes.
For more information on what the research says about meditation and mindfulness, visit the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.
Because sometimes, ten minutes spent doing “nothing” might make you better at everything you do next.