This photo was taken from CNBC.com
So, what I did not know about Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world…Until Now?
The answer is: Pretty much everything.
Aside from the obvious, most people know that he is the founder of Amazon. And according to Forbes, Jeff Bezos’ real-time net worth was $180B as September 25, 2020.
Personally, I also know that as a loyal customer at Amazon, if there are any problems with my orders, Amazon would always put customers first and take care of me.
But, who is Jeff Bezos? And what is in his mastermind that helps create this online empire?
In my previous post on the subconscious mind, we’ve learned that the difference between successful and not successful people lies in the thinking and behavioral patterns.
With that in mind, let’s put on the student hat and analyze whether we can find confirmations in Jeff’s success principles below.
Interviewed By His Brother Mark Bezos
As you are about to read, I came across this video posted by someone in my masterclass with Bob Proctor.
This is a great video (see link at the bottom of the post) in which Mark Bezos, Jeff’s younger brother, interviewed Jeff Bezos.
In the video, we can gather bits and pieces on the mindset that Jeff developed into prior to Amazon and his decision-making process that led him to take the journey on Amazon.
Even though this video is two-years-old, and Jeff has since moved on from his married life, I’d thought that this video is still very relevant and useful for anyone who is at crossroads in life.
Different mindsets lead to different life choices, which create different realities. Let’s get into Jeff’s head and see how his thinking patterns are different from yours or mine.
Ten success principles I learned from Jeff Bezos
Here are the ten success principles that I gathered from watching this video:
1. Be resourceful and self-reliant
Between the ages of 4 and 16, Jeff spent a lot of time at his grandfather’s farm and observed how his grandfather managed to tackle something he did not know and figured his way out.
This necessary quality ingrained in his belief that we need to be resourceful in life. And we can acquire this by trying different things in life.
Taking one step further, he even mentioned that one of the criteria on his wish list for his future wife used to be that she had to be able to get him out of third-world prison.
Fortunately, his then-wife had the same vision like him and they raised their children this way.
Unlike most parents that are protective of their children, they used to let their kids try using knives and tools at a very young age (around 4 years old).
As his then-wife put it, they would rather have their kids with nine fingers than resourceless kids.
2. The 80-year-old test
Back in 1994, when Jeff decided to start Amazon at age 30, he was already a senior vice-president at a hedge fund company.
Therefore, it was no dispute that he had a very comfortable life.
However, upon some soul searching, he decided to go ahead and leave his job. He actually said ‘listen to what your heart says’. Woww…
How he made that choice?
As he pointed out, he made it by using this 80-year-old test. In fact, he said that he used this rule to make decisions for any important life events.
This is how he applied the rule. He would project himself at age 80 and asked if he would rather have regrets for not trying or have NO regrets even if he tried and failed.
Gladly, we all know that he made the right choice even though it was hard to know whether his choice was the right choice at that time.
3. Comfort vs. service and adventure
Along the same line as point 2, he also said that in life when faced with a decision to chose comfort versus service and adventure. He’d picked the latter.
This quality is also confirmed in point 4 below when he formed Blue Origin with the urgency that we needed to save the earth by expanding to space.
4. Passions leave clues and imprints
Do passions find us or we find our passions? He mentioned that we would probably not know which way is right.
Nevertheless, passions do leave clues and imprints throughout our lives.
Since five years old, he had always been fascinated by rockets and space.
In high school, he even made his whole speech as valedictorian about colonizing space.
Following these clues and imprints, it was no surprise that he later founded Blue Origin in 2000 with a mission to produce affordable space travels to save the earth.
5. There is no Plan B
Unlike most people, he did not like having a plan B in projects. In his arguments, his plan B was to make sure that Plan A worked.
6. Long-term thinking
In the world today, we want speed. We look for quick results in our pursuits.
However, that is not Jeff Bezos’ style. His approach to business had always been long-term thinking.
At Amazon, the creation of any new projects was anywhere between 5-8 years.
He believed that this way it allowed sufficient time to create the conditions that were needed to solve problems in the future.
7. No multitasking
This was something that surprised me
Jeff did not like multi-tasking. He mentioned that he liked to be 100% present in everything that he did. He liked to focus on one task at a time.
8. Choice over gift
He indicated that it was our choice that defined us and not our birth gifts.
He gave the example that whether we were tall, smart, or pretty, these were genetic gifts that we were born without making any effort.
However, we should be proud of the choices we’ve made in life as we made the choices to take action.
9. A domain expert with a beginner’s mind
To stay innovative in business, he believed that you must be an expert in whatever you choose to do.
But the hard part was, which was the quality that set you apart, to maintain a beginner’s mind at the same time. By doing so, you would be able to keep a fresh set of eyes on whatever you are doing.
10. Work-Life Harmony and not work life balance
In his teaching to Amazon executives, he believed in work-life harmony and not work-life balance.
He did not like the term “balance”, as it implied some sort of trade-offs. Instead, he used the word harmony. When work gave you energy, it would help you with your personal life and vice versa. It was like a wheel of energy feeding one another.
Two fun facts
Aside from Jeff’s success principles in life, I’d thought to share with you the two fun facts/observations that I picked up:
1. It appeared that his brother made him giggled. When he did, there was a childlike wonder about him;
2. Accordingly to him, he would have become a software engineering if Amazon failed.
My Favorites
Personally, I really enjoyed the interview.
It gave us a glimpse on how extremely successful people think and the mindset they have to achieve great success.
Upon analyzing the above characteristics, I know that I can definitely benefit from them with practice.
Knowledge without application could just be an intellectual exercise. In most cases, it would not lead to any real changes you are looking for.
Therefore, I have made a goal to practice each one attribute consistently for a month. I want to write his mindset into my subconscious mind.
My favorites are numbers 2, 3 and 9.
Check it out!! 55 minutes Interview between Mark and Jeff Bezos
If you get a chance to watch the video (see link below), you might pick up something different from me.
Share it with me!!
