Entrepreneurs
What Motivates the World’s Richest Man, Jeff Bezos?
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, founder of Blue Origin aerospace company, owner of The Washington Post, and currently the richest man in the world, has reached heights of unparalleled success. But what goes on in the mind behind this super human level of success? How does the way he thinks set him apart?
The following 8 quotes from Jeff Bezos himself can shed light into the psyche of his entrepreneurial mind:
1. “Big things start small. The biggest oak starts from an acorn.”
Even the most gigantic of empires start as just a whisper in the mind of one person. Before starting Amazon.com, Bezos was working at a quantitative hedge fund. He left the comfort of a high paying job to start a small online company originally selling books out of his garage. He chose the whisper of dream over the life he was content with. He chose the great over the good. He had a vision.
2. “Do something you’re very passionate about and don’t try to chase what is the hot passion of the day.”
Listen to that passion inside you. Let that be the guiding force. Trends are a flash in the pan, but deep passion is long lasting. Legacy is built from sustained output into the world over the long haul. A love for what you do is the fuel to create something that lasts. Chasing others will only make you an imitator. Follow that calling inside you and be the originator.
3. “You can have a job, or you can have a career, or you can have a calling. And the best thing is to have a calling. If you find your passion, you’ll have that and all your work won’t feel like work to you.”
Find that thing that has juice in it for you. What gives you life when you think about it? Find those things in your life that bring you intensely positive emotion. At the end of your life, you will never regret taking the chance on that one big idea that you had.
4. “The mission and vision of Amazon.com is: ‘Our vision is to be earth’s most customer-centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”
Jeff Bezos built his entire Amazon empire around this simple mission statement. Boiling down a clear vision of your destination that you can burn into your subconscious will allow you to build a solid basis for your trajectory. When that destination is immensely clear in your mind, noticing you are not moving towards it, will create a negative emotion that will compel you to get on track.
5. “I’ve made billions of dollars of failures at Amazon.com. Literally billions… They don’t matter.” “A few big successes compensate for dozens and dozens of things that didn’t work.”
It’s important to at least take aim, even if you miss wildly with your first shot, you will gain valuable knowledge with each subsequent shot that will help you get closer to your mark. You cannot let the failures get the best of you, instead celebrate your successes, let those be your main driving force.
6. “If you absolutely cannot tolerate critics, don’t do anything new or interesting. Then think how wonderful your life will be.”
Jeff Bezos jokingly remarks about the importance of taking the critical words of others light-heartedly. There is always going to be someone that doesn’t see eye to eye with you regarding your vision and what you are trying to do. Breaking through walls attracts all kinds of attention, both positive and negative. Whenever you measure yourself by the opinions of others, you make yourself vulnerable because they are not objective in their views. Peoples’ perspectives are based on where they are at, not where you are at. Do what calls you and leave others’ opinions completely aside.
7. “In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story.”
The story we allow to play out and reinforce in our minds will inspire the actions we take. Having a destination mapped out beforehand allows making choices in that direction seamless and logical. The story we narrate in our minds and continually reinforce creates the foundation for every choice we make. Write yourself a good one.
8. “When I’m happy at work I come home more energized. I’m a better husband. A better Dad. And when I’m happy at home I come in a better boss and a better colleague.”
Happiness is a vital piece for improving your relationships at home, vastly enhancing your work life, and increasing your energy overall. Happiness at home will allow you to uplift those loved ones in your life and to fully appreciate them- Bezos sees that. Happiness creates clarity, patience, flexibility, and vitality. Not to mention, happy people are much more pleasant to be around. The real juice of life is the happiness found along the road to success.
There’s no difference between you and someone that’s super successful other than the way you think. A few small changes today over the long haul can make gigantic positive shifts in your life. If you can install the same mental framework as someone you admire and want to be like, you will experience the identical results. You’re always your greatest investment, make it count.