Jeff Bezos: Regret Minimization Framework

This is fantastic.

via Jeff Bezos, 2001

I went to my boss and said to him, “You know, I’m going to go do this crazy thing and I’m going to start this company selling books online.” This was something that I had already been talking to him about in a sort of more general context, but then he said, “Let’s go on a walk.” And, we went on a two hour walk in Central Park in New York City and the conclusion of that was this. He said, “You know, this actually sounds like a really good idea to me, but it sounds like it would be a better idea for somebody who didn’t already have a good job.” He convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision.

So, I went away and was trying to find the right framework in which to make that kind of big decision. I had already talked to my wife about this, and she was very supportive and said, “Look, you know you can count me in 100 percent, whatever you want to do.” It’s true she had married this fairly stable guy in a stable career path, and now he wanted to go do this crazy thing, but she was 100 percent supportive. So, it really was a decision that I had to make for myself, and the framework I found which made the decision incredibly easy was what I called — which only a nerd would call — a “regret minimization framework.”

So, I wanted to project myself forward to age 80 and say, “Okay, now I’m looking back on my life. I want to have minimized the number of regrets I have.” I knew that when I was 80 I was not going to regret having tried this. I was not going to regret trying to participate in this thing called the Internet that I thought was going to be a really big deal. I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not ever having tried. I knew that that would haunt me every day, and so, when I thought about it that way it was an incredibly easy decision. And, I think that’s very good. If you can project yourself out to age 80 and sort of think, “What will I think at that time?” it gets you away from some of the daily pieces of confusion. You know, I left this Wall Street firm in the middle of the year. When you do that, you walk away from your annual bonus. That’s the kind of thing that in the short-term can confuse you, but if you think about the long-term then you can really make good life decisions that you won’t regret later.
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Post Notes

  1. coffeealbeit reblogged this from thetapeleader
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    “The reason why.”...I went to my boss and said to him, “You know, I’m going to go do this...
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  19. jackcheng reblogged this from msg and added:
    Achievement. See also:...minimalization. (thanks @msg)
  20. twobrain reblogged this from chrislin182
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  28. transparentcommunity reblogged this from peterwknox and added:
    I have been going through a lot of this thinking lately.
  29. chrislin182 reblogged this from rohun
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  31. duckandpenguin reblogged this from suitep and added:
    Oh oh oh. One time I asked myself, “Would I, at age 80, regret not dropping everything and following the girl?” And the...
  32. alexbeaudet reblogged this from bijan and added:
    The timing (of me reading this) could...more incredible.
  33. suitep reblogged this from slippy
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  36. ags reblogged this from bijan and added:
    hear right now, as...pass on a great college degree...pursue...
  37. nlinde reblogged this from peterwknox and added:
    I know what I have to do tonight.
  38. reecepacheco reblogged this from bijan and added:
    I just left this comment on bijan’s blog (I’m really digging his stuff lately). “It’s so simple. In the long run, the...
  39. mmcosker reblogged this from john
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  43. yancey reblogged this from bijan
  44. jared reblogged this from john and added:
    It takes tremendous guts to leave D. E. Shaw (the quintessential brain-drain) to pursue an idea which is shot down by...
  45. kskhrt reblogged this from john
  46. dharmeshparikh reblogged this from bijan
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  48. donaldryan reblogged this from bijan and added:
    I have taken big leaps that have ended well (or seem to be at the present) and ones that ended lousy. I have never...
  49. zackmans reblogged this from ericfriedman and added:
    Great thoughts on career from Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com.
  50. john reblogged this from bijan and added:
    Took a lot of guts for Bezos to leave the mothership. His boss was David Shaw and the company is D.E. Shaw, brilliant...
  51. sethherman reblogged this from joshmohrer
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  53. joshmohrer reblogged this from bijan and added:
    Thank you, Jeff Bezos.
  54. soupsoup reblogged this from bijan
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  58. 1000reasonsnottostartmakingart reblogged this from petervidani and added:
    I might regret turning into an artist; I might make no money, embarrass the wife and kids, make a fool of myself, gain...
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  62. caterpillarcowboy reblogged this from bijan and added:
    And… this is why I left Amazon for Etsy, and why I started a company instead of looking for a job after leaving Etsy.
  63. micahbaldwin reblogged this from bijan
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