Live without regrets:
On November 4, Jeff Bezos was interviewed by his brother Mark at the ideas festival Summit LA17 event in Los Angeles. During the course of this interview, Jeff revealed to the audience the mind trick he used to make up his mind.
As Jeff considered whether to stick with his safe and relatively lucrative career on Wall Street, he stepped back from his day-to-day activities at work for a few days to imagine what it would be like to start his own company. But he didn't just imagine what it would be like a month or year into the future. That would not have given Jeff the answer he was looking for.
As Jeff explained to his brother Mark, "The best way to think about it was to project my life forward to age 80," and then take the path that "minimized my regrets." According to Jeff, when he applied this mind trick, the right decision became "immediately obvious." He chose to quit his Wall Street job and start an online bookstore -- Amazon.com -- which soon grew into something much, much bigger.
And if he failed? No worries. Said Jeff, "If it failed, I would be very proud when I was 80 that I tried."
A community for strategies, ideas, and inspiration on how to become a better you, break out of a rut, deal with failures, improve your skills and abilities, seek motivation, stop procrastinating, take responsibility, adjust attitude, build courage, become more productive, change behaviors, get healthier (exercise, weight loss, stop smoking), address weaknesses, end destructive habits, increase pride, cope with life events, address insecurities, solicit advice, and anything else that helps you lead a happier existence.