We are our choices. Build yourself a great story.
Jeff BezosRead
It is very difficult to get people to focus on the most important things when you're in boom times.
Interpretation
What this quote means
In prosperous times, prioritizing what truly matters can be challenging for individuals and organizations.
Jeff Bezos highlights that during periods of abundance and success, people may become distracted and fail to concentrate on the essential tasks and objectives that drive long-term success. This quote emphasizes the need for discipline and focus, particularly when circumstances seem favorable and the temptation to overlook foundational priorities arises.
Themes
FocusImportancePrioritizationBusinessSuccess
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a business presentation to remind teams to maintain their focus during times of success.
More from Jeff Bezos
All quotes βWork hard, have fun and make history.
Jeff BezosRead
If you're not stubborn, you'll give up on experiments too soon. And if you're not flexible, you'll pound your head against the wall and you won't see a different solution to a problem you're trying to solve.
Jeff BezosRead
But there's so much kludge, so much terrible stuff, we are at the 1908 Hurley washing machine stage with the Internet. That's where we are. We don't get our hair caught in it, but that's the level of primitiveness of where we are. We're in 1908.
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Because, you know, resilience - if you think of it in terms of the Gold Rush, then you'd be pretty depressed right now because the last nugget of gold would be gone. But the good thing is, with innovation, there isn't a last nugget. Every new thing creates two new questions and two new opportunities.
Jeff BezosRead
When you are eighty years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end, we are our choices.
Jeff BezosRead
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