We are our choices. Build yourself a great story.
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Being persistent and adaptable is key to finding solutions.
This quote emphasizes the importance of balancing perseverance and adaptability in problem-solving. Jeff Bezos suggests that without a stubborn commitment to pursuing experiments, one may abandon efforts prematurely. Conversely, an inflexible mindset can lead to frustration, as it prevents one from considering alternative solutions. Striking the right balance between these traits can facilitate innovation and success.
Themes
PersistenceAdaptabilityProblem-SolvingInnovationExperimentation
In practice
Example use cases
In a business meeting when discussing product development strategies.
More from Jeff Bezos
All quotes →Work hard, have fun and make history.
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.
Jeff BezosRead
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
We've done price elasticity studies, and the answer is always that we should raise prices. We don't do that, because we believe -- and we have to take this as an article of faith -- that by keeping our prices very, very low, we earn trust with customers over time, and that that actually does maximize free cash flow over the long term.
Jeff BezosRead
Similar quotes
All honest work is good work; it is capable of leading to self-development, provided the doer seeks to discover the inherent lessons and makes the most of the potentialities for such growth.
Paramahansa YoganandaRead
Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.
Carl JungRead
Things that I felt absolutely sure of but a few years ago, I do not believe now. This thought makes me see more clearly how foolish it would be to expect all men to agree with me.
Jim RohnRead
I think mental illness or madness can be an escape also. People don't develop a mental illness because they are in the happiest of situations, usually. One doctor observed that it was rare when people were rich to become schizophrenic. If they were poor or didn't have too much money, then it was more likely.
John Forbes Nash, Jr.Read
Here they learned to Wait. To Watch. To think thoughts and not voice them.
Arundhati RoyRead
Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead