Jeff Bezos is worth more than $202 billion, making him the third richest person in the world.
And although he spent many nights burning his eyelashes, the Amazon founder has revealed that his success is partly down to an hour-long morning ritual.
Bezos explained that he starts the day by “entertaining” outside, no screens, just him and his thoughts.
The billionaire has been taking a walk every morning since 2018 and swears that the routine has improved his decision-making skills and productivity, and scientific research has backed up his claims.
Above, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez take a stroll at the Sun Valley Resort in Idaho on July 10, 2024. Bezos’ fiancée Sanchez confirmed her partner’s commitment to keeping their morning “golf time” hour free of “screen time” in an interview with People last month
When Bezos first laid out his morning “play time” strategy during his speech at the Economic Clubhe described the process as leaving him refreshed for his most important meetings.
“That’s why I set my first meeting for ten o’clock,” Bezos told the Club.
‘I like to do my high IQ meetings before lunch, because at 5pm I think I can’t think about your problem today anymore. Let’s try this again tomorrow at 10 am’
The dream that Bezos has before his time to dedicate himself to leisure is also fundamental to his success, as he told these business leaders gathered in the United States capital.
‘I get up early. “I go to bed early,” he explained.
The billionaire elaborated a little more on his 2020 book, Invent & Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezoswriting: ‘(I need) eight hours. I think better. I have more energy. My mood is better.’
Licensed therapist Maris Löfflerwho specializes in the treatment of anxiety and stress disorders at the Stanford Lifestyle Medicine Program, said scrolling on your phone early in the morning, or for too long, can slowly take a toll on your mental health.
“If you spent an hour looking at your phone in bed one morning, the negative impacts would be minimal,” Loeffler said in a recent post with the program.
“But if it becomes a habit, day after day, month after month,” he explained, “this behavior can take its toll.”
Loeffler cited a neuroscience study which found that increased screen use among adults can degrade learning ability, memory function and mental health.
Another study that found drew worrying links between routine binge-watching of television (five hours or more per day) and elevated risks of dementia, Parkinson’s, and other brain-related diseases.
Later research has related these phenomena to the Gray matter volume in adult brains.that appear to decrease in adults caught staring at their screens for two or more hours of screen time per day outside of work.
Bezos himself has been more self-critical and less specific about the evidence supporting his intentionally slow morning routing.
Speaking to podcaster Lex Fridman last December, the billionaire simply defined his putting strategy as a simple slow motion.
“I’m not as productive as you might think,” Bezos laughed.
“I move pretty slow for the first few hours,” he said. ‘I get up early, naturally. And also, you know, I exercise most days.