Jeff Bezos used one simple question to decide whether to quit Wall Street and start Amazon: What will I regret when I’m 80?
Now worth $357 billion, Jeff Bezos once created a “regret minimization framework” to decide whether to quit his cushy hedge fund job to create Amazon.
In 2001, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, shared his decision-making process for leaving his lucrative Wall Street career to start a business. He developed a regret minimization framework, projecting himself to the age of 80 and asking, "What will I regret then?" Bezos believed that reflecting on the regret he might have for not trying something was the key factor that drove his decision.
He explained that while failing to regret not trying was important, the fear of regretting not trying at all was what haunted him daily. Despite the challenges of walking away from a stable job, Bezos was ultimately convinced that this path would bring him more satisfaction in the long run.
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