{"id":72074,"date":"2025-10-10T16:32:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T16:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/72074\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T16:32:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T16:32:06","slug":"jeff-bezos-says-stress-comes-from-ignoring-things-you-shouldnt-be-ignoring-not-from-hard-work-you-can-be-working-incredibly-hard-and-loving-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/72074\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Bezos says stress comes from ‘ignoring things you shouldn\u2019t be ignoring,’ not from hard work: ‘You can be working incredibly hard and loving it’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amazon<\/a> founder Jeff Bezos has a counterintuitive take on workplace stress: it doesn\u2019t come from hard work itself, but from avoiding problems you know you need to address. In a 2001 interview<\/a>, Bezos said \u201cstress primarily comes from not taking action over something that you can have some control over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bezos, then a freshly minted billionaire following Amazon\u2019s 1997 IPO, was talking at the Academy of Achievement Summit in San Antonio<\/a>. He described stress as a warning signal rather than an inevitable byproduct of demanding work. \u201cSo if I find that some particular thing is causing me to have stress, that\u2019s a warning flag for me,\u201d Bezos said. \u201cWhat it means is there\u2019s something that I haven\u2019t completely identified, perhaps in my conscious mind, that is bothering me and I haven\u2019t yet taken any action on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bezos said just taking a small first step\u2014making a phone call, or sending an email\u2014can dramatically reduce stress levels, even before the underlying problem is solved. \u201cI find as soon as I identify it and make the first phone call, or send off the first email message, or whatever it is that we\u2019re going to do to start to address that situation\u2014even if it\u2019s not solved\u2014the mere fact that we\u2019re addressing it dramatically reduces any stress that might come from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bezos said there\u2019s a common misconception that stress often comes from hard work, and he completely disagrees with that sentiment. \u201cStress doesn\u2019t come from hard work,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can be working incredibly hard and loving it. And likewise, you can be out of work and incredibly stressed over that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Amazon founder extended this logic to job-seeking, contrasting active and passive approaches to unemployment. \u201cIf you\u2019re out of work, but you\u2019re going through a disciplined approach\u2014a series of job interviews, and so on\u2014and working to remedy that situation, you\u2019re going to be a lot less stressed than if you\u2019re just worrying about it and doing nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

What research says about stress management<\/p>\n

Bezos\u2019s observations align with established psychological research on coping strategies. Studies show that\u00a0problem-focused coping\u2014taking direct action to address stressors\u2014is more effective at reducing stress<\/a> than emotion-focused approaches that simply manage feelings. Research has found<\/a> that people who use active problem-solving report lower stress levels and better mental health outcomes. Conversely,\u00a0procrastination\u2014the avoidance Bezos warns against\u2014has been linked to increased stress<\/a>, anxiety, and even physical health problems. <\/p>\n

Many mental health professionals recommend problem-focused coping techniques<\/a> for managing workplace stress. These include identifying specific stressors, breaking large problems into manageable steps, and taking concrete action rather than ruminating on difficulties. The approach doesn\u2019t mean ignoring emotions, but rather, like Bezos suggests, channeling them into productive action. <\/p>\n

You can watch the full 2001 interview with Jeff Bezos below.<\/p>\n

For this story,\u00a0Fortune\u00a0used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.<\/p>\n

Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26\u201327, 2025 in Riyadh. CEOs and global leaders will gather for a dynamic, invitation-only event shaping the future of business. Apply for an invitation.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has a counterintuitive take on workplace stress: it doesn\u2019t come from hard work itself,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[752,9479,103,61,60,3916,48107,410,411,435],"class_list":{"0":"post-72074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-advice","9":"tag-fortune-intelligence","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-jeff-bezos","14":"tag-management-advice","15":"tag-mental-health","16":"tag-mentalhealth","17":"tag-stress"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}