Success·Jeff BezosJeff Bezos says stress comes from ‘ignoring things you shouldn’t be ignoring,’ not hard work: ‘You can be working incredibly hard and loving it’By Dave SmithBy Dave SmithEditor, U.S.
NewsDave SmithEditor, U.S.
NewsDave Smith is a writer and editor who previously has been published in Insider, Newsweek, ABC News, and USA TODAY.SEE FULL BIO Jeff Bezos at "The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power" World Premiere at Leicester Square on August 30, 2022 in London, England.Samir Hussein / WireImage—Getty ImagesAmazon founder Jeff Bezos has a counterintuitive take on workplace stress: it doesn’t come from hard work itself, but from avoiding blems you know you need to address.
In a 2001 interview, Bezos said “stress primarily comes from not taking action over something that you can have some control over.” Bezos, then a freshly minted billionaire ing Amazon’s 1997 IPO, was talking at the Academy of Achievement Summit in San Antonio.
He described stress as a warning signal rather than an inevitable byduct of demanding work.
“So if I find that some particular thing is causing me to have stress, that’s a warning flag for me,” Bezos said.
“What it means is there’s something that I haven’t completely identified, perhaps in my conscious mind, that is bothering me and I haven’t yet taken any action on it.” Bezos said just taking a small first step—making a phone call, or sending an —can dramatically reduce stress levels, even before the underlying blem is solved.
“I find as soon as I identify it and make the first phone call, or send off the first message, or whatever it is that we’re going to do to start to address that situation—even if it’s not solved—the mere fact that we’re addressing it dramatically reduces any stress that might come from it.” Bezos said there’s a common misconception that stress often comes from hard work, and he completely disagrees with that sentiment.
“Stress doesn’t come from hard work,” he said. “You can be working incredibly hard and loving it.
And wise, you can be out of work and incredibly stressed over that.” The Amazon founder ext this logic to job-seeking, contrasting active and passive apaches to unemployment.
“If you’re out of work, but you’re going through a disciplined apach—a series of job interviews, and so on—and working to remedy that situation, you’re going to be a lot less stressed than if you’re just worrying it and doing nothing.” What re says stress management Bezos’s observations align with established psychological re on coping strategies.
Studies show that blem-focused coping—taking direct action to address stressors—is more effective at reducing stress than emotion-focused apaches that simply manage feelings.
Re has found that people who use active blem-solving report lower stress levels and better mental health outcomes.
Conversely, crastination—the avoidance Bezos warns against—has been linked to increased stress, anxiety, and even physical health blems.
Many mental health fessionals recommend blem-focused coping niques for managing workplace stress.
These include identifying specific stressors, large blems into manageable steps, and taking concrete action rather than ruminating on difficulties.
The apach doesn’t mean ignoring emotions, but rather, Bezos suggests, channeling them into ductive action. You can watch the full 2001 interview with Jeff Bezos below.
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26–27, 2025 in Riyadh.
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