The Amazon founder and CEO isn’t ‘as productive as you might think’

It turns out Jeff Bezos has a similar start to the morning as the rest of us, minus waking up with anxiety about the cost of living crisis, that is.

Let’s be real here, it would take you a shockingly long amount of time to ever be as rich as Jeff Bezos – there’s even an equation to break it down for you – and it’s questionable as to if any of us would even want to be billionaires in the first place.

However, should you want to channel a bit of the Bezos in a bid to climb the path of success, then there’s one daily ritual the Amazon CEO and founder abides by that he attributes to helping get him in the right mindset.

Should you want to try and be the sort of person to be on track to have a net worth of over $200 billion dollars, yet not allegedly be capable of taking the trash out, then Bezos has you covered.

During an appearance on the Lex Fridman Podcast in December 2023, reflecting on how he’s stayed so productive and reached such a level of success, Bezos explained he dedicates some time every morning of every day to a certain ritual.

And it’s called ‘puttering time’ – no, it’s not anything to do with golf.

Jeff Bezos is a fan of a ‘putter’ (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/ Getty Stock Images)

Instead, ‘puttering time’ for Bezos is time to wander around and relax before getting on with his day.

This might sound strangely normal and Bezos acknowledged: “I’m not as productive as you might think I am.”

He explained it’s the ‘first’ thing he does when he gets up in the morning, going for a ‘putter’ grabbing a coffee and just ‘slowly mov[ing] around’.

“I do believe in wandering,” he added. “And I sort of read my phone for a while, I read newspapers for a while, I chat with Lauren [Sánchez] , I drink my first coffee. I move pretty slowly in the first couple of hours.”

What’s more, maintaining his billionaire status also rides on having a good night’s sleep, Bezos going to bed ‘early’ and getting up ‘early’ too, noting in his 2020 book he needs ‘eight hours’ in order to be more proactive and feel as well as he can overall.

‘Puttering’ is ‘important’ to Bezos (Getty Images/ Stefanie Keenan/WireImage)

Bezos’ wife Lauren Sánchez added in an interview with PEOPLE her ‘favorite part of the day’ is her mornings with Bezos, able to have a ‘magic moment’ just ‘talking’ together without the distractions of phones or their kids having woken up yet.

Despite Bezos saying he sometimes scrolls on his phone, Sánchez notes not going on their phones is ‘one of the rules’. “He definitely made that rule,” she added.

It not only helps Bezos get in a clear headspace to start the day, but ensures he and Sanchez have some time ‘just [them] for as long as [they] can’.