{"id":4284,"date":"2026-07-26T22:10:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T22:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4284"},"modified":"2026-07-26T22:10:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T22:10:06","slug":"jeff-bezos-says-being-lazy-not-working-hard-is-the-root-of-anxiety-the-stress-goes-away-the-second-i-take-that-first-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4284","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Bezos says being lazy, not working hard, is the root of anxiety: \u2018The stress goes away the second I take that first step\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cI find if I\u2019m stressed about something it\u2019s usually because I\u2019m not doing anything about it,\u201d Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said in 2017 during a visit to the Museum of Flight in Seattle. \u201cI\u2019m listening to my body as a signal that something is wrong, and I find that the stress goes away the second I take the first step.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more A deal is being negotiated that centers around having Iran run vessel transit through the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz\u00a0with fewer restrictions on ships<\/a><\/p>\n

Bezos, who has a net worth of $257 billion and is the world\u2019s third-richest man, undoubtedly experienced stress while building what is now the No. 1 Fortune 500 company. After all, he started Amazon in a rented garage and had to take 60 meetings to raise the first $1 million in seed capital for his nascent company in the mid-1990s.<\/p>\n

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But instead of letting the stress get to him, he chooses to turn his anxiety into motivation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m stressed about something, I\u2019m trying to figure out why [I am] stressed,\u201d Bezos said. \u201cI\u2019m listening to my body as a signal.\u201d<\/p>\n

To handle stressful situations, Bezos recommends talking to others and finding allies to problem-solve with. He said this can transform an anxiety-inducing situation into one that\u2019s actually \u201cfun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can find friends who are interested in similar things or want to help you solve a problem, problem-solving is inspiring for me all by itself,\u201d he added. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing more fun than getting in a room with a group of inventors and saying: \u2018Look, here\u2019s the problem. Let\u2019s invent a solution to it.\u2019 And as soon as you start doing that, I find that it turns from something that might create stress into something that creates fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And in terms of problem-solving, Amazon\u2019s most prominent leaders always have Bezos\u2019 16 leadership principles to turn to for guidance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe leadership principles are something you have to constantly work at,\u201d Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in the company\u2019s Leadership Principles Explained <\/em>video series. \u201cWhen they\u2019re applied well, they\u2019re powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more New tariffs could allow Trump to make levies permanent without going to Congress \u2014 \u2018he\u2019s trying every side door and every unlatched window to get in\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

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How other CEOs handle stress<\/h2>\n

While Bezos says his key to handling stress is just pushing through, other CEOs take on a variety of different approaches to combat anxiety.<\/p>\n

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Former Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan, for example, told Fortune<\/em> in a 2023 interview he relies on three nonnegotiables to beat burnout: daily meditation, regular exercise, and protected family time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m very disciplined about balance,\u201d said Narasimhan, who now serves on the boards of the Brookings Institution and Verizon.<\/p>\n

And Red Lobster\u2019s CEO practices emotional control to make sure his team doesn\u2019t see him stressed, he told Business Insider.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPracticing emotional control means taking a moment to pause, assess the situation, and respond thoughtfully, rather than reacting impulsively,\u201d Damola Adamolekun, the 37-year-old CEO, said. \u201cWhen you model emotional control, you create a stable environment where your team feels supported and motivated, even in the face of adversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella takes a somewhat similar approach to Bezos in that he confronts adversity head-on. That means facilitating open communication and building flexibility into workplace policies so employees don\u2019t burn out, thereby reducing their own leadership stress.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe notion of having work-life harmony in a highly competitive economy is a first-class topic,\u201d Nadella said. \u201cThe key is to make sure you\u2019re engaging in a dialogue with your employees. There also needs to be flexibility in all the [workplace] policies that someone like me sets and propagates. You cannot have people burn out. It\u2019s bad for your company, and it\u2019s bad for society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Traders are getting a new tool to wager on the biggest U.S. stocks<\/a><\/p>\n

A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on February 25, 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bezos worked through decades of stress to build the No. 1 Fortune 500 company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jeff-bezos"],"yoast_head":"\nJeff Bezos says being lazy, not working hard, is the root of anxiety: \u2018The stress goes away the second I take that first step\u2019 - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4284\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jeff Bezos says being lazy, not working hard, is the root of anxiety: \u2018The stress goes away the second I take that first step\u2019 - 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