Do you feel anxious or stressed because of work? Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has a straightforward approach to dealing with it. He believes stress often comes not from having an excessive workload, but from repeatedly thinking about a problem without taking any action. His advice is to stop overanalysing and start doing something to address whatever is causing the worry.
For Bezos, managing stress has traditionally been less about slowing down and more about taking action and resolving problems. He has expressed this view on several occasions over the years.
During a 2001 interview at the Academy of Achievement Summit, Bezos said stress was not necessarily caused by working too hard. Instead, he argued that it often comes from failing to act on problems that are within a person’s control.
“Stress doesn't come from hard work. Stress primarily comes from not taking action over something that you can have some control over. So, stress comes from ignoring things that you shouldn't be ignoring,” he said.
Bezos shared a similar perspective in 2017 during a Q&A session with students at Seattle’s Museum of Flight. When asked what kept him motivated during difficult periods, he explained that stress was often an indication that he was not taking action on the issue.
“I find if I'm stressed about something it's usually because I'm not doing anything about it.”
According to Bezos, the first step is identifying exactly what is causing the stress and then taking some form of action. That could involve making a phone call, sending an email or speaking with someone who might be able to help.
“Once I figure out what it is and I can identify it and take the first step, then the stress starts to go away.”
Taking the first step does not necessarily mean solving the entire problem alone. Bezos also believes that reaching out to others and building a support network can make difficult situations easier to handle. Bringing people together to work on a challenging problem can even change the way the situation feels.
“I find that if you get a group of people together to solve a problem, something that started out as something that was causing stress can actually turn into something that creates fun,” he said.
In essence, Bezos believes taking action is more effective than continuously worrying about something that can be controlled. Leaving a problem unresolved can cause stress to accumulate, while even a small move towards addressing it can make the situation seem more manageable.
Bezos is not the only technology leader to have shared views on handling workplace pressure. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has suggested that people should not necessarily try to completely separate their professional and personal lives. Instead, he prefers the concept of “work-life harmony” over work-life balance.
In a November 2019 interview with the Australian Financial Review, Nadella said he wanted to “harmonise what I care about with my work.”
Former Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan, meanwhile, has emphasised routines and personal boundaries as ways for employees, particularly CEOs, to manage workplace pressure.
In an interview with Fortune published in October 2023, Narasimhan described meditation as “truly powerful,” saying it helped him remain mindful and centred. He also said he made a conscious effort to protect time with his family and generally avoided meetings after 6pm unless they were especially important.
Exercise is another part of Narasimhan’s routine, with the former Starbucks CEO saying he aims to exercise for between 150 and 250 minutes each week.
