One thing Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos have in common: They both do the dishes every night

Author Alexandra Stoddard said, “Puttering is really a time to be alone, to dream, to get in touch with yourself. To putter is to discover.” It’s a sentiment that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos couldn’t agree with more.

During a recent interview at the Economic Club of Washington, Bezos emphasised the importance of carving out time to just ‘putter’. “My puttering time is very important to me,” he told David Rubenstein, the billionaire founder of Carlyle Group. “I go to bed early, I get up early. So, I like to putter in the morning. I like to read the newspaper. I like to have coffee. I like to have breakfast with my kids before they go to school.”

A slower start in the mornings is a family tradition Bezos adopted years ago. “I wanted her [his wife, MacKenzie] to get the best hours of my day,” he told The Wall Street Journal in 1999.


Taking it slow
Several independent studies have found that a slower start to the day can actually boost your productivity and your energy. By ‘puttering around’ in the morning, you find you have more time to connect with your loved ones, cook a healthier breakfast, boost your spirits and set you up for a more productive day.

In a 2014 interview, Bezos said, “We all have a limited amount of time, and where you spend it and how you spend it is just an incredibly levered way to think about the world. Where you spend your time and energy is one of the most important decisions you get to make in life.”

Dishing it up In the same interview, Bezos shared that he washed the dishes every night to please his wife. “I can see that [doing the dishes] actually makes her like me. It’s a very odd thing. I’m pretty convinced it ’s the sexiest thing I do.”


While neither Bezos nor his wife have elaborated on why he does it, past studies have shown that doing the dishes can reduce stress and boost creativity. A University of California study found that doing mindless tasks allowed the brain to wander and engage in creative problem-solving.

Another study by Florida State University found that concentrating on the feel of the warm water or the smell of the soap stimulated the brain and decreased stress levels. And it seems Bezos is not alone in offering a helping hand. Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates once told a Reddit forum, “I do the dishes every night — other people volunteer, but I like the way I do it.”

In a world where some CEOs brag about working 80-hour weeks, perhaps Bezos has the right idea. “I live my life in such a way that — in a quiet moment of reflection and I’m thinking back on my life — I have as few regrets as possible,” he told Rubenstein.