Amazon's Jeff Bezos shares one mindset you need to start a company, world's No. 3 richest man says, 'If you get half your job to be fun...'

Even one of the richest men on this planet doesn't expect to love his job every minute of the day. Amazon founder and Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos admitted that work is not always enjoyable when he was discussing life, legacy, and the illusion of perfect work at the 2024 New York Times DealBook Summit. Jeff Bezos was asked what his days actually look like after he has stepped back from running Amazon full time. His answer was- still a lot of meetings—and still a lot of effort.

Offering a grounded perspective, Jeff Bezos gave a candid glimpse into his daily grind, even after stepping down as CEO. "I work from about 9 to 7 in meetings," Bezos said. "And then I have a bunch of documents I read outside that." He added, "You can't start a company unless you're willing to work really hard. And not all the work is fun. That's why they call it work."

Even someone who has built a trillion-dollar empire acknowledges a reality many professionals shy away from: work is still work. Not every task will be exciting or fulfilling—and that’s perfectly normal.

Half fun is already success, says Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos doesn’t sugarcoat the challenge. He explains that expecting 100% enjoyment sets people up for disappointment. "If you get half your job to be fun, you're crushing it," he said. The lesson here is simple: learning to find satisfaction in parts of your work, and accepting the rest, is a key to longevity in any career.

Jeff Bezos, who stepped down as CEO in 2021 but continues as Amazon’s executive chairman, founded the e-commerce giant in 1994, building it from a garage startup into a trillion-dollar company. He later launched aerospace firm Blue Origin in 2000 and now divides his time between business, philanthropy, and space ventures. Yet even at this stage of his career, Bezos has made it clear that the work never truly stops—and it isn’t always enjoyable.

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That said, he doesn’t believe work has to be miserable. Instead, Jeff Bezos offers a practical and realistic benchmark for how to think about effort, motivation, and fulfillment. "If you get half your job to be fun, you're crushing it," he said. "You gotta have your expectations set right. If you come out of college and think 100% of your job is going to be fun, you're setting yourself up for disappointment."

Jeff Bezos retakes world's No 3 richest title

According to Forbes, Jeff Bezos became the world’s third-richest person again on Tuesday while reclaiming the spot from Google cofounder Sergey Brin, who surpassed Bezos earlier this month, as Amazon shares rose after announcing it would shutter dozens of retail stores to expand its Whole Foods Market business.

Jeff Bezos is the world’s third-richest man with a current net worth of $266 billion. But the Amazon founder said his actual salary was much lower than that.

During the early years of the now $2.61 trillion online retailer, Bezos said he asked the board “not to give me any comp,” beyond a modest base salary of just $80,000.