Jeff Bezos claims a one-hour ritual led to his success – now science says he’s right

Jeff Bezos has a wealth of over $202 billion dollars, making him the third richest person in the world.

And while he spent many nights burning the midnight oil, the Amazon founder has revealed his success has been partially due to a one-hour morning ritual.

Bezos explained he starts the day ‘puttering’ around outside, no screens, just him and his thoughts.

The billionaire has been taking the stroll every morning since 2018 and swears the routine has improved his decision-making skills and productivity, and scientific research has backed up the claims. 

When Bezos first laid out his morning ‘puttering time’ strategy during his speech at the Economic Club, he described the process as leaving him refreshed for his most important meetings.

‘That’s why I set my first meeting for ten o’clock,’ Bezos told the Club.

‘ I like to do my high-IQ meetings before lunch, because by 5pm, I’m like, I can’t think more about his issue today. Let’s try this again tomorrow at 10am.’

The sleep Bezos gets before his puttering time, is also critical to its success, as he told these business leaders gathered in America’s capital.

‘I get up early. I go to bed early,’ he explained. 

The billionaire elaborated a bit more his 2020 book, Invent & Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos, writing: ‘[I] need eight hours. I think better. I have more energy. My mood is better.’

Licensed therapist Maris Loeffler, who specializes in treating anxiety and stress disorders at Stanford Lifestyle Medicine Program, said that early morning scrolling on your phone — or too much period — can slowly chip away at your mental health. 

‘If you scrolled on your phone in bed for an hour just one morning, the negative impacts would be minimal,’ Loeffler said in a recent publication with the program. 

‘But if it becomes a habit, day after day, month after month,’ she explained, ‘this behavior can take a toll.’ 

Loeffler cited one neuroscience study which found that an increased use of screens among adults can degrade learning ability, memory function and mental health.

Another study she unearthed drew troubling links between routine binge-watching of TV (five hours or more per day) and elevated risks for dementia, Parkinson’s and other brain-related diseases.

Further research has tied these phenomena to the gray matter volume in adult brains, which appear to decrease in adults trapped staring at their screens for two or more hours of screen time per day outside of work.

Bezos himself has been a more self-deprecating and less specific on the evidence supporting is intentionally slow morning routing.

Speaking to podcaster Lex Fridman’s last December, the billionaire simply defined his ‘putter’ strategy as simple slowly moving around. 

‘I’m not as productive as you might think I am,’ Bezos laughed.

‘I move pretty slowly in the first couple of hours,’ he said. ‘I get up early, just naturally. And then, you know, I exercise most days.’