Start Now: What Will You Regret When You Are 80?

This week I started reading, The Power of Starting Something Stupid, by Richie Norton.  I am about half way through this book, and it is a good read thus far.  I thought that I would share an interesting insight, the Bezos Test: Will I regret it when I’m 80?

Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon.  Bezos stated, “If you can project yourself out to age 80 and sort of think, ‘What will I think at that time?’ it gets you away from some of the daily pieces of confusion.  You know, I left this Wall Street firm in the middle of the year.  When you do that, you walk away from your annual bonus.  That’s the kind of thing that in the short-term can confuse you, but if you think about the long-term, then you can really make good life decisions that you won’t regret later.”

Bezos did the “crazy thing” and became a legend and changed the world as we know it with his idea to start Amazon.

The Bezos Test: Will I Regret It When I’m 80?

The Bezos Test sets forth a set of questions to ask yourself, which leads you to the ideas that are most important to you, thereby outlining the ideas for you to focus on first.

Question 1: Do you have a pressing thought or idea that simply won’t go away?

Question 2: Looking at your list, what would you regret not doing?

Question 3: If you had only a short time to live, and you were required to rid yourself of all things from your list except for three or four, which three to four ideas would remain?

Question 4: If you had to prioritize these few things in order from most important to least important, which order would you choose?

“The common question that gets asked in business is, why?  That’s a good question, but an equally valid question is, why not?”  –Jeff Bezos

So what is your ‘crazy idea’ that you would be foolish not to start?  The best time to embrace your ‘crazy idea’ is now.