Jeff Bezos to Princeton's class of 2010 :"We are What We Choose"

I think it's (hopefully) just a dramatic way of pointing out that and how all of your days have added up to something, instead of being random disconnected bits. Of course they are adding up as you go, too, they don't just suddenly sum up at the end.

I smiled when I came across that line because I frequently use it--even down to the 80-year old number.

It helps put things in perspective, especially with respect to fear. We fear so many things and not do it. And yet, a lot of the fear is just imaginary--something the 80 year old you can see looking back but the current you cannot.

So I ask myself "what would the 80 year old me think of it?" and if it says to do it, I try to do it.

Example: you want to take a temporary crappy job to get back to your feet but you're afraid friends will see you working there and lose respect.

Present me: afraid I'll lose my friends, ego hit

80-year old me: proud I followed my dream!

Now I totally understand if this doesn't work for you and don't expect it to work for everyone or even most people. But I just thought I'd provide some background on how people who do use this to motivate themselves are using it.

I think it's because many of us believe there is life after death, and being able to reflect positively about your mortal life when at its end is a good sign that you're off to a good start for the next!

Bezos mentioned this idea elsewhere, but I think he's using it as a framework to evaluate present decisions in absence of external pressures that typically cloud judgement. When you think with a long enough time horizon, some of the external 'trappings' of success (money, prestige, status, pride, security, etc) seem to fall away.

Before Amazon, he was a VP at DE Shaw. You can argue that if he stayed at his hedge fund job, he'd have enough money to buy all the material possessions he has now. I doubt he'd drive a different car, live in a different house, etc.

Its easy to risk it all, when you have nothing to lose. But he had pretty much everything to lose. I think most people at that point would look around, realize they're richer than most of their friends, and stay at their jobs.

If you think ahead to when you're on your deathbed, you're back at a point in your life where you have nothing to lose. You won't care about external pressures. You will have wished to have invested your time on matters that improved your quality of life with compounding interest. I'd like to believe that Jeff Bezos isn't just happier today for choosing to start Amazon- as he gets older, it will only make him that much more content.

Huh? Everyone has to make the choice between being clever or kind. The point of the talk wasn't "make the right choices and you'll end up a billionaire." The point of the story was the quality of your life, your own happiness, and your real worth is determined by the choices you make, not what gifts you have because, as Jeff pointed out, they're just gifts after all, you didn't earn them.

His implicit point was an average intelligent person with average wealth can be just as satisfied with his/her life as a highly intelligent, highly gifted billionaire provided they both made quality choices about how they lived their life.

Edit: clarified last sentence.

jacquesm,

I'm actually really curious about your life experiences. I remember arguing with you last time similar to this (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1373349).

You seem to be always against advising people to make bold choices to pursue their dreams.

I grew up in a poor family in the Philippines. I have lived with the poor and I have seen many people rose from poverty because they chose to. My mom who never finished grade school is the best example for that. I have also seen so many people who just never made an effort to rise out of poverty.

I just can't imagine a world full of people with the same views as yours. People who keep telling others that they don't have a choice - "be content to where you are now because that's as far as you can get" or "it may have worked for others but it doesn't mean it's going to work for you".

That seems like a fairly cliché series of dichotomies. Life isn't black and white; if choices were always this clear-cut then they wouldn't be hard.

I like this part of the speech. This is the real advice, BECAUSE it plays with black and white.

So you have to ask yourself: WHY do I tend to answer the left question with YES instead of the right one? What is the real cause for not making hard decisions? You should not just ask those questions to your mind, but to your body as well.

No success without the right body and health state.

The question for your life is: How big is your freedom (go to the limits and test it)? If it is not big enough, trying to stay HUMBLE is often the hardest decision.

I beg to differ. I'll say it's on par with Steve Jobs'. To me, both relate their life stories, not self congratulations. You can argue the same with Steve's self-credit of the Mac with his newly acquired love for fonts.

His "A or B" at the end is where it resonants with me. As other hn reply points out, life is never not as black and white as he states, but nonetheless, it does give a good guidance. I wouldn't call it "hastily dashed off the night before".

think it just depends on where you are personally. bezos' speech really speaks to me, probably because i sometimes struggle with being kind despite cleverness and i'm often riddled with doubt about my decision to pursue a dream instead of keeping my good, stable job.

apples to pinecones.

Most graduation speeches are fairly formulaic; regurgitations of the same few bits of inspirational wisdom that we all already know (but can occasionally afford to be reminded of, in the appropriate setting). Even the speeches which acknowledge and play with the formula are still pretty formulaic.

The Steve Jobs version of the speech wasn't really any better than the Jeff Bezos version, and neither of those is any better than the version given by some guy you've never heard of at some fifth-rate school in the middle of nowhere.

Me too. My gag reflex, mainly.

What's that?

You're probably aware of this. In 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' Nietzsche's speaks of Übermensch as being the goal to strive for (Übermensch has been roughly translated as Beyond Man or overcoming the shackles of being human).