10 Mental Models to Create Long Term Thinking and Better Decisions from Jeff Bezos

The tools of thinking that fueled the Growth Mindset and fast decisions behind the success of Jeff Bezos.

Bezos frames business as a series of silent promises: to customers, to colleagues, to the future. Each promise is a primitive—simple, sturdy, waiting to be linked. When those links form, independence evolves into interdependence, and a whisper becomes a flywheel.

In this conversation, we explore how “Day One” thinking keeps the path clear, how a “regret-minimization lens” invites bold choices, and why “single-threaded leadership” protects the soul of a project.

Name your primitives—identify the small assets that can connect to others.

Map the flywheel—draw how each promise fuels the next.

Practice long-horizon thinking—act today as if seven years depend on it.

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Growth Mindset Psychology:

Sam Webster explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.

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Show: Growth Mindset, psychology of self-improvement

Episode: 10 Mental Models to Create Long Term Thinking and Better Decisions from Jeff Bezos

Chapters:

00:00 Thinking in Primitives

05:58 Story of AWS

08:32 2 Customer Centric Obsession

10:13 Working backwards from the customer's experience - Why they built Amazon Prime

12:11 3 Long Term Thinking

13:27 Story - Kindle and e-publishing industry

16:10 Willingness to be Misunderstood

16:49 Team - Single Threaded Leadership

17:58 Team - Employ and Empower Builders

19:03 Culture - Meetings are for Decisions

20:03 High Velocity Decision making - Reversible vs Irreversible Decisions

22:15 Regret Minimization Framework

23:51 Disagree and Commit

25:01 Embrace Failure

25:44 Total Fails - Amazon Fire Phone, Amazon Wallet, Amazon Destinations, Amazon Restaurants

28:01 Importance of Timing and Competition

30:16 Day 1 Thinking

32:58 Useful Bonus points

33:06 Flywheel effect

33:34 Word of Mouth Marketing

34:30 Opposing beliefs - Ignoring vs Crushing Competition

36:38 Opposing Beliefs - Stubborn and Flexibility

37:14 How this helps a with Growth Mindset

41:12 Wrap up Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices