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Jeff Bezos: Why Thinking Small Is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

1 min read Published Aug 5, 2025

When asked how he finds the confidence to pursue massive visions like Amazon and Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos offers a mindset shift — not just for founders, but for anyone thinking big.

Bezos is asked where he gets the confidence to even attempt to build companies of such massive scale, like Amazon and Blue Origin.

He responds:

“I think it’s generally human nature to overestimate risk and underestimate opportunity. And so I think entrepreneurs in general would be well-advised to try and bias against that. The risks are probably not as big as you perceive, and the opportunities may be bigger than you perceive… You say it’s confidence, but maybe I’m just accepting that human bias and trying to compensate against it. The second thing I would point out is that thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy.”