How Jeff Bezos Discovered What's Possible

Jeff was born in 1964, a time where the Beatles took America by storm, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law, and the possibility of space travel was real.

In an interview with Charlie Rose, Jeff Bezos shared, "I fell in love with the idea of space and space exploration and space travel when I was 5 years old...I watched Neil Armstrong step onto the moon."

His vision of what was possible began to be opened to him early on in his life and It changed him forever.

"You don’t choose your passions, your passions choose you... I am infected with this idea. I couldn’t ever stop thinking about space. I have been thinking about it ever since then,” said Jeff.

Have you ever been infected with an idea?

Infectious Ideas spread similarly to how health-related infections occur. According to the Center for Disease Control, there needs to be a source, a susceptible person and transmission for an infection to occur. Similarly, for Infectious Ideas to spread there needs to be a source, a susceptible person, and transmission. Here is a breakdown of what I call the Infectious Idea Model™:

Source: Places where ideas are identified. An idea has always existed and will always exist, but there must be a source where an idea can be identified. (opposition, problems, events, milestones, experiences, data, etc.)

Susceptible Person: a person whose mind, heart, body, knowledge, experience, spirit and personality make them more likely to be infected by the idea.

Transmission: the process of deeply understanding an idea as an opportunity and adopting it as a personal challenge you're on a mission to fulfill.

The challenge of landing on the moon was a huge source of invention and innovation. It spurred innovations around water purification, breathing masks, polymer fabric, cordless devices, etc.. And when the milestone was met, the actual landing on the moon also introduced new opposition, problems for mankind, waiting to be adopted as opportunities and turned into challenges.

It was estimated that about 650 Million people watched the moon landing. But why didn't everyone who watched Neil Armstrong step onto the moon get infected with the idea of space, space exploration, and space travel?

Most people fell into one of these Non-Susceptible Groups:

Disbelievers: Through surveys, it's been published that 10% or more of Americans believe the moon landing never happened in the first place.

Self-Doubters: Irrespective if the moon landing actually happened, self-doubters automatically disqualify themselves because they assume it could never happen to them.

Uninterested: These people saw the moon landing, but didn't see how this related to them.

But somebody, like Jeff Bezos, was susceptible to what's possible.

The televised event of the moon landing served as the transmission of a huge lifelong challenge for Jeff Bezos. Jeff continued pursuing the idea of space in his early years, attending high school student science training in the University of Florida, and even sharing his dream of colonizing space in his high school graduation speech.

Once you know, how do you make it possible?

At Princeton University, he pursued becoming a theoretical physicist, but quickly found out he wasn't built like a physicist. In a Wired magazine interview he said, "I looked around the room," Bezos recalls, "and it was clear to me that there were three people in the class who were much, much better at it than I was, and it was much, much easier for them. It was really sort of a startling insight, that there were these people whose brains were wired differently."

After exploring physics and deciding that wasn't the best path for him, he switched his focus to computer science and electrical engineering, so he could start and run his own business one day.

After graduation, he started his career at a financial startup and then moved to a larger financial institution for more security, but after a short two years, he saw a bigger opportunity. He recognized how using computers and so-called second-wave automation could revolutionize business. This was his second Infectious Idea™. But how would he make it possible?

At his next job at D.E. Shaw & Co. his boss and mentor, David Shaw, put him on a project to explore new business opportunities on the internet. After researching all he could on electronic commerce, he concluded that the most logical thing to sell over the internet was books.

At this stage, his boss, David Shaw, served as the transmission catalyst, challenging Jeff to investigate the internet. Which led to Jeff discovering the historic opportunity that would change the world forever, and empower Jeff to finally execute on his first Infectious Idea™.

Jeff left his employer and drafted a plan for creating the everything store, that would eventually become Amazon, the world's largest online store. And Amazon, would empower Jeff with the funds and resources to create Blue Origin, his space exploration company that is fulfilling his dream of exploring space.

Like Jeff, we all have the ability to become creators of the ideas that infect us. It may not be right away, nor how we expect it to happen, but with the proper planning, curiosity, flexibility, and relentless pursuit, you may just surprise yourself.

This analysis is part of a multi-volume ebook series called the "Discover Possible Blue Book" which can be downloaded for free at www.discoverpossible.co. In Volume I, Patrick Tedjamulia studied the life of Jeff Bezos, Oprah Winfrey, and Brené Brown, and then subsequent volumes will focus on Elon Musk, Tony Robbins, Angela Merkel, etc. As you read this book, you will find out how you can discover what's possible in your life.

Over 20 years ago, the Author, Patrick Tedjamulia, began a journey to uncover how people discovered what was possible in their life. After thousands of interviews with people from all over the world representing every social class, Patrick found that 98% of people never define what is possible in their life. As a result, people and businesses don’t know what they should do next to secure their future. They usually only do whatever seems like the next best thing. He calls this The Directionless Pandemic of the 21st Century.

After over 20,000 hours of research, analysis, experience, and experimentation, Patrick developed the Discover Possible System™, a revolutionary personal development system that is helping people and businesses all over the world: define who they have built so far, discover what’s possible in their life, prioritize their ideas, and bring their ideas to life.