Morning puttering
A slow, unscheduled first hour or two: coffee, the paper, breakfast, no meetings
Puttering is the word Bezos uses for the first stretch of his day, and it means moving slowly with nothing booked. Coffee, a newspaper, a scroll through the phone, breakfast with family, a chat. The idea is that the early hours are not where the valuable work happens, so there is no reason to rush them, and a calm start leaves more in the tank for the two or three decisions that matter later. In practice it means holding the first meeting until mid-morning and protecting that gap from being filled.
People on record
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Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Jeff BezosDoes it
Amazon and Blue Origin founder · Six-page memos and eight hours of sleep
Describes getting up and puttering: moving slowly, reading his phone and the newspapers, chatting with Laura and drinking his first coffee, for the first couple of hours. He admits he is less productive in that window than people assume, and says he believes in wandering.
Source: Lex Fridman Podcast #405 transcript: Jeff Bezos: Amazon and Blue Origin“I slowly move around. … I read my phone for a while. I read newspapers for a while. I chat with Laura and I drink my first coffee. So I move pretty slowly in the first couple of hours. I get up early just naturally, and then I exercise most days.”
Lex Fridman Podcast #405 transcript: Jeff Bezos: Amazon and Blue Origin (opens in a new tab) · 14 Dec 2023
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