Achieving the Unlikely

By 2000, Jeff Bezos had already worked at a major hedge fund, and Amazon was well off the ground.

But he had other visions.

“If I could do anything, I would like to go help explore space,” Bezos told Charlie Rose. “The picture I have is I would get in a rocket ship, go up into space and check out a few things.”

It was far-fetched in every sense imaginable, and Bezos even seemed to hedge his bets about its plausibility.

But on Tuesday, he blasted into space aboard his rocket company’s first passenger flight — the culmination of a dream that was equal parts ambitious and wonky.

Most people who saw the Bezos interview in 2000 likely would’ve viewed him as delusional, as someone who was well-intentioned but a bit childish in his dream.

And they probably would’ve been right.

But Bezos had realistic optimism and knew that even if he fell short in his quest, he could at least say he worked toward what he really wanted.

He didn’t abandon Amazon to pursue this years earlier or go bankrupt out of pure stubbornness. He instead worked consistently while retaining realistic perspective about the challenges he’d face.

It’s a critical lesson.

There’s nuance to having an ambitious dream while chasing it with the right energy, commitment and even doubt.

No one’s going to mistake Bezos’ flight for Neil Armstrong’s, but he showed us that the perfect blend of passion, sacrifice and perspective can manifest the unlikeliest of hopes.