Compounding Optimism

02/14/24 • 12 min

The Morgan Housel Podcast

Let me share a little theory I have about optimism, and why progress is so easy to underestimate.

I’ll explain it in four parts.

Let me share a little theory I have about optimism, and why progress is so easy to underestimate.

I’ll explain it in four parts.

Previous Episode

A Few Thoughts on Spending Money

Behavioral finance is now well documented. But most of the attention goes to how people invest. But the study of how you spend money might be far more interesting -- and practical. How you spend money can reveal an existential struggle of what you find valuable in life, who you want to spend time with, why you chose your career, and the kind of attention you want from other people.
There is a science to spending money – how to find a bargain, how to make a budget, things like that.

But there’s also an art to spending. A part that can’t be quantified and varies person to person.

Next Episode

How to Engage With History

This episode discusses my take on what you should pay attention to when reading history.
There’s a quote I love from writer Kelly Hayes who says, “Everything feels unprecedented when you haven’t engaged with history.”

It’s so true. History’s cast of characters changes but it’s the same movie over and over again.

To me, the point of paying attention to history is not the specific details of certain events, which are always random and never repeat; it’s the big-picture behaviors that reoccur in different eras, generations, and societies.