Expiring vs. Permanent Skills The Morgan Housel Podcast Expiring skills tend to get more attention. They’re more likely to be the cool new thing, and a key driver of an industry’s short-term performance. They’re what employers value and employees flaunt. Permanent skills are different. They’ve been around a long time, which makes them look stale and basic. They can be hard to define and quantify, which gives the impression of fortune-cookie wisdom vs. a hard skill. But permanent skills compound over time, which gives them quiet importance. When several previous generations have worked on a skill that’s directly relevant to you, you have a deep well of relevant examples to study. And when you can spend a lifetime perfecting one skill whose importance never wanes, the payoffs can be ridiculous. Anything that compounds over decades usually is. This episode discusses a few permanent skills that apply to many fields. Here is a summary of the key points from the podcast transcript: The Joy of Reading History  - What doesn't change in human nature over time is often more interesting than what does change. Seeing similarities in human behavior over vast spans of time is enjoyable. Permanent vs Expiring Skills - Some skills remain relevant regardless of era, while others expire as times change. We tend to focus more on expiring skills though permanent ones have greater long-term value. Examples of Permanent Skills: - Kindness and empathy - Adapting your views over time  - Getting along with those you disagree with - Being concise - Respecting luck as well as risk - Staying out of others' way - Accepting necessary hassles  - Distinguishing temporarily out of favor from wrong Key Quote:  "There are so many skills that expire, maybe they're very relevant in one era. But they expire because technology changes, society changes your career. Your life changes and then a skill that was valuable in one point of time loses its relevance. But just like what's so interesting about history, the more interesting skills. The more powerful, the more relevant skills. Our permanent skills that are just as valuable today as it were 100 years ago and will be for the rest of your life and your kids life and your grandchildren's life to pass along to them." Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/gSzaVzin