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Mattan Griffel: Optimism Is a Discipline
Episode 263
In a time when the headlines are bleak and social feeds are filled with outrage, what does it mean to be deliberately optimistic? In this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times, host Chris Schembra sits down with returning guest Mattan Griffel, two-time Y Combinator–backed founder, award-winning Columbia Business School professor, and longtime startup coach, to rethink optimism from the inside out.
This isn’t a conversation about pretending everything is fine. It’s a practical, science-backed exploration of how to keep moving forward when the world tries to convince you to freeze. Chris and Mattan unpack the psychology of negativity, including the brain’s nine-to-one negative memory bias, nostalgia’s hidden trap, and how media algorithms profit from fear, and then turn to the tools that can rewire us toward progress and resilience.
Along the way, they revisit some of Mattan’s most powerful ideas: the courage of “naive optimism” that makes founders start companies against impossible odds; serendipity bombs, small outward actions that quietly build networks and opportunity; and the truth that being wrong most of the time is the price of doing something original.
The conversation is both personal and practical. Chris shares stories of producing a two-man play in Beverly Hills under the threat of a record-breaking El Niño storm, and how standing in the room with committed collaborators fueled hope despite fear. Mattan reflects on early YouTube criticism that almost derailed him, and how understanding our negativity bias changed his response to rejection and failure.
Listeners will also hear how positive emotions aren’t just nice-to-have; they’re powerful mental technology. Chris cites Barbara Fredrickson’s “broaden-and-build” research, showing how gratitude, curiosity, and empathy expand our thought–action repertoire, unlock creativity, and make new solutions visible. Together they argue that optimism isn’t fluffy, it’s a survival skill in an age of AI disruption, social media outrage cycles, and cultural pessimism.
By the end of the episode, you’ll have practical habits to invite luck and possibility into your own life: connect generously, say yes early and often, ship ideas at 90% instead of chasing perfection, and create rooms where pessimism can’t dominate. Most importantly, you’ll be reminded that hope is not passive, it’s built one intentional step at a time.
10 Quotes
- “Optimism isn’t blind faith that everything will be fine, it’s the conviction that progress is buildable.” — Mattan
- “Our brains take in nine bits of negative information for every one bit of positive. That’s biology, not failure.” — Chris
- “Nostalgia can be beautiful, but it’s often denial, an inability to process the present.” — Chris
- “Systems are self-healing if we let them. The line of human progress trends up and to the right, even if it wobbles.” — Mattan
- “Negativity sells. Each negative word in a headline can boost clicks by 2.3%, but positive words get ignored.” — Chris
- “You have to be wrong most of the time to create something new. Error tolerance is optimism in action.” — Mattan
- “The stupid way to be selfish is to seek happiness for yourself alone; the intelligent way is to work for the welfare of others.” — Dalai Lama (quoted by Chris)
- “Say yes early and often because most conversations won’t go anywhere, but the one that does can change your life.” — Mattan
- “Progress comes from movement, not perfection. Press go at 90%.” — Chris
- “Positive emotions broaden your thought–action repertoire, gratitude and curiosity literally rewire your brain for r
Published on 1 month, 1 week ago