The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb

Highly improbable events, Taleb has coined as "black swans," that cannot and will not be predict happen, some happen rarely while others occur more frequently, and some are positive others are negative. Knowing that these events are possible lessens their negative effects on us and lets us use the positive ones. Awareness of their existence is sometimes enough to turn a black swan into a gray swan.

We falsely assume we can plot progress in finance, income, stock market, and book sales using the Guassian "bell curve" when these examples cannot be plotted. The bell curve in some instances but we have made a grave error believing everything can be graphed, quantified, and described using a bell curve. We cant and this false information leads to disasters such as the 2008 financial crisis.

We tend to focus on the small things while ignoring the large things. Taleb urges us against this to not be penny wise and dollar foolish, but to take risks with small things and be conservative in large things.

So stop sweating the small stuff. Don't be like the ingrate who got a castle as a present and worried about the mildew in the bathroom. Stop looking the gift horse in mouth-remember that you are a Black Swan.