Most of us tend to ask the “why me?” question when faced with an unfortunate occurrence, and seldom when we hit the jackpot. We are blind to the unpredictable.

Nassim Taleb’s, fabulous book The Black Swan, The Impact of the Highly Improbable is a great read when you want to understand somewhat the nature of unpredictability and even surprising events.

Mr. Taleb rightly points out that we, “society” are obsessed with facts and try to predict outcomes based on these data-driven facts. We must understand that all of the fact-seeking and number-crunching sometimes do not prepare us for unpredictable events that happen, good or bad.

The great lesson in a Black Swan moment is one of resilience. Do you have what it takes to bounce back? Can you be creative and get yourself out of the pickle? Are you enlightened enough to be grateful for the experience because you know it made you better, stronger, wiser, and more charming?