I found this piece humorously informative, referring to the mental patterns that affect our risk taking and assessment. I do believe that my best successes in the market have come from some long shots, albeit with a reason for the gamble taken.

Despite some losses, often at the suggestion of investment by learned professionals, rather than my own gut, I have to feel optimistic and think that since the market is so often driven by knee-jerk emotion, that we're all better off by too much optimism than cautious pessimism, unless we're set for life. I, of course, am, as long as I don't live to see 2019.