Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff was the first “self-help” book I ever read, before I knew the genre existed, or that it was taboo and rebranded as “self-development.” It was given to me by an educator influential in my life—I wouldn’t explicitly say mentor, but certainly someone I deeply admire and respect. I’m not sure how deliberate the gift was. He just plucked it off the shelf as we were talking, I don’t remember about what.

That was ten years ago. I loved it then and I loved it now. The subtitle is: …and it’s all small stuff. That’s not true—life’s not all small stuff, but this type of stuff is around us all the time. It’s a pithy title. I like it. I like the book. And the small stuff does matter.

The book has dozens of relatively simple mindset shifts that can drastically improve everyday life. The example chapter I always bring up when recommending the book to people is, “When you don’t know whose turn it is to take out the trash, take out the trash.”