An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth - Deepstash

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Key Points From The Book

Key Points From The Book

  • Things are never as bad (or as good) as they seem at the time.
  • Success is feeling good about the work you do throughout the long, unheralded journey.
  • Fear comes from not knowing what to expect and not feeling you have any control over what’s about to happen. When you feel helpless, you’re far more afraid than you would be if you knew the facts. If you’re not sure what to be alarmed about, everything is alarming.

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The Five Big Ideas

The Five Big Ideas

  • In order to stay calm in a high-stress, high-stakes situation, all you really need is knowledge.
  • Feeling ready to do something doesn’t mean feeling certain you’ll succeed. Truly being ready means understanding what could go wrong as well.
  • Optimism and confidence comes not from visualizing victory, but from visualizing defeat and figuring out how to prevent it.
  • If you’re striving for excellence—whether it’s in playing the guitar or flying a jet—there’s no such thing as over-preparation.

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Being An Astronaut

Being An Astronaut

It takes years of serious, sustained effort to become an astronaut, because you need to build a new knowledge base, develop your physical capabilities and dramatically expand your technical skill set. But the most important thing you need to change - is your mind. You need to learn to think like an astronaut.

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Having An Attitude

Having An Attitude

  • Success is feeling good about the work you do throughout the long, unheralded journey that may or may not wind up at the launch pad.
  • You shouldn't determine whether you arrive at the desired professional destinations. Too many variables are out of your control.
  • There is just one thing in our control: your attitude during the journey. This is what should keep you feeling steady and stable and heading in the right direction. Losing attitude is worse than not achieving your goal.

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The Power of Negative Thinking

The Power of Negative Thinking

Fear comes from not knowing what to expect and not feeling like you have control with what's about to happen. You may feel helpless, more afraid than you would be if you knew the facts. if you're not sure what to be alarmed about, everything is alarming.

Life is just a lot better if you feel you’re having 10 wins a day rather than a win every 10 years or so.

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Sweat the Small Stuff

Sweat the Small Stuff

If you're striving for excellence whether playing guitar or flying a jet - there is no such thing as over-preparation. It's your best chance of improving your odds.

This skill isn’t just useful for going to space though. It helps to be ready for any obstacle that suddenly shows up. When I lost my job last year, for example, some of my preparations made that a lot easier. 

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Living In Space

Living In Space

  • Living in space requires a lot of preparation, which is a key component to having a good life on Earth no matter what you do.
  • If you want to survive as a space explorer, you’ve got to learn how to take criticism, which is a skill we can all learn to be happier.
  • Coming back to Earth after being in outer space is difficult, but also gives astronauts a new outlook and sense of appreciation.

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Learning From Failure

Learning From Failure

If you want to become truly exceptional, you’ve got to try so you learn how not to do whatever you’re working toward. That means you have to welcome any feedback, including negative, if you want to improve.

Taking correction well is especially vital if you’re on a team like astronauts are. When serious problems arise the group only has each other to rely on. And if you can’t roll with the punches of criticism from your teammates, it will be hard to work together in life or death scenarios.

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Getting Back To Earth

Getting Back To Earth

If you think the trip to space is hard, wait until you hear about the way back. The Russian Soyuz spacecraft is the only way to and from the International Space Station. And the hour-long landings are notably turbulent. 

It’s also hard to adjust to normal life after getting home from a space mission. In zero gravity, your body’s muscles deteriorate. But when you return, the weight of being on earth is difficult to manage. 

Even sitting down isn’t comfortable because your body isn’t used to carrying its own weight. 

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CHRIS HADFIELD

An astronaut is someone who’s able to make good decisions quickly, with incomplete information, when the consequences really matter

CHRIS HADFIELD

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CHRIS HADFIELD

Anticipating problems and figuring out how to solve them is actually the opposite of worrying: it’s productive

CHRIS HADFIELD

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CHRIS HADFIELD

If you start thinking that only your biggest and shiniest moments count, you’re setting yourself up to feel like a failure most of the time.

CHRIS HADFIELD

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IDEAS CURATED BY

matclar

Diplomatic Services operational officer

CURATOR'S NOTE

An Astronaut’s Guide To Life On Earth teaches you how to live better by taking lessons from the rigorous requirements of going to outer space and applying them to everyday life.

Matthew Clark's ideas are part of this journey:

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