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.

Being An Astronaut

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

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

<ul><li>Things are never as bad (or as good) as they seem at the time.</li><li>Success is feeling good about the work you do throughout the long, unheralded journey.</li><li>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.</li></ul>

Key Points From The Book

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.

Sweat the Small Stuff

<ul><li>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.</li><li>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.</li><li>Coming back to Earth after being in outer space is difficult, but also gives astronauts a new outlook and sense of appreciation.</li></ul>

Living In Space

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.

Getting Back To Earth

<ul><li>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.</li><li>You shouldn't determine whether you arrive at the desired professional destinations. Too many variables are out of your control. </li><li>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.</li></ul>

Having An Attitude

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.

The Power of Negative Thinking

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.

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.

Learning From Failure

<ul><li>In order to stay calm in a high-stress, high-stakes situation, all you really need is knowledge.</li><li>Feeling ready to do something doesn’t mean feeling certain you’ll succeed. Truly being ready means understanding what could go wrong as well.</li><li>Optimism and confidence comes not from visualizing victory, but from visualizing defeat and figuring out how to prevent it.</li><li>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.</li></ul>

The Five Big Ideas

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.

Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4000 hours in space. During this time he has broken into a Space Station with a Swiss army knife, disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane, and been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft. The secret to Col. Hadfield's success-and survival-is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA: prepare for the worst-and enjoy every moment of it. In An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, Col. Hadfield takes readers deep into his years of training and space exploration to show how to make the impossible possible. Through eye-opening, entertaining stories filled with the adrenaline of launch, the mesmerizing wonder of spacewalks, and the measured, calm responses mandated by crises, he explains how conventional wisdom can get in the way of achievement-and happiness. His own extraordinary education in space has taught him some counterintuitive lessons: don't visualize success, do care what others think, and always sweat the small stuff. You might never be able to build a robot, pilot a spacecraft, make a music video or perform basic surgery in zero gravity like Col. Hadfield. But his vivid and refreshing insights will teach you how to think like an astronaut, and will change, completely, the way you view life on Earth-especially your own.

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Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4000 hours in space. During this time he has broken into a Space Station with a Swiss army knife, disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane, and been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft. The secret to Col. Hadfield's success-and survival-is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA: prepare for the worst-and enjoy every moment of it. In An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, Col. Hadfield takes readers deep into his years of training and space exploration to show how to make the impossible possible. Through eye-opening, entertaining stories filled with the adrenaline of launch, the mesmerizing wonder of spacewalks, and the measured, calm responses mandated by crises, he explains how conventional wisdom can get in the way of achievement-and happiness. His own extraordinary education in space has taught him some counterintuitive lessons: don't visualize success, do care what others think, and always sweat the small stuff. You might never be able to build a robot, pilot a spacecraft, make a music video or perform basic surgery in zero gravity like Col. Hadfield. But his vivid and refreshing insights will teach you how to think like an astronaut, and will change, completely, the way you view life on Earth-especially your own.

The Power of Negative Thinking

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