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What do I love about: An astronaut’s guide to life on earth?
Chris Hadfield did in fact captivate Canadians with his mystic riveting Space videos (SEE HERE). Space is an enigma to me because I do not fully understand what happens up there or how space exploration benefits humanity. Chris has done a fantastic job in breaking down Space’s complexity, and exploration into easy to digest chapters. However, readers in my book club found this book difficult to follow because the writer fails to provide a chronological order of events as we saw in our previous book by Michelle Obama. The writer leveraged a theme based approach to create a link between lessons on space and how we can utilize these same lessons on earth. The crux of the message is “PREPARATION” and it is no surprise that this theme is prominent in such a book because of the risk associated with the Space business. Below I have included some of my notes.
What do I not love about: An astronaut’s guide to life on earth?
The writer may have done a better job with the order in which the content was presented.
Who should read: An astronaut’s guide to life on earth?
If you are a fan of space and life on space as well as personal development then this is a fantastic read because it marries interest in space with applications to personal life.
Who should not read: An astronaut’s guide to life on earth?
No one in particular
Notes from An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth
Part 1: Pre-Launch
Chapter 1: The trip takes a lifetime
- An astronaut is someone who is able to make good decisions, quickly, with incomplete information, when the consequences really matter.
- Astronauts are taught that the best way to reduce stress is to sweat the small stuff. We are trained to look on the dark side and to imagine the worst thing that could possibly happen.
- Competence means keeping your head in a crisis, sticking with a task even when it seems hopeless, and improvising good solutions to tough problems when every second counts. It encompasses ingenuity, determination and being prepared for anything.
Chapter 2: Have an attitude
- It sounds strange, probably, but having a pessimistic view of my own prospects helped me love my job
- I don’t determine whether I arrive at the desired professional destination. Too many variables are out of my control. There’s really just one thing I can control: my attitude during the journey, which is what keeps me feeling steady, and stable and what keeps me headed in the right directions. So I consciously monitor and correct, if necessary, because losing attitude would be far worse than not achieving my goal
- No one ever accomplished anything sitting down. Be ready. Work Hard. Enjoy it!
Chapter 3: The power of negative thinking
- Preparation is not only about managing external risks, but also limiting the likelihood that you will unwittingly add to them. When you are the author of your own fate, you don’t want to write a tragedy.
Chapter 4: Sweet the small stuff
- If you are striving for excellence, there is no such thing as over preparation. It is your best chance of improving your odds.
Chapter 5: The last people in the world
- Early success is a terrible teacher. You are essentially rewarded for a lack of preparation, so when you find yourself in situation where you must prepare, you can’t do it. YOU DON’T KNOW HOW.
- Promoting your colleagues’ interest helps you stay competitive, even in a field where everyone is top-notch.
Chapter 6: What is the next thing that could kill me
- Focus on the journey not on arriving at a certain destination
Part 2: Liftoff
Chapter 7: Tranquility base, Kazakhstan
- My point though, is that saying thank you every once in a while just isn’t enough when you are demanding that other people make real sacrifices so you can pursue your own goals. It’s not only the fun showy things like vacations that get the messages across. You also have to be willing to do what you can to create the conditions that allow your partner the freedom to focus single-mindedly at times. It is not easy but it is possible with careful planning, regardless of the scope of your ambition or the demands of your job.
Chapter 9: Aim to be a zero
- The ideal entry is not to sail in and make your presence known immediately. It’s to ingress without causing a ripple. The best way to contribute to a brand new environment is not by trying to prove what a wonderful addition you are. It’s by trying to have a neutral impact, to observe and learn from those who are already there, and to pitch in with the grunt work wherever possible.
- The truth is that nothing went as we’d planned, but everything was within the scope of what we prepared for.
- I knew that my best bet of getting the crew to see me that way was to keep on doing what has always worked for me: aiming to be a zero
Chapter 10: Life off earth
- Loneliness has very little to do with location. It is a state of mind -It’s individual psychology. In the centre of every big, bustling city are some of the loneliest people in the world.
Chapter 11: Square astronaut, round hole
- Leadership is not about glorious crowing acts. It is about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it, especially when the stakes are high and the consequences really matter
Part 3: Coming down to earth
- If you start thinking that only your biggest and shiniest moments count, you are setting yourself up to feel like a failure most of the time.
- We make a complete turn around the earth every 90 minutes or 16 times per day
- We are only limited by our ability to invent and persevere
- To think that we are the only life in the universe is just an extension of the same arrogance that made us think we were the center of it all.