An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me about Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything by Chris Hadfield
🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences
Hadfield shares his journey in becoming an astronaught from growing up to being aboard the International Space Station.
From his unique and diverse experiences he shares examples and advice on living a productive and purposeful life.
Get a first-hand glimpse into the adrenaline of launch, the mesmerising wonder of spacewalks and the measured, calm responses mandated by crises.
🎨 Impressions
This book perfectly fits together the world of space and self-development. The lessons and advice he shares is practical, applicable and relevant and most of the stories and narratives are gripping, interesting and entertaining. However, the book feels too long, with over-detailed passages around very specific space-related themes. Nonetheless, the story and journey is overall inspiring and remarkable and there are lots of actionable thinking points and takeaways.
How I Discovered It
This was highly recommended from a Youtube video I came across. I am interested in Space and intrigued by the title and concept.
Who Should Read It?
If you want an uplifting story, interested in becoming an astronaught or want to step into the mind of one, this is the book.
✍️ My Top 3 Quotes
I wasn't lonely. Loneliness, I think, has very little to do with location. It's a state of mind. In the centre of every city are some of the loneliest people in the world. If anything, because our whole planet was just outside the window, I felt even more aware of and connected to the seven billion other people who call it home.
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.
I wasn’t destined to be an astronaut. I had to turn myself into one.
📒 Summary + Notes
It takes years of serious, sustained effort to become an astronaught, because you need to build a new knowledge base, develop your physical capabilities and dramatically expand your technical skillset. But the most important thing you need to change - is your mind. You need to learn to think like an astronaught.
From his time in space, he learnt to live a better and more happy life on Earth. Over time, he learned how to anticipate problems in order to prevent them, how to respond effectively in critical situations. How to neutralise fear, stay focused and how to succeed.
You don't need to head to space to think like an astronaught. It is mostly a matter of changing your perspective.
Lift-off
The crazy thought of leaving the planet that day.
The child-like feeling of going to Space for the first time. Feeling like the luckiest person. Getting there only took 8mins and 42 seconds. But getting to that point took thousands of days of training.
Have an attitude
The ratio of prep time, to time in orbit is many months to a single day in space.
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.
The power of negative thinking
Fear comes from not knowing what to expect and not feeling like you have control with whats 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.
Training pushes us to develop a new set of instincts: instead of reacting to danger with a fight or flight adrenaline rush, they are training to respond unemotionally by immediately prioritising threats and methodically seeking to defuse them.
While play-acting grim scenarios day in and day out may sound like a bad idea, it is weirdly uplifting. Rehearsing for a catastrophe has made me positive that I have the problem-solving skills to deal with tough situations and come out the other side still smiling.
This reduces mental and emotional clutter that unchecked worrying produces, those random thoughts that hijack your brain at three in the morning.
Optimism and confidence come from feeling luckier or visualising victory but actually visualising defeat and figuring out how to prevent it.
Like most astronauts, I'm pretty sure that I can deal with what life throws at me because I've thought about what to do if things go wrong, as well as right. That's the power of negative thinking.
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.
Success
Early success is a terrible teacher. You're essentially being rewarded for a lack of preparation, so when you find yourself in a situation where you must prepare, you can't do it. You don't know how.
If there was a medical emergency or major equipment failure - the crew mates would be the only hope of survival. For all intents and purposes they'd be the last people in the world.
It's counterintuitive but promoting your colleagues interests helps you stay competitive, even in a field where everyone is top notch. And it's easy to do when you understand that you have a vested interest in your co-workers success. In a crisis, you want to them to want you to help you survive and succeed. They may be the only people in the world who can.
The next danger
You have to concentrate on what is directly in front of you. If you don't - you'll die. That kind of intense focus is less about what you include than what you ignore. And by ignore - completely block-out. If it doesn't matter in the next 30 seconds then it doesn't exist. Focusing on that one thing, is how you stay alive.
Major plans
When you have to plan for a major event in life like a launch, it's obvious it needs to be planned. But you also need to come up with an equally detailed plan for how to adapt afterward. Physical and psychological adaption to a new environment, whether in space or on Earth isn't instantaneous. There is always a lag between arriving and feeling comfortable. Having a plan that breaks down what you're going to do big and small, in concrete steps is the best way to bridge that gap.
Aim for zero
In any new situation, whether it involves an elevator or a rocket ship, you will almost certainly be viewed in one of three ways. As a minus one: actively harmful, someone who creates problems. Or as a zero: your impact is neutral and doesn't tip the balance one way or the other. Or you'll be seen as a plus one: someone who actively adds value. Everyone wants to be a plus one, of course. But proclaiming your plus-oneness at the outset almost guarantees you'll be perceived as a minus one, regardless of the skills you bring to the table or how you actually perform.
When you have some skills but don't fully yet understand your environment, there is no way you can add loads of value. At best, you can be zero. But this isn't bad - you're competent enough not to create problems or make work for others. You have to be competent and prove to others that you are, before you can be extraordinary - there are no short cuts.
The ideal is not to sail in and make your presence known immediately. It is 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 - but by having a neutral impact and then observing and learning from those who are already there and pitch in with the grunt work wherever possible. This is an attainable goal.
Notice
In space every day is eventful making it the stuff of dreams. The improbability if being there makes the experience transcendent. But on Earth you can choose what to focus on too - the surprises and pleasures or the frustrations. And you can choose to appreciate the smallest scraps of experience, the everyday moments, or to value only the grandest, most-stirring ones.
Soft landings
Landings require the same degree of focus and preparation as launching. The lesson was that the very last thing you do on a mission is as just as important as the very first. But maybe more important as now you're tired. Like the last mile in a marathon.
The effort has to be more deliberate. You have to push yourself harder, to keep going till the very end.
If you anticipate the finish line, you may let up and make mistakes.
Returning from space wasn't viewed as the end of something, rather as a new beginning.
Final Points
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. So make everything count: the small moments, the medium ones, the ones only you know about.
Understanding my place in the grand scheme of the universe has helped me keep my own successes in perspective.
We can easily applaud the wrong things : the showy, dramatic record-setting sprint rather than the years of preparation or unwavering grace displayed during a string of losses. Applause never bore much relation to the reality of my life. Which was not all about, or mostly about flying around in space. It was really about making the most of my time here on Earth.
