An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth QUOTES

1 " 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. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

2 " Life off Earth is in two important respects not at all unworldly: you can choose to focus on 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. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

3 " It's puzzling to me that so many self-help gurus urge people to visualize victory, and stop there. Some even insist that if you wish for good things long enough and hard enough, you'll get them - and, conversely, that if you focus on the negative, you actually invite bad things to happen. Why make yourself miserable worrying? Why waste time getting ready for disasters that may never happen? Anticipating problems and figuring out how to solve them is actually the opposite of worrying: it's productive. Likewise, coming up with a plan of action isn't a waste of time if it gives you peace of mind. While it's true that you may wind up getting ready for something that never happens, if the stages are at all high, it's worth it. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

4 " It's never either-or, never enjoyment versus advancement, so long as you conceive of advancement in terms of learning rather than climbing to the next rung of the professional ladder. You are getting ahead if you learn, even if you wind up staying on the same rung. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

5 " 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. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

6 " My optimism and confidence come not from feeling I'm luckier than other mortals, and they sure don't come from visualizing victory. They're the result of a lifetime spent visualizing 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. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

7 " If I'd defined success very narrowly, limiting it to peak, high-visibility experiences, I would have felt very unsuccessful and unhappy during those years. 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. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

8 " Nothing boosts confidence quite like simulating a disaster, engaging with it fully, both physically and intellectually, and realising you have the ability to work the problem. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

9 " Megértettem, hol van a helyem az univerzum nagy rendszerében, és ez segített abban, hogy a saját sikereimet is megfelelően szemléljem. [...] Mégis tudom, hogy az emberek legtöbbje - magamat is beleértve - hajlamos ara, hogy ne a megfelelő dolgokért lelkesedjen: a látványos, drámai, a korábbi rekordot megdöntő sprintet többre értékelik, mint a szívós munkát követelő felkészüléssel töltött éveket vagy a rendületlen kitartást a veszteségek sorozata ellenére. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

10 " 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. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

11 " 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 , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

12 " To me, it’s simple: if you’ve got the time, use it to get ready. What else could you possibly have to do that’s more important? Yes, maybe you’ll learn how to do a few things you’ll never wind up actually needing to do, but that’s a much better problem to have than needing to do something and having no clue where to start. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

13 " Sweat the small stuff. Without letting anyone see you sweat. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

14 " I wasn’t destined to be an astronaut. I had to turn myself into one. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

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

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

16 " In my experience, 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. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

17 " In space flight, “attitude” refers to orientation: which direction your vehicle is pointing relative to the Sun, Earth and other spacecraft. If you lose control of your attitude, two things happen: the vehicle starts to tumble and spin, disorienting everyone on board, and it also strays from its course, which, if you’re short on time or fuel, could mean the difference between life and death. In the Soyuz, for example, we use every cue from every available source—periscope, multiple sensors, the horizon—to monitor our attitude constantly and adjust if necessary. We never want to lose attitude, since maintaining attitude is fundamental to success.

In my experience, something similar is true on Earth. Ultimately, 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 direction. So I consciously monitor and correct, if necessary, because losing attitude would be far worse than not achieving my goal. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

18 " As I have discovered again and again, things are never as bad (or as good) as they seem at the time. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

19 " 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.

Astronauts have these qualities not because we’re smarter than everyone else (though let’s face it, you do need a certain amount of intellectual horsepower to be able to fix a toilet). It’s because we are taught to view the world—and ourselves—differently. My shorthand for it is “thinking like an astronaut.” But you don’t have to go to space to learn to do that.

It’s mostly a matter of changing your perspective. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

20 " It’s not enough to shelve your own competitive streak. You have to try, consciously, to help others succeed. "

― Chris Hadfield , An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth