I’ve been meaning to add notes to my blog about this book for too long. I loved it. Here’s what I took away:
Chapters 1 and 2
Be ready work hard and enjoy it.
Getting to space is a bonus.
His worldview allowed him to love all the prep without the guarantee of getting his prize.
Look at the person you want to be.
What do you admire about them.
What can you do to make yourself more like that person?
Lasting change happens in tiny increments every day.
Aim to move the needle just a little bit today.
Chapter 3 was about dealing with fear
Acquire knowledge experience competence through practice:
- Simulations are run constantly <- game days
- What could possibly go wrong
Avoid emotional, flight response (this is trained out of astronauts)
If a fire starts on the space station they don’t reach for fire extinguisher -> they start descending a complex decision tree that was developed on the ground (they also have a test lab – the pool – where they can work through novel situations in an environment as close to space as they can get here)
Frameworks for responding to the unexpected in space:
- Ooda: Observe orient decide act
- NASA: warn gather work
Warn == some sort of alert is sounded Gather == everybody gets together to respond to event Work == work the problem
Simulations identify gaps in our knowledge. They give confidence to actors that they have thought through many scenarios and prepared, and help to put the mind at ease.
Chapter 7 On Family
This is so true …
Family vs career
Risk is family could be left behind while you're reaching for goals
Must always be aware of this
Plan to be present even when you aren't
Family is a partnership. Other side should be respected or they can be taken for granted.
Is this thing you want to do really needed for goals or just what you want to do?
On being a new member of a team
Aim to be zero
Entering a new situation try to be neutral , observe, learn from people already where you want to be
Aim for a tiny beneficial contribution
-1, 0, +1
Minus- actively make collective experience worse
0- no big problem or benefit... Stability
Plus- big benefit
Plus maybe comes later when you've been doing good reliable work with team
How to prepare for what you don’t know
Plans vs preparing for unknown
Plan a,b,c,...
What would we do if... ? type questions
Dream up scenarios that are unlikely but not impossible
Give yourself tools to respond to unforeseen
Confidence building maybe
Try to imagine what it will be like to operate in new environments
Game days ?