Seven Astronaut Tips to Improving Your Life On Earth

by Kathy Sullivan

Banking on your strengths isn’t enough

Work on shoring up your weaknesses as well. There are countless examples of people who weren’t naturally talented at something but who achieved great success through hard work and perseverance. ‘Talented but lazy’ never got anyone very far.

Learn how to build answers

Success in life is not about having answers or finding them. It’s about developing the skills - astute observation, sound reasoning, critical analysis - that let you build answers, so you can tackle questions ranging from “what the heck is that?” to “what do I do now?”

You can’t escape gravity

If you’ve ever thrown a ball or shot an arrow, you know you have to aim higher than your target. Gravity’s going to pull that arrow or ball down as it flies along. The complexity and messiness of life can do the same to your trajectory.
So set high goals – even loftier than you think you can achieve.
You’re guaranteed to grow, and may just discover you’re capable of more than you knew.

There is no path

Life isn’t following a path, it’s building one — class by class, skill by skill, job by job. Think of it as laying a sidewalk brick by brick, and figuring out the direction and shape of that path by continually re-evaluating your goals and values and the feedback you’ve gotten from the outside world.

You gotta do the reps

There’s no skipping the work. Mastery and success come from practice and commitment to excellence. There are no shortcuts. Period.

Name your inner snark

That always doubting and negative voice in your head? Give it a name. Mine is Mrs. Snidely. No matter what I do, she never has a good word to say. I’ve learned to tell her to shut the hell up. It helps.

re-consider The odds

Your odds of success are only zero if you don’t try. So try. You’ll be humbled or embarrassed sometimes, but that’s not fatal. Each setback will teach you something and leave you with a small dose of greater confidence.

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