Sweating the Small Stuff

In Chris Hadfield’s book, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, Hadfield talks about the mindset of an astronaut. In space, anything and everything can kill you. Thus, years of preparation is needed for a space mission. Every task, from launch and spacewalks to how to fix the toilet on the International Space Station have been choreographed to the minute. Everything that can go wrong has been thought of prior, so in the case when it does happen, they know what to do. Sweat the small stuff, as Hadfield says.

I’ve taken this mindset into my next job search. The problem for me is not landing interviews but the interview itself. But after been through many interviews, I have a good sense of the structure and what they’re going to ask. Now, it’s all about practice and preparation.

Astronauts don’t go into space with their fingers crossed, hoping that something bad doesn’t happen. That’s not how it works. The same is true for job interviews. There’s no such thing as overpreparation.

Sweat the small stuff.