The Hazards of Early Success

Recently, I had the opportunity to hear astronaut – Colonel Chris Hadfield – speak about his space expeditions and how he prepared for success. But I was surprised by what he had to say about 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.”

This comment has stuck with me.

 Given Colonel Chris Hadfield’s accomplishments, it seems improbable that he could have achieved so much without bouts of “early success”. After serving several years in the Canadian Armed Forces, he learned to fly various aircraft as a test pilot. In 1992, he was accepted, along with 3 others from a pool of 5,330 extremely qualified applicants, into the Canadian astronaut program by the Canadian Space Agency.   Within three short years he had his first flight in space, during which he visited the Russian space station Mir.

 A few short years later, he was in space again, this time visiting the International Space Station.  It was during this space expedition that Colonel Hadfield conducted his first space walk.

 His third trip to space was on Soyuz TMA-07M, which docked at the International Space Station in December 2012.   He joined other Expedition members, staying aboard the space station for several months, during which he was named ISS Commander, leading five astronauts and helped to run dozens of scientific experiments dealing with the impact of low gravity on human biology.

 It was during his third mission that he gained popularity by chronicling life aboard the space station and taking pictures of the earth and posting them on various social media platforms to a large following of people (2M+ Twitter followers) around the world. He was a guest on television news and talk shows and gained popularity by playing the International Space Station's guitar in space. His mission ended in May 2013 when he returned to earth. Shortly after returning, he announced his retirement, capping a 35-year career as a military pilot and an astronaut.

 Colonel Chris Hadfield had an accomplished career that seemed to have little room and time for failures. Yet, it was the possibility of failure that drove him to succeed.

 You see, according to Colonel Hadfield, even when he experienced “early success”, he did not rest on his laurels. He treated early success like a fluke. He constantly challenged himself and his colleague to anticipate failures:

“Think about all that could go wrong and plan for it”. 

The secret to Colonel Hadfield's success-and survival-is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA:

 Prepare for the worst- and enjoy every moment of it.

 We are taught to plan for success. Professional motivators tell their clients to “visualize success”. And now, I hear an accomplished and very successful astronaut tell his audience that success is a terrible teacher. 

 Is this a contradiction? Or is this just another way to approach problem solving and planning? In his presentation, Colonel Hadfield explained how conventional wisdom can get in the way of achievement-and happiness.  What he learned from his extraordinary education in space is that some of his earthly lessons may have been backward. His experience in space, along with his preparation for the same, has taught him some counter-intuitive lessons:

 1.     don't visualize success,

2.     do care what others think,

3.     and always sweat the small stuff.

You would think that a person so focused on the worst possible outcomes would be a real downer. You might think that someone always sweating the small stuff would be unpleasant to be around. 

 Not Colonel Chris Hadfield.

 On 12 May 2013, after handing over command of the ISS, but before returning home, Hadfield released a music video recorded on the ISS of a modified rendition of "Space Oddity" by David Bowie.  As of May 2018 (two years after Bowie's death), the video has over 40 million views on YouTube.  Now this is one cool astronaut!

Colonel Hadfield’s quote - “early success is a terrible teacher”, still lingers with me. 

 I am reminded of the Agile Methodology, which promotes “failing fast”, with the emphasis on “fast”. I used to have a hard time accepting failure of any kind, and this concept of failing fast was lost on me. Now I get it. Early failures can lead to faster and better final outcomes. Early failures can lead to greater success.

 I have thought long and hard about the hazards of early success, and going forward, I will look for ways to apply this learning. How about you? Share with your network and share your comments.

Be Happy

Eric

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