Columbia professor and former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino has faced many challenges in his career, especially during his two stints in space, which went on to partially inspire the character played by George Clooney in the Oscar-winning 2013 movie “Gravity.”
In the face of struggle, Massimino’s colleagues shared with him key pieces of NASA wisdom, rules and sayings. He shares a few of them in his new book “Moonshot: A NASA Astronaut’s Guide to Achieving the Impossible,” discussing what he learned in his 18 years at NASA from 1996 to 2014 and how he has implemented the advice in his career back on earth as a professor, media personality and leadership advisor to a wide range of companies.
Whether up in orbit or down on Earth, Massimino uses these three key pieces of NASA wisdom to make sure that his problem-solving process runs smoothly.
Give yourself 30 seconds to feel bad
It is normal to feel guilty when you make a mistake at work. Beating yourself up about it can send you down an unproductive spiral of self-deprecation, but it can be cathartic to let your emotions out.
When he makes a particularly frustrating mistake, Massimino tells CNBC Make It he employs the 30-second rule, a piece of NASA wisdom that he attributes to pilot Rick “CJ” Sturckow.
Immediately after he makes a mistake, he sets aside 30 seconds to get mad at himself and write down his regrets over the mistake in a journal. Massimino’s average 30-second session sounds like: “I am stupid! How could I have done that! I should have thought more about our plan. If I get out of this one, I’ll be more careful in the future not to make this mistake again.”