Chris Hadfield

“Ultimately, leadership is not about glorious crowning acts. It's about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it.”

“An astronaut is someone who's able to do things when they're scared.”

“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.”

“The cool things about living in space are the weightlessness, the view of Earth, and the sense of purpose.”

“Competence means keeping your head in a crisis, sticking with a task even when it seems hopeless, and improvising good solutions to tough problems when every second counts.”

“In my experience, fear comes from not knowing what to expect and not feeling you have any control over what’s about to happen.”

“Decide in your heart of hearts what really excites and challenges you, and start moving your life in that direction.”

“Anticipating problems and figuring out how to solve them is actually the opposite of worrying: it’s productive.”

“The best way to contribute to a brand-new environment is not to stick out, but to fit in.”

“Don’t let life randomly kick you into the adult you don’t want to become.”

“Sweat the small stuff. Without letting anyone see you sweat.”

“My optimism and confidence... are the result of a lifetime of treating triumph as a matter of preparation.”

“If you start thinking that only your biggest and shiniest moments count, you're setting yourself up to feel like a failure.”

“It is not the grand events that matter to us, but the small moments of everyday life that give us our sense of self.”

“The windows of a spaceship are not that big. But the view is.”

“Good leadership means leading the way, not just showing the way.”

“Every single day is a function of the choices you make.”

“Focus on the journey, not on arriving at a certain destination.”

“Almost everything is stressful. Almost everything is scary. But you do it anyway.”

“To me, it’s simple: if you’ve got the time, use it to get ready.”