The Advantage of Not Thinking About It
Just read about half of the Time article on the astronauts from the Apollo days. There’s a piece in there that really struck accord with me. The article describes some of the traits that NASA was looking for when they were recruiting. These men were all fighter pilots, in great physical shape, smart, etc.. One trait equally important, though, was that they didn’t think about the tasks or challenges they faced too much. They just went for it. It was almost sort of an arrogance. If these men thought about what they were actually doing—flying to the moon—they would have probably gotten scared and not been able to handle it. I think I sometimes operate like this. There have definitely been times that I have accepted a job with an optimistic attitude about being able to get it done. I’ll definitely have an idea of what is going to happen in my head, but I maybe made some incorrect assumptions or maybe didn’t think about this or that. Then, I go to do the job and realize that I’m in way over my head. By that time, it’s too late to pass on the gig, so I just have to put in the extra work to get it done. Do it or die trying. In every case, I came out stronger. Some of the best things that have happened to me came as a result of this, and I owe it all to not thinking about it, just doing it.