Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life

In a different study, researchers sent more than 1,700 parents one of four campaigns intended to increase vaccination rates for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR).7 The campaigns, which were adopted nearly verbatim from those used by federal agencies, took different approaches. For example, one campaign offered textual information refuting the vacci

As wonderful as the internet is, it has reinforced our worst tendencies. We accept as truth the first Google hit that confirms our beliefs—even if the hit appears here of the search results. We don’t seek multiple references or filter out low-quality information. We quickly jump from “This sounds right to me” to “This is true.” Confirming our theor

In both cases, Amazon looked beyond the function to the form. The function of Whole Foods stores was to sell groceries, but the stores took the form of a massive real estate footprint with storage and refrigeration that could be repurposed for distribution. The function of Amazon’s computing infrastructure was for internal support, but its form—a m

Over time, our beliefs begin to blend into our identity. Your belief in CrossFit makes you a CrossFitter, your belief in climate change makes you an environmentalist, and your belief in primal eating makes you paleo. When your beliefs and your identity are one and the same, changing your mind means changing your identity—which is why disagreements

The moment we pretend an activity is routine is the moment we let our guard down and rest on our laurels. The remedy is to drop the word routine from our vocabulary and treat all our projects—particularly the successful ones—as permanent works in progress. NASA didn’t lose a single crew member in space during the Apollo, Mercury, and Gemini mission

Success is the wolf in sheep’s clothing. It drives a wedge between appearance and reality. When we succeed, we believe everything went according to plan. We ignore the warning signs and the necessity for change. With each success, we grow more confident and up the ante. But just because you’re on a hot streak doesn’t mean you’ll beat the house.

If you’re a job candidate, a premortem might involve an interview. You would assume you didn’t get the job and generate as many reasons as possible for the failure. Perhaps you were late for the interview. Perhaps a difficult question about why you left your previous job stumped you. You then figure out how to avoid those potential pitfalls.

Near misses are a rich source of data for a simple reason. They happen far more frequently than accidents. They’re also significantly less costly. By examining near misses, you can gather crucial data without incurring the costs of failure.

With a premortem, the investigation comes before we have acted, when the actual outcome isn’t known—before we fire the rockets, close the sale, or complete the merger. In a premortem, we travel forward in time and set up a thought experiment where we assume the project failed. We then step back and ask, “What went wrong?” By vividly visualizing a d

We didn’t know where we would go after NASA retired the space shuttle in 2011—our only means of reaching the International Space Station—with no replacement in place. After the remaining space shuttles rolled off the launch pads and into museums, American astronauts had to ride shotgun to the station on Russian rockets. The tickets cost $81 million