Question #2...
May. 1st, 2005 09:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpAn interested reader asks: "Have you ever wanted to be an astronaut?"
A fair enough question, considering my having worked extensively with such folk, and one the answer to which, once I started to think about it, started shedding layers like an onion.
On a very simple level, the answer is "yes." What red-blooded boy, growing up in the dizzying era of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo, could not have wanted to be an astronaut? Astronauts were heroes - there was a time you could depend on a trip to the White House and have the President pin a medal on you, if you had flown as an astronaut. These were daring pioneers whose names were household words, who - in my mind - were helping make those marvelous stories about space travel and exploration, penned by writers whose names I didn't pay attention to at that age, come to life.
But now, let's take a deep breath and take one extra step and ask, "Why didn't I become one?"
There are several components to the answer, but the short answer is: It seemed an unattainable goal.
Permit a small tangent.
Probably one of the best books on interpersonal interaction I've read is Selling the Way Your Customer Buys, by Marvin Sadovsky (a customer of ours until he relocated to Santa Fe) and Jon Caswell. It answered a question that's been bugging me about various approaches to what one might call "smoothing the way" with people.
Back in the first part of the 20th century, Dale Carnegie took a whack at the problem by noting that you can develop rapport with people by taking a genuine interest in what they think is important.
Later gurus - and here I have in mind a book by a fellow with the same name as but yet not my roommate during sophomore and junior years in college - preached a no-nonsense line that, oversimplified, says: You're in your prospect's office to sell widgets (or whatever); don't go wasting time admiring the prospect's various souvenirs of accomplishment - golf trophies, etc. - scattered throughout the office.
The queer thing about these two seemingly contradictory approaches is: they both work.
With different people, that is.
There are some people who, if you tell them "You can't achieve goal X," will make it their crusade in life to prove you wrong. Others, however, will heed this sage pronouncement and turn their attention toward greener pastures. Some people thrive in what are commonly called "supporting, nurturing environments"; others just cannot come up with any desire to succeed under the same conditions. The key to motivational mastery is being able to tell what kind of environment motivates a person and then build a suitable environment for that person.
How does this relate to the question at hand? Well, in my youth, although I was pretty smart, I was also pretty awkward - I'm sure you've seen glimpses of my inner geek from time to time - and so, knowing that astronauts were "the best of the best of the best," and also knowing that I was the guy who always ended up playing in right field, I sort of "knew" that I wasn't astronaut material, and so let the dream die ungerminated.
I did eventually become an engineer, working in computers, and had run-ins with NASA projects from time to time, from checking out mechanical systems on Shuttle Mobile Transporters, to helping adapt NASA expert systems for use in nuclear power plants, to my translation and interpretation work over the past decade.
By the time it became fairly clear that I might just, maybe, have what it takes to help explore space, it was too late. Literally. It turns out there's an age cutoff for the astronaut program, and I am well past it.
Of course, that betrays an interesting assumption that reflects a certain mindset, because age need not be the deciding factor. After all, who says NASA is the only game in town?
If I really had a deep, burning desire to fly in space - which at this time in my life I don't - I believe I could find a way. And if you believe, as I do, that the journey is more valuable than the destination, then in the final analysis, the outcome would be fulfilling. (The story of Millennium Actress just popped into my mind out of nowhere... it may be relevant.)
Cheers...
A fair enough question, considering my having worked extensively with such folk, and one the answer to which, once I started to think about it, started shedding layers like an onion.
On a very simple level, the answer is "yes." What red-blooded boy, growing up in the dizzying era of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo, could not have wanted to be an astronaut? Astronauts were heroes - there was a time you could depend on a trip to the White House and have the President pin a medal on you, if you had flown as an astronaut. These were daring pioneers whose names were household words, who - in my mind - were helping make those marvelous stories about space travel and exploration, penned by writers whose names I didn't pay attention to at that age, come to life.
But now, let's take a deep breath and take one extra step and ask, "Why didn't I become one?"
There are several components to the answer, but the short answer is: It seemed an unattainable goal.
Permit a small tangent.
Probably one of the best books on interpersonal interaction I've read is Selling the Way Your Customer Buys, by Marvin Sadovsky (a customer of ours until he relocated to Santa Fe) and Jon Caswell. It answered a question that's been bugging me about various approaches to what one might call "smoothing the way" with people.
Back in the first part of the 20th century, Dale Carnegie took a whack at the problem by noting that you can develop rapport with people by taking a genuine interest in what they think is important.
Later gurus - and here I have in mind a book by a fellow with the same name as but yet not my roommate during sophomore and junior years in college - preached a no-nonsense line that, oversimplified, says: You're in your prospect's office to sell widgets (or whatever); don't go wasting time admiring the prospect's various souvenirs of accomplishment - golf trophies, etc. - scattered throughout the office.
The queer thing about these two seemingly contradictory approaches is: they both work.
With different people, that is.
There are some people who, if you tell them "You can't achieve goal X," will make it their crusade in life to prove you wrong. Others, however, will heed this sage pronouncement and turn their attention toward greener pastures. Some people thrive in what are commonly called "supporting, nurturing environments"; others just cannot come up with any desire to succeed under the same conditions. The key to motivational mastery is being able to tell what kind of environment motivates a person and then build a suitable environment for that person.
How does this relate to the question at hand? Well, in my youth, although I was pretty smart, I was also pretty awkward - I'm sure you've seen glimpses of my inner geek from time to time - and so, knowing that astronauts were "the best of the best of the best," and also knowing that I was the guy who always ended up playing in right field, I sort of "knew" that I wasn't astronaut material, and so let the dream die ungerminated.
I did eventually become an engineer, working in computers, and had run-ins with NASA projects from time to time, from checking out mechanical systems on Shuttle Mobile Transporters, to helping adapt NASA expert systems for use in nuclear power plants, to my translation and interpretation work over the past decade.
By the time it became fairly clear that I might just, maybe, have what it takes to help explore space, it was too late. Literally. It turns out there's an age cutoff for the astronaut program, and I am well past it.
Of course, that betrays an interesting assumption that reflects a certain mindset, because age need not be the deciding factor. After all, who says NASA is the only game in town?
If I really had a deep, burning desire to fly in space - which at this time in my life I don't - I believe I could find a way. And if you believe, as I do, that the journey is more valuable than the destination, then in the final analysis, the outcome would be fulfilling. (The story of Millennium Actress just popped into my mind out of nowhere... it may be relevant.)
Cheers...
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no subject
Date: 2005-05-02 03:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-02 03:36 am (UTC)Actually, it looks like whatever it is is coming out of my nose!
Cheers...
no subject
Date: 2005-05-02 03:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-02 01:47 pm (UTC)