Space flight has always fascinated me. The idea of a man sitting in a capsule and being propelled into space at over 20,000 miles per hour is pretty incredible. The fact that astronauts can confront their fear and engage in something that appears so risky is even more astounding.

Why can space shuttle commanders remain calm in such fearful situations? Because they have a team and experience behind them. When launching a shuttle or positioning the ship, no one is focused on fear. They’ve all been trained by the best, including other NASA commanders who have done it before. Each person on the team knows his role. They’ve practiced for years. They understand how to navigate through challenges. They execute together flawlessly. That’s the difference between “trial and error” and modeling.

In your life and future business, you need to mitigate risks and turbo-charge your success. Find and study role models to help eliminate risk and save you valuable time and money down the road. Learn what others have done to achieve the outcome you want. Study their specific beliefs, their strategies, and the specific order in which they did things. Then, choose to respond in a way that lets you put that knowledge to use.

No matter what life throws your way, you can choose how to respond to it. Here’s how:

Control Your Inner Dialogue

In every situation, your brain asks two important questions. “What does this mean?” and “what should I do?” The questions you ask to evaluate the situation will determine what you focus on. What you focus on will determine how you feel. How you feel will determine how you behave, and how you behave will have a tremendous impact on your life. You can probably see why it’s so important to control your inner dialogue and not let fear or negative inner dialogue control you and your actions.

Break the Pattern

If you catch yourself asking negative and disempowering questions—or if you find yourself caught in a terrible loop—break that pattern and insert questions that get you to analyze the situation in new, empowering ways. There’s a difference between constructive criticism and negativity. Negativity will just provoke feelings of hopelessness and despair. But if you ask questions that inspire you to analyze the situation from a different angle, you may find a solution.

Control your inner dialogue and break the pattern. When you transform these from advice to daily habits, your life will change forever. It’s time to be like NASA and launch yourself to new heights.

About the Author:  Scott Duffy is an entrepreneur, speaker and brand ambassador. He began his career working for best-selling author and speaker, Tony Robbins, and went on to work for several big media brands like CBS Sportsline, NBC Internet, and FOXSports.com. Next, he founded Smart Charter, an online booking tool for private aviation, which was acquired by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.

Today, Scott’s mission is to help people live their dreams through entrepreneurship. He has spoken at the NYSE and provided commentary in numerous media outlets including CNBC, FOX News, and CBS Radio. He is Co-Host of Business & Burgers, Presented by Microsoft, Host of Inc. Startup Accelerator, Special Project Editor of Launch @ Inc.com and Best-Selling Author of Launch!, a roadmap for building great companies. Scott currently lives in Southern California with his wife and two children.

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