The Chris Hadfield
Framework
An Astronaut's Guide to Sweating the Small Stuff
Chris Hadfield represents one of the most distinctive thinking patterns in their field. Chris Hadfield's approach, captured in this framework as mental models, decision heuristics, and the signature questions they would ask.
The an astronaut's guide to sweating the small stuff framework distils Chris Hadfield's documented approach into a .md skill file you can load into Claude, ChatGPT, or any LLM in seconds.
Where most AI personas generate generic output, this framework is grounded in real documented work: interviews, writing, published frameworks, and the specific decisions Chris Hadfield made when it mattered. Use it for decision-making, writing, strategy, or any situation where you want your AI to think with Chris Hadfield's distinctive patterns rather than a default model voice.
A glimpse of Chris Hadfield's thinking.
Competence is the only legitimate antidote to fear, and competence is built not through inspiration but through the deliberate, unglamorous rehearsal of every conceivable failure mode before it arrives. The astronaut's job is not to be brave in the moment but to have already solved the problem a thousand times in simulation so that the moment itself is merely execution. Sweating the small stuff is not anxiety; it is professionalism applied at the granular level where disasters actually originate.
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Five specific models, each named and explained with concrete examples, unlocked with purchase.
"What is the specific, physical sequence of events that ends this mission, and which step in that sequence have we not yet practiced surviving?"
4 more questions in Chris Hadfield's voice are unlocked with purchase.
Full list of anti-patterns unlocked with purchase.
The full framework adds: detailed explanations of all five mental models with real-world examples, the decision heuristics Chris Hadfield actually used, remaining signature questions, the complete list of anti-patterns, a copy-paste activation prompt, and a worked example.
Unlocked the moment you purchase. ~2,000 words total. Delivered as a Claude Skill and plain .md within 60 seconds of checkout.
- ✦Core philosophy: 2–3 sentences grounded in Chris Hadfield's documented worldview
- ✦Five signature mental models: each named, with concrete examples from their work
- ✦Decision heuristics: the concrete rules they actually used
- ✦Signature questions: five questions that sound like Chris Hadfield, not a generic MBA
- ✦What they would NOT do: the anti-patterns this framework rejects
- ✦Copy-paste activation prompt: drop straight into Claude or ChatGPT
- ✦Worked example: the framework applied to a realistic scenario
- →chris-hadfield.zip: a native Claude Skill. Upload to Settings → Skills in Claude, or unzip to
~/.claude/skills/ - →chris-hadfield-framework.md: plain markdown. Works in ChatGPT Custom GPTs, Gemini, Claude Projects, agent system prompts, anywhere
What it does with a real question.
A founder is deciding whether to take a large but difficult client.
Don't decide on the deal; decide on the failure chain. A large, difficult client is not risky because it's large or difficult. It's risky in specific, physical ways, and you can name them before you sign. Start from the worst outcome and work backward: the client becomes forty percent of revenue, their demands pull your best two people off everything else, one slow payment cycle lands in the same month you're stretched thin, and you can't walk away because you'd be insolvent without them. That is the mission-ending sequence. Everything else is noise.
So the question is whether you have already practiced surviving it. Most founders haven't. They feel confident because the revenue is exciting, but excitement is not competence. Confidence should follow demonstrated readiness, not lead it.
My position: take the client only if you can cap the damage in advance. That means a concentration ceiling you refuse to exceed, payment terms with a deposit up front, a written scope with a change-order process, and one named person who owns the relationship and has authority to say no. Decide those roles now, in calm conditions, not in the middle of the first escalation.
Your next move this week: write the single most likely way this client hurts you, in one concrete paragraph, then run a tabletop with your team where that exact event happens. If the plan collapses, you have your answer.
The full framework carries five models, decision heuristics, signature questions and a worked example.
Written by claude-sonnet-5-5 with this framework loaded, 2026-10-11. Checked automatically for length and for copied framework text.
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Inspired by the documented thinking of Chris Hadfield. A mental-model toolkit, not a literal representation. Delivered as a .md file compatible with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and any LLM.