When someone is struggling with a seemingly\xa0easy problem, someone else might say, "Come on, it's not rocket science!" The inference being that rocket science represents the pinnacle of complexity.\n\nBut my guest today argues that the study of rocket science contains some simple, overarching principles\xa0that cannot only be universally understood, but universally applied to all kinds of problems and decisions. His name is Ozan Varol,\xa0he served on the operations team for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers\xa0project, and he's\xa0the author of the book\xa0Think Like a Rocket Scientist. We begin our\xa0conversation\xa0discussing why Ozan went from studying astrophysics to going to law school, and how his scientific background has influenced his legal career. We then dig into ways that the\xa0same thought processes that enable spacecraft to travel millions of miles\xa0can also be applied to moving forward in work and life.\xa0Ozan explains how scientists deal with uncertainty and why you have to constantly question the way things are done to get better results. We end our discussion by talking about how to use thought experiments to solve problems, how to test ideas, and how to actually learn from your failures.\n\nGet the show notes at aom.is/rocketscientist.