“Since I was 13, I’ve had maybe two or three jobs. Right now, I feel like I have four jobs. I have the NASA job, the Navy job. I’m also the chair for the Hispanic Outreach and Leadership Alliance, and I’m a new dad. It’s a lot.
“They say that the more you do, the more you can do. That’s a motto we have in the military. It’s true. The more you do, the more you can do, and unless you try to do something, you won’t know if you can.
“I have this philosophy in life that you’re only ever going to do things related to four categories: fitness and health, social and family time, your career, or faith and spirituality. You’re never, ever going to get those things perfectly in balance because nobody’s perfect. But I think the goal is to try to maintain balance.
“You’re going to have periods in your life where you may have a lot of work assignments and you’re spending a lot of time on the career side of things, but you need to also remember that you owe some time to your family and your friends. Are you taking time off for your health? Recognize when you’re a little bit off-balanced on one end. Success is in the journey of trying to work your way back to balanced.”
— Magdiel Santana, Senior Program Analyst, NASA Headquarters
Image Credit: NASA / Joel Kowsky
Interviewer: NASA / Thalia Patrinos