This was originally written for the Coaching Confidence Weekly email in December 2010.

“It’s life Jim, but not as we know it”

I was watching online last night live as NASA held a press conference. I’ve not studied science since leaving education so if you want a scientific explanation of what their announcement was then you can read what they had to say here.

Described by many as an announcement about a new life form, Hollywood images such as ET are easily conjured up in your imagination. In reality, with apologies to the actual science involved, it wasn’t ET that they have identified but a microbe with the catchy name of “strain GFAJ-1.” As I understand it, and I’m certainly not claiming to be an astrobiologist, the reason that they were getting so excited by this is because it disproves one of the basic assumptions about life on Earth.

If you were watching the press conference you would have heard quotes about rewriting textbooks and “If something here on Earth can do something so unexpected, what else can life do that we haven’t seen yet?”

It’s a question that I thought is very valid to more than those with an interest in science. In this weeks message I invite you to consider the possibility that there is perhaps assumptions that you have made. Maybe there is something in your life just waiting to do something so unexpected, what else can you do with your life that we haven’t seen yet?

Love

Jen