the Lance deception

“It’s the great temptation for small groups of people to slide into a state where they’re not quite telling each other the truth and they’re not quite celebrating each other. Instead, they tolerate each other, they accommodate each other, and they settle for sitting on the unspoken matters that separate them.”

Bill Hybels

  The news is filled with the epic deception that Lance Armstrong thought he would be able to watch fade behind him over time.  It turns out that the volume of evidence that showed he was only deceiving himself pushed him to the point of confessing his lies. Bike racing filled my life for about 20 years and it is a great sport.  At the elite levels where the money is substantial the pressure to win at all costs looms large in the teams and in the riders.   We see the same thing happening in any organization or institution where the pressure to succeed at any cost is evident.  Banks push performance, Wall Street demands performance, and companies demand performance.   At some point that performance has to be obtained by the leader or by their replacement.  When failure is not an option people step outside of their authenticity and become someone else, often leading to their personal destruction.

Did Lance Armstrong do some good?   He boosted the popularity of cycling in America and he provided resources for those who were dealing with the weight of cancer, both good things.     His sponsors benefited, his coaches benefited and many other people benefited from the Lance persona and now that the persona has been found to lack integrity people want to distance themselves from him.  In a culture of win at all costs things will spin out of control at some point.   Do you find yourself in a culture of win at all costs?   How does that impact you?

What would have been the price of honesty for any cyclist riding at the elite levels in the Tour de France?   Would they be able to continue?  Would they be able to find willing sponsors to support the costs of riding in the Tour?  Is the price of winning worth your integrity?

The foundation of our society is based on truth, integrity and honesty.   We trust that others will abide and live their lives in such a manner that we can know that we are engaging an experience where the interests of each person are not being taken advantage of, that promises made are promises are kept.

Here is one person’s take on the issue of deception and how lying can corrupt the soul and destroy a brand.

The biggest lies, take a look.

What are your thoughts?

4 steps to happiness …

“If others tell us something we make assumptions, and if they don’t tell us something we make assumptions to fulfill our need to know and to replace the need to communicate. Even if we hear something and we don’t understand we make assumptions about what it means and then believe the assumptions. We make all sorts of assumptions because we don’t have the courage to ask questions.”
― Miguel Ruiz

 

Are you living the life you want to live?   Would you like to  live a better life?

If you’re not living the life you want then what would it take to live the life you want?   What steps would you take to start living that better life?

The questions are simple.   The answers are hard.   It isn’t that the answers are necessarily difficult but it is hard to sit down and really figure out what you really want.   Often what people say they want isn’t what they really want, it just looks that way.   We can see that in the way people behave.

If you could find peace, would you find it in have more things?   Many people think having more things is what leads to greater peace and it doesn’t.   Being rich doesn’t make people happier, it just changes their problems.   For people with a lot of money it may be that they fear losing it all and being poor.    What do you think?

Back to living a happier life.   Don Miguel Ruiz has a simple formula for building a happier life.    It is four agreements, four essential components to living a better life.

1. Be impeccable with your word.       Living with and in truth in all that you do and say.    That means being truthful with others and yourself.   Imagine your internal self-talk being truthful about who you are.

2. Don’t take anything personally.    Live in your story not someone else’s story.   Reacting to others, what they say or do and allowing that to provoke anger within robs you of happiness.     The opinion others have of you is only a reflection of the world they live in, you are either challenging or confirming their perception.

3. Don’t make assumptions.   We can easily make things up.   If we don’t know what is true we make up stories that match our version of reality.   Our brains want to fill in the gaps and because we have the ability to imagine, we imagine what could be true and fill in the blanks with our interpretation.   The way to truth is through asking questions.

4. Always do your best.  Challenge yourself to do your best.   Sometimes easy isn’t always the best, it is easy to do less than the best.   Focus on your best, define your best and do your best.

What would change for you if you were able to follow those four things?   Just notice throughout the day how you live out those four statements.

1. Is your word impeccable?

2. Are you taking things personally?

3. Are you making assumptions about others,  yourself or events in your life?

4. Are you always doing your best?

Just notice, just look at yourself and reflect.   What can you do different to improve in any of those four areas.   It’s time to take charge of your life.   Living a happier life starts with you.