What I Learned From Lance Armstrong
Level 9,000
Lance Armstrong has been loved, hated, on top of the world, and fallen to rock bottom in less than 24 hours.
Dude has been through the wringer.
Earlier this month he was at the office for one of Joe's 100k events.
Before we go any further...
...If you're one of those types that refuses to learn/extract value for something because you don't like them or something they did, you can stop reading right now. If you choose ONLY to learn from people that you agree with, you're not learning - you're confirming your own biases and disguising it as learning.
Okay, glad we got that out of the way.
I had no idea what Lance was going to talk about or where the discussion was going to go. I've heard from some people that he was a great teammate and loving human, and I've heard from others he is a real a**hole - so I went into this thing with an open mind and hopeless curiosity.
Here's what I learned:
1.
Someone asked Lance "What would you tell your younger self?"
He laughed and said "My younger self wouldn't have listened"
What may seem like a flippant response hit me as rather profound. Often we wish we knew then what we know - but that's not possible - we didn't know then what we know now because we didn't have the experience or receptivity at the time to know it.
We learn what we learn when we are ready to receive it. It's also why we can't shove our experiences and beliefs down the throats of those we see as "younger versions of ourselves" - just like Lance's younger self wasn't in a place to listen to older Lance, some people just aren't in a place to listen.
..and that's okay.
Everyone's on their journey and on their own time.
2.
He admitted that the fall grace was hard - incredibly so. But does not regret it because he could sit in the room with us and tell the truth. He never lies to his kids.
Had he never been caught, fallen out of favor, and been forced to do the work on himself that followed... he would likely still have to be lying to his family.
So he wouldn't tell his younger self anything, knowing he wouldn't listen. Nor would he change anything, because the only way he could be where he is right now is for things to have happened the way they happened.
In other words, there is no room for regrets.
Lessons? Yes. But you cannot regret the past because if any one thing happened differently, you may not have the most important things to you today. Butterfly effect stuff.
3. (This is my favorite)
Lance told a story about how the US cycling team had virtually no budget in the beginning.
The head of personnel said to Lance: "We're going to bring this guy in for one day - he is the best in the world - be sure to utilize him"
After working with "this guy" once, Lance went back to the head of personnel and said:
"I don't care if we have a budget or not. You find a way to keep this guy, full time"
...And that guy was the one and only Dr. Jeff Spencer.
Lance, Dr. Jeff, and the team went on to seven consecutive Tour De France victories.
Why is that my favorite one?
Because Jeff is one of my dearest friends and favorite humans of all time. The best part is that Lance had no idea - it just came up in one of his stories.
Jeff has worked with some of the most legendary teams, entrepreneurs, and performers in the world. He is also the TGA Cornerman - he comes to most of our events as a guest, attendee, and contributor.
Here's a short video of Dr. Jeff at one of our events
He'll be here Friday and Saturday. If you're making it out - be sure to get some time with him. He's a gem of a human. And some great stories about Lance, Tiger, Branson and so many more.
**Please be sure to RSVP if you have a ticket
Hope to see you there,
Live to Learn. Give to Earn.
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"My younger self wouldn't have listened"
I know this to be true because every lesson in TGA is one I've heard before ... many of which I certainly heard much younger. Just never hit right until now.