A fallen idol and lessons we could learn

Lance Armstrong has been deservedly stripped of his titles and reputation. He stands to lose a lot of his ill-gotten money as well. Much has been written about Armstrong's crimes and what cycling and sport might learn from them. But the comment that stood out for me went much further and pointed to implications for us all.

The piece in question, The voodoo cult of positive thinking, was penned by Ed Smith for the New Statesman. It's well worth a read. Smith's point is that Armstrong's demise underlines the folly of the modern world's obsession with willpower, our belief that if we want something enough and focus our energies strongly enough on achieving it, we can make it happen.

Smith compares Armstrong to another tainted exponent of focus and drive, Tiger Woods. I'd say he's also cycling's equivalent of Richard Nixon, Silvio Berlusconi and Bernie Madoff. Such was the force of his personal conviction that the ends came to justify any means necessary. The world and the people around him were just tools to be manipulated in order to secure his victory and power. Many of us have worked with people who share some of these traits. They are often, like Armstrong, charming, charismatic and popular. But they can also be extremely destructive. No doubt some of the bankers who arrogantly failed to spot the flaws in their massive gambles on sub-prime mortgages (see my blog piece on The Big Short) would fit this category too. 

The cult of willpower doesn't only apply to immoral alpha males and females. As Oliver James points out in his much-read book Affluenza, many people in the English-speaking world (and increasingly elsewhere) are dangerously stressed by the gap between what they believe they should achieve in their lives and what they are actually, realistically, able to achieve. Armstrong perpetuated the lie that, by applying our willpower, we can overcome all obstacles and challenges on the path to personal success. His unmasking as a serial cheat should help us to chill out a bit, stop obsessing with over-achievement and, in the words of the serenity prayer, accept the things we cannot change.

Armstrong - like other great deceivers - will not be forgotten. But given what we could learn from his story, perhaps that's no bad thing. The final irony is that an individual once hailed as an inspiration, an example to all, has now become a sobering lesson in how not to live and behave.