The Greatest Human Freedom

[GCC]

The Greatest Human Freedom

The most life-changing insight I have taken from Lance is his intense and unwavering positive attitude. The Lance Armstrong Foundation's "Live Strong" motto is about spreading hope and inspiration to the cancer community and adopting a positive attitude to face difficult circumstances—to live strong in the face of adversity. "It's critical to remain positive, whether it's at work, racing a bike, or fighting an illness," says Lance. "Everyone has different temperaments—some people are aggressive, some more relaxed, some more emotional. I think the important thing is to maintain a positive attitude, which can be fostered in many ways. Everyone walks and talks differently—you can have a relaxed, calm positive attitude or a very excitable, emotional positive attitude.

"In a life-or-death situation like my illness, I had no choice but to be positive," Lance continues. "I had to believe in my doctors, medicine, and treatment protocol and in myself that I could beat it. I wasn't cynical at all, wasn't skeptical—I was absolutely convinced that I was going to get better." I asked him if this was automatic or if it took some effort to adopt his positive attitude. "Well, my diagnosis [on October 2, 1996] was sudden, surprising, and quite serious. For a few days I was in shock—crying, scared, and feeling great despair. Then as I went about the process of doing my research, I saw a glimpse of hope. I found the best doctors and the best place to get treatment and realized the possibility of recovery. After that it was automatic.

"I prepared for my treatment like it was a bike race," Lance explains. "I made cancer like an opponent that I hated and wanted to beat very badly. I believe the athletic approach, the athletic mentality, was very beneficial. I did everything with 100 percent efficiency, just as you must do to peak for a championship race. My research, understanding the drugs and the treatment protocol, taking care of my body, eating a healthy diet—I went 100 percent on everything. Fortunately, I had graphic feedback during my treatment, and this helped me maintain a positive attitude. Every week I had a chest x-ray where I could see the lesions shrinking in front of my eyes. I had highly accurate blood work telling me that the cancer was going away. It was like riding a time trial and hearing on the radio that I am putting time on my opponents. Now winning a race feels good, but when you are dealing with life or death and you are getting good news—that is a real rush!"

According to Viktor Frankel, Holocaust survivor and author of the classic Man's Search for Meaning, "The greatest human freedom is the freedom to choose one's attitude." You always have the ability and the freedom to choose a positive attitude, no matter what your circumstances. It's hard to imagine a more difficult situation in which to retain a positive attitude than with Lance's shocking cancer diagnosis, but he was able to do it and gave himself no other choice. Lance's positive attitude created an environment around him that was influenced by this mind-set. Was this the reason he recovered from cancer? Not exactly, for many positive people succumb to illness and other misfortunes. And many negative, bitter people go through chemo and walk away cured. However, Lance's mindset helped him through his ordeal in a significant way, and science is having ever greater success connecting emotional states to immune function and healing.

When difficult circumstances and your ability to choose a positive attitude are severely tested and you pass the test, you strengthen your resolve to be positive in the future. Those who are not able to stay in control of their attitudes, who let the world beat them down and then manufacture victim stories, excuses, cynicism, and coping mechanisms, end up getting sucked into a black hole. Patterns repeat and their negativity becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of poor results and bad luck.

Source: Kearns, B. (2007, 64-66). How Lance does it: put the success formula of a champion into everything you do. New York: McGraw-Hill.