Excellence is the ability to act with commitment in the presence of doubt.
The other day, I stumbled over an article in Canadian Cycling Magazine dealing with the suspicion raised after Tadej Pogačar’s win in Milan–San Remo. Cycling, more than most sports, carries a past full of performance-enhancing drug use that cannot, and should not, simply be forgotten. Critical thinking matters. Blind belief is not a virtue. Never has been.
Yet, there is a risk here—a subtle shift in which skepticism becomes the default lens. However, the past does not always repeat itself, neither in sport nor in people’s lives. It is well-known that people change because of the pain certain behaviors have caused. This realization led me to write this post, proposing that extraordinary performance could be seen as an invitation to understanding, rather than merely a trigger for doubt. After all, what we may be witnessing in riders like Pogačar is not simply physical dominance—but something far less visible, and far less understood: mental mastery.
Red the rest in Psychology Today.
FINN JANNING 