Loving the brashness of Cavendish

Granted, while I'm usually doing work while the Tour de France is on the in background, really yesterday's stage was rather boring.

Thank goodness for the sprint at the end where Mark Cavendish pulled out his third stage win of the Tour.

And I have to admit, that I really like Cavendish (or, as my friend Scott dubbed him for him, Caven-DE-licious). The British cyclist is one of the premier sprinters in the world. Don't look for him to be in the mix to win the overall (the yellow jersey) but he is in contention to win the green jersey as the best sprinter in the Tour.

There are those who don't particularly like Cavendish for his tendency to be brash and a bit (well, perhaps at times more than a bit) cocky.

In fact, Lance Armstrong even teases him about it during his pre-Stage 10 video on Livestrong.com. Armstrong is posting video blogs on his website throughout the Tour and yesterday's post included Cavendish and George Hincapie. 

Armstrong asks Cavendish if he's going to win the stage today.

"I'll try," Cavendish says with a smile.

"This is not the time to be humble," Armstrong jokes with him.

Armstrong should know. His brashness and confidence and cockiness won him some enemies during the first incarnation of his professional cycling career.

But that's also what makes him the best. And it's what makes Cavendish the best sprinter. And what makes Alberto Contador feel he is the true team leader of Astana and the guy who is going to win the Tour this year.

Attitude is everything.

Granted, you have to have the results and the performance to back it up. But a certain amount of self belief goes a long way.

Sometimes, it's a self fulfilling prophecy. It's not always clean and neat. Just thinking of success won't bring it. You have to put in the work and have the right innate skill set for some things. But if you don't know in your soul that you can truly accomplish what you want, all the work and skills will produce only incremental results.

Talking big puts a lot on the line.

But without risk there is no reward.

How you frame your task at hand, your situation or your goal, is as important as the preparation you put into achieving it.

How will you frame your day? And what can come from it if you frame it in a slightly different way today?