Greatness Has No Shortcuts - العظمة لا يوجد لها طرق مختصرة | Fares Ksebati

0:00I come up I'm like almost in the wrong lane and I'm like struggling to swim and it's like feels horrible But I kept pushing I had the confidence that it's not game over Everyone just wants the shortcut, right? They want the quick fix. It really is there is no single quick fix You don't need to do a hundred things really really well You just need to do like five or ten important things really really well You do that a couple hundred or thousand times. You'll probably be pretty good at it Finally I want to ask you from your perspective. What is the high performance mindset? High performance mindset is Faras Psaibati is the author of the Amazon Best Salaf swim like a pro and is the CEO and co-founder of the My Swim Pro app My Swim Pro is an app that helps people improve their performance and help through swimming Faras's work has been featured by Apple Forbes, Men's Health, New York Times and the list goes on In this episode we spoke about the mindset required for you to become a master at what you do We spoke about the importance of being resilient and if life hacks exist

1:03All right before we kick over today's episode if you can do me this more favorite and subscribe to this channel I'll truly appreciate it and it'll help me bring you more and more high performance to this show This is the high performance mindset and today's guest is Faras Psaibati enjoy this episode Faras you have a post on your Instagram account And you mentioned that the pool is not filled with water. It's medicine What do you mean by that? Oh we're going deep pun intended So I think you know the water is somewhere that is safe Which which is kind of ironic to actually to say that because the water can be associated with fear for a lot of people I've been scared of the water. That's how I associate it. You know and but for me I think you know I'm grateful that because I have the safety established Because I know how to swim I can go to the pool. I can go to the water and I can truly escape from the world

2:06And you know, I don't want to meet it in a sense that like I need to escape But it gives me that safe place where I don't have my phone Don't have distractions. I can focus on my body I can focus on my technique. I'm the workout that I'm doing and I can just Be free and for the last three decades for basically most of my life I'm so grateful that I found that for me at least and other people have other ways that they can find that but for me it's It's the water When did you first Start swimming? How did that? I was a I was a four-year-old crazy child and my parents put me in swimming lessons and it's so funny I was going over old family videos and I was watching the first few times that I went swimming and like learned how to swim with swim lessons And you just see this raw kid running around at the pool and just having a good time and It was never really competitive for me. I did end up, you know swimming and competing went to university But it was not about that when I got started. It was more my parents just put me in swimming to

3:10Like learn how to swim and then I fell in love with it and I would always look forward to School ending and being on summer vacation because the pool would open because where I grew up the pools are only open in the summer And it's something that I really looked forward to every single year and eventually I did the swim team and it carried on from there Do you remember your first win? I do remember my first win actually and it was Pretty symbolic and I don't I never thought it would be that big of a deal in the moment But I think back I was 10 years old and I won our local championship taking in the 25 meter breaststroke And it was such a big deal for me and even my family at the time because the year before I was on the swim team, but I didn't even qualify to go to this competition Like I didn't even qualify to go to the finals is what they called it and then when I was when I was nine and then when I was 10 I in the preliminary I qualified first in the final I won the event and so you know you have six people in the final and you take a photo and I have a medal and

4:15Since then I've done a lot of races and I've won some I've lost more than I've won and I still think back that was a pivotal point of establishing confidence Because I don't think you necessarily need to have a A lot of wins you don't need to be Michael Phelps in win every single time But I do think you need to have some Level of success to give you just a little bit more of a push of self confidence And I think that really helps develop your mindset of knowing that you're capable of doing something Especially when it contrasts with the year before not even qualifying for that event Um, were you doing other kinds of sports uh before your first win in swimming? I mean swimming has been my main thing for most of my life But I did do other sports. I did like soccer and I was pretty bad I mean, I tried others like tennis I mean, I was such a goofball I would I would be in tennis lessons our tennis class And then I would try and hit the tennis balls into the lake behind the tennis court Like I was just terrible student

5:16In swimming I think I was like actually an okay student And I guess that's required if you want to be good at anything you need to be coachable And I think I was potentially more coachable Both from a mindset as well as a physical Like I was able to manipulate my body in the water Maybe better than I could on land And I just you know, I was a relatively small kid growing up So for most of the sports and I was young for my grade I was not very competitive because I was way smaller than all the other kids So something like basketball or these other like aggressive sports or really not in question But for swimming for whatever reason it ended up working out a little bit differently So from your From your perspective As a child or 10 years old or nine Would made you more inclined towards swimming Out of the other sports I think it was the beauty of swimming And what I mean by that is where I grew up It was like a waterfront type community So we didn't live on the water But you lived a few blocks away from the lake So everyone learns how to swim

6:19And our pool that I learned how to swim at was beautiful Had a beach so you can be on the pool deck And you look at a pool, then you have a beach Then you have the open water Which in the United States and Michigan Is not very common You don't really have that You don't associate that view with a cold climate And so every summer I would look forward to that And I think just the beauty of being in the water And the way we started talking about the medicine That just feels different than doing any other sport And I think the Now that I think about it out loud The fact that you only get it for a few months of the year I think made it more special Absolutely As opposed to everything else Even like soccer or whatever You're still playing it like in school and the playground At the beginning of the year, end of the year But swimming you only got like two or three months So in a year that's only 20% of the year Absolutely So I think I look forward to it more What was your most difficult competition That you were able to either succeed

7:23Or you made your biggest growth I think there's a two different things for me at least Like I think about success and growth I think there's a two different things So Great One that pops in my mind when it comes to like growth Because I didn't win this event So I was fast forward a couple of years I'm like a teenager And I dive in and my goggles fall off My eyes and my mouth in the final So we have it's like a preliminary and then a final And again, I'm a teenager Like it's not that big of a... This is not, you know, the Olympics or whatever But what happened in that moment I, for whatever reason, I had the confidence that like It's not game over And so I have the video of this race too It's hilarious to watch Because I like pop out the goggles are in my mouth I'm like drowning and it's breaststroke And so everyone's... I mean like I think I was the number one or number two seed After the preliminary And I'm in like fifth or sixth place off of the dive So I come off I'm like almost in the wrong lane And I'm like struggling to swim And it's like feels horrible But I kept pushing And then heading into the, it's a 50 So 25, 25 So when you're saying you get pushing

8:23Like you still had your goggles on Or you put them back in the back I said the goggles in my mouth I didn't like kind of give up on it type of thing Because are you continuing swimming? I continue swimming And like as if nothing happened But obviously I'm like drowning In my mouth And so I, during the race I pull off the goggles And then I made a comeback to second place After being in like fifth way behind And if you were to play it out Like I probably would have won that event Given all the other stuff I didn't screw up in the finish And I think growth came because of that Because I gained so much self belief that like And positivity too Even though something Not catastrophic But something bad happened And that was actually thinking back That was the work I've had goggles fill up And like things don't go as planned But like from an execution That's probably one of the worst Events that I've ever had And it, but I think because it happened At a younger age And leading into it I wasn't that upset about it And I think having that Maybe level head At such a young age Allowed me to face that adversity Not just in athletics But like in business and life

9:23So I think from that perspective of growth I think that's what I experienced I would say something from a success perspective Was more recent Two years ago I raced at the Dubai Open And you know this was an event That I wasn't planning on doing I didn't know if I would be in Dubai in the first place And so I'm in Dubai I come to this event And I actually performed a best time In my event And this was 10 years after competing in college So to be able to go a best time A PR 10 years after where you should be in your prime Gave me even more confidence And that was a success Considering the amount of training that I had done And it gave me a lot more Again confidence in my Not necessarily swing abilities But my coaching abilities Because now I like I was training myself And and given what I do professionally With my swim pro It's like yeah I know what I'm talking about And so I think as a validation of success I felt that was actually a lot more significant Because in 2024 I hit multiple PRs And so to do that In your 30s

10:23After having a competitive background Is actually not that common So it gave me a lot of self belief I like I know what I'm doing as a coach I know what I'm doing as an athlete And if people are following my journey They should have more confidence That I know what I'm talking about as well So what caused you to Break these PRs Now versus before Like what changed Despite that you were not even working towards that While I was working to be fast But it wasn't like this is my number one goal in life It was I was you know still working in whatever I think it's a combination of things So you know lifestyle is very important To athletic performance So getting enough sleep, nutrition I had actually just partially moved to Dubai So I was in a new routine And that was actually Everything that I've learned in my first three decades of life I was applying so I was getting better sleep My training was more specific I had more accumulation of knowledge About training, moving Or relocating kind of through you off your routine

11:25I think it enhanced my routine How? Because Growing up I was living with my family Right and so you know love my family My mom's an amazing cook All that good stuff At the same time when it comes to like what I need You know that's not that household is not designed for For me it's designed for my family situation So when I was on my own more often And I had traveled in whatever But when I was on my own more often And even today I'm able to cater exactly what I need From not only a sleep perspective But nutrition like what I'm eating When I'm eating Also just the positivity of you know my surroundings So Dubai's an amazing place And I was meeting people In both business and athletics Meeting people and swimming And I think all of that puts together Because in swimming it's a hundredth of a second So when I say I want a PR it's not like I drop like I'm a different athlete No I'm just an enhanced refined version of myself And I think at the level that I'm at You need to be precise at everything To have that happen

12:25You don't just accidentally Go a best time in a race Especially if you've been doing it for three decades So I think a combination of things I remember reading a quote from Arnold Shosenegger saying Nothing great is achieved accidentally Oh by exactly You know just fall in the water and Oh look it's my last affair Like wow okay Exactly Let's talk about your book 101 ways to swim faster How did you what inspired you to write this book I've written a few books And this book specifically was about How do I make this as simple as possible To be faster in swimming Because over the years I've learned like There's so many things I can talk about From a content perspective I can talk about technique, breathing, training, nutrition, mindset, like, and I touch on all of these But when you break it down Everyone just wants the shortcut Right? They want the quick fix The reality is there is no single quick fix

13:26And so when I was thinking about You know, packaging this My first book is called Swim Like a Pro And this is a more holistic guide To being a better swimmer And that was really just packaging everything I know and putting it in a book The problem with that It's not quick fix enough Or people just want like Just tell me like three specific things That I can go do right now And so if you think Well, I got 101 for you Instead of three, I'll give you 100 And really the point of it is like There are a lot of A lot of it is stuff that I've maybe already talked about And my other books are content But when you break it down to Hey, there's only two pages here On one of the tips Right? So there's 101 of them Yeah, you can read the whole book But if you just take away Five or 10 of these And relentlessly get good at them You'll be really good at swimming You don't need all 101 And I think this is true for a lot of things in life You don't need Like if you want to be a good Podcaster If you want to be a good Parent You don't need to do 100 things

14:27Really, really well You just need to do like Five or 10 important things Really, really well And in swimming, I think this is very true You know a few things You do that a couple 100 or 1000 times You'll probably be pretty good at it And tell me also about your Your app Your swimming training app Which is my swim pro My swim pro Yeah, we launched it in 2015 And Interestingly enough, now there's been over 10 years I didn't think I'd be talking about this You know, like I didn't think I'd be still Running the company that I started back then So the reason why I started this is When I was swimming and as a coach I realized a lot of people have no idea How to get better at swimming They're trying to figure out what to do And if they didn't have the structured training Like I had I mean, I was kind of an anomaly In the fitness market of the fact that I learned how to swim Multiple teams Swimming university Started coaching swimming when I was 17 That's not very common And what I realized is most people Would ask me

15:28For help like hey, how do I write this workout Like what do I do? I want to get faster I'm so slow How do I improve So we packaged all of that and we built an app That dynamically builds you a training program And it was the first swimming app on the Apple Watch And it was named App of the Year by Apple in 2016 Wow And today we have a You know, a couple million downloads on the platform And it's still the core of our business Now we do in-person retreats as well And you know, it's interesting with technology Because when I started the company The idea for it You know, the iPhone and the Apple Watch It was not the same market that we have today Back then, the Apple Watch didn't exist And then we were the first swimming app on the Apple Watch And now it's our majority use case And in five to ten years Especially with AI I don't really know what the future is actually going to hold A lot of people ask me they're like So what's the future of swimming? I don't know I hope that we can continue to innovate And be an important player that shapes the future of swimming But I couldn't sit here and tell you what Swimming is going to look like in ten years

16:29People will still swim But in terms of how we do our application And our program and platform We'll see But I do believe like You need to focus on Upgrading yourself And being ready And then another opportunity will find you Yeah, I think you want to position yourself Yeah, and not the other way around Just like before You getting on Apple Store You had already worked on the app Yeah, I was already in the market of swimming It's not like I thought Well, what kind of an app can I launch? Well, it's not just swimming app I don't know how to swim But I'm going to launch a swimming Yeah, so I think it's just organically developed In terms of a person coming to learn swimming What kind of mindset would give them the right Patients to be able to You know Be a good student You mentioned the most important word

17:30Patients Patients is I don't think they then It's for the tests Your patients more than swimming Exactly, exactly I was hoping you didn't say something I was like Yeah, swimming is the most Difficult to master because what the reason why it is So if your my mom learned how to swim Less than two years ago at the age of 62 Wow, and so you know, I worked with her And she was able to go in three weeks From never putting her face in the water To swimming 25 meters Unassisted in three weeks And so she made incredible progress in a short period of time But the thing that holds people back from doing even that Is the fear of the water So from a mindset perspective The psychology is like the most important thing And a lot of times people are fearful of the water Because they've had some Situation in the past So either when they were a kid or an adult Or they know someone The this fear is brewing And so they get to be an adult And they still haven't learned how to swim Or at least be comfortable in the water It makes it that much harder So before you can even get in the water

18:31And like learn how to swim Like the mindset is You have to be open To kind of working through these challenges It's to like why you have that fear And how to Very gradually De-sensitize yourself to your own fear of the water And so once you That's like the first third of it I mean the first half You get over the fear of swimming The fear of the water Can we use your mom's example Yeah Do you know what was her fear before And why only It's 60 So it doesn't have to be a fear It just could just be You never learn because you never around it So for my mom actually She just was never around A swimming pool type of thing So that was holding her back That was holding her back I would say for a lot of people it is fear Because they maybe did have the opportunity And that's sometimes the most difficult For someone like my mom actually She just never thought Well I'm going to go learn how to swim It just never thought like That's something that I would do In her mindset And so She had taken me to thousands of swim workouts And swimming competitions

19:32So it really wasn't like She's afraid of going on a boat She would panic if she wasn't the water But she would never be in the water So when I wouldn't be in the water Exactly and that's I think a lot of people It doesn't cross their mind My mom it's kind of one of those things She would say I never thought that I would Swim like that's not what I do That's what you do That's what my kids do I put them in swimming And I give to them And for me it was important for her to learn How to swim because she puts so much Time and effort into me So now to Reinvest just a little bit of time Relative to what she had put into me And that was actually my most recent book It's called How Not to Drown And I talk about the story of teaching my mom How to swim And like how you would learn how to swim And the first third of that book Is the psychology and mindset Of you know Of overcoming these fears Or challenge whatever the reason is That you haven't learned how to swim And now you do It's funny actually I have in my book In the very beginning it's I say send me an email With the subject line I'm ready And it's about that first step Because the first step is the hardest to doing anything

20:32Whether you're learning how to swim Or learning how to You're publishing your first video On the internet doesn't matter The first step is the hardest So I tell people you're email me And so now Every day or other day I get an email from some stranger Saying I'm ready and they tell me They're swimming story As to You know how they're overcoming their fear Or like where the fear came from And normally There's a trigger event Of why they're getting back into it Or why they're starting It could be You know they had someone pass away in their family It could be They changed jobs They moved locations They got dumped by their boyfriend Or whatever I've heard lots of stories about this And so I think the mindset is Having the patience And being open-minded To embarking on this journey And having a long-term view on it Wow What would you say was one of your biggest challenges As an athlete As an athlete We were talking off-camera just before I've had some injuries Which I think are pretty challenging I broke my elbow last year

21:34And that kept me out of the water for a while COVID actually kept me out of the water for three months And at that time That was the longest I hadn't swam in 10 years Because I'd always been swimming like year-round And so for some people like, you know, COVID was very stressful And a lot of people like, oh, you know, you work out You go for a run Well, I couldn't do the workout that I do And I wasn't as big in a weightlifting at the time And gyms were closed anyway So I think it was a challenge It's like, oh, it's so stressful in the world And I can't even work out I can't even do the thing that releases Endorphins and dopamine So that was pretty challenging So I think between that And maybe some injuries Has been pretty challenging And then actually one more Maybe this is the most significant When I started college I was a walk-on athlete Meaning I didn't get recruited to my university And university training is like a very high level It's basically like professional athletics You're training 20 to 30 hours a week And you have class and I was coaching And I considered quitting swimming at that point Because it was just too much Between class and training and coaching

22:36Like I wanted to do like three different lives All at the same time And it was really, really difficult And that first semester of my university I think that's a very good point A lot of people Can decide to quit something Just because they're overwhelmed Exactly Exactly By You know, just adding stuff And sometimes the solution is just to Drop one of the things Yeah And it will make you move faster towards whatever you're doing Yeah, I think it's also growing pains Like for me, I was living three different lives At the same time I didn't drop any of them It was more of a matter of patience Of time horizon Because I actually am very happy I didn't drop any of them How did you manage to push through I think it was just taking a step back And looking at that time horizon Because like zooming really far out Because in the short term, I was thinking Like, oh my god, these days are so long These weeks feel like years And I'm going to do this for the next four years

23:39Like, oh my god But what happened was you kind of get used to it And I think you're around other people Who are doing the same type of thing So how do you zoom out? Ah, that's a good question I'm trying to think in that moment Yeah You know, there were a couple people on the team That I would talk to about this And I was seeing some people did drop out So we had a few, there were two or three other people In my same class And they started the same time as me And they dropped off as well Or they dropped off and I And I was seeing that and I was like Am I really, I didn't want to, like, am I a quitter type of thing It was more like, I can manage this It's difficult right now But this isn't the rest of my life And I'm getting used to it So it's like, there is light at the end of the tunnel And also from a training perspective We were doing the hardest training At that point in the season So I knew In a month or two, we are going to do less training My body is going to be less physically destroyed And like, school is going to get easier We're going to have like Christmas vacation And like, we're I knew that was coming And so when I zoom out, that's what I meant Like, if I just look at a calendar

24:39Like, I can see progress I can see the end of the tunnel And so it doesn't make sense to quit now Because I knew I would regret that Because I really just needed to toughen up And I think, like, I don't know, some weird But like, as a man, you got to like Work through hard stuff And there are people who are going through Way harder stuff than what I was going through This was more just like A physical time management thing And I'm happy that I persevered through that Talking about toughening up And having a strong mindset Who growing up, who did you learn that from? I mean, I think you start with the people closest to you So for me, I mean, those my parents, they Immigrated to the United States And you know, kind of worked their way up My parents are very hard workers So I think the hard work part Comes from seeing that And then I think, for me, growing up at a time when the internet Was starting to really explode And you could follow other people online And then YouTube was starting to develop Like, I started to see other personalities Like, in swimming You know, like Michael Phelps was one of those people

25:40That you see Developing And because he was five, six years older than me You know, he was finding success Going through things Training more than I was And so I think just seeing that was like Yeah, of course I'm training hard Like, this is what it takes And he's training more than me But before you wouldn't really see that And I think growing up in a time Where I had that transition from like My immediate circle of people that I can see in real life To then having these like Digital mentors almost So people that I've Now I've been lucky enough to meet a lot of these people that were my idols But at the time, it's like That's the one you see on TV or at the Olympics And then you can associate like Oh, I can be I can be at that level If I just focus and train and They're working hard That's what it takes From You said you learned it from your family How do you feel They nourished the work ethic in you As a kid or as a teenager I think a lot of it is just seeing it You know, just seeing them work

26:41Seeing them, you know, approach different things At some level, you know, in certain areas It's actually, it's not good because you know There's more efficient ways to do things But they have this mindset of like We can do it ourselves We don't need anyone to help us And so like I said, you know It's pros and cons of that You want to have a good balance of How independent you want to be Versus seeking help from other people Whether it's like Doing manual chores or like Financially or whatever So I think the proximity is really the most important thing Which is why I'm really grateful to have You know, a family where I grow up with You know both of my parents And I know some other people they don't have that And so you got to find a way To surround yourself with Some sort of positive influence Where you can learn some of these core skills Because you know, I don't have kids now But I'd like to have a family in the future And you know, you can tell them one thing But they see what you do So you know The kids are going to see what you're doing Whether you like it or not So you know, whether it's The way that you have respect Or the language that you use Or the work ethic

27:41I think it's the people closest to you Um In one of your posts You Put a reminder that The number one Or one of the Somebody who has a message Million subscribe on YouTube Or a CEO of a company Or an athlete Would not Make fun of you going The gym If or what it will That wouldn't make fun of you Going to the gym If you're an athlete, you wouldn't make fun of You know, that support if you're starting If you're a top YouTuber He would never make fun of someone starting Making the first video, exactly Why did you post that? That was a really powerful message That I saw something similar Someone else had posted And I thought It really resonated with me And I wanted to put kind of my own spin on it Type of thing and I wanted You know, people that are following me Or my closest people to You know, because I really feel like I live by A lot of those virtues The other one was like Like a millionaire Something wouldn't Criticize someone who's making their first investment Or whatever

28:42And so the idea is like Anyone who's Developed themselves And worked towards something over a longer period of time And they found some level of success They're never going to Talk badly about someone who's just getting started Because that's where they were at one point And so You know Hate never comes from the top And so you know, whether it's You know, I get a lot of nasty comments on YouTube Especially Just a A virtue of the numbers right If you if you have a thousand comments Or a hundred comments One percent of them Is probably going to be negative And so I think I don't know at that moment When I made that post Maybe That I felt stronger Because I was getting more hate Or if someone I Someone I knew or other people I knew Or getting more hate online But I did feel that That message was important And at that moment I wanted to Share my own spin on it And I think that's so true In swimming for example You know I'm never going to talk negatively On someone who's trying to learn how to swim Even though I'm like a very accomplished Swimmer And you know like on YouTube I have like a million subscribers If someone's uploading their first video Even here at this conference I've talked to people who are just getting started

29:43And I'm like more enthusiastic To help them And to share anything that I can To encourage them Then someone maybe who's Kind of burned out And they have like 10 million subscribers All right then Finally I want to ask you From your perspective What is the high performance mindset High performance mindset Is Something that you develop In your own way That's aligned to what's important to you And so whether it's Athletically or financially You are committed to your internal cause And I think When it comes to performance You know your ability to Repeatedly execute on that Is what's going to allow you to perform And if it's not true to yourself If it's not true to your purpose Again, whether it's in business Or financially or creating content Whatever If it's not aligned with what you actually want And you don't do it consistently You're never going to be Performative in that level

30:44So I think the mindset is Being able to do that consistently over time And if you have that Then the rest will take care of itself For us Chugan It's been a pleasure having you Thank you