The School of Greatness - 544 Performing Under Pressure with High Stakes Poker Champion Fedor Holz

Episode Date: October 2, 2017

"If you want to be great at something, put every single minute you've got into it." - Fedor Holz If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/544

This is episode number 544 with poker champion Fedor Huls. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. John Barrymore said,

you can only be as good as you dare to be bad. Ooh, we've got a good one today. It's all about performing under pressure with high stakes poker champion, champion Fedor Huls. And Fedor Huls is a German professional poker player who focuses on high roller tournaments. He's widely regarded as one of the best online and live tournament poker players in the modern era. He was ranked by Pocket Fives as best online Mtt player in 2014 and 2015 and in july 2016 he won his first world series of poker bracelet in the 111 111 dollar high roller for one drop winning 4.9 million

he is currently the sixth highest ranked live tournament player in the global poker index, and he has trained other poker players as well. Now lives in Vienna, working on a startup called Primed Mind, which is all about mindset coaching to get us into this level of peak performance so we can perform under pressure. And what we cover in today's episode are how to detach yourself from what's at stake in your life so you can perform at your best. Also, why the mindset that it has to happen now is so absurd. Also, we talk about the day that changed his entire perspective and when he was able to go all in, how he keeps himself grounded during high stakes moments when all the pressure is on you. How do you stay grounded and why Federer is actually getting out of poker at such a young age?

Very excited about this. But before we dive in, want to give a shout out to the fan and review of the week. This is over on iTunes and this is from Kate's the greats who says, I like this podcast because of the many different perspectives and personalities Lewis brings on the show. Learning from others who have been there and done that is really eyeopening. There are many paths to the same destination. You just have to find what is right for you. So Kate's the greats. Thank you so much for leaving your review over on iTunes. And now it's easier more than ever right now to leave a review.

That's right. If you have your podcast app on your phone right now, you can literally just scroll down on the School of Greatness podcast and click a button to leave a review. It's so easy now where it used to be hard. So anyone that leaves a review, take a screenshot of that on your phone and tag me and post it on your Instagram story and tag me so I can say thank you and answer any question

you have over on Instagram story. So for the first 10 people that leave a review, go and post it on your Instagram story and tag me so I can connect with you over there. I appreciate you very much for that review of the week. All right, guys, I'm pumped about this episode. So make sure to stay tuned. Share this with your friends. If you're over on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, the link is lewishouse.com slash 544. So let's dive into this. Let's learn how to perform under pressure with all the stakes in the world behind you. With the one, the only, Fedor Huls.

Welcome back, everyone, to the School of Greatness podcast. We have Fedor Huls in the house. Good to see you, man. Hey, buddy. Very excited that you're here. You are one of the top ranked live and online poker players in the world. You just won a big tournament, a high roller tournament. Was it a $50,000 buy-in? Is that right? Yes. I didn't win, but- You got top three or top four, right? Yes. Yeah. In Vegas, and you've been

competing in tournaments for how long now um so i started playing six seven years ago roughly but these tournaments uh like you just referred to probably like about two three years two three years yeah like three years in the high roller scene yeah and that's what's a high roller is that a 20 000 plus buy-in what does that include yeah roughly yeah i think you would say probably 25 25 and higher is like the high roller what's the highest buying that you've done you've played in uh 500 000 500 000 buy-in yeah how many people were in that like 20 um no actually that was a bigger one i think it was 40 40 or 50 something half a million buy-in yeah it was a big thing that's crazy yeah it is i mean it's going it's

getting bigger and bigger like i think they'll get a million again this year probably. I mean, next year. But there's going to be... This is just getting bigger and bigger. Half a million. How did you do in that tournament? Not well. You lost it all?

Yes, I did. Lost it all. Yeah. How do you feel when you essentially... Obviously, you have a little more control, but essentially you roll the dice and you hope that you land on black and win some money back. How do you feel when a half a million just is emptied from your bank account and a moment is gone? I think there's two things to mention there. The first thing is like you don't put up a half a million yourself.

So that's like in this scene, you know, like. So it's not all your money. Exactly. You know, it's kind of like you're pooling money in some way. It's like in this scene, you know, like. So it's not to all your money. Exactly. You know, it's kind of like you're pooling money in some way. It's like you're getting investors.

Exactly. So it's basically you're selling action of yourself and then other people invest in you. That's smart. Yeah,

because, I mean, it's just, you know, even if you have like a really healthy bankroll, 500K is a lot of money. It's a lot.

So how much of your own money did you put into that? Back, that was, I 2015 um back then i maybe put up like 25 or 30k that's it my own money yeah i mean that's it back at back at that time like i think i was uh putting up a little too much actually yeah um but that's before you were making all the big money yeah i mean i think i was i was it's just like as a poker player we generally like we take this where i i do i took this really serious of like bankroll management basically not you know like yes you could fire like 100k or 200k in this tournament but i wasn't you know it's not about hitting that one bank because i knew like i'm a

good winning player i just steadily yeah you know, if it's this, if it's not this one, then it's the next one. Of course. How does it feel when it's someone else's money compared to your money? Is there a different type of pressure or at-stakeness? Or are you kind of like, if I lose it, whatever, you know? I think that's why it's really important

to have very professional investors. Like the people that buy my action, they're like... They're not emotionally attached probably. So they're not like, you gotta get my money back. Exactly. And that's really the thing.

It's generally like the thing I experienced is that's what poker players are really, really good at. Is like detach themselves from the money loss or like the emotion. Like it's just, you know, you buy in and it's not money anymore it's not like 50k 500k is like one buy-in right so i i put in one buy-in whether it's five dollars or 500 doesn't matter doesn't matter because i play one tournament and if i win it i win you know

20 times my buy-in and that's that's it you know it doesn't so like you should play you should play the same and then that's the thing where people't – so like you should play the same. And then that's the thing where people play completely different because, oh, it's like a U-turn. It's bigger. But you shouldn't. And I think that's where you can really see the difference between very professional players. Do you think people should play the same in their life no matter what the stakes are? Whether it be you're a speaker and you're speaking in front of five people as opposed to 50,000 people.

Is it possible to play the same in that regard too? Or a business meeting in front of, you know, pitching something to your team versus pitching something to try to bring in business. I mean, what changes, right? Stakes? Yeah, but the thing, like, what changes from your perspective? You have the same story to tell, right?

Why should you put less effort into convincing your teammates? It's as important. You're spending the time, so give your best. So I think that's the kind of idea is when you decide to do it, do it properly. Yeah, no matter what. When you decide to do it, do it properly. Yeah. No matter what.

When did you start to train your mind to disconnect from the emotion of the money or of the stakes or of the size? When did that start to come in? I think… Or did you always have it? No. I think that's also something like with all these things, it's never like you have it or you don't. something like that with all these things it's never like you have it or you don't and and even right now you know just because i've like over really like hundreds of hours because in the beginning i was you know maybe i was a little better than average but it's not like you know oh i'm this zen guy like nothing can phase me it's more like i i had these moments too you know there were moments where i

was just like i just lost 20 days in a row and i lost like 50 of my bankroll i'm like god like obviously in the beginning you don't you know days in a row you lost yeah it's just like that's a very very normal thing you play too high stakes you like you get tilted like that's a that's a huge thing you're like oh like i can beat this guy like and things and then i mean i went broke like a couple of times in the beginning you know you have a thousand bucks or five thousand bucks and it's like you spin it up and then you you break again because you're not such a great player yeah and you think you can compete on higher levels than you actually can and then that's um i think that's the point where you realize oh like you actually you have to be disciplined you have to really like know where you're at.

You have to know how good you are. You have to know how good the other players are. And I think that's what you've been referring to is really this step. There's never enough of, you know, this is like an endless process. Right now, there is probably a lot less things that, you know, really get me tilted

or like, I'm like, oh, this really sucks. But there's still things. So, like, I'm constantly and I actually created this routine around it. So, it was like, okay, when I grinded a lot online and back then I was really playing, you know, all the time. Like 10 hours a day online or? When I played, probably like that. Yeah, like 10 hours a day. And then I really feel like I spend time with poker 80 hours a week probably. Like talking.

Dreaming. Yeah, yeah. Everything about it. Minimum. You know, that's the thing. Like when I slept, like my roommates told me I was talking about hints, you know. All in, all in. Yeah, yeah.

Basically. Oh, my God. Where am I? Where am I? What happened? about hands you know and uh all in all in yeah yeah basically oh my god where am i where am i what happened and then you know it's and also just setting changes like this right like you attract the people that are have a similar mindset and i think that's also where i've like generally where i'm good at is like attracting people because i'm like i'm i'm curious about you know what do you have to say do you have you know what's your opinion how can you so i built this network of like interested people in poker and then the whole topic is always poker you know and it's kind of weird looking back at it now because it's like you didn't do much else than like you know and then i like traveling and like i like sports

but it was more like when you know when you were in this that's that's all that matters obsessed yeah yeah uh and what got you into poker in the first place what was the curious moment But it was more like when you were in this, that's all that mattered. You guys were obsessed. Yeah. And what got you into poker in the first place? What was the curious moment? I think in the beginning it was just – Because you were what, like 16 or 17 when you started? Yeah. So 16, 17, yeah, about that.

And in the beginning it was just a home game with my friends. And in school all my friends were like two, three years older than me. And so we started this game and they're like i was losing cost i was constantly losing money i was like two years two years you know yeah and so okay this is enough like and so two of my friends two of my really close friends they made money with it so they were playing online they were like 19 or 20 21 making a few thousand dollars a month or something exactly and i was like you know back then it was like your student is like your baller you know you're like oh laptop here's like drinks on me and it's like oh wow this is pretty awesome so i was like i started playing with them and um i would actually

say i wasn't a good player in the beginning like from most of the things like i was generally i would say i'm smart about games but like the whole package around it of like the discipline and really like taking it serious and grinding it out they were way better at that they were like you know reliable kind of and i was more like they're consistent exactly i wasn't a consistent person at that time actually and then life you mean in general yes very general it was more like there was one thing that really hooked me and i'd like dove super deep into it and then at some point i was just like okay yeah like something else some shiny exactly yeah were you a gamer before like yeah

video games card games board games yes everything that challenged my mind i always loved it like played a lot of video games played chess um yeah i played tons of games everything that was like oh like i want to yes okay cool and when did you start to see like oh actually i'm not that bad um i think that started about when i turned 18 18 so i was like yeah like one, two years later, I was like, okay, I got in touch with the community. You started being in forums and chatting. Skype was the thing back then.

So you're chatting with all these people. Reading a lot of books as well or just poker? Actually, I've read half of a book about poker. And that's the thing in poker. I think the game progresses so fast. Everything changes. It's like a book about poker. It's like, and that's the thing in poker, I think the game progresses so fast. Everything changes. It's like a book.

There's a couple books right now, I'd say maybe two, three books that have really good fundamentals, but way better to talk to people because then you get like that. And play and experience it and get feedback right away, right? Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. So you started to realize when you're 18 that it started to work a little bit. Were you just making a little money or was it mostly online then or was it i mean all your friends were broke because you were taking all their money no no actually not at all i was still i would still say i was pretty on the lower end at that point i was like had it having some success but still like having these kind of like outbursts were like uh you know like why am i doing what am i doing this for because at that time i finished school was 17 and then uh started studying and

played at the same time kind of and i was like studying university yes university and so it was like in school i wasn't uh let's say i wasn't the best student uh like really skipping a lot of classes and sleeping and all that stuff. And somehow because teachers like me kind of like got through it. Sure. And then started studying and all my family was like, you know, you got to kind of start taking things serious now. I was like, okay, like this is what I'm going to do now. And actually I was really like, okay, I'm going to force myself now.

I'm going to do this. And so it's kind of like, what did I i study i think you call it like computer science and god it was like a drain like after four months i was like i couldn't you know nothing worked anymore i was doing this for like 50 60 hours a week it was really very competitive very hard uh study actually and then i was just like i got ill for one week and i was just okay i cannot do this anymore it's like no you know no socializing not much socializing i was just like oh weekends you gotta you know work or like learn some and and uh i just felt like you know i was mediocre i was somehow past, was maybe like the top 10% or something.

And I worked so hard. I was like, okay, I just cannot do this. If I put so much time into something and I'm not excited about it and growing, yeah. So you decided then to go, I'm going to try this poker thing and see what happens? To be honest, I think it was desperation. It was really, it was not like oh

you know now i have this other great option it was more like oh i actually have no real option i have to figure this out no matter what it was like yeah you know this was the other thing i was kind of doing all the time it was like okay you know just i would say it was more like the next best thing to spend my time on and then then I was like, okay, but at least, you know, now I got to take this series. And that's when I started, I was like, okay, this is how I do it now. I start from here and I do it like solid.

And it did not work out well in the first year. Really? But the thing that worked out well was like my reputation in the community. Like a lot of people were like, oh, you know, this guy is smart. Like you talk smart about it. But like still the way I played very inconsistent still and that's the emotion

emotional part like you've got emotional around things still yeah it's just like you have this absurd expectation you know you just you gotta be winning right now you know if it doesn't happen in like the next five months you're like that's i feel like how our generation kind of things are like how i thought at that time too and i still do in a lot of situations is like oh it has to happen now you know if it doesn't happen in the next three months so like how you know like it's not gonna work exactly and it's like instead of just being like slowly seeing the progress setting goals being okay, this is where I want to go and changing my surrounding to get to that goal. And I think that was the thing that I realized at some point is like, okay, I have to get out of this. Like there's so many bad influences around me where I'm being distracted. Everyone's telling me like, Hey, you're a failure. Like go back to

uni, university, go study, do something real. Yeah. And I was like, okay. And then I set this deadline, 1st January, I'll quit everything. I left my stuff behind. I was like, okay, like I want to make, you know, at least 5K till that point, whatever it takes, so I can like book a flight, no return, and just like see where it takes me. Right, right. So you made a goal.

Was that within like a month or a couple months to make 5k um it was i think i started and there were two things that happened actually and that was like i have this day it was like such a weird day it was like june or july approximately and i've been i don't know i've been watching like yeah may may june something like that and i've been watching a lot or reading a lot about people that just like do running and marathons and like extreme sports and my dad does it as well it's like just it's like i need some kind of challenge and i was just like i looked at it and i read something and i watched the video and i was just like okay you know like if i because i've never been a person

that just does things i was just like oh idea. I've been a dreamer. It's like, oh, what a great idea. We could do it like this, and then you don't do it. Sure, sure. You never executed and stuck with it. Yeah. Yeah. And I felt like that was happening in poker too.

And the reason why I stuck with it was because there was – I was in a pretty bad spot, like no money. I mean, my family is kind of poor, like, so, like, we'd never had much money, and then, like, I basically had, like, a couple hundred euros to live with, like, a month, and so, it was this place where I was, like, okay, you know, I have to, then I realized at some point, it just clicked, and I was, like, okay, like, I have to change something drastically, and I sat there, and I was, like, okay, you know, I have to, then I realized at some point it just clicked. And I was like, okay, like I have to change something drastically. And I sat there and I was like, okay, let's just, let's just go. And I walked out in the stuff I had on and I just ran for like an hour.

And then I came back and then I did this almost every, like literally like six times a week, probably every day running. Yes. And it just went. And the only thing i had was i had to be faster than the day before so to really feel this like you know i'm progressing i'm actually getting somewhere i'm getting better and i think this kind of gave me this okay and i was like okay i cleared my mind in some way and i actually don't enjoy running which is really weird like enough today there's like no way you could get me to run it's just like oh why am i doing this but back then it was really this this thing of getting better at something and i actually improved my time like a lot and i was like okay i'm gonna train for a marathon and then i broke my ankle three weeks before but and then i never did it but um yeah

that was the point where i really felt like something was turning and then i've got some success i made more than 5k uh in that year and then i i went on the trip right you went on the trip i did yeah okay what's the biggest obstacle you've ever had to overcome um that's a good question i mean it's really there's nothing that really pops to mind i think it's it's been generally more like stretches rather than like okay there's just one thing that i just you know can actually the one thing that immediately pops to my mind is bungee jumping because i have i'm super afraid of like not heights necessarily but more like the idea of falling or jumping off somewhere and that was the first thing i was like i just get this feeling right now like the goosebumps and everything um that took me yeah that took me a lot of energy,

but, um, besides that, I think there was one moment in, or there've been a couple of moments. There's just these moments where you just feel like everything is, I, I don't know how,

like if you had this, um, where I was just like, what, you know, why am I doing this? I was really like for, for a week or two, I was like, why am I doing this? I was really like for a week or two, I was like, why am I here?

Why am I doing what I'm doing? This has been probably the biggest obstacles. I was literally questioning every single thing I was doing and I just like, I didn't know anymore. Like what am I doing from like forward and like what have I been doing all that time? Yeah. I think lack of vision is one of the scariest places to be.

If we don't know why we're doing what we're doing or where we're heading, then we're just kind of lost in our mind and so many things can come up for us. Yeah. It's just, it's mainly because I'm pretty aware of being very, like, always looking for growth. It's just like, I love, you know, these conversations. I love meeting new people. That's why I'm, like, push myself all the time. It's like I travel too much and, like, meet new people. And, like, I never turn down a meeting.

I'm like, come by and we meet here and we do that. And then that also has some downsides where just have to take some more time but it's um it's this question of like when does it end you know what what what are you doing it for you know like yes you grow but like what is the actual thing that comes out of it and it's this that's i think the contribution part where like when is the time where you really feel like you're giving something back it's this that's i think the contribution part where like when is the time where you really feel like you're giving something back and i think that's the part where that i question a lot is like you push that back you know it's like oh you know i'm gonna you know

i'm gonna grow and i give back a little bit here and there it's like i you know i i talk to people as well but then is it why why am i not doing it you know like all the time or way more because that's you know because that other thing feels selfish and that might actually have some positive impact yeah do you feel like you're contributing back to the best of your abilities no i don't think so what could you be doing to give back more um that is i think that is the. Like, it feels like I could be doing more. I, but I also feel like there is, it has to be in the right, it has to be in the right way for it to be. Because I also think I just didn't find the right way yet. I just didn't find

something where I can combine both things so that I can keep doing it for a longer time it's more like okay I could you know I could do something now for like a month or two or some time but I never found a spot was like okay this is and maybe I'm I don't know maybe I'm you know just not pushing myself hard enough maybe i should push myself more into these situations of really like spending time with people um and yeah i think that's a good question something to think about um when so much is at stake how do you keep yourself grounded i i think it's the way I set up my brain it's really like the way I think about decisions and feelings

is very I spend a lot of time on this I think this is probably the thing I spend the most time on in that regard is really dissecting what are the different what are the different parts of a decision and what are the different parts of a decision and what are the different parts of that outcome and what makes me feel that way and why did it happen like that.

So walk me through the process. So you're referring to, for example, now, right, like losing money or like losing a lot of money. And it's then I'm'm i think that the big issue people have with this is when it didn't make a conscious decision you know when it's like oh you know you you basically make a decision based on 80 this kind of emotional like outburst is like okay you know let's gamble or let's do this and then you're like oh later the rationality kicks in and then it's like they they now have a different decision making process basically and they're like oh why did i do this and i think having this same process in

basically like very consistent in all different areas and then being able to reflect on it so it's like why did i make that decision right like why did i make that decision to put up that amount of money do i feel good with that decision right so now it's like okay i put up 50k 100k for a tournament and now i feel bad afterwards about losing it yeah and we're like okay why is that right why do i feel bad because i made that decision do i think that was a good decision if i think it was a good decision then i shouldn't feel bad right because the outcome doesn't matter it's just basically this we feel bad if we if we lose and we feel good if we win whereas the only thing that should matter is do you feel good about the

decision right because that's how it's going to be with everything it's not like you're never going to make decisions where it's going to be 100 right you know i'm not if if that's how you want to make decisions you're doing something wrong you know and that's that's risk it's just you every decision you take has some risk of downside yeah even if it's one of the best decisions you made it might turn into something bad because you just cannot see all the parts of it. Yeah. I see when, you know, I've had Maria Sharapova on a few times. She's one of the best tennis players in the world. And I see when she plays at the end of a point,

whether she scores or she loses the point, she kind of does the same motion. It's like reconnecting herself. She doesn't like celebrate in a big way and she doesn't get down on herself no matter what. It's kind of consistent. And I think a lot of the greatest tennis players do this. They're very consistent in their reaction towards the decisions or the actions that

they made. Do you think about that as well? When you go all in on something and then you lose, are you more of a, what was I thinking? Or is it all neutral for you? Your responses are just, oh, I won a lot of money, neutral. I lost it all, neutral. And do you think that's how people should be living their lives? I mean, that's a very complex question, I think, and maybe two questions, but that's

also a reason why I'm getting out of poker. Because I think it makes you, it just develops you into a certain direction of exactly this. Everything is neutral. Whereas like I feel like – Because if you're a roller coaster, it's very hard to manage. It's not possible. Yeah. And I think that's also one of the biggest strengths of very good players is that they're just super consistent.

No matter what. Win, maybe a little smirk. Lose. Very different from player to player. But I think that was mainly because I spend so much time on it. It's really like this, you shouldn't be too happy when you win, which is such a weird thing, right? Don't be happy.

Don't be sad. Be a robot, basically. But this is what it leads to. which is such a weird thing right like don't be happy because you can don't be sad you know be a robot basically yeah but but this is what it leads to is like everything is just neutral you know whatever and then then you actually realize you know when everything is neutral poker is not really you know such a cool thing anymore because the thing that you're going long hours it's a lot of long days yeah so it's like the thing then it gets like minimized to is financial interest and some kind of mental competition right and then i was like okay if you know if everything else goes away if it's not about you know that thrill of like losing money winning money is like

that excitement yeah um that that was just all irrational you know it's all this kind of thing that we're we're looking for we're just chasing you know it's just like we all want this you know and when you train hundreds of hours of like getting rid of this by like this routine you know injecting logic is like you don't you know this doesn't make sense this is how i want it to be worst players have to win because that's what brings money into the game focus on making good decisions then you realize oh actually that game you know is loses a lot of its magic. Yeah. Yeah. What would you say are the key elements of some of the top players in the world?

What do they have? And what have they removed? I think there's, that's the thing. That's what I actually like about poker a lot. I think it's a really good training camp because it trains so many different areas. It's not only playing a card game you know

that's why i think it is very different to something like chess because there's you miss out on all these other aspects around it like in poker it's a lot about networking it's a lot about um a lot more about money management which is like and there's very few areas that are like this and you have to run your own business you know like there's no one that really takes care of you there's no like you do you you know you're your own kind of entity and there's a lot of money involved in like a wild wide west like wild west kind of like setting you know there's no contracts there's like nobody you know like people like there's a lot of stuff going on in the scene so i think um that's that's teaching you a lot of things in like a street you know street smart kind of way like You just see very quickly what people's intentions are. You see what they want.

It's like that's what you do all day. Nothing but like what is he trying to get from me. Of course. And how do you coach yourself when you lose? How do you train yourself to be able to come back and kind of have a short-term memory i guess so you can come back and focus on being confident and having a powerful mindset in the next hand or next tournament i again i think it's um it's all about like what kind of decision you made and not about the outcome

so again it's like am i happy with my decision then it doesn't matter what if you're not happy with the decision that's that's the issue is like then you're like okay that's actually the thing the thing now that becomes more complicated is like but then that that process is a little longer it's like okay i'm i'm generally a person i don't like to make mistakes twice right so i'm like i want to because I think that we made so many experiences in our life, if we would utilize them by actually extracting the value, and I think we intentionally forget a lot of things, we unconsciously forget a lot of things,

and there's so many things we've done already, we know already. And we make these mistakes sometimes, we make them five, five six seven times without even realizing oh this is this is actually something i can easily change and so in this case it's also okay like i made a i made something that makes me feel bad i did something and like why is that right like why do i feel bad about and so i'm like just going on this this uh research now is like what would happen right so basically going to the lab it's like checking out like what would happen, right? So basically going to the lab, it's like checking out like what's the best play,

talk to other players and then fix this and set that frame right so I will not make the same mistake again. Yeah, yeah. Do you think anyone can perform at the highest level at their craft? perform at the highest level at their craft um or does it only work for certain types of people i think like i think we're all very at the beginning and that's why i think everyone can relatively speaking um absolutely i think yeah there's some people that are better than others

and some that are like have it easier than others but i think relatively everyone can be excelling at this because i think very few people invest a lot of time in it how do we train our minds to be able to perform at high levels i think visualization is extremely important um generally i believe that having this i think it's like a it's a process that happens in your mind is you do something and you connect a habit with it so whenever you do something that you want to train you're like okay now i have this process that i pre preset that happens right after so it's like i have a habit that i don't like so i put this process right after so it's like i have a habit that i don't like so i put this process right after so it's like oh i was tilting a lot right so whenever a certain situation happened a bad player won against me i was like oh this made me angry right so this i don't want this emotion

there so i decided for myself i don't want this there so how did you get rid of it exactly and that's the thing like it's not it doesn't happen overnight right so but every single time it happens i'm like okay i write it down right so it's like every time i feel the feeling i write it down and then i write down why it shouldn't be there so i was like i shouldn't feel bad about this because that's the exact reason why i make money that's the only reason why this game even exists is the luck factor right and so actually that turns now if you do this 150 times now it turns into you smiling because you're like you realize oh wow this is actually this is awesome you know because without that like there would be nothing yeah and you've done that to other players where you're like got something

and exactly like right so then there's a lot of things like i did a lot of different things as Yeah. And you've done that to other players where you got something. Exactly. You're like, oh, awesome. Then there's a lot of things. I did a lot of different things. For example, every single time I do the same thing to someone else, I write it down too. I think generally focusing on positivity is also so, so awesome to turn around these things. Yeah.

Just in general, broaden perspective and switch where I feel like you have this really stuck perspective just try to find a different angle um but all the things that made me feel bad so that that's my approach gotcha what do you think about most of your time um that's a good question and very hard like i can say broadly is more like um i i feel like i'm uh i like to play puzzles i think this is generally how it like kind of directing things like i'm never the person that is really like hands-on like executing like making it perfect it's more like i just lean back and i'm like i you know like put the pieces together the right people um

i think i'm very good at grasping 80 90 of something and not good at the last five, 10%. But that's why it has to be big because then a lot of 80% of a lot of different things, that's where, you know, the skill comes in. Because most of the people are, you know, like a lot of people are like 95 at something and then they're like not so

good at seeing other things and like connecting the different areas. So the bigger the project is or the bigger the challenges. And that's also, I think why poker is a great area is because I wasn't i'm actually not like you know i i think the game itself i wouldn't be like a world-class player i'd be good but i wouldn't be you know the top top but it's more the combination of everything of like connecting the right people like i had outstanding people around me they all we literally started all on the bottom six of us all playing like probably top 30 in the world right now so it's like yeah that and i think you know that's where i can soak up information yeah

wow and what do you dream about a lot? That's a funny background story. I was dreaming a lot when I was a child. Very, very vividly. I had a couple lucid dreams as well, which I only figured out afterwards because I had, I don't know exactly how do you call it but i woke up once in the lucid dream so it's like you wake up but you can't move um and i've like my mom brought

me to the hospital like they came they came over and like then that's you woke up in the dream but you felt paralyzed yes because your body still sleeps when your eyes were open or your eyes were shut my eyes were open and i could i could like this. I have had that multiple times where my eyes were shut but I was awake but I was paralyzed. I felt like I was screaming and nothing was coming out.

I've done this a few times and then somehow I screamed so much in my lucid dream that I wake my body up and then I finally let it out. But I feel like it takes forever. It's crazy, man. The thing is I cannot remember the feeling.

It's more like this. It's like as if I watched myself. It's scary. It's like paralysis, I almost feel like. My mom freaked out. It was literally like you cannot do anything. You just see someone freaking out completely. It's like, no. Wow freaking out wow dude yeah i didn't know other people had that i've never shared that because i'm always like what is this you know i don't know it only happens once in a while but yeah i and now and that's

that's the part is like i had this and then like i've been bullied in school and it was like i had a really bad time around that time because i i skipped a class and I was like maybe 11 or 12 and everyone was like 14. And that's like a gap where I feel like, you know, just two different interests. Yeah. And, um,

did you skip classes or something? Or did you skip grades or, um, yeah. Oh yeah. I skipped, I skipped one grade and I got into school one. I like,

I think one year early. Got it. So you were 11 11 12 and they were 14 13 yes so and i think that was a gap you know i was also physically a little weaker and then it was like just the thing of i think just you know not when you're the one and i think that was the turning point actually why i was like okay i cannot be smart anymore you know you just don't want to say things anymore because like you just um so yeah at that time and that's why when these turned into nightmares and that was like i've and that's also where the fear of falling comes from because i i've like had a lot of these dreams where i was falling like it was

always the same it was chasing what like and that's the crazy part about it is like um now retrospectively now that i had normal like normal dreams i could change the world like i could literally like i could always change the setting i could change different things but it was always a chase there was always something running behind me basically like whether it's people or animals or whatever and uh then the last part was always falling somewhere like off a cliff or house whatever and when i when i crashed on the floor i wake up yeah and i had this feeling and like and that like that feeling of hitting the ground and it's just like you know it just goes through your body and you're like straight awake and um that was over like weeks and weeks and i like cried myself to sleep

i was like couldn't sleep without light anymore i was like i didn't want to go to sleep anymore and um then at some point i felt like my body reacted to this where it was like i just didn't dream anymore it was like this one point my comp like everything changed I was like I fell asleep in like 10 seconds and I slept for nine hours like a rock you couldn't wake me up I did not dream I did not move I um just you know slept nine hours and then I woke up and I was like always like tired really really tired after I woke up too and i felt like something just you know changed in my like it just blocked it out so that was that was an that was an interesting phase and that's also where i was my performance really went down it was like i couldn't

yeah no you know no like this no passion about things anymore i was not like as a child i was really like excited about everything and like very quick at learning things and then it was just like no i don't want to do anything anymore how connected to uh achieving results is visualization and dreaming then since you weren't dreaming in those moments or being able to visualize in your sleep do you feel like that was i think it's a huge part. Really? I mean, just now that I can feel that it's getting back, it's coming back, like I sleep better and I'm actually having sometimes have dreams again

and it's like because I also think about this a lot and I try to figure out what happened. Do you feel like you're running towards something or running away from something? I think both. I think I'm not at the point where I can say it's only running towards something. I think it's running towards some things and running away from some things. What are you running away from? Um,

I think the main thing is probably how people perceive me. Like, I think that's, and there's different, that's both. Like it's, some things I tackle and some other things I don't. And I think it's,

it's, these two things where it's like one is respect and one is fame. Whereas I feel like I like now get better at not like I don't care too much about fame. You know, I'm not like it's not like I need people like taking pictures with me or things like this. But I care a lot about people respecting me. why that's that's the big question right and i think that has a lot to do with um just this the social setting you know i've always been in and like my my whole life how i grew up like all the experiences i made basically all that condensed into like super high expectations through like you know just being a smart kid and everyone you know my whole family is and and the worst thing i ever did was taking

iq like that was literally that moment that happened for me as a child you know i was just like another day basically and i had to take one because of the new school and then everyone was like oh my god you know like he has to do this and expectations just went like through the roof and i was like how'd you score on your um i think i did two or three and it was like somewhere i'm not 100 actually anymore i think somewhere 145 a little like a little under 150 something like this and it was just like you know then they have this like oh you're you're blah smart and and it was suddenly um and i actually think i was just very good at the like the games the puzzle the test yes the test is not it's not like asking too many different it was all kind of the same thing it was like this is not really such a broad spectrum it was like

all very kind of logic games rather than anything else it was like okay this is i'm such a broad spectrum. It was like all very kind of logic games rather than anything else. It was like, okay, this is what I'm good at, but I'm not good at a lot of other things. So I don't know about that. And then it was like from that point on, there was no winning anymore. So that's why I was like, okay, you know, whatever you do,

like you can be really good. It's like, oh yeah, expected. You're like, you know, you're not so good. It's like, what are you doing? You know, like, and then I was just, okay, at some point it's pointless. And I think that's where this comes from. It's like, I put this to myself too.

I was like, you know, whatever I do, it's like, you have to be better. There's no, and I think that's where the growth part comes into. It's like both good and bad, right? Like I do it for for sometimes for the wrong reasons what if uh the people you want to respect you never do i don't know i think i think it's a learning process i think i'm getting better at it's more i think it's mainly

what i need is to spend time with myself is It's really figuring out why do I need that, right? Because in the end, you know, it's you and yourself. Because everything you project, like everything's like, oh, how do others perceive me is only something that happens in your mind. So if they don't respect me, you know, like what for? Why not? What do I, you know, like If I can respect my... It's all just information that you can process

and make something out of it. Yeah. Walk me through a hand. A hand? Walk me through a hand. When you get two cards sent your way, what's the process like for you in that moment? Do you have a routine?

Do you have the same thing you do every time? What do you think about? Are you assessing the room? Are you listening to other people around you? Are you looking in their eyes? Are you looking down? What's the process? Okay, let me try to break it down

because I've been thinking about this recently. And I gave coaching, so I had to break it down before. i've i've been thinking about this recently and i gave coaching so like i had to break it down before so in a general way it's like i get two cards right so the first thing i think about is two cards okay just not two jokers though it's kind of sticky two cards here we go okay you're two cards then what so the first thing is like the setting of the game right like this this i know at this point is like who am i playing with right like how many players are we what kind of game are we yes right so most of the time it's

going to be some tournament setting there's going to be blinds in the game right so it's like a small blind and a big blind and i get two cards it's like okay what position am i in right so let's say we're six players and now there's a big there like a lot of things happen that aren't really conscious decisions anymore it's just like that happens like like this right So now there's six players and I'm thinking, okay, like I'm first to act, for example, right? So I know, okay, roughly first to act, I would probably play about 18% of my hands, or like between 15 and 22,

depending on like what the blinds are, how many in, like how much is in the pot, basically. If you're first to act, you'll play about 20 about 20 so roughly right like it yeah something like this and then um now there's basically you have this baseline right like that's roughly and then you there's all these different informations that come in with every decision right so it's like okay what players are on the table right are they more aggressive or are they more passive so that's right so i have this baseline now and it's like more aggressive i play a little tighter so i open less hands if they're more passive i play more hands like the more passive there are the more hands i play right you might be 25 30 percent

yeah exactly so every information the weight of that information is changing the way I play. And the more confident I am in that information, the more I will adjust my play. So that's the two things now what I'm talking about is one is the basic strategy and the other thing is adaptation. Which is basically reads and information about how players play.

Right. And so then also a lot of other things like um the tournament setting for example right are we six players left and there's like what are the payouts and so on right are we 200 players left so that also changes the situation but now then i'm like okay i have this baseline in my head and I'm like, okay, I look down at my hand. Like, okay, a nice hand.

So it's in this range. Yes. And then I open raise this hand. What if it's not a nice hand? Then I fold. Fold it. Yeah. Right?

So that's the two things. It's a nice hand. If it's in that range, and that's the thing where it's like that inconsistency, right? So there's going to be players

that, two things. One thing is they don't know the basic strategy well enough. And the other thing is they don't adapt well, right? These are the two main things where you can go wrong. It's like, for example, they think you should be open raising 10% or they think you should be open raising 30% and then like they make mistakes straight away.

And if they adjust based on that, then they make an even bigger mistake. Yeah. And they try to make up for it. Yeah. Basically.

So this is what happens. And then like basically this process happens over and over again on every single decision. So it's like next, you know, someone calls me,

for example, and then, so let's say the big blind. So it's like fold, fold, fold, fold, fold,

and the big blind calls. So it's like fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, and the big blind calls. So it's heads up, right? So two players in a pot. So you have two cards now. Yes. Right? A couple of aces. So.

Here we go. Two cards. These are like sticky for some reason. And. Yep. So. Yeah. So now you get two cards and then you call for example and there comes a board like three cards right so now it's again right you you will do something then i think about what do i want to do now that i have these let's say 20 of hands left right yeah now that i have these 20 of hands left how do i want to play these right

how much of these 20 do i want to check how much do i want to bet and then that's my basic strategy again and then i i look at you i'm like do i know anything about this guy and like you don't know anything about him or her if i don't know anything about it or her? If I don't know anything about it, I stick to my basic strategy. Got it. But there's always something, you know. Like this is the awesome part about it is non-information is also information, right? And there's so much information. If I don't know you, that means you can't be good.

Hmm. Right. Because you study the game, you study who's winning. Because I know everyone that is good. Who's on the top 100 list. Yeah. yeah exactly so it's like it is extremely unlikely just given by that i like it's kind of the counter equity you know of like a probability is like if i know the top 500 players in the world it's very very very unlikely that you're a very good player. So now that's the first thing, right? The next thing is I look at you and I'm like, okay, what kind of country are you from?

What kind of population are you going to be like? What age range are you? What's your background? What's the value of materialistic? What kind of watch do you wear? Things like this. who did you talk to before, how do you look at your cards, is it more professional

like have you played before, can I see that you actually know what you're doing, how do you stack your chips, it's all these little things that add up to like on a scale of like non-professional to professional I can guess, you know, it's the same way you can guess oh you're 28, you know or 33, it's like you way you can guess, oh, you're 28, you know, or 33.

It's like you just because you have, why can you say that is because you look at eyes, eyebrows, mouth, nose, face, wrinkles, and so on, right? So it's the same thing. I can guess, oh, like you've seen a lot of people that are 30, 31, 32 before and you match. Right. So I've seen hundreds, thousands of people, you know, play poker. So I've seen hundreds, thousands of people, you know, play poker and I've seen so many different ways of playing

so I match. It's like, where does he match? And so then I'm like, oh, he's probably an amateur. So how do I play against an amateur? I'm probably more likely to bet.

Right. And then based on the next few cards, you assess where you're at exactly so that's that's basically that's always the in my head that's always the decision making i have like a visualization of my basic strategy so i have right when i think about the 20 i have like a visualization of it it's not like i think oh like i write down 20 in in my head. It's more like a square and then I take like 20% square of that.

Sure, sure. And then that's that left and so on. Do you like to look people in the eyes when you're competing against them? Most of the time, yeah. I think tells is a pretty big thing in poker. Tells, yeah. There's so, again, so many little nuances.

Like I make a lot of decisions there's a lot of very close decisions and I think that I can gain an edge by trusting my instinct

because people are generally not good at deceiving it's just humans humans in general are not good at deceiving do you feel like you are?

or how do you misdirect your competition? I also, like, I'm on the lookout for it. But there's two things. First of all, people don't look too much at me. I think that's the first thing. They don't look at you. They look down or like, yeah. Yeah, because I think a lot of people feel like

they don't, like, they rather try to not give something away rather than to look at me, which is also a reason why I look at them because it, it gives me this, like I can be more free, you know, like I don't have to look too much at what I do if I know they don't look. Yeah. What's,

what's, um, what's the big tell of someone else when you, okay, let me go through the list there's tons of stuff how do you know when someone

because sometimes they can be like swallowing their throat because they've got a big hand or like how do you know it's and again it's all

I call it I call it like I think it's it's dumb to say this is this right

right like it's generally it's the same it's never like this in life you know it's it's dumb to say this is this right right like it's it's generally it's the same it's never like this in life you know it's never like oh when he looks at you like this that is always this right because fear and excitement is the same emotion so it's kind of like you know that there's certain people like yes most people look like this right when when it's most people that cry probably cry because they're like they're um because you know like it's most likely someone died it's mostly you know but it's not always like this could also be because of joy right right right but it's less likely people cry way more often because of sad things than because of happy things right doesn't mean that it's always sad so i would say yes if you give me one-to-one on it being sad i take it you know so it's like this this kind of thing where it's just

probabilistics and then the the thing how i go about it is how confident am i and the more confident i am the more i adjust so for example if i play against an amateur i'm way more confident in my reads and i adjust heavily like i do really crazy things because i'm just like i don't care what hand i have because i know you know what you're playing the yeah yeah so the more confident i am the more like i just completely go away from my basic stress that more the adaptation happens so it's like when an amateur is like let me go through the list so it's like throat is really big like gulping um generally one big thing is also force looking like if you if people are fixing one point like amateurs specifically because they don't want to look and give anything away it's just like the harder they try to not give anything away more likely it is they don't want to look and give anything away so it's like the harder they try to not give anything away more likely it is they don't have like they're bluffing gotcha

because it's really like they're like this okay it's just it's actually uh biologically as well it's like this kind of dead like playing dead um so if you're more relaxed and you're looking around and you're comfortable looking someone in the eyes yes you might yes more likely to have something drinking is probably one of the strongest

really if people drink like they they have it a lot of times yeah they have it yeah yeah

because it's just one of the most relaxed things you can do oh yeah yeah yeah you know it's just yeah so you take a drink

like every hand you're like it's a good strategy yeah right you never know if you're buffing a lot yeah then what else is there

like generally yeah pulse is a huge thing like pulse is crazy pulse pulse yeah like you can see the pulse

oh yeah you can like and that's the thing where it's like I do that a lot in like tournaments where there's no time restrictions so you can wait a long And that's the thing where it's, like, I do that a lot in, like, tournaments where there's no time restrictions so you can wait a long time.

Like, on the river, mostly in big decisions. So not in, like, small, but, like, in big decisions. I put them in an uncomfortable situation by, like, staring at them or making it really obvious, like, that I have, like, playing with chips and, like, or seeing something, like, oh, I have a really good hand or

something and seeing and then the thing i just wait because mostly people relax slightly when they know that they cannot lose when they got something they're like yeah because you know like whatever you have your pulse is just naturally decreasing you're excited like that's the thing as you said before like fear and excitement are really similar in the beginning but they don't stay the same yeah because fear is long like stays longer than excitement and so the pulse is generally staying up well like staying high yeah when they bluffing and then it goes like it relaxes someone so you can see muscle tension right so when they're like tense and then when they loosen up you can okay like this is also

something so um hands is a big thing i a lot of players have something with their hands is like no actually the the um sweat sweat on fingers nose as well um but also like the color of the hands that's like a thing that i've seen with a lot of players is like really um and then timing like here especially here a lot of people that have thin thin uh skin yeah you can see that they get like a little like red or something or what really yeah like Yeah, like these... Patches or something. Yeah. Interesting. Very, very slightly.

But I've seen that a lot of times. And they don't have it then? Usually. It's more... That doesn't necessarily mean that they don't have it. It just means something. Something, yeah.

And that happens like... It's just good to know that something's going to happen. Yeah. You know, it really means that they are not interested. So some kind of kind of interest yes so you can adjust already based on that yeah and then uh yeah i think i mentioned i mentioned a couple of things yeah it's great

yeah what would you say is the a couple questions left for you what would you say did i win the hand you did you made a flush no flush, no? I had an ace. Yeah, yeah. What would you say is, what has poker taught you about relationships? That's a good question. I think the one thing I learned that, or the one thing at least that I took out for myself is, I want mutually beneficial relationships. Because I think that's the only way for it to be like long-lasting relationships

and i'm way more i'm really focusing now on what does it give me what can i give and it taught me that i don't want to be too forced. Like, you know, we're friends for five years. Like, you know, now we have to, like, the sixth year has to be as good as, and it's just like, be free with people. Like, you know, things just change. And you shared the same, you know, 95% of the same interests, and now you don't. Yeah.

And that's okay. Yeah. I think that's a big thing. you don't yeah and that's okay yeah i think that's a big thing and then another thing is i don't want to be involved too heavily in business with friends really it's just there's like i have a lot of i have a couple of really really good friends in poker and there's always this like we will never cross that line of 95 because there's always this, like, we will never cross that line of 95% because there's always, like, competition and business involved. You know, we, like, we deal with money, like, we deal with money with each other. And we sometimes have to negotiate, basically.

I just don't want it. Yeah. It's, like, I rather would be, like, no, you know, I'm, like, we don't do this. Like, yes, it would make us both money but i prefer to yeah of course and that's that's a tough thing in that in that regard but yeah this i'm happy i'm happy to not i'm happy like actually getting out of poker now to like so you're retiring soon are you gonna be out of it or out of a lot of things in terms of um the the the very professional part you know it's not like i i don't see myself as being a professional right now when

i play i play i compete and on the best level i can but i don't you know i play maybe five to ten percent of what i used to play so i see it as like yeah low-key activity got it got it got it um this is called the three truths i asked i asked this question at the end for everyone so you're pretty young you're 24 right now right uh let's imagine you have a very long life and you achieve everything you want that's probably not gonna happen let's just imagine okay let's just imagine that you accomplish anything you want you have amazing relationships you travel everywhere

you launch businesses and it's the last day for you for whatever reason everything you've created has been erased all the videos you put out there the apps, the mindset training everything you've done is gone the business is gone

but you have a piece of paper and a pen to write down three things you know to be true about all of your experiences. And this would be the only thing that people would have remembered of you by are these three lessons or these three truths. What would you say are yours? I think the

first thing I would say is that you should not get stuck. Don't get stuck in something because you think that's what you should not get stuck. Like don't get stuck in something. Because you think that's what you should do. Like follow the things that you feel. Just what feels right.

I think that's the second thing. I would say is. The second thing I would say is to question everything in a happy way. Like not beat you up, but just in a curious, nice way. Why is it like this you know to like take it more like oh there's some way to because everything is endless you know there's no

end to it there's always another there's always something new coming and the third thing I would say is that be be true like be honest

and be don't pretend like just be take care of the people around you that you feel are like respect and value the way you are and stand up for them and stand up for them

and stand up for yourself. Nice. That was great, man. And what's the main thing you're focused on now or how can we stay connected to you? Where do we connect with you online? Yeah, actually, now that I kind of play a little less poker,

the big thing I focus on right now is really, and we talked about this before, contributing. Like, I'm actively looking for a way to do that. And so the company I started has that. That is the long-term goal. Like, I really feel like the one big thing that has always been in my in my head is education is like i mean call it growth personal growth like whatever it's like kind of learning something in a way where you can apply it yourself so you don't you know you don't need constantly rely on something but like you learn

something and you can use it yourself and then you can improve it build on it give that person back teach other people so it's this like mastermind idea of constant growth everyone is going in his direction then you share filter it repeat like you grow this this is this is what kind of environment i i feel the most comfortable yeah and that's what i want to build in a company and that's's what I'm working on right now. What's it called? It's called Primed. And the idea is to launch this umbrella company, which now happened,

and build a team that shares that mindset and be really free about it. So like that you can do whatever you want, basically, as long as it's in that spirit right and like we set goals together and it's like we decide together is like this is the direction we want to go into and it's like people take responsibility for their own stuff and the only like it's really this really really broad thing where in that thing like you know people can thrive that's that's the idea is like really giving people space because i think that's what's that's where we're developing into it like

i i personally cannot be in an area where it's like where you're caged and i think there's a lot of people that feel similar right now yeah and i feel like there's not this opportunity and it's it's growing but i i want to create that space and so we're basically developing whatever comes to our mind is like you know we started at the beginning with like we launched a mindset app now called prime mind and it was just we i've been working with this mindset coach elliot and it was just you know i love that and it's like all my friends everyone i recommended he's working with a lot of world-class athletes. And I was just like, everyone loves what he does.

And it was like, he only does private sessions. So I was like, let's give this to people because we can. And then we made that happen. And the next thing was like, oh, we're excited, you know, about children education. So we worked together on this new app. It's about, because every children educational together on this new app it's about because every children educational app on the market is crap it's just like it's only about making money gamified as

much as you can but don't care about that tactic or like what that you teach them like there's the best one is half in german i was like how should they learn english but so things like this and it's like okay we see something and we things like this, and it's like, okay, we see something and we're like passionate about something. It's just like, you know, let's just see if, you know, if we can change something. This is like the basic idea is to set,

to build that framework for people to like do whatever they think has the most impact. Yeah. Nice, man. What's the website for that? So the website, actually we're launching our website and we've been working a lot on this.

We wanted to be like, we've been playing around so much with it. It's primedgroup.com. You'll see, I think, new website coming up in beginning of October. So that should be soon. And then primemind.com for the app.

People should check that one out. Primemind.com for the app, yeah. Yes, that one out. It's good. Primemind.com for the app, yeah. Yes, it's a good app. Free app or is it a... Yeah, it's freemium. You can use it. Sure. Really important.

Take time for it. This is really the main thing. Like we've had... I mean, the feedback has been amazing. We have like 25,000 in-app feedbacks of like 4.9 out of 5 or something. It's like, you know, people have been... And the main thing is take the time for it.

It's really like if you have to close your eyes, it takes 10 minutes. You put in earplugs and you just lean back and it's basically the idea is it's mindset coaching for a specific situation. So it's not like meditation where you're like there's no kind of reason you know it's kind of like generally okay i'm meditating but what for yeah and this is okay you have you have a job interview now and you just want to perform better

right and that's the idea of like why i use it for poker is if it's a something high stakes right if something is at risk five percent matter yeah right this is not gonna it's not gonna be like oh i'm a completely new person but i feel more in the zone i feel fresher i feel more confident i feel like you know i i can deliver yeah and so you listen to it for a specific thing and then it has an impact so this is the idea behind it i like it man well uh i you being here. And, Fedor, I want to acknowledge you for your brilliant mind and your ability to teach others how to master their mind as well.

Because I think a lot of people are struggling with that anxiety, stress, fear, just confusion. And to share what you've learned on how to master something and give it to others is a great gift. So I want to acknowledge you for that. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. The final question is, what is your definition of greatness?

Oh, man, you're like, there's a lot of deep questions here. Greatness. I think, I mean, the thing is really with greatness i think it's so relative it is really like this word itself all these words are so relative right like we've been great at things years ago and now it's like not even remote to like remotely close to being great right so i think to me um greatness means that your goal is to become the best at something specific you visualize it and you put everything you have towards that goal and i think that is to me um people that do that and there's only like i think everyone is to me, people that do that. And there's only like, I think everyone is lying to themselves when like nobody,

A, a lot of people don't have that goal. B, nobody puts everything towards it. You know, it's like maybe a lot of them, 80%, 50%, like most of them, 50%. It's like, you know, how do you, so, oh yeah, my goal is to become the greatest at this. And it's like, know how do you um so oh yeah my goal is to become the greatest at this and it's like okay how much time do you put into it and it's like oh yeah like 40 hours why not 80 right why not every minute you've got it's like everything i feel like even the holidays i took were towards you know this goal is like even every minute i slept was like okay i was like okay just to like be ready again to do this there is like, even every minute I slept was like, okay, I was like, okay, just to

like, be ready again to do this. There's like, if I, if I played soccer was because I needed balance to like do this again. Right. So it's every single, I feel like every single minute of my life was towards becoming the best at this. And I think that was not, that was not conscious, but I think it, it can be, I think if, if you want to be great at something, I think that's what you have to do. Put every single minute you've got into it. Peter, thank you so much, man. Appreciate you. You're welcome.

There you have it, my friends. I hope you enjoyed this one with Fedder Holtz. If you did, share it with your friends, lewishouse.com slash 544. You can take a screenshot of this podcast that you're listening to on your phone and post it in your Instagram story. Post it on your Instagram page, Facebook, Twitter. Tag me at Lewis House and let me know what you enjoyed about this episode the most. Every single Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we bring the most inspiring humans in

the world who can teach us something. Teach us something that they don't teach us in school on how we can become greater in our life. I hope you guys enjoyed this one. Very excited about it. So let's get the word out and make sure to connect with Federer as well and let him know what you thought about this also on his social media. I hope you remember how amazing and unique you actually are. You're here for a reason. You're here to make a difference. You're here to live your dreams. You're here to love others and you're here to fall in love with yourself. Now, these are all things that we need to learn how to do. I hope you've enjoyed this episode and I hope this episode is giving you some type of insight or tool about how you can perform and pursue your dreams

without buckling under pressure. We all have these opportunities in life to make something happen, but sometimes we allow the fear of messing up or the fear of not being enough hold us back. And I don't want you to be held back. I want you to be able to move forward with a passion and a poise and a process. So I hope you guys enjoyed this one. You are so meaningful in this world. Never forget that. And always remember that you're here for a reason.

It's your job to figure out what that reason is. I love you. And you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Outro Music