Lessons From The Month with Dr Waheed Arian, Katherine Ryan, Fernando Alonso and Peter Attia

0:00Hey there, some big news from High Performance. Damien and I have written another book. It's called How to Change Your Life. And over the last few years, as we've spoken to hundreds of Olympic athletes, billionaire founders and leading coaches, we've noticed they have an incredible skill to change themselves. And How to Change Your Life is going to introduce to you the five simple steps that take you from where you are to where you want to be. It's everything we've learned from the incredible guests that we've spoken to. It's never too late to change. And this book will show you how to do it. How to Change Your Life is available to pre-order in hardback, ebook and audiobook now.

1:03to be challenged and to grow. And once again, I really hope that's happened to you this month from listening to the High Performance Podcast. And look, if you've listened to all the episodes, then I still think that reflecting on what you've heard in the last month is going to be valuable for you. Equally, I know that lots of you that come to this podcast are time poor. You've got lots going on in your lives, both personally and professionally. So this short episode just allows us to cherry pick a few of the key moments and a few of the key lessons from the last few weeks of our podcast. Once again, we've had empathy at the forefront of our guests this month.

1:37It's not about opinions, this podcast. It really is about empathy and understanding. It's about realising that you're not fixed and actually that your reaction to the world is way more important than what actually happens to you. We were joined by an incredible NHS doctor who has the most remarkable story to tell, a primetime British TV comedian, a global sporting icon and a specialist in health and longevity. Before we get going, if you're enjoying these podcasts, I only ask one thing from you, and it's for you to subscribe. Most people that either listen to us on their podcast platform or watch us on YouTube aren't subscribed.

2:14And if you can just hit the subscribe button, it means we can grow the channel, attract even more incredible guests to have a bigger impact on your life than ever before. So please hit subscribe. Right, let's get to our first guest then of the month, Dr. Waheed Aryan. one of the most moving conversations we've ever had on this podcast. He's an NHS doctor. He's based in the UK, but as a child, he had to escape war-torn Afghanistan. His journey across the world was incredible. His ability to relate to other people, the power of empathy and understanding for his fellow human being was quite remarkable.

2:51Here's a clip from Dr. Waheed Aryan on the High Performance podcast. We were travelling at night time, like most families, because people were not allowed to even leave the country. That's one, so they couldn't take the normal borders. And secondly, we were taking a very dangerous route from mountains and valleys. And that route was used by the opposition, so a bit of history there as well. The people who were fighting, the Russians were the Mujahideen. And they would bring in their weapons. the helicopter gunships and the jets from the soviet government they would attack anybody on the ground so when we were traveling there was one morning it was a bit lighter and my father said okay we need to stop until it's a bit darker we need to find somewhere in the local village to hide i insisted that i would come with my father so my father along with two three other men they went to explore the village.

3:48I went with them. Women, the children, they stayed under trees to get to hide. So we were open. So we were spotted by a spy plane. And that's when my father realized that what was coming. So he grabbed me in his arm and he ran towards the village. And he didn't want to go back because he didn't want the children to be exposed or the women to be exposed to the rocket. And when we run to the village, he was trying to open one door, another door, and then he finally found a house that was open. And in there, he was looking for something. I had no idea what it was. And then he found an oven in the floor, which was used for baking bread in villages in Afghanistan.

4:33So he hit me in that oven. He hit me there. And he said just two sentences before the bombardment started. And he said, son, I love you. And if anything happens to me, you have to look after your sisters, your family. That's aged five. And that is when I lost my childhood. Because deep down, you know, subconsciously, I knew that my father wouldn't be around for long. So I had to really forget about what playing is, what being a child is like. And then within two or three minutes was that the jets arrived, the helicopter gunships arrived, and they started bombing the entire village. I can still vividly remember it was 35 years ago or so, 34 years ago.

5:25I still remember the sound of the bullets hitting the walls, the ceilings, the shrapnels going everywhere, the dust, even the walls coming down. I can hear the sound of it. So these are some of the traumas that people will remember forever in their lives. And that exhibits what war situation is for people who live through conflict. Miraculously, we survived that attack and further two attacks along the way. But that one attack may show that how things change suddenly. And then within minutes, you're with your loved one and the next moment, you're gone. I think the big lesson from Dr Waheed is that high performance doesn't always look like we think it does.

6:10It isn't about having medals around your neck. It isn't about having millions of pounds in the bank. It isn't the car that you drive or the house that you live in. It's how you react to the world around you. The ability to still move forwards, the ability to still find joy, to still find happiness despite the things that happen to us. life is so much more about our reaction than the things that go on around us and the obstacles that Waheed had to overcome to become a doctor in the UK are bigger than anything I've ever had to overcome I mean you know the challenges in my life and I'm sure in yours as well probably pale into insignificance compared to the things that he's done how can we ever even compare elite level sports or entertainment people to the things that Dr Waheed has achieved and if that small clip has inspired you to listen to the full conversation with Waheed, then please do go and listen to it.

6:59It is the most incredible story from a remarkable, remarkable man. And his book is also an amazing read as well. So we were also joined this month by Catherine Ryan. So Catherine spoke brilliantly on the podcast about coming over to the UK, chasing a dream of being a comedian, that moment where things start to go really well, how you deal with that, but equally the challenges that have been in front of her as well and dealing with mistakes. Here's Katherine Ryan on High Performance. I had to find that out really young. I had to distill what was important to me in life and what wasn't. And I was very lucky.

7:37I always say like, I say this to my daughter's face, Violet is 14 next month. I say, don't be afraid of your mistakes. Like on paper, you are my biggest mistake. Because would you want your child in a partnership that wasn't very good to move to a foreign country and have a baby when she didn't have any money, you probably wouldn't want that. That's not the life that you design for your own child or for yourself. So on paper, maybe that feels like a big mistake. But what seemed like a mistake was the greatest joy, still is the greatest joy of my life, was also my greatest motivation. It took so much mental energy that when I was at work, I had to be very efficient and think of only work and I would overwrite as well.

8:20So I would watch 8 out of 10 cats, for example, and I would see, okay, these are the questions and they might come to you. And when they come to you, you shouldn't have one answer. You need five answers. Give your best answer. And then if everyone's quiet or there's a lull or they come to you again, give another answer, give another answer. And then let the editors choose their favorite when they're putting the show together. I always came with that mindset because I would study. I would do research. And I was lucky that I was so busy with my daughter and so desperate that I couldn't really think of anything else.

8:53It made me super efficient. You know what I really loved about this was Catherine talking about the fact that her mistakes became a huge motivator for her. And I think that, you know, failure and getting things wrong is a very common theme on this podcast. And I would just love to remind you of the great phrase that was shared with us by Greg Hoffman, the former chief marketing officer of Nike when he came on the podcast, which is that failure is the price of ambition. Like if you really want to do great things, if you really want to succeed, failure is just going to have to be a bedfellow of yours.

9:28You're going to have to get comfortable with it. You're going to have to get used to it. You're going to have to operate in that place where failure is almost inevitable for you because that's the only place where you actually can find what you're capable of. And Catherine spoke brilliantly about having no time to waste. And I really, truly believe that failure is not a waste of time. It isn't a wasted opportunity. It's a moment to learn. And once again, Catherine, can I just say huge thanks for coming on to High Performance. And, you know, I think quite often comedians will hide behind the jokes and the funny stuff and the stories.

10:01But for Catherine to come on and talk about how she had to reframe men in the comedy world getting great jobs so that she wasn't derailed by it or frustrated or angered by it. And actually, she saw it as a challenge. She saw it as a motivator. That idea of reframing what happens to other people was a really good lesson from Catherine. And again, I know loads of you enjoyed it. but if you didn't get to hear the full conversation, I hope that small clip gives you a taste of what we discussed. And then we invited on to high performance, the two-time Formula One world champion, Fernando Alonso. But I was surprised of how much love I received from people.

10:43And then, yeah, I saw Formula One, which is in motorsport, very different than other categories, much more selfish, much more glamorous in a way, but fake in another way. I think it was more pure motorsport, Le Mans or Indy or Dakar, for sure. But yeah, Formula One had this appeal, you know, the people want to attempt to the races, wanted to watch on TV. I was watching also on TV the Formula One races. I appreciate a little bit more all the stuff that as a driver I didn't like before so the national anthem the parade lab having a little bit more access to the media and the cameras which when you are a driver you hate those moments but when I was just in my living room I was missing those moments and if one or two drivers were a little bit more smiley or a little bit more accessible I think it was appreciated from home.

11:46So when I came back to the sport, I think I took a step more relaxed into those things and I was taking care of more of fans and TV and these kind of things because I understand the importance of it. And that was able only because I was two years out of Formula One. And what about for you personally then? Because we speak to loads of former sports people who say I didn't take one moment to enjoy my career because I was too focused on winning. Same. Same. I regret that. I regret that. When I won the two championships back in Renault, my Ferrari time, I mean, it was good, but you are so focused on the next race, on the next weekend.

12:29you finish one race, you may win the race and you go to the airport and when you are in the plane you are thinking about next weekend so you land at home and you text your engineer you know, we need to test softer at the rear because you know, the traction was very bad in this race, you know, at the end of the race these kind of things and I think with age and now at this point of my career, it's like the podiums of this year it seems that when I re-watched the race on TV, I seemed the happiest in the podium. And I just, I was third and two times second. But it's because I'm able to enjoy more those kind of moments and celebrating every weekend is part of my thing now.

13:15You know, I was actually looking through some of the comments on YouTube and what I loved was how many people were saying they'd never seen Fernando Alonso like this ever before. and this is a guy that's been racing for a very long time and I spoke a moment ago about you know comedians hiding behind the jokes well I think sports people often hide behind their success in the sporting capacity but Formula One drivers are particularly hidden because their greatest work happens behind the visor behind a helmet you never actually get to see what they're going through so for Fernando to come on this podcast and share some of his innermost thoughts was really special but also that idea of not stopping to smell the roses and this is always a really sort of challenging conversation to have I think because if you're an elite sports person or you're elite in any field if you stop to enjoy it would you still achieve the same things I don't have the answer to that but what I do know is that for Fernando to sit on our podcast and tell us that when he won his world titles he remembers nothing from those days and we've heard it so many times You know, Johnny Wilkinson telling us that he felt joy for 30 seconds after winning the Rugby World Cup.

14:22It comes back to the same old conversation about the climb versus the view. Okay, final guest on this incredibly varied month. You know, I love the diversity of the guests that we're bringing you at the moment. If you're enjoying it too, if you're loving the different guests, please reach out. Let us know. I'd love to hear from you. Our final guest in August is the brilliant American doctor, Peter Atiyah. He is the longevity expert. He is a man who believes that you can be healthy for life, but you need to take action long before you may well get unhealthy. Here's Peter Attia on the High Performance Podcast.

15:00So then this turned into this idea of the centenarian decathlon, which is I'm going to create the objectives. I'm going to define what the activities are in the last decade of my life. In other words, what are the non-negotiables? What are the things that if I can't do these in the last decade of my life, I will be very disappointed. And those would be different for the three of us, right? That the whole goal is to do this in a personalized way. One way is to project forward and one way is to project back. Okay. Okay. So let's talk about both. So projecting back is if you are fortunate enough to know somebody in the last decade of their life or you've watched somebody who you were very close to and you saw them during that period of time and they've died.

15:48Can you put yourself in their shoes and ask these questions, right? What am I no longer doing that I used to do? What am I no longer doing that I wish I could be doing? So you sort of work your way from the back to the present. How much do you take it for granted to be able to put your shoes on? Like how easy is it for you to tie up laces on your shoes? Do you know how many people can't do this? How easy is it for you to sit on the floor, play with your kids, just sit with them for 10 minutes and then stand up. you start to do an inventory of these things and you realize, oh my God, there are a lot of things most people aren't able to do in their eighties that if I couldn't, if I took them away from you today, how miserable would you be?

16:33And then you want to do the, okay, now fast forward or come to the present and ask, what are things that give you great pleasure today? And how many of those things do you want to be able to do in the future? So this to me provides the motivation. This to me provides the objective. The question is now, what are the strategy and what are the tactics to make that happen? So I loved Peter talking to us about the centurion decathlon, the 10 things that he wants to be able to do when he gets to 100. And I think this is a really relevant point, actually, is that so many of us are living with short-term ambitions, which will have devastating long-term consequences.

17:15And no one is saying that you shouldn't be looking for short-term success or short-term fixes or short-term joy. But it's also really important to remember that those short-term habits will build up to have a huge effect on your life in the long term. And you can still have loads of good stuff, but just make sure that you're working into your day the opportunity to live a long, healthy, happy life. And this is available to everybody. Everyone can find half an hour in their day to add to their steps or to do some push-ups or to do some sit-ups. It doesn't take a gym membership. It doesn't take four or five hours out of your day.

17:51It actually just takes discipline. We were joined a few months ago on High Performance by the amazing Ryan Holiday, who talks about discipline is destiny. So much of the great things that we can achieve in life are about discipline. Discipline not to eat that bad food. Discipline to do that extra bit of exercise. Discipline to go to bed when we'd like to stay up and watch some box sets. Discipline to not hit snooze on the alarm. All those things that Peter and many of our other guests have spoken about that might seem like small things in isolation but actually add up to be incredibly big things and that brings us to the end of our review of the month listen thank you once again for joining us on high performance we do these reviews every single month so keep on coming back for more and by the way come on where else can you hear from an nhs doctor who escaped war-torn Afghanistan, a primetime TV comedian, a legendary Formula One driver and a longevity expert, all willing to offer you everything they know so that you can get closer to your own version of high performance.

18:55Listen, if you want more from us, we would love to give you more. Please head to the App Store, download the High Performance app, use the code H-P-A-P-P, that's H-P-A-P-P, to get access to the High Performance app and you can get even more from the podcast all of the links to the episodes that we've spoken about are in the description to this podcast but please hit subscribe tell your friends about high performance and keep on coming back for more lots of love