Next Level University

#1351 - Is Your Life Based On Intention Or Accident?

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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Ever felt like you're living life on autopilot, just going through the motions without any intention behind your actions? In this episode, hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros share their journey toward adopting a growth mindset and the power of targeted learning. They discuss how dedication and grit play a vital role in making things happen. They highlight that belief is the very first step on this journey. But let's face it, believing in ourselves isn't always a walk in the park. That's where the magic of studying kicks in. By soaking up knowledge through reading and listening, we can boost our confidence levels. And once we've got that confidence, we can put it into action and make tangible progress toward our goals.

Links mentioned:
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Next Level Monthly Meetup #18: "How To Stick With Something For The Long Run" on June 1, 2023, 06:00 PM EST - https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0sfuGopj0rH9BT_Utn_nq9Lk5-TtxeSpt4#/registration

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Show notes:
[3:35] Belief, study, and practice
[8:27] You need to learn more
[10:28] Kim thanked Kevin for going above and beyond in helping launch the Peaceful Productivity podcast 
[11:10] Kevin studied so much because he didn't believe in himself
[16:10] Raising your awareness
[20:20] Outro

Send a text to Kevin and Alan!

Speaker 1:

When you start to believe something, you can start to study it. When you start to study something, you may be able to then practice it. When you practice it, you believe it more, and then you have capabilities of studying it more and then practicing more. And it becomes this beautiful, beautiful cycle if you run it the right way.

Speaker 2:

Fall in love with targeted learning. I used to say this all the time I'm not sure if it lands, but you have to know better to do better. If you don't know how to play chess, you're going to lose. If you don't know how to play basketball, you're going to lose. You're always going to lose to the people who study more than you.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Next Level University. I am your host, Kevin Paul Mary, And I am your co-host, Alan Lazarus. At Next Level University, we believe in a heart driven but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for Dream Chasers.

Speaker 2:

We bring you seven episodes per week to help you level up your life, your love, your health and your wealth.

Speaker 1:

Self-improvement in your pocket, every day, from anywhere, for free. Welcome to Next Level University, next Level Nation. Welcome back to another episode of Next Level University, where we teach you how to level up your life, your love, your health and your wealth. We hope you enjoyed our latest episode. It was episode number 1,350. How you feel about yourself is more important than what you have. If you have been listening to us for a long time and you remember the Hyper Conscious podcast, go make sure you listen to that episode, because that was very hyper conscious.

Speaker 1:

Today, for episode number 1,351, is your life based on intention or accident? I am not necessarily proud of this, but I remember this was 2017, probably. I lived 15 minutes 10, 15 minutes from where I sit today and I remember Alan saying Kev, i know you want to know more about money. I know you want to be more financially free. You got to read this book it's called Rich Dad, poor Dad And I said, all right, cool, i'm not going to read it, i'll listen to it. I like listening to things with my ears not a huge reader, not a fan of it And I remember cracking open this audiobook and you can't really crack it open, but you know what I'm saying And I remember saying you know what I'm going to do. I am going to play video games while I listen to this. I want to play video games, but I also kind of want to get better, so I'm going to do both.

Speaker 1:

Now, thinking back to that, that was because I was more interested in checking the box than actually making progress. I was more interested in saying I was doing something than actually doing it. I was living way more by accident than I was intentionally and I didn't understand the importance of learning. I know this is going to sound weird, it's probably going to sound very, very simple, but I remember kind of asking you, alan, i don't understand the point of this book. I understand it's going to teach me about money, like. I don't understand why that is so important.

Speaker 1:

I had such a fixed mindset that I could not comprehend how reading a book would help me. I just couldn't comprehend it. And if you're out there and you feel the same way, i'm not making that wrong. I completely understand, trust me. I wrote the book on it. I had a very, very fixed mindset. I was very much living by accident. There was no intentionality behind what I was doing. I was just kind of hoping. I was hoping for the best. If I read this book, i'll download some of that information and cool, it'll be good. I'll know investing, everything's going to be just fine. It'll be wealthy at no time. So I have this written down. Alan and I were talking about this last week.

Speaker 2:

It'll be wealthy at no time. At no time.

Speaker 1:

When we were prepping for these episodes. There are really three steps, maybe three bases in this game Belief, study and practice. Belief is only 130, the equation. You have to believe it's possible, right? So I believe that I can make more money. Okay, cool. Why haven't I made money yet? I don't know how I haven't focused on studying. Okay, let me study, let me study that. Okay, i go read a book, listen to a book, watch a TED Talk, watch a YouTube episode wherever it may be. Cool, now I have studied. Okay, now, with that study, i have to go practice, and that's taking a thought from the internal world into the external world and trying it. All. Right, i'm gonna have a coaching call. I'm gonna try to sell something, whatever it may be. Where are you stuck? Are you stuck on the belief? Are you stuck on the? what was the second one? Study, study or the practice?

Speaker 2:

Where are you stuck? It's your formula, sir.

Speaker 1:

First time I ever taught it and I lost it. It was like it's down here somewhere. I couldn't find it. Are you stuck on belief, Study or practice? And think of it this way When you start to believe something, you can start to study it. When you start to study something, you may be able to then practice it. When you practice it, you believe it more, And then you have capabilities of studying it more and then practicing more, And it becomes this beautiful, beautiful cycle if you run it the right way.

Speaker 2:

So in the center of that triad, that triangle.

Speaker 1:

Is it?

Speaker 2:

donut Triangle.

Speaker 1:

Is it?

Speaker 2:

donut. No is results. If you believe in something, you study it and then you practice it over and over and over again and you keep running that cycle. Eventually you get more and more results. So Emilia and I have been playing a lot of basketball lately, a lot of basketball lately. We've gone a couple times. It's spring now it's nicer out, and I've been playing basketball since I was a little kid and she's brand new to the sport, so it's really fun, cause she doesn't know any of the slang Like on the basketball court. I didn't ever know There's like a lot of slang, so you know what a teardrop is.

Speaker 3:

Of course, The basketball court. That right, it's a yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, a little teardrop. She's like what? And I'm like swishies when I get it in swishies. So when you don't hit for the non-basketball player listeners, when you get it in the net without hitting the rim, it's a swish. So I said swishies and she's like swishies And it's like hilarious because she doesn't know what I'm talking about. Get the rebound. She's like rebound. Like what are you talking about? Like go get the ball. It's like funny. So we have a blast with it and she's getting much better Layup. there's a lot of slang. The difference between her and I is that we both believe we can play basketball. The difference is I've studied the game for I don't know 20 years more than her or whatever, and I've practiced the game for 20 years more than her. So Emilia and I OK, jesse Brown on the NLU team is like an amazing basketball player.

Speaker 1:

And I can't wait to play A lot of shout outs this week.

Speaker 2:

Jesse A lot of shout outs to Jesse. Jesse is like really, really good, and she used to average 29 points a game, which is insane. It's insane, it's unbelievable. If I were to play Jesse Brown, i would have trouble beating her. I still think I could and we've talked about it but I think I'd have trouble. I'm also taller, but with Emilia it wouldn't be hard for me to beat her, because she's brand new, she hasn't studied it and she hasn't practiced as much as me. So I would have higher results in the game of basketball than Emilia, regardless of whether or not she believes in herself just as much as I do.

Speaker 2:

I can believe in myself all day, but until I get to the gym and lift the weight, it doesn't really matter. But if I don't believe in myself, i won't get in the gym and lift the weight. So belief is the first step, but it's not the whole game, and so I want to tell this story briefly. There's someone I was on a coaching call with recently Brandon wouldn't mind me sharing this. Brandon, my man. Brandon shout out to Brandon. Brandon is one of the hardest working people I've ever met. Statistically speaking, he's just a workhorse. The dude works And he's 333 days doing a mile a day, every single day.

Speaker 3:

So imagine running a mile a day.

Speaker 2:

Strong work, brandon. So he does something called miles for mindset And he started it 333 days ago. He didn't know it was going to go this long. He's just like I'm going to run a mile a day and make sure that I'm thinking intentional thoughts and dreaming about the future, and some other people are doing it with him now. It's really cool, so awesome. Hard work and grit is not his issue Rain, sleet, snow or shine. He's out there running And his girlfriend Hannah we coach them. She's like blown away by him. It's like unbelievable, right? Imagine running a mile a day for 333 days Sounds terrible, right? no-transcript.

Speaker 2:

I said, brandon, you have these big goals and dreams now And I believe in you so much and I promise you you are more capable than you think. I know it. But here's the thing grit and hard work is not the issue with you. With a lot of people, that's the issue. Some of our listeners love all the love, hard driven, but no BS. Hard work might be the issue. Okay, for Brandon, that's not the issue. I said, brother, it's learning. You just don't know enough yet. That's okay, it's learning. He reminds me of you, kev.

Speaker 2:

Hard work and grit was not the issue. Resilience is not the issue. You can grind. The problem is you don't learn enough, and so every single day, for the last probably four and a half to five years Kev, you've been learning 30 minutes a day, and now you're just so aware that the hard work can be applied in a more powerful way, and so I told Brandon and I'm telling the listeners, learning needs to be something that happens daily, and most of my clients have one of their habits that they track called targeted learning. That's like a common habit for my peak performance coaching clients targeted learning. As a matter of fact, pretty much all of my clients yeah, i would say all my clients I give a curriculum of books. Meaning my coaching probably sounds terrible.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it sounds brutal Yeah so, basically, each one of my clients and if any of my clients are listening shout out to you. I have a specific book that I'm deploying into their consciousness so that they can get their goals. For some people, they need to learn some emotional intelligence. For some people, they need some more grit. For some people, they need to read the art of impossible. For other people, they need to read a finance book, like what I recommended with Rich Dad Portat. So for our listeners, what's my point? Fall in love with learning, fall in love with targeted learning. I used to say this all the time. I'm not sure if it lands, but you have to know better to do better. If you don't know how to play chess, you're gonna lose. If you don't know how to play basketball, you're gonna lose. You're always gonna lose to the people who study more than you, and if you can fall in love with learning, you're gonna be so much better off, even though in the moment it doesn't seem like it's doing anything.

Speaker 3:

Hey, kevin Kim here Just wanted to send you a video to say thank you so much for your help on creating the Peaceful Productivity Podcast. You know I couldn't have done it without you. I knew you'd be lots of great help with the technical aspects of getting the podcast going, but you went well above and beyond that. You helped me with the strategy and you gave me all kinds of really great support. You know, i think the key to success in business is a great attitude and you have that in spades. You really walk the walk. So thanks again, take care, i'll talk to you soon.

Speaker 1:

I was thinking of this when you were talking. One of the reasons I studied so much is because I didn't believe in myself. So belief isn't even necessary. Because what is your response to lack of belief? If it's to study and learn more and make sure you aren't ever caught in the dark for lack of better phrasing then you that's a superpower Like Brandon has that If he doesn't believe, he'll just go study, and if you study it, you can go practice it. Then, when you practice it, you'll start to believe it. It's one of the interesting things.

Speaker 1:

I was talking to somebody the other day and he has 600 and some on podcast episodes And again, i know we have 1,350, but 600 and something podcast episodes. Most people don't ever get there. That is a wild number And I did a free coaching call with him And we were talking about how Somebody told me I should be coaching like a hundred episodes in and I was like I'm not ready yet. Now I know more than ever why I hadn't studied enough. That's something. That's not that many opportunities to study the industry or study Speaking or study It's.

Speaker 1:

That's why the more you do something, the better you get, because when you're studying it and then you practice it, you believe in it more and you understand it, and then everything starts to connect and it makes sense, right? if you're listening to this and you're in, whatever your job is, whatever your career is, whatever your passion is, you are aware of things that I just am not, because you've been there longer than I have. Mm-hmm, a certain sound means something to you. A certain smell means something to you. A certain Yeah, a certain lack of sound means something to you. It's you have something different because you've studied it and you've practiced it longer. But when we're starting something new, i think we forget that. We forget that Studying it is half a third of the battle. Believing it is huge, studying it, studying it awesome, practicing it cool. Then rinse and repeat that forever and ever, and ever and ever. Most of us Tend to run away from something when we don't believe in it.

Speaker 1:

Mm-hmm and I've made this joke many times. I think my anxiety is my greatest superpower, because I'm always trying to figure out Okay, what can I Learn? to make sure I don't have anxiety going into this?

Speaker 2:

Okay, why you know so much about planes.

Speaker 1:

It's part of it. I've done a lot of research. I I follow pilots on YouTube. I follow them. I want to know. What does this mean? I need to know we actually have at nlps, we have two Pilots that are our clients.

Speaker 2:

Oh, yeah, yeah, Yeah, what's. So I kind of of the past passive income pilots.

Speaker 1:

So I've actually tried to kind of, when I talk to them, like tell me more about how all this work. You know, never nervous, and I forget nervous, but that's because my lack of belief. I wanted to get certainty, and the way to get certainty is was it was to study and now I've been on a lot of. I've been on planes way more than I ever have. I've practiced, so now it's not that big of a deal. It's yeah, it's very. It sounds too simple. It really does sound too simple, but think of the things that most people struggle with relationships, money and fitness.

Speaker 1:

There are so many relationship books, there are so many money books and there are so many Fitness books, health books. But if you've never read any of them, it's not necessarily a surprise that you're not getting results. How else would you get results if you don't believe it's possible? if you don't study The and get the knowledge and you don't practice what you've studied, you're gonna be in a perpetual cycle of feeling stuck forever. So, yeah, this is more, probably more powerful than I originally expected from this episode, just based on the fact that, yeah, it's very simple. But just because it's simple doesn't mean it's simple to do, or just because it's simple doesn't mean we're actually doing it yet.

Speaker 2:

I always use the car analogy when your car breaks down, you go to the mechanic. When your body breaks down, you go to the doctor. When your arm or shoulder is hurting, you go to a physical therapist. One of my clients is a physical therapist. You know, when you have a teeth issue, you go to the dentist or the orthodontist. These people studied for years and years and years and There's what if? what if you studied wealth? What if you could be your own wealth doctor, or your own health doctor, or your own love doctor? oh, interesting love doctor. And One, two things I want to share and we get a jump yeah, quickly, quickly. The first one is this this episode I was listening to. Sometimes I'll work out downstairs. We have like a little mini gym. It's not great, but it's, it's doable. Thank you for the new kettlebells. Okay, i Was listening to. For some reason, whenever I work out down there, i just want to listen to something like powerful. That's personal development oriented. So I listen to a Bob Proctor speech.

Speaker 1:

God, you're weird.

Speaker 2:

I know, yeah, i love it, i love it, i love you.

Speaker 1:

But weird out here listening to Bob Proctor when you're working out.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's got some intense music in the background and it's one of those things that I've listened to enough times. It's one specific speech. It's called the power of money, and I've listened to it enough times to where I don't really have to listen in order to get it. That makes sense. It's like a movie you've seen enough. Okay, so I'm down there and he says this interesting quote. He said people aren't making $50,000 a year because they want to make $50,000 a year. People are making $50,000 a year because they're not aware of how to make 150. And it's like that's true and It's really what this episode is built around. Which is what, if you just raise your awareness You raise your awareness now you see opportunities you never saw. Now you do things you never would have done. Now you become someone you never would have become. Now you have more opportunities. It's like this, this expansive thing.

Speaker 2:

What's the difference between Kevin and I at 33 and 34, respectively, and us in our teens? I joke about making $7.25 an hour in Rhode Island at a golf course and $5 an hour as a bus boy getting tipped out. I wasn't worth that much because I wasn't that aware. I didn't know that much. Now, compared to other 16-year-olds I probably knew a lot, but compared to me now I could be the general manager of that whole golf course now, because I'm aware of how to do it And I just wasn't back then. I had to learn, i had to study, i had to grow, i had to go to college, i had to. you know all that. And so, very last piece here, interesting story. Okay, so I don't know if you'll relate to this. You're a cat dad, so you might, of course. Okay, tauriel, my kitten lover, year old, almost probably eight months old, she knocks. We say she knocks daddy's stuff.

Speaker 1:

Of course.

Speaker 2:

Okay. Taryn said the same thing when I told her. She's like, yeah, she's trying to get your attention.

Speaker 1:

Cats are, they'll leave something on a table or knock it off. Does that matter?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, she'll look at me and just knock it off the table.

Speaker 2:

This is interesting. So immediately it tells me she says, yeah, she's upset with you. And I'm like why is she upset with me? What have I done? You know what I mean? She's like you don't wake her up in the morning anymore. I've been doing it. This was when I was really quite busy And you know, sometimes you sleep in it's whatever So, anyways, i'm not waking her up in the morning. And now I've been waking her up in the morning. She doesn't knock my stuff anymore. And I'm like Emilia, how did you know that? She's like I grew up with cats. She's studied cats. She knows. She knows Tauriel better than I do, and she knows talker better than I do too, because she has three more years with him than I do.

Speaker 2:

And so you can study these things. You can study cats, you can study dogs, you can study finance, you can study health. There's great books out there on these things. Now, there's a lot of terrible books too, So you gotta wean through some. I always say careful not to step in the bullshit. Okay, some of it is nonsense, but at least go study. I recommend books over everything. But learning is a super power. That's the end of the episode.

Speaker 1:

One of my biggest fears is somebody choking around me, because I haven't practiced the Heimlich many times, but if I was an EMT it probably wouldn't bother me at all. Of course, i'd probably be like, yeah, no, i've done this a million times, it's not that big of a deal. So that's another good analogy of this. Okay, yeah, we got to go because we have a team meeting that I am running, because it's all about it's out here, jeff, and we call it the out here, jeff and club club, i don't know what. It is All right If you haven't, and you are looking for a wonderful community of human beings who also listen to NLU and want to get to the next level of their lives and help you do the same. Please join our private Facebook group. Next level nation link is in the show notes.

Speaker 2:

Okay, last but not least, how to stick with something for the long run is a monthly meetup, june 1st, 6pm Eastern Standard Time. The registration link is in the show notes. Please join us. You can keep your mic and camera off and not participate at all, or you can participate a ton. private, not recorded behind the scenes, full immersion virtual event. We hope to see you there.

Speaker 1:

Please register next level nation. Tomorrow for episode number 1352 is going to be a heavy one. I'll preface that it will be heavy, but it's going to be valuable. Real talk is your partner holding you back. I'm excited for that one, even though I am definitely nervous. As always, we love you, appreciate you, grateful for each and every one of you, and at NLU we did not have fans, we have family. We will talk to you all tomorrow. Keep on learning next level nation.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for joining us for another episode of next level university. We love connecting with the next level family.

Speaker 2:

We mean it when we say family. If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly. Everything you need to get ahold of us is in the show notes.

Speaker 1:

Thank you again and we will talk to you tomorrow.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Alan Lazaros

Host
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Kevin Palmieri

Host