Next Level University

#1400 - 1 Of The Most Powerful Questions You Can Ask Yourself

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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Today hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros celebrate a significant milestone with the 1400th episode and take a journey down memory lane. They talk about their dedication to elevate the quality of their content and the reach of their voices. Through their resilience, constant learning, and growth, they've discovered how vital it is to continuously ask 'why.'

Curiosity can lead to innovation and resilience, and can also help build self-belief. As the hosts look back on their journey, they share poignant lessons and breakthroughs they've gathered along the way - episodes filled with heart, soul, and a whole lot of 'why.' Through asking the right questions and understanding their motivations, they've learned how to break through the walls of stuckness.

They're celebrating not just a podcast milestone but also the power of asking 'why' - a question that has shaped their lives and this podcast.

So join them in a toast to curiosity, resilience, and the power of deep conversations, and raise a glass to the next 1400 episodes.

Links mentioned:
Next Level Nation - https://www.facebook.com/groups/459320958216700
Book a FREE call with Alan: https://bit.ly/3Wr6clL 

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We love connecting with you guys! Reach out on LinkedIn, Instagram, or via email

Instagram 📷
Kevin: https://www.instagram.com/neverquitkid/
Alan: https://www.instagram.com/alazaros88/

LinkedIn ✍
Kevin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-palmieri-5b7736160/
Alan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanlazarosllc/

Email 💬
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Alan@nextleveluniverse.com

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Show notes:
[1:52] A brief history of Next Level University
[6:08] Most impactful question was, "why"
[13:03] John talks about his phenomenal experience working with Kevin and the Next Level Podcast Solutions team
[13:52] Alan talks about an opening scene from a movie about Thomas Edison
[15:02] Self-concept and identity
[17:50] Understanding yourself at a deeper level
[20:53] Keep asking why
[25:57] Outro

Send a text to Kevin and Alan!

Speaker 1:

1400 episodes, 1400 more. How many years is that? Every day, 1400 episodes? No, I know about 365, four, probably 3.89.

Speaker 2:

Why is that relevant? Why is I need this relevant? 3.8, nice job. 3.83, 3.84, technically why is that relevant? We just we started with one, we started. Hey, don't worry about it. Cheers, cheers, man. Here's to 1400, to the worst night of my life strong work. It's been a long day, though.

Speaker 1:

Seriously? Of course it is. I'm sick of it. I don't want to go home. Is this sink water?

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but sink water from the bathroom.

Speaker 2:

No, no, we have the thing filter. We have like a, really is it?

Speaker 1:

the thing. Yeah, it's harsh.

Speaker 2:

Kidding me For the production team. What's it of this? He's not grateful for his water. I'm grateful for my life.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, not, apparently not. We should do a quarter scoop.

Speaker 2:

Dude, you needed it straight up. Yeah, she did it for us. There's something else in there? No, there isn't.

Speaker 1:

you're at a good time, maybe an eighth scoop if I had to guess, just because I had it earlier, it's different. That's why that's okay, yeah it's probably need to go.

Speaker 2:

I'm in, I'm ready to figure it out. I'm gonna take off. All right, this camera is not gonna last for this episode. Let's do this, is it not gonna?

Speaker 1:

No, are you certain? Yes, 20 minutes. Here we go. 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, episode number 1,000. 399. Don't judge a book by its cover. Today, for episode number 1,400 1,400 episodes. What is this about? Okay, one of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself. When this podcast was created, it was created a story he's gonna be.

Speaker 2:

Can we tell the story? What story about how the podcast was created, real quick.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. Okay, I know the listeners have heard it before, but this is Okay, can I tell the story?

Speaker 2:

with you, but don't butcher it. Yeah, go, all right, interrupt if you have another perspective. Okay, kevin and myself. So I had a podcast called conversations change lives. I've already, jeff. What do you mean?

Speaker 1:

Right, the hyper conscious podcast was before that, son I.

Speaker 2:

No, no, no, no, no. You came on. Conversations Changed Lives.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, oh my god.

Speaker 2:

All right, one second. I had a podcast called Conversations Changed Lives. Remember the one with the helicopter?

Speaker 1:

Technically, all your quality was terrible. I hate to be this guy. It wasn't even a podcast.

Speaker 2:

It was a YouTube channel. All right, it was a YouTube channel, so I'm gonna make sure, but podcasts can start on YouTube.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but you were never on the podcast platforms. No, I know, I was gonna be, though Gonna be is don't produce no money, all right.

Speaker 2:

So we're silly. It's used to be is wanna be is gonna be, is an ought to be is Well, don't produce any money, gonna be is don't either. That's true, okay. So, anyways, I have a podcast called Conversations Changed Lives on YouTube, relax, all right. And the idea beneath it was okay, I have achieved many of my dreams and I wanna understand what really made the difference for me.

Speaker 2:

Why is the purpose of this episode? Why was I able to achieve so much? And honestly and this is hard to share, quite frankly, but I looked around in my mid twenties and after my car accident at 26, I looked around and I I just looked at life very differently. And I and I looked at some of my peers that I grew up with and I realized that I had achieved a lot of my dreams and they hadn't. And I asked myself, like, what made the difference? And I've been asking myself that ever since. But one of the things that I came up with that made the difference was great conversations.

Speaker 2:

I've always had deep conversations with really deep thinkers. I've had mentors in all my different roles, all different walks of life. We did an episode of mentors and I've had dozens mentors, coaches now I can say, therapist it's. I've always had deep conversations with people my entire life. That's one thing that's always been a through line. And so I was like, okay, let's create a podcast called Conversations Change Lives, cause they do, and you will have listeners and this is me talking to myself. I'll have listeners that are like a fly on the wall for powerful conversations so that they can have mentors, and I'll ask good questions and it'll be contemplation. What did you say earlier about contemplation? The contemplation nation? The contemplation nation is what I would have eventually had. But Kevin was my first guest on the Conversations Change Lives podcast A damn good one too, oh yeah.

Speaker 2:

Fitness mindset and he I went to the bathroom and he was talking to my co-host at the time and said what if you could do that for a living? So shout out to Andrew if you're listening. And Andrew said you can. And that was when the Hyper Conscious podcast was born. So Kevin bought his equipment and then he had me on as his first guest and then we did 15 episodes or so together as the Conversations Change Lives meets Hyper Conscious podcast, which is the worst podcast title in the history of podcast titles Not great, not great. So we are in the record books for that. I'm joking.

Speaker 2:

And after that we decided to go all in on Hyper Conscious Change the way you think, change the way you act and change the way you live. And if you look up Hyper Conscious in the dictionary the Hyper Conscious podcast, hyper Conscious you find acutely aware. If you Google Hyper Conscious, it'll say acutely aware, meaning super, super, super aware and aware of self, aware of the world, aware of how it works, why it works that way. And so this episode is a throwback to the Hyper Conscious days. Fast forward, fast forward, fast forward. Kevin and I started to grow, we started to have a team, we started to build a real business. And we eventually rebranded to next level university, leveling up your life, love, health and wealth, which is holistic self-improvement for dream chasers. And here we are, at 1,400 episodes, and it's been a hell of a journey and that is our story. That's how we got here.

Speaker 1:

Six out of ten, oh my god, I was waiting the whole time to say that I don't even. I had a moment where I was like I don't even know where I am right now. Yeah, no, it's been a long story, it's been a look up at the camera and I was like I don't even know where I am right now.

Speaker 2:

You're gonna need a little caffeine before we know before you drive home.

Speaker 1:

No, no, we're gonna be fine. I'm going to the gym. I know my music cranking. I'm gonna change my story.

Speaker 2:

I had a king of caffeine. Oh, that was gonna be your story.

Speaker 1:

I'm sorry. That was a good segue. One of the most Impactful things that has ever happened to me came from me asking myself why. So Alan and I went down to Florida and we were, I Believe we were down there a couple weeks or a month before we were gonna co-host an event with one and only Eddie Panera of your world within Eddie P. Eddie P and he had a condo down there and we were working out. We said, hey, eddie, we're we need to get a workout in today. All right, we're serious about our fitness. Do you want to work out with us? He's like, yeah, I'd love to. He said, actually, about Jim in my condo, you can come over here and work out. All right, awesome. So we go and work out and we kind of split up. We weren't really working out together. I think I was kind of working out by myself. You might have been working out with Eddie and I.

Speaker 1:

When I'm working out, I'm very confident. I've spent a lot of time in the gym 15, 16 years at this point, so I'm probably like a level 10 out of 10 confidence. I was in really good shape. You and I were very strong. We were very lean. We were crushing the fitness thing back.

Speaker 1:

Then we stop our workout and then we start talking about the event. We start talking about business, we start talking about money, numbers, and I remember I got super insecure to the point where, internally, just imagine Alan, myself and Eddie Panera sitting on the benches in in this gym there's nobody else there, it's kind of a small gym and we're talking about business and and internally my dialogue was very villainizing of you and Eddie and I remember thinking to myself I was like why am I villainizing them and why do I feel bad? I just felt so good with my workout and then all of a sudden I feel Insecure and I feel smarter, I feel less than what's going on here. Then I kept asking myself why, and I eventually got to the point where I I Caught myself and I said you're villainizing them because you're super insecure about not knowing enough in business.

Speaker 1:

That's why, why? Well, you haven't studied business as much? Okay, why? Because you didn't come from business backward. Okay, why, why, why? And that was another time in my life where I focused on learning, but that was all based on the fact that I asked myself why enough times to get there. That was one of the the first times where I really understood the importance of why and I share that on podcasts all the time, so I figured I don't know if I've ever shared that here.

Speaker 2:

No, I didn't know how. I mean, you've definitely shared that with me, that that moment was impactful for you, but not to that extent. That is why what, what would have happened had you not done that? I Wouldn't know.

Speaker 1:

That's why, yeah, if you didn't ask why what would have happened? I probably would have thought you were both Dingo's, dingo's.

Speaker 2:

Kind of said, even me it's a, it's a dog from no, no, no, no, no. I didn't go Jones, I don't know.

Speaker 1:

I just say Dingo is a funny I don't. I probably would have thought you you were both arrogant. More I thought I probably. I don't think it would have changed our relationship, but it yeah, I probably would have thought you were arrogant for knowing more than me.

Speaker 1:

I Think that's one of the mind it's been one of my keys to survival for for this long in business, and everything is is usually your reaction to somebody isn't always your reaction to them. It could be your reaction to the way they make you feel or your reaction to the questions they make you ask about yourself. Definitely and that's something again, when you brand yourself as hyper conscious and you are Curious about this type of stuff, I asked myself why a lot. I just don't know if I Ever really understood the importance of it. I was doing that for a long time. I just why do I go to the job I go to? To make money? Why have I traded my desire and basic human need of certainty and Freedom, like being able to do what I want when I want, for all of this money, like, why did I do that? I just I don't know if I really understood the importance of it, but it's definitely, it was definitely something I was practicing. Why has been I.

Speaker 2:

I always used to say this and I don't I understand now why it's probably not Gonna land, but I used to say this all the time in my early 20s. I said the person who understands how will always have a job. The person who understands why will always be their boss. It's a good quote and it's just like okay, if you have a leak in your house and you don't know why you can't fix it. If you have a leak in your consciousness and you don't know why you can't get better. I why is? My Childhood had a lot of different challenges and my therapist has been Very open about being blown away by what I've built in myself through much adversity, and she drew the conclusion that I've never seen the level of intellect that you have, with the level of drive that you have, and and she thinks that my intellect is what protected me from all of the challenges growing up, which which really was just like deductive reasoning, which is what we're talking about.

Speaker 2:

My favorite show, one of my favorite characters, is Sherlock Holmes, not because of his narcissism, not because of the obsessive, negative parts of it, but I'm very obsessive. If you listen to the show, you kind of know that. You know, you can't do 1400 episodes if you're not a little obsessive. But obsessive is a negative Term in most people's consciousness. I don't agree. I think obsessive can be really good if it's channeled for good. You know, some of the best innovations and some of the best Things in the world came through being obsessed with finding an answer, obsessed with finding a way, obsessed with innovating, obsessed with, you know, the bridge between.

Speaker 2:

Emilia has a quote downstairs, written on a whiteboard, about the Obsession and madness. Look the same, but they're not something like that. And so, anyways, to bring this full circle, why, in many ways, I Used to say this all the time curiosity may have killed the cat, but it made the man or the woman, it made the person, it made the human. Curiosity is how we Got here. You know, right now you're listening to us on YouTube or on Apple podcasts or on Spotify. You can be in any country in the world right now listening to us. And that's because someone was asking why can't we Connect through the oceans? Why can't we have internet? Why can't we have a telephone? Why can't we? And I want to share this as well. So I just watched a movie recently, a scene from a movie that was very powerful. There was a. It was a tribute to Thomas Edison and, regardless of whether or not you like Edison as a character, obviously Edison the light bulb Invented you know 10. I think it's 10,000 patents or something. Don't quote me on that. I haven't studied Edison a ton, but he is one of the best inventors in history and that's a fair statement.

Speaker 2:

There's an opening scene when the mother gets a letter. The boy is sitting in In a chair with a letter and it's from school and the boy is really sad and the mother comes over and is like what's going on? It's, it's Thomas Edison, the boy, little boy, and the mother's like what's going on? And reads and the boy thinks he's in trouble because basically he got kicked out of school. And the mother reads the letter and she sees the letter and you can tell the actress is like, oh, you know. But instead she says this school is not fit for the genius that your son is. The teachers are not equipped for a mind like his. And it fast forwards to when Thomas Edison is older and in his 70s or 80s or whatever, and he finds the letter and he realizes that it actually said he was kicked out of school because he was not smart enough not good enough, not?

Speaker 2:

Is that real? I honestly don't know, but it's super powerful. Let's just say it's real from the start.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

But what I do know is it was a very, very powerful scene of this idea of self-concept, this idea of identity. Were you told you're not smart enough, and then that became true because you thought it was true. Were you told you were a genius, and that became true because you thought it was true. And why? Why do you look the way you look, dress the way you dress, feel the way you feel? Why do you have the belief systems that you have? Are they real or are they made up? Where did you get them? Did you get them from your grandparents, your parents, your grandparents, grandparents? Why do you go to that church or wear that clothing or say that thing? Why do you watch those kinds of movies or whatever, read those kinds of books? Why is the unlock to all of your dreams. It's the unlock to all of who you are. It's the unlock to everything, and I like how to like how as well. I think how is important, but not nearly as important as why. Why this podcast? Why, now? Why did Kevin and I get here? Why did I partner up with Kevin, you know? Why not someone else? Why are we equipped to succeed in comparison to other podcasts? Why aren't we? So that we can mitigate those things. And yeah, you can ask forever, and to me, curiosity may have killed the cat, but it makes the human and that's a fact.

Speaker 2:

I am insatiably curious about why I always have been. If anyone on this other end of this mic or camera thinks that I'm intelligent, I'm telling you it is because I asked that question my whole life. I had to figure out why are these marriages so unhappy? Why do my mom and stepdad not get along? Why is this? What makes the difference? Why are some people so successful and some people not? Why are some people so fulfilled and some people not?

Speaker 2:

Why do books matter? Why does school matter? Why do some people make 10 times more money and other people don't? Why is the best thing in the entire world? Why do some people value cars so much and other people don't? Why do some people get to live on the beach and other people live in shacks? Why do some people not eat and why are some people homeless and other people aren't? I've been curious about that stuff my entire life. Kevin and I have masterminded for thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of hours too many today, quite frankly, and it's it. That's where you learn. Why is how you learn?

Speaker 1:

I mentioned this to you. I think I sent you an audio about this. Maybe we talked about it on the podcast, I don't know. I sent Alan an audio and I said, hey, I know why I value cars so much, because when I was younger, my mom valued cars and we used to. I used to know a car by its headlights. I knew the engine it had, I knew how fast it was, I knew everything about it, and that's the reason why it's just when you understand yourself at a deeper level, I think you understand everything else. But the only way to really understand it is to ask why. I really think I don't know.

Speaker 1:

If we get to a place where we don't, maybe we don't know we're going to find an answer. Maybe we don't want to know the answer, but I just think there's so much potential in that word and, if you're willing to sit with it, that's where all the cheat codes are. That's where all the cheat codes are. If you've ever seen us show up with a new camera or like with a new studio setting or new audio or whatever, it's because we said why? Why doesn't it sound like garbage? That's why I'm here today in the studio with Alan because we don't yet know why his laptop is making that noise.

Speaker 2:

We don't know, we think we do, we think it's Windows 11 and some sort of power efficiency mode with USB. But that took us. I mean, how many hours have we contemplated why?

Speaker 1:

A long time I don't know how many hours, but it's been but we kept asking why? Why is it not fixed? Why is it not fixed? If we tried this, what would happen? No, why not? It's very yeah, it's curiosity. I think there is something to that. I think there is something to people who are curious that ask why tend to get more answers than other people just because you might not even need to know that, you might not even need to know the lesson. It might be something completely disconnected from what you need to know. I was talking to somebody recently or talking about how one of my habits to learn for 30 minutes and I said it's not always self-improvement. Sometimes I'll learn. I learned recently about combustion engines.

Speaker 2:

It's like how does that all?

Speaker 1:

work. Why? Why does that work? And then I learned about how it's. They're trying to make electric planes, but they're very, very hard because batteries are so heavy that it's super hard for a plane to take off and for the power to be there. And I just kept asking why? And sometimes I feel like a geek, because I'm always trying to learn more and be curious, but that's one of my favorite things about me. Last thing, I'll say this just came to me Long before we were a quote unquote successful podcast shout out to Cope Daddy, who already got one shout out this episode.

Speaker 1:

But he said, hey, I have a group of friends that I think you'd really like. And I said, all right, cool. So we went down and met these friends and it was four young ladies and that night we stayed up until like three o'clock in the morning and I did a hyper conscious seminar and I was just so excited that people wanted to talk about deep stuff, like I did. But a lot of that was probably why. It was probably asking why, why? Why don't you think you can accomplish your dreams? Why don't you want to go back to school? Why don't you think you can find your dream partner?

Speaker 1:

And that was one of the one of the most pivotal conversations I had early on that I most likely will never forget. I mean, I definitely forget it in spurts. But yeah, the reason we are here and we get the opportunity and the privilege to talk to you every single day is because we asked ourselves why through every step of this, and we always tried to find an answer. There are many things we don't know the answer to yet, but if we keep asking why for the next 1400 episodes, I'm sure we'll come up with one or two answers?

Speaker 2:

Definitely. That's what this podcast is. Why do some people have the life of their dreams and others don't? Why are some people confident and other people aren't? Why do some people have high self-belief and other people don't? Why Do some people prefer Steady paychecks and other people want to take risks and live a life of freedom? Why do some people value family and other people value career? Why do some people achieve all their dreams and other people settle for less? Why, why, why, why, why? This podcast is all about why and how.

Speaker 2:

Why don't more people believe in themselves? And how do we build self-belief? And, by the way, if you don't answer the why first, you can't figure out the how. Why don't people believe in themselves? Well, they aren't self-assigning once they achieve things. One person is saying I'm gonna do this. They go do it, and then they self-assign it when they achieve it. That's building self-belief. That's how you build self-belief.

Speaker 2:

One person isn't self-assigning anything. Stumbling upon results, not self-assigning it, not determining in advance whether or not they want to do it. They don't believe in themselves. They don't set goals. When they don't set goals, they don't get proof. When they don't get proof, they don't build self-belief, which then rinse and repeat, they're stuck. Why are some people stuck and other people flourishing? How do you get unstuck? Everything is how and why. It's really who, what, when, where, why, but at the end of the day, hyperconscious podcast Conversations change lives. Next level University 1400 episodes that. That is what this is built on. Whether it's group coaching or one-on-one coaching, or the podcast or the next level planner that we're creating and we're announcing soon, it's all helping you ask and answer the tough questions that will give you the cheat codes to have the life of your dreams.

Speaker 1:

Strong work. Thank you, brother, congrats on you as well.

Speaker 1:

1400 another Nail on the structure, other nail in the structure, maybe another 10,000. For sure, of course, super grateful for each and every one of you. Again, it's I don't know, it's weird that this is our job and we get to do this every single day and we have listeners in 150 something countries and Top 100 podcasts and all that stuff. Super weird, very humbling. It's also very challenging. If you can't tell.

Speaker 1:

If you're watching me on YouTube, my eyes are basically closed because it's been a very long day still got an hour and a half drive home and an hour gym session.

Speaker 1:

But again, the the problems and Resistance that we have today is the problems and resistance I wished four or five years ago. I wished that we could be doing this full time so I could drive down to your house and try to figure out an audio issue. The end of the day, if, if I ever Lose sight of how blessed we are, ask myself why, like why, aren't you recognizing how grateful you should be for this amazing life? So I'm very grateful for each and every one of you. If you aren't in next level nation, now is a wonderful time to join maybe a 1400 episode celebration. You can hop in there and, I don't know, maybe we'll have some sort of celebration, but we're very grateful for you all and if you would like to join, we would love to have you there. A great place to be positive and find other like-minded people, and that's kind of what we have wanted to build in the beginning.

Speaker 2:

A Lot of what we've built is based on what we would have wanted or needed, so that is exactly what next elimination is if you want to know why your life is the way that it is and if you want to know how to change it, reach out. As Kevin has mentioned in the last couple episodes I've been doing, I want to start doing more. We've done a lot of listener calls. We've met a lot of listeners. I mean that's why we know and how we've found out what, who our listeners are. So our listeners are typically not always, but women in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s who struggle with courage, clarity and confidence, who want more fulfillment out of their life, their intimate relationship, their careers. But that's also evolved. That's evolved and we want to get to know you at a deeper level. We want to know what makes you tick, why it makes you tick, how to help you, and the only way we can do that is getting on the phone.

Speaker 2:

So I have a link to my calendar for a half an hour Every day from 10, from six days a week actually five days because we record on Mondays. So five days a week from 10 am To 7 pm. My calendar is open and Obviously there's a lot of spots taken, but please get on there as soon as possible. I will jump on zoom and We'll ask ourselves the tough questions and why aren't you chasing your dreams? What is keeping you stuck? Why are you stuck? Why do you feel stuck? Why aren't you more motivated?

Speaker 1:

and we will have some breakthroughs tomorrow we begin the Next hundred episode, march, with episode number 14401, 1401, 1401. I'm gonna figure out a sale that are you stuck in an old identity? Allen gave a teaser to this when he was talking about Book club in the run, the one mile run, but we'll go deeper in that episode, as always. Again, thank you so very much for all the love and the support. Couldn't do without you at NLU. We did not have fans. We have family. We will talk to you all tomorrow. Nice.

People on this episode

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Alan Lazaros

Host
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Kevin Palmieri

Host