Next Level University

#1409 - Is Your Social Media Serving You?

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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In this episode, hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros address the power dynamic between us and our digital feeds. They take you through evaluating and adapting our social media feeds, sharing valuable insights on pruning your digital environment. The goal is to turn your feeds into a space that aligns with your values and bolsters your personal growth. They also talk about how advertisements are designed to capture our attention, influence our choices, and shape our behavior without realizing it. But how conscious are we of these influences? They delve into this topic, urging you to be more selective about who you follow and what content you consume.

Links mentioned:
Next Level Monthly Meetup #20: "Is Your Mental Health Hindering Your Growth?" on August 10, 2023, 06:00PM EST - https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/monthly-meetups/
Next Level Blog - https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/next-level-blog/ 


______________________ 

Website 💻  http://www.nextleveluniverse.com   

The best way to track your habits is here! Download the app: Optimal - https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/optimal/   

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Any of these communities or resources are FREE to join and consume

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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 💬
Kevin@nextleveluniverse.com
Alan@nextleveluniverse.com

__________________


Show notes:
[2:15] Deciding to unfollow people
[7:12] What you focus on creates emotions
[10:48] Why you should pay to remove ads
[13:36] Eddie expresses his satisfaction with Alan's support in his and his business' growth through the Next Level Business Solutions
[14:16] Why there are no ads on the NLU podcast
[17:24] Would you be better off without it?
[20:34] 152 hours of scrolling on social media
[26:17] Outro

Send a text to Kevin and Alan!

Speaker 1:

Turn your lights. Turn them on. Jeffrey, you got me like I am. Come on now. Come on now. Come on now. Whoa.

Speaker 2:

Mm.

Speaker 1:

Okay, he says okay.

Speaker 2:

Okay, that's what he says. Yeah, I can see it on the on audacity when I breathe.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you hear that that's a mean nose whistle. I could write a song to that.

Speaker 2:

To get too much. Yeah well, that was also right up on the mic, so I can. I can try to come a little farther off it.

Speaker 1:

Come a little farther off it and stop breathing into the mind.

Speaker 2:

Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello.

Speaker 1:

Mouth noises over there too, huh I.

Speaker 2:

Would say we're good you ready?

Speaker 1:

I've been ready, son. I've been here the whole time ready, ready to roll, ready to do it.

Speaker 2:

Correct. Mike fan offs that he camera focus audio test big idea.

Speaker 1:

You have to revisit your social media, like you do your friend group, that's mine.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, we're good on this.

Speaker 1:

This is good plug Alan's free call for me.

Speaker 2:

Someone down with the course. I saw that, yeah, gene Hardy, you know who that is. I don't know what's. Some good listeners coming.

Speaker 1:

Jeffrey, you got me like I go, what do you? What are you looking at the old biz model over there?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I got a tattered on me, so I never forget it. You don't.

Speaker 1:

You'll be small. Okay, this model, that's cute. That's cute little business you got there.

Speaker 2:

It's a good one.

Speaker 1:

I don't know what I got for a sleep score cuz my or ring died man. You believe that?

Speaker 2:

I'm plug the blog. Okay, let's do it. We're doing it, here we go.

Speaker 1:

There 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. It was episode number 1408. What do your love languages say about you? Today? For episode number 1409, happy Wednesday. Is your social media serving you?

Speaker 1:

Alan asked me at the beginning of this. He said what is your big idea? And I said, simply, we should revisit our social media feeds as often and as seriously as we revisit our friend circles, our friend groups, the circle that we surround ourselves with, because if you're evolving and you're growing and you're changing and you're Getting rid of limiting beliefs and you're learning more and you're valuing yourself at a deeper level, odds are. The things on social media Probably are either becoming more aligned or less aligned. So Alan and I have been doing this not because of each other, I don't think.

Speaker 1:

I think we're just in the same season of this where, when I'm on social media and I'm on my feed Every time, I see something that makes me say why do I even follow that person in the first place? I just unfollow them. And that originally stemmed from me. In the beginning I was following a lot of entrepreneurs because we were not, we were entrepreneurs and In the beginning we wanted to have guests on and I'd follow a lot of people and try to figure out, okay, who would be a good guest, and and all of that stuff. And over the course of the next couple years, a lot of people. I just would hear their advice and I would say that is not it for me. I don't, I don't want to take that advice.

Speaker 1:

Honestly, it frustrates me when I see this person's advice. I'm not saying their advice is bad or it's wrong, it's just not for me and it would frustrate me. There's no reason for me to get get frustrated based on the content that I'm seeing. So I said you know what? It's probably just better that I just unfollow this person. We're not having people on the show anymore. I don't resonate with the content it's, if anything, it's going to trigger me. So I started going on this journey for lack of a better phrase where Every day I tend to unfollow at least a couple people.

Speaker 1:

If I'm on social media, I do this on Facebook all the time. On Facebook there is a button when if you Click on somebody's profile, I think, or if you hover over a post that they put up, there's three dots in the top right. You click the three dots and you can. I think it's not snooze that person, but it's hide. Yeah, you stop seeing their posts, but you remain friends.

Speaker 1:

I do that all the time because there's just a lot of ignorant stuff I see where. I don't want to. I don't want to see it. I don't want to see certain things. It just it takes me off track and I don't. I just don't need the distraction.

Speaker 1:

That has been very, very, very helpful for me, not just from a place of my attention, but also the fact that it doesn't take me down rabbit holes. I don't really need to see somebody who we interviewed five years ago that wasn't aligned at the time. I don't really need to see what they're up to, because if I didn't follow them this is really the the thought process if I didn't follow them because I thought their content was going to be valuable and or good for me, why am I still following them? I know, when I was younger, I I'm sure I followed every Victoria's secret model on the planet because that's I didn't have any other reason for being on social media. And as I've grown and evolved and all of that, I've tried to limit that type of stuff.

Speaker 1:

Now, in ways, I feel like that's gotten a lot worse on social media. But that just speaks to the importance of making sure that your Social media is truly serving you, because we spend a lot of time looking into other people's lives and At least it can be people's lives who you respect and you aspire towards and you Feel are most aligned for you. That is what I would say Kev. What's an example of a profile?

Speaker 2:

on social media where, in hindsight, we'll say you've been following this person for lack of better phrasing in the online digital world for at least three years and, in hindsight, this profile has really Helped you create a better life. Hmm, oh.

Speaker 1:

Jones. We were lucky enough to interview him I don't know how long ago, but he's a very successful entrepreneur. He's written many books. I actually just downloaded two more of his books Very, very quality, very aligned content that I have always really resonated with.

Speaker 2:

Okay, phil M Jones. All right, so what we just did there I want to encourage all of our listeners to do and I do this with clients all the time Go into the future. Go into the future one year from today, look back at the year and think of one profile that really did benefit you. It helped you become better. It helped your life become better. You also mentioned Squat University all the time.

Speaker 1:

Squat University yeah, it's one of the. I recommended that to a buddy recently. They said, oh, I'm going through some injuries and I said I would go follow Squat University. It is literally the best page for physical therapy I've ever. I bought a book that was like $60 just because I believed so much in that profile and the person behind it. So yeah, squat University not getting paid for that. Just very clearly, it's been valuable to me in my life.

Speaker 2:

That's great, it's awesome.

Speaker 2:

Okay so everyone out there listening, look back, go into the future a year, look back on the year. Each profile really did help you improve yourself and improve your life. I hope NLU is one of them. I hope Kevin and I is one of them, if it's not, unfollow us. Our goal on social media is to inspire, to motivate, to educate and to help you stay accountable. Our goal is to add value. Kevin was on Book Club. We do polls on Book Club all the time.

Speaker 2:

In the book how Emotions Are Made, lisa Feldman Barrett was talking about consciousness and how what you put your focus on creates the emotions. What you focus on dictates how you feel. How you feel dictates what you do. What you do dictates the quality of your life, type of thing. We've all heard that before and in the middle of Book Club I said I'm loving it and I said who here knows what I'm talking about? Every hand went up. I think there's like 13 people. One person's hand didn't go up, so shout out to Brenda if she's there, if she's listening, or other. She's from New Zealand. She had never heard that commercial.

Speaker 2:

Now, for those of you listening, if there's anyone out there who does not know that that was a McDonald's little thing. I'm loving it. Now, the point that I'm trying to make here is that our attention, our focus, we are being conditioned 24, seven, 365. We are. Our attention is being pulled at you. Hearing is not good for you. It's good for McDonald's. Now, I'm not talking about a moral debate or an ethical debate or anything like that. I like McDonald's. I eat McFlurries. Okay, full transparency. Love McFlurries, always have.

Speaker 2:

What I am saying is that in the middle of my day, if I'm in the car listening to the radio and I hear ba da, ba, ba ba, I am more likely to go to McDonald's. That is a fact, and if you think otherwise, you are naive to your own cognitive biases. So here's my point If you're scrolling on social media, which you're going to do all of us have to wake up. We are going to use social media for the rest of our lives. All of us are, unless you delete all the apps. If you delete all the apps and you don't want to use social media, go ahead. I'm going to use it. I know I'm going to use it.

Speaker 2:

So I have to be more careful with who I follow, and so I've been doing the same thing Kevin is doing and I've been asking myself a simple question Is this a member of our community? Is this a listener? Is this someone that I get value from? And if it's not at least one of those three boxes, it is an unvallow for me. And the real reason why is because If I allow my attention to go on to person's, places, things and ideas that are not helpful, it's going to derail me. It is going to derail me and I can't afford that, and I hope that you feel the same way.

Speaker 2:

What, what you focus on, is going to determine the direction you head. You know, if you're focused on your fitness goals, you're going to be better in fitness. If you focus on your financial goals, you're going to be better at finance. If you focus on NLU, you're hopefully going to improve holistically health, wealth, life and love. If you focus on the next upcoming movie, you're going to most likely end up going to the movies this weekend, and that's what we're talking about here.

Speaker 1:

I am actually going to the movies this week. What do you see? Believe it or not? There's a movie called Oppenheimer. Have you heard anything about that?

Speaker 2:

Nope, it's about I also want to clarify yeah, I couldn't have possibly heard about it because I'm like very, very, very strict with not ever hearing advertisements, so I pay one time.

Speaker 1:

I'll be quick about this and then I want to hear you talk.

Speaker 2:

I remember one time we were doing our Instapot Love, instapot right, and we were trying to figure out how to work this thing. It's like a little space station, right, and Emilia pulls up YouTube how to work the Instapot Ad. I was like sweetheart, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. She's like, yeah, I was like I don't care if it's five seconds.

Speaker 2:

You pay for YouTube. Now, sweetheart, you can't have someone taking your consciousness. I don't want to think about some app right now. We're trying to. So the point I'm trying to make here is do not like pay for YouTube. Like, make sure you pay for no ads. Advertisements derail you Sometimes. They derail you in the direction of your dreams, which are mid-trodile, our mid-trodes, hopefully, are doing. But at the same time, remember everyone's trying to grab at your attention, including us. Be very, very careful. Ok, go ahead. Kev, what are you going to say about that movie?

Speaker 1:

I also because of Alan. Early on I got YouTube. Whatever it is premium, whatever it is, it's like 10 bucks a month. But yeah, I can't imagine going back to ads and I primarily watch YouTube. That's what I. A lot of the content I consume is YouTube I don't really watch a lot of. I have YouTube TV but I don't watch it often. Ufcs on ESPN Plus and there are commercials on that sometimes, which sucks. But when I watch the replay, I just fast forwarded the room, so I'm not very conscious of yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't watch a lot.

Speaker 1:

I actually heard heard about it from several people, several friends. Actually it's a movie about the guy who created the atom bomb and it kind of profiles his life and, yeah, that's so Tara and I are doing a date night on Thursday. We want to be better about having date nights during the week, so we're going to go on Thursday. Let me know, I will let you know. It's probably. It's Christopher Nolan, the guy who directed Batman, for, for those of you who are out there, the last three, he's the one who directed. It's supposed to be one of the best this is a long time.

Speaker 1:

So, yes, I don't remember what I was going to say about. Oh, I also do this on YouTube. I do because YouTube runs on every. Every social media platform runs on an algorithm. Basically, if you consume this type of content, we're going to show you more. So, if you watch luxury house tours, you're going to see more luxury house tours. If you watch comedy shows, you're going to see more comedy shows, and they're going to suggest people to you who are in the same category.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes I'll watch. I've been watching a lot of behind the scenes of movies and that feeds into like behind the scenes of music and behind the scenes of other things. And then it got to like behind the scenes of reality TV and I was like, no, I don't want to watch that. I love to learn about directing and the behind the scenes of smash mouth as a video I watched the other day. It was very interesting, but I don't want to know about the Kardashians. I don't not interested in that. So there again, there's three dots. Three dots show less of this. Or don't show me this profile or, wherever it is, don't show me this channel. I'm doing that all the time, constantly with posts, with people, with channels, because at the end of it with email.

Speaker 1:

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I unsubscribe from a lot of emails.

Speaker 2:

Yep, please don't unsubscribe from our mailing list. No, I'm kidding. If it hasn't added value, you should unsubscribe. That is my belief.

Speaker 1:

I concur. One of the somebody asked me this the other day. I was on a podcast breakthrough session and they're, like you guys do ads and sponsorships and stuff and I say, no, we will never. I'm not interested in whoever it is coming and saying we're going to give you X amount of dollars, because I don't. That's not what I want the show to be about. I would rather talk about programs, products and services that we have created, that we created from. How do we help our specific audience in this unique way? That's always been the belief we've had.

Speaker 2:

And I remember the beginning of this episode, brought to you by, brought to you by the next biggest number one movie in America and W zero sugar root beer. Yes, diet root beer Join us next week for root beer episode number 74, root beer float.

Speaker 1:

I could go for it right now.

Speaker 2:

I remember saying that Can you imagine, man I?

Speaker 1:

would love a root beer float right now.

Speaker 2:

No, no, no, just our show with all the ads.

Speaker 1:

I can't imagine it. I try to listen to a podcast recently, yeah, yeah, a lot of people.

Speaker 2:

It was like sex, sex, wow Six minutes of ads.

Speaker 1:

I wonder where my head's been at it was.

Speaker 2:

it was like six minutes of ads in the whole beginning and I was like, wow, I cannot listen to these other shows.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot, but I don't know, maybe I'm sure they do understand this at that level, but a lot of people are thinking about the money and again they do them. That's, that's all. That's all up to them. I just I try to opt out of as much as of much. I try to opt out from as much of that as possible. Wow.

Speaker 2:

I think we have some people hitting on subscribe on our podcast, Probably probably Because you and I can't talk. That's a tough sentence.

Speaker 1:

That would be my next level nugget for this episode is that next time you're on social media when something you see makes you feel some type away, say, do I want more of this or less of this? That's question one. Number two is this actually what's best for me? I know a lot of typically I know a lot of men that do this, where they follow just a bunch of like supermodel accounts or porn star accounts or whatever it is. Again, you do you no judgment. I'm just suggesting that it's probably not what's best for you. Social media is a very interesting thing where it takes things from all over the place that you might only visit on certain times or certain seasons of life or when you're making certain decisions, and it puts them all into the same place. It's like the grocery store of content, where if you go to the grocery store, there's going to be opportunity for you to get mozzarella.

Speaker 2:

Ice cream.

Speaker 1:

Ice cream, everything, everything.

Speaker 2:

And you never go hungry. You can't go hungry. You can't go to the grocery store hungry. And we're doing that on social media.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, every day we're doing that on social media. When you go to the grocery store, we probably all have a very similar thought of I'm going to get this, this, this and this. And then you see deep pride, oreo Interesting. Never thought of that before. Let me take a gander, see what that's all about. Or fudge, dip the Oreo, whatever it is. I really think of social media the same way, where everything is accessible, more accessible than it's ever been, and a lot of it is going on social media. And then from there you get pulled down rabbit hole. Nugget, does it serve you, does it feed you or bleed you? That's one. And if you had to be very, very, very honest with yourself, even if you say, well, it's not that big of a deal, would you be better off without it? That would be my question.

Speaker 2:

So very brief story here. Emilia and I were on an adventure this Sunday. We were in Douglas State Park waterfall. It's awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome. On the way home we saw for some reason there was a bunch of ducks, little baby ducks and a big duck, and then, like three cats, I only saw two of them. So two little little kittens, tiny little, cutest little thing. Emilia gets out and these are just random cats. We end up saving, at least in our own consciousness, saving one of these little kittens, and it's actually in my bathroom now and it's all set up with its little cat food and all that.

Speaker 2:

So I end up going to Hannahfords yesterday to get cat food and cat milk for this little kitten that we're bringing to a person who's going to bring them to a good home. And so I go into the grocery store for kitten food. I only have one thing on my list What'd you come home with? Oh, my goodness, full basket of food. Snacks, snacks, doritos, halo top. What kind of Doritos, nacho cheese Never had the purple kind.

Speaker 2:

I saw them. I saw them, I thought about it, I thought about it, but I came out with a bunch of stuff. Now, who here has ever done that, where you go in for one thing and then you end up with a bunch of stuff? You spent money, extra money with extra snacks, and we have snacks, so we don't need. We didn't need more snacks, although the Halo tops that I got they don't sell at Walmart, which is where I normally grocery shop online, so there was some benefit. Here's my point. And Halo top also has great macros and it's delicious. This episode sponsored by Halo top and all the other things we've shouted out.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

Here's my point to Kevin's point. Going on social media is like that. You're going on social media to post content, or you're going on social media to see look up someone that you haven't seen in a while, or to DM somebody that you need to get a hold of, and then you end up coming out with a basket full of stuff, spending money you didn't have. That kind of thing happens all the time. You see an ad all of a sudden you're buying something. All of a sudden, 30 minutes go by. Last thing promise, kev, you've. You know I'm a numbers guy. I've done this a thousand times. I really think this is important for our listeners. If you go on Facebook for five minutes a day, five times a day which I do, I probably go on Facebook five times a day for five minutes, see Most days. Okay, if you're like me and Kevin and you're on social media for at least five minutes a day, five times a day, that's 25 minutes. How many hours a year is that, kev?

Speaker 1:

I've heard you say it many times, so I could do the math right now. Maybe probably not, because my so 25 times seven 25, 50, 75, a dollar, $1, $25, $1, $50, $1, 75. So that'd be 175 minutes, which would be just short of three hours. So three hours a week times 52, 160 hours a year.

Speaker 2:

Okay, nicely done.

Speaker 1:

Which is, which is, which is, which is. Oh, you're going to do like eight hours, 16 hour days.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, okay, okay, you did a great job there.

Speaker 1:

So it comes up to 152 hours total.

Speaker 2:

So, 25 minutes a day times 365 is 152 hours, okay, which, if you divide it by 16 hour days assuming you're sleeping eight, which we're going to talk about this week comes to nine and a half days. You spent nine and a half days a year date. I'm talking from morning to night, I know. Morning to night. The aggressive burp every now and then.

Speaker 2:

From morning to night, 16 hours straight. Imagine if you had a friend who was like I'm taking the next nine and a half days off and from morning to night they were just scrolling. You would literally be like no, no, no, are you okay? Is everything okay? We need to get you help. But yet we're all doing that and it's totally normal Every year. Nine and a half days.

Speaker 2:

if you're gonna do that, like we're doing, at least follow accounts and people that add value, and there are accounts squat university, that kind of stuff, and now you hopefully falls in that category. That's our goal. I don't ever like to post anything that isn't inspiring or motivating or something positive, something that is either positive or constructive. I try to post everything that's constructive, motivating especially, but that's my thesis. 16 hour days, 10 days a year, we're all just mindlessly scrolling and at very least we can cherry pick what we're seeing.

Speaker 1:

Math. It's important, it is. It breaks it down, it makes it very logical. Makes it very logical Next, elvination If you are looking to surround yourself with positive people, places, things, ideas, feelings, emotions, influences.

Speaker 1:

Alan has been doing this free 30 minute call thing for the last couple. Well, last week, two weeks, and a lot of people have. It's been quite a success. We were very grateful for all the people who have reached out and booked. If you still want to do that, it is still open.

Speaker 1:

We will have his link in the show notes. Again, it's a free 30 minute call. You can bring questions, you can bring feedback from the podcast, whatever it is. We just want to make sure that we are connecting with the next level, you family, because that is what makes all of this possible and we do not ever want to forget that. So link is in the show notes book a call and chat with the less funny of us. It's gonna say less intelligent of us, but we all know that's true as well. That would have been funny, yeah, I guess, but everybody listening probably doesn't. They probably know I'm smarter. They probably do think that, probably know that, if you can't tell by all my awards in the background, of course Also, somebody reached out and they said that they liked our in-person setup and I was like I know I liked our in-person setup too, yeah.

Speaker 1:

They said it feels more. They said it on YouTube. I don't remember the exact verbiage, but it felt more calm, which I can understand because I was in a daze for most of the day.

Speaker 2:

So maybe we need to bring some calmer energy. Yeah, I think so.

Speaker 1:

So I just want to share that Shout out to you if you're watching.

Speaker 2:

Fair assessment. It's a fair assessment. I have something to say Go ahead and say it.

Speaker 2:

What was it? Oh, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, sure, okay, if you are feeling you know, summertime directionless, am I really making progress, if you're feeling uncertain about where you're headed, the next level blog is designed to take the most powerful concepts that Kevin and I deploy in coaching and break them down in a simple way. These episodes are concepts. The difference between the episodes and the blog is that the blog is going to take you through step-by-step process on the how-to. Every single blog we have seven of them is how-to. So we talk a lot about, we philosophize a lot on the show. This is gonna be a how-to, step-by-step process. The one that I would recommend is how to streamline your dreams. It's a three-step process where you're going to set goals and milestones that roll up towards your dreams, and it's broken down way more beautifully than I can possibly articulate here. Click the link in the show notes to check that out and let me know what you think. How much is it cost? Free, it's $3.99. $3.99. It is free $3.99.

Speaker 1:

Free $9.99. Tomorrow for episode number 1,410. Another three words, so it is free. This episode is three words that put everything into perspective. The three words are not. It is free. I heard them in a book recently, attached to another story, and I thought you know what this would make a very, very hyper-conscious episode. I'm not gonna tell you what the three words are. You have to tune in. I know it's a hook, I know it's a cliffhanger, but I gotta do it. I gotta do it and that's gonna be our episode for tomorrow.

Speaker 2:

Perfect.

Speaker 1:

Excuse me, I said perfect, it is perfect, thank you, I made so. I made it such as always. We love you, we appreciate you, grateful for each and every one of you, and at NLU, we did it on a fans. We have family. We'll talk to you all tomorrow.

Speaker 2:

Keep on following the wrong people on social media. Next level nation.

Speaker 1:

I knew it. The second you took a breath. I knew we were in trouble.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Alan Lazaros

Host
Head Shot

Kevin Palmieri

Host