Next Level University
Confidence, mindset, relationships, limiting beliefs, family, goals, consistency, self-worth, and success are at the core of hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros' heart-driven, no-nonsense approach to holistic self-improvement. This transformative, 7 day per week podcast is focused on helping dream chasers who have been struggling to achieve their goals and are seeking community, consistency and answers. If you've ever asked yourself "How do I get to the next level in my life", we're here for you!
Our goal at NLU is to help you uncover the habits to build unshakable confidence, cultivate a powerful mindset, nurture meaningful relationships, overcome limiting beliefs, create an amazing family life, set and achieve transformative goals, embrace consistency, recognize your self-worth, and ultimately create the fulfillment and success you desire. Let's level up your health, wealth and love!
Next Level University
#1476 - Another Reason Your Goals Are So Important
In this episode, hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros talk about the importance of setting goals and stepping outside our comfort zones. They touch on the concept of fixed and growth mindsets and argue that having a fixed mindset can prevent us from setting goals, and how having evidence of our accomplishments can reinforce our beliefs. They also discuss the importance of vulnerability and courage in striving to reach our goals. They advocate for a growth mindset, where challenges are seen as opportunities for learning and growth.
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Show notes:
[4:09] Goals force growth
[7:21] Belief
[11:06] Going out of your comfort zone
[15:28] Chad shares how Next Level Podcast Solutions transformed his podcast and provided invaluable assistance along the way
[16:03] Talking about the kind of goals to set
[20:30] A mission or purpose forces you to learn
[24:20] Growth behind the scenes
[28:59] Outro
Next level nation. Welcome back to another episode of next level University, where we help you level up your life, your love, your health and your wealth. We hope you enjoyed our latest episode. It was episode number 1475. A little NLU on a Saturday how to set your money goal.
Speaker 1:Today for episode number 1476, we're gonna talk more about goals, another reason your goals are so important as of today, next level podcast solutions has 52 or 53 clients and somebody on the team messaged me and asked a Question today. They said you seemed a little off on one of the meetings. I just want to make sure we're good. And I said no, no, we're great, I'm just. There's a lock on on behind the scenes and things are really happening. Things are growing, things are evolving and I don't know how we got here.
Speaker 1:But that takes me back to the first ever client, the first ever podcast client I ever worked with. One of our mentors at the time reached out to me and For some reason I was getting a massage. I was so broke I shouldn't have been getting a massage. I have no idea why I was my back was probably jacked up or something but I remember walking out after my massage and I had a voicemail from one of our mentors and he said hey, there's someone I know who wants to start a podcast. And I was like cool, that's, that's cool. Awesome, what do you? Why? Why are you telling me this? And he said you should produce the show.
Speaker 1:And I was like, okay, I don't, I don't think so. You know, I don't, I don't really think so. It's a great idea in theory, but in practice I don't know if that's possible. So I end up connecting with this gentleman and this gentleman was the CEO of a financial firm and he's like yeah, come into my office and we'll discuss. And I was like, okay. And I'm sure I texted Alan and said hey, man, what does this mean? What do I? What's happening? What do I do here?
Speaker 1:So I put on the finest khakis that I had, probably a button-up that didn't fit me, and and I proceeded to, to drive 45 minutes to this, this guy's Headquarters, and he comes down in a suit and I was like, oh my goodness, we are in trouble. So we had a conversation and he decided not to move forward with the podcast. That day. We ended up setting up another meeting. I drove another 45 minutes out to his office building. Same thing. We talked and then I left Nothing, don't know what's gonna happen. I went back one more time and he invited me up to his office and I was like, well, this is cool, this is really happening, this is wild. And he said how much does it cost for what I'm looking for? And I gave him the price and he said it cool, venmo cash credit card, how do you want it check? And I said, whatever, dude, anything. So I remember leaving his office after the handshake and I've gotten the elevator and I was taking the elevator down to the parking garage and I remember I texted Tara and I said, babe, we did it because that was the first, that was the first inkling of real money that I had made as a business owner. Right, so that was, that was a very, very big day for me. We crossed the chasm in that moment.
Speaker 1:The reason I go to that story is I never would have done any of those things. I never would have. I never would have tried to produce somebody else's podcast long before I ever felt capable. I never would have gone to meet the CEO of a company. I would never have dressed up and had a business meeting with this individual, somebody who I'd never met before and I didn't know who they were, and I never would have gone back three times and then I ended up going to this guy's house to set up his equipment. I never would have done any of that if my goals didn't force me to get outside of my comfort zone. And that's what we're talking about today.
Speaker 1:Another reason your goals are so important they force growth. They force you to do things differently than you may normally have done them. I Never would have done any of those things. I had no reason to. It didn't make it, wouldn't make any logical sense. But the second you set a goal, you have a new destination, and the second you have a new destination, your journey becomes completely different. The left turn turns into a right turn. The right turn turns into going straight for longer, whatever it may be. That's what we're talking about here today.
Speaker 1:I think we all fundamentally understand that goals are important, but there are layers. Goals are important because you must become the type of person who is capable of Achieving and holding on to and maintaining those goals. That's one. You must become the type of person who's capable. But the second thing is you're gonna do things that you never would have done before and that's gonna teach you about other stuff that you've never done before. So it's almost like the goal. The goal is the destination, and that's great, but the journey is where you learn about yourself, it's where you grow, it's where you evolve. It's where you also can figure out whether or not you want to change the destination. You can change the goal. So we're talking about goals today.
Speaker 2:I any long-term listener of the show knows that I adore talking about goals Big fan of talking about achievement, and I think that achievement is super, super important and I think there's a lot of reasons for that. But first I want to turn it to you, kev. So first of all, perfect story for this.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it Because a lot of those things, yeah, you would never have done if you didn't have a financial goal. I didn't want to do them and, by the way, the goal back then was find a way to make enough money to keep doing the podcast.
Speaker 1:It was stay afloat, stay afloat, right?
Speaker 2:It wasn't any crazy goal.
Speaker 1:No, no, I need to find out how to pay the $500 in rent by the end of the month. It was like, okay, this person wants to sign up for a $1,200 a month package. That's two months of rent.
Speaker 2:Hell yeah.
Speaker 2:Nice when we say big things start small. Now we have an 18 person team. Now we have I have 22 clients, Kevin has 52. We have listeners all over the world, hundreds of thousands of listens. You know a thousand plus episodes. But remember, at one point Kevin's goal was to pay rent. Yes, I think it's important to just remember big things do start small, and it's easy to lose sight of that. It really is Okay. So what I want to do is turn it to you real quick, because I again, I've always been very goal oriented, even when I was a little kid, as someone who wasn't. What are the reasons why goals are so important? Like, let's unpack some of the layers.
Speaker 1:One of the hardest things about goals is, I think it comes down to belief. Again. If if you weren't in my life in the way you were in my life, I probably wouldn't have taken that shot. I probably would have said, ah, there's no way I'm going to be able to figure this out. So I borrowed your belief. I'm sure I said, hey, you know, ceos, you're going to be a CEO. You wanted to be a CEO of very large companies. How does this person think? What do I do? I roll in there and make jokes, just be myself. And you were probably like, absolutely not, do not be yourself, be someone completely different than you are.
Speaker 1:It's like okay well, let's, let's start there. Obviously, I'm joking. The belief aspect, I think, is always important to touch on, because that was a very, very challenging thing for me to do, but I was under so much pressure and I had so much necessity that I was willing to go that far outside of my comfort zone.
Speaker 2:That's one thing. At that stage I had already been around a lot of CEOs because I was selling industrial automation equipment into manufacturing facilities for a company called Cognac's, and I remember I used to have to sell to CEOs regularly of very, very large companies. So I had already been exposed to these people for so long that it I already kind of knew that they're just people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, but back then, what did you think of when CEO of his own financial firm? What did that?
Speaker 1:mean to you oh my gosh, not a chance. We don't belong in the same room together, no way. Yeah, when you think he's going to eat me alive, was my thought. Yeah, what do I? Probably thought You're going into a shark tank.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, very good and you know that that show actually makes it. They call that show shark tank. That's not how that's fair, that's not how people actually are. I mean people aren't.
Speaker 1:They're mean on that show, kind of you know, uh, yeah, that's your team it doesn't do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, it's entertaining and don't get me wrong, I mean you need tough feedback. I bet you. I bet you some people think my coaching's like that. Probably. I never really made that connection until this moment, so, but anyways. So okay, what do you think now? Because here's the cool thing You've been on both sides of the table, you know what you used to think. I never once thought that. I never thought I was never intimidated by him. And I'm not trying to be unkind Like John's great, I'm a big fan, but he's just a guy, you know. Uh, but as someone who was intimidated by him, what do you believe now?
Speaker 1:Further along, just a lot further along, and really good at a lot of the things he does, but there's no reason I can't get to that level. That probably doesn't track as many habits as the kid definitely doesn't, right, most likely. So, yeah, no, now it's like you said, it's just, it's an, it's a person, you're just a person, or all just people. They're all just people, with all of our learned experiences stacked over time and that usually gets us the results that we have. So, yeah, just just a person, great person, awesome person, smart person, great speaker, great podcaster, definitely great business owner. Yeah, the character is really what Inspired me the most, because he's just a really, really good man at the end of the day. Yeah, but that I never would have done any that. I never would have done any that.
Speaker 1:So, going back to, okay, base level, why you're? Why didn't I set and what didn't I understand about goals when I was younger? I didn't believe I could actually achieve them. That was one. So there's no point in setting a goal that you don't think you can achieve in my mind, when you have fixed mindset. It doesn't. It doesn't really work that way. I only wanted the result. But there were places. Bodybuilding is a good example. I went way outside of my comfort zone To do bodybuilding. I did a photo shoot in my in my underwear, which was weird for me. I don't know if it was weird for you when you first started, but it's a little bit strange. I'm on a beach and they're like do you have any other shorts? And I said no, just my, just my compression shorts. And they're like, okay, and I was out. Whatever, it's all good, don't worry about it.
Speaker 2:Whatever, it's not that big of a deal. Yeah, it's definitely uncomfortable.
Speaker 1:But you'd never face that discomfort if you didn't want to be a fitness model. You. It's almost like, yeah, your goals are going to dictate what you have to get comfortable with. If you want to be a world-class, if you want to be a podcaster, you're gonna have to get comfortable with hearing your own voice at some point.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:I was talking to a potential new client the other day and they said I don't listen my podcasts ever and I said you probably should and I said I know it sucks. I know it sucks, but if you want to improve, if the goal is improvement, the necessary action is reviewing your show. If the goal for you is Becoming financially free, that's gonna force you outside of your comfort zone, maybe to read a book that you would never read. Maybe it's to look at your bank account more often than you would. Maybe it's to not Get take out as much. Maybe it's to not shop as much, not order UFC as much like I do. That it's go. It creates opportunities for you to focus on things that might normally go unseen and I just never understood that.
Speaker 2:I had a client who reached out to me today, yesterday, yesterday and I'll read this Because I just connected that this is what she's going through and growing through right now as well. I had a thought last night, rushing from one thing to another. I have this deep-rooted identity belief that I can only do things that are urgent and I can't shake it. Plus, I have a huge amount of evidence that I can always accomplish it. So I think that is another reason I don't have goals stay in my comfort zone.
Speaker 2:I have this reinforcing belief that I will put things off till it's urgent, and so I can't do big things hmm, that's a little bit more layered, but essentially, if this person this person I'm talking about, by the way is unbelievable, brilliant, I Mean she's just so smart. I've told her this and if she's listening, I've said you, you have to set bigger goals that force you outside your comfort zone. You have to your, your your way too capable for the way you're living right now. You're smarter than you need to be. You're more capable than you need to be. You're harder working than you need to be. The difference between her and me is I'm not smart enough yet. I'm not hard working enough yet. I'm not dialed in enough yet. I Audioed my. I have two groups and what's up. One is for the whole NLU team and the other one is for all of my coaching clients, and I sent an audio to each of them. Today I call it CVC courageous, vulnerable communication. I said listen, I'm so behind, I Haven't figured out how to play at this new level yet. I'm gonna take this weekend Emilia's traveling to to redesign, reassess, figure out how to play at this level. I I'm in your corner still. I just know I haven't felt like I have been lately. It hasn't felt like I have been lately because I've been behind on what's up. I've been behind on Instagram DMs. I've been behind on messages. I've been behind on emails. I've been. I've been slowly falling behind and I'm gonna figure it out. I'm gonna get better, I'm gonna re figure it out. I'm gonna. I'm gonna find a way to retool, retrain, redesign my systems for Q4 to make it work. But the point that I'm making is I Want to share this story real quickly.
Speaker 2:I was on. I was at a party post party. This was years and years and years ago. This is when I was 27 years old. Yeah, I was 27 years old. I'm at a party. I'm on the back deck with one of my close friends at the time and we're looking up at the stars. This is in the woods, it's beautiful, and I'm always talking goals and dreams heart to heart. It's always In hindsight. I think that was always my favorite part of parties, but anyways, I ended up saying what are you, what are your dreams, man? What are your goals? And he's like dude, you know my goals. And I'm like, no, I don't. That's why I'm asking. But he got defensive because he's insecure and I get it. And he's like I just want to have a family and buy a home and I said, okay, that's awesome. But then I was driving home and I had this really, really visceral honest moment with myself of wait a minute, that's not okay.
Speaker 2:Here's why he doesn't have to change anything in order to achieve those things. He doesn't have to get outside his comfort zone, he doesn't have to learn anything. He's on track for that. His job's good. You know, he goes to work. You know, every time I see him same old, same old, and the problem with his goals is they're not going to force him to grow. That person doesn't have to grow an ounce to achieve those goals, in my honest opinion. Now he is going to have to grow as a father, if he does have kids, he is going to have to grow in order to get a certain relationship. So I understand that. But when it comes to him purchasing a home, and that being his biggest goal, he's already there. You can just go do that now. He's good to go and I think that that's. So here I am on the stack right and I'm wildly inadequate, not even close to capable of achieving my dreams, and he's already more than good enough to achieve his. So in the short term, he looks like he's winning and I look like a loser.
Speaker 2:And at the time I did, I was broke, I was living with my mother, I was an early entrepreneur, I quit corporate and he looked successful and I looked very, very unsuccessful. But now here we are I'm 35 almost now, and now it's starting to shift, it's starting to flip, and the point that I'm making for the listeners is you don't set goals to get the goal. Kev says that most people do. I'm saying set them, because it's going to force you to grow. It's set the kind of goals that you'll be proud of who you become to achieve them.
Speaker 2:I've had goals in the past where I wasn't proud of the man I had to become to achieve them. I talk about how I was making $12,000 biweekly in my early twenties and that's a lot, especially for back then because of inflation. But the reason why I wasn't happy and fulfilled is because of what I was doing. I was selling industrial automation equipment that took away jobs, and so I was unfulfilled and so I flipped the script and I decided to go be broke and try to help people equip themselves and start new jobs and create new enterprises and start businesses and all that stuff. And I'm still on that train, obviously, but if you don't have goals, you don't really have enough clarity to force you to do things and become something that you've never been before. If you want to become something you've never been before, you have to desire something you've never, ever desired before.
Speaker 2:And the very last thing I'll say is Jim Rohn says this. He says there was this guy who came up to me and said I don't need much. And Jim Rohn responded with well then, you don't have to become much, kevin. You are I'm not even trying to be mean here but you're not even close to capable of achieving your goals yet, and I don't mean to be unkind. You just have to get better every day for the next decade for you to even and I think that that's empowering, I don't think that's a bad thing, and hopefully you can transcode.
Speaker 1:For me it's challenging. Yeah, yeah, it's that again. I never expect anybody to want to do things the way I'm doing them. That's never. I don't know if I'll ever have that belief, just because I know how hard it's been behind the scenes. This is my thought. I want you to imagine I don't know whether you're watching or listening, if you've ever. If you enjoy video games, if you played video games, I'm sure you dabbled maybe Mario Kart or something. I feel like we've all tried that at some point, maybe Not me, not you, I know you have one of the top top few in the world Diablo three.
Speaker 1:Halo, all that happy jazz. Imagine a video game where there are no boundaries and there's no point Just do whatever you want, versus a game that has levels, where you have to accomplish things to get to the next level. That second game you're going to play for longer.
Speaker 2:You're going to play that for a lot longer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I used to play Grand Theft Auto, but I never did any of the missions. I would just drive around Creating chaos. Same.
Speaker 2:But that gets boring.
Speaker 1:After an hour it's like what am I gonna do now? What am I gonna do when I'm gonna drive my car into the water again? That's boring. I don't want to do this anymore. But if there's a, if there's a mission, if there's a purpose, if there is a quest, if it's a journey, you're more likely to. You're gonna learn. If, if there's no goal for the level, you're not gonna learn how to defeat the final boss, you're not gonna learn how to Get across the bridge in a certain amount of time and then the next level, you have to learn something new.
Speaker 1:I think that's life. Even to even to your point, alan, if you're, if you're looking at someone and you are Envious of them because their life looks super easy, I'm willing to bet they're not that fulfilled. I'm willing to bet they're not that fulfilled I'm today. My goal after this is gonna be R&R. I told Alan I don't feel well. The last few weeks have just been weird. Last week was the busiest week I've ever had most productive week. This week's been very busy as well. I don't feel great. My goal is gonna be to R&R after this. I have a couple calls later. I need R&R, but that's not gonna fulfill me. I'm not gonna be fulfilled by that. I'll be happy to sit on the couch for a bit, but I'm not gonna be fulfilled. Hmm, goals are gonna fulfill you. Goals are gonna fulfill you. Comfort will buy you short-term happiness, but I'm telling you there's something. This is the best example. Before we go I know you have a call.
Speaker 1:One of the things that scares me more than anything else on this planet is public speaking, terrified of being up on stage. But after I'm done it's like wow, that was living. I felt so alive up there. I felt so alive. I don't know if I've ever felt more alive than being on stage in front of a bunch of people. That is something I never would have done if I didn't have the goal to impact as many people as humanly possible, to Make this podcast something really special and and change the world with what we're doing. Most of the stuff I'm doing today I wouldn't do and here's the the most honest thing you wouldn't even know who I am, whether you're watching or listening. All of what we do today, seven episodes a week, youtube teaser clips, all that stuff that's a byproduct of the goals. So You're one really aligned goal away from from creating a lot of growth in your life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's my next level night strong work Coming full circle here, and this will bring my next level nugget is how did Kevin go from no goals, no belief, to barely being comfortable enough to? I Guess not even comfortable enough to go meet with the CEO, who is still a client, by the way I To now having Gotten 19 clients in just the last quarter, in the last three months. How, how is that even possible? Just the reps, it's just the reps, it's just. You just get more and more comfortable with the stuff You're doing.
Speaker 1:You know you were took that version of kev Client one version and dropped him into today. He would not achieve. I couldn't do it, no way he would.
Speaker 1:He would die metaphorically, metaphorically yeah but if you dropped year one kev Into year one and a half, he might be able to survive, and then year one and a half is year two, and then year two is maybe three, but probably not you. Just one of the great. One of the great confusions is that where someone is is where they've been forever, and where we are is where we'll be forever, and we just have to understand that the person who we look up to, the reason we look up to them, is because they've walked up the steps for a long period of time. They've just been doing it a lot longer. So it's that.
Speaker 1:It's the stuff again. It's the things behind the scenes that most people never see. That allows me to show up in front of the scenes and say, oh yeah, we got a new client. Or blah, blah, blah, we did 1500 episodes. So much of that's behind the scenes. The public thing is is awesome and people get to see that. But the growth let's, let's do this. I grow 90% of the time behind the scenes, mm-hmm. I grow as a speaker and a storyteller and a communicator and all of that on this podcast. But when I'm Not podcasting, I'm growing more because I'm going through so much, so many different things, mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:I watched the and we got a jump. But I watched the Friends reunion last night it was. I had been wanting to see it for a long time. I came out a while ago. I was a huge fan of the show Friends. I've seen every episode. I know a lot of our listeners love that show and it's one of the most successful shows ever in the history of the world. It ran from 1994 to 2004 and Phoebe's character I forget her name in real life, the actress, but she was.
Speaker 1:She was talking on the re-union.
Speaker 2:Lisa Kudrow. Okay, so she was. She was talking on the reunion and she said I can't watch it. She's like I, yeah, I just I hate watching myself.
Speaker 2:The reason why she's probably gotten a lot better it's hard to go back and look at the old cameras with the old.
Speaker 2:You know and I'm sure there's a part of it too that she used to be more young and I'm sure that that's a challenge as well, I know.
Speaker 2:I know I look back at younger versions of my fitness and it's like, oh, but the point is is that your goals are gonna get you to grow, and when you grow, you become more capable. When you become more capable, you become more capable of achieving things that are, that are Enviable, and so anything, anyone who has a life that is, quote-unquote, enviable, they're doing something to grow towards that, whether you're aware of it or not, and I Do believe fulfillment comes more from who you become and who you impact. Then it does from any sort of actual achievement of any Goal, and so the moment I hit a goal, I I up the ante because I want to grow more and I that's my next level nugget is the moment that you hit a goal, set the goal and hit it, because that's how you build belief. But once you hit a goal, up the ante and go for more. We just did that in Q4 with Kevin's goals and if you need help setting goals, please reach out.
Speaker 1:We have group coaching starting on October 10th. So if you have a goal that you really want to accomplish and you're struggling to do it, maybe it's time to find coaching. And that's something you may have thought to yourself in the past. I would never do that. I'm uncomfortable doing it, I'm scared to do it. Maybe the necessity is high enough now with that goal. Everything you need to know will be in the show notes. We would absolutely love to have you there.
Speaker 2:So there's nothing more humbling for me personally. Then then Challenges in an intimate relationship. I had a humbling moment this past week where I, emilia, was having a tough day and she was what we call a prickly pair she's a little bit prickly, understandable and I prickled back and I was unkind and we're good, we're in a really, really good place and we figured it out. But After that it was like Alan, are you kidding me? I was so upset with myself and so we're doing a monthly meetup to help prevent things like this and I'm grateful to attend these two because I need them just as much. But are you making these three relationship mistakes?
Speaker 2:In my opinion, I think everyone has one Area that is most tied to their self-esteem. I, after Thursday night, think that mine is my relationship with Emilia. When my relationship with Emilia isn't 10 out of 10, I am like useless and I struggle. So Protect your intimate relationship. Join us, learn about these mistakes so that you don't make catastrophic mistakes in your relationship, because you know, love is the most important thing and Health, I would say, is also. But I think health and love are more important than wealth personally. They are for me, because if I don't have love and health. I'm not gonna be wealthy, but join us. The monthly meetup is on October 5th 2023 at 6 pm Eastern Standard Time. The registration link will be in the show notes tomorrow for episode number 1477.
Speaker 1:Fitness doesn't have to be punishment. I'm excited to do this episode because I realize Alan and I have a very I Don't want to say unique perspective or relationship with fitness, but you and I love fitness and exercising not always some days it sucks today.
Speaker 1:I'm sucked today was very hard, but I know for a lot of people it seems like punishment, like, well, I, I don't want to have to go work out, I have to go work out I. I'm very excited to do an episode on that because I think there'll be a lot of breakthroughs for all of us in that episode and that will be tomorrow's episode. As always, we love you, we appreciate you, grateful for each and every one of you, and at NLU we do not have fans, we have family. We'll talk to you all tomorrow set those goals.
Speaker 2:Next definition
