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
#1691 - The Seasons Of Life - Freestyle Friday
In today’s episode, Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros talk about the power of habits. They believe that our daily wins are built on good habits and from hard work that goes unseen - our beliefs, awareness, values, and habits - and how these shape our success. As we go through life, we learn more about ourselves, sometimes in unexpected ways. This discussion shows how we sometimes need to lose ourselves to find a stronger, more focused version of who we are. Each stage of life teaches us something new, and every challenge helps us grow.
Links mentioned:
Next Level Group Coaching - https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/group-coaching/
Next Level Nation - https://www.facebook.com/groups/459320958216700
______________________
NLU is not just a podcast; it’s a gateway to a wealth of resources designed to help you achieve your goals and dreams. From our Next Level Dreamliner to our Group Coaching, we offer a variety of tools and communities to support your personal development journey.
For more information, please check out our website at the link below. 👇
Website 💻 http://www.nextleveluniverse.com
_______________________
Any of these communities or resources are FREE to join and consume
Next Level Nation - https://www.facebook.com/groups/459320958216700
Next Level 5 To Thrive (free course) - https://bit.ly/3xffver
Next Level U Book Club - https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/next-level-book-club/
Next Level Monthly Meet-up: https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/monthly-meetups/
_______________________
We love connecting with you guys! Reach out on Instagram, Facebook, or via email. We’re here to support you in your personal and professional development journey.
Instagram 📷
Kevin: https://www.instagram.com/neverquitkid/
Alan: https://www.instagram.com/alazaros88/
Facebook ✍
Alan: https://www.facebook.com/alan.lazaros
Kevin: https://www.facebook.com/kevin.palmieri.90/
Email 💬
Kevin@nextleveluniverse.com
Alan@nextleveluniverse.com
LinkedIn ✍
Kevin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-palmieri-5b7736160/
Alan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanlazarosllc/
_______________________
Show notes:
(2:03) What is often overlooked?
(3:19) Habits evolve
(6:47) It’s challenging but doable
(10:10) Pyramid of achievement
(11:14) Next Level Dreamliner: the planner, agenda, journal, and habit tracker to rule them all. Get a copy: https://a.co/d/f1FWAQA
(13:04) Achieving success with alignment and discipline
(15:01) Why most people don’t achieve?
(16:19) Steering life’s journey
(19:39) ‘You can always’
(23:16) 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 yesterday's episode, episode number 1,691, relationship Red Flag 2. Avoid. Today for episode number 1,691, it is Freestyle Friday. Is there anything specific that's been on your mind lately?
Speaker 2:Fundamental stuff I know often just real quick.
Speaker 1:I just want to preface. I know oftentimes what you're going through and dealing with and learning isn't necessarily the most relatable, but I figured maybe that's a good, we could start there and see what happens.
Speaker 2:I think this is well. I just bought a new program called Jumpstart and it's all the fundamentals. It's built on the premise of the compound effect. So the compound effect is my favorite book of all time, written by Darren Hardy. Darren Hardy has a program in alignment with that book called Jumpstart, and it's really. It goes back to the very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very fundamentals, and I just miss the fundamentals.
Speaker 2:You and I used to talk about habits, we used to talk about mindset, we used to talk about limiting beliefs, and we still kind of do. But sometimes it can feel a little redundant. 1 redundant 1700 episodes in talking about what habits are you tracking, right so? But I always try to go back to basics, because that's the like right now, today. Earlier my, my training was on a keystone habit, and a keystone habit is, I guess a keystone is the center of an arch in architecture where without that stone, everything crumbles, essentially, which is a cool metaphor. And I was thinking to myself, what is my keystone habit? And I think it's habit tracking, which is kind of a meta habit, because it's a habit that keeps you on your habits, which is interesting. So that's all I've got for you about what I'm doing this morning. That's what you're learning.
Speaker 1:I was thinking of that recently how many things that I used to do that I probably don't do anymore. Yeah, I think that would be powerful.
Speaker 1:And not because they weren't valuable, not because they weren't impactful, not because they weren't important, just because I think in certain seasons you use things and you use them a ton and then eventually you go to a different season and you forget what worked in that other season. That's really hard. One of the most productive times was in I wouldn't say in the peak of COVID, right after COVID really started and things were closing down and everybody was like oh, this is like a legitimate, this is like something happening. Taryn and I moved in together and I was the most consistent because I didn't have anything else to do.
Speaker 2:There weren't very many. No friends, no, you couldn't. No get-togethers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, everything was taken off the table. I can't go to the gym. I could go for a run but I didn't. I can't go to the gym. We're not going out to eat, we're not going to see friends and family, we're not doing anything. We're just here. And I would get Even today.
Speaker 1:My days are just mayhem in the morning. I don't wake up and get grounded. I wake up and it's like all right. How many WhatsApp messages, how many emails. I know a lot of people say don't do that. You got to protect your morning. I probably could protect my morning better, but right now where I am is I'm in between seasons. I'm moving from a season of sacrificing a lot of my own well-being for lack of better phrasing to grow the business Moving into. We just changed our calendars and our schedules and we're going to be making some changes there Awesome. Then I'll have a better morning routine. I'm offloading some of the stuff I'm doing so I can refocus on other stuff, but in the meantime I don't feel good about me. I feel very I don't want to say out of control, but I feel far less intentional than I want to be right.
Speaker 1:We worked until yesterday was 6 am till 8.30 pm, that's 14 and a half hours, and I went to the gym. Right, I consider that work because it is. I consider that work, I do. Let's just say 14 and a half hour day. I go to bed at 10. By the time I eat and lay down and spend a couple of minutes with Taryn, she fell asleep on me, so I went to bed at like 10. I get up at seven and now it's 10 o'clock again.
Speaker 1:So I really only had three hours between last night and when we're doing this episode now. So I did my work. I still haven't been to the gym episode now. So I did my work. I still haven't been to the gym. I haven't meditated. So that's what makes it really, really hard is I don't know, I don't know if it's I don't want to say realistic to keep the same goals for every season. I think it's possible, I do. I think it's possible if you're super, super, super disciplined. But I am also at the point where I'm not willing to give up certain business opportunities so I can meditate. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:I just it's not as important to me right now.
Speaker 2:Everyone has grind seasons. I had that pre-Next Level Live. That whole three months for me was very reactive, very ungrounded, very whatever it takes grind time. Now it's more intentional, but it's still pretty. But in comparison it's not. That's the thing. In comparison to the first quarter, the second quarter feels easy, but it's not easy. Yeah, it's. I just got stronger and more effective. So I had a. When I woke up today I think it was like 8, 15 or something, and then we have our meeting at 10. So and I know I need at least 40 minutes to shower, all of the morning routine stuff, dishes, kitchen, all that. So I know that I have to cut by a certain time in order to get here at a certain time. So I had, I did my dreamliner. I always try to do my dreamliner.
Speaker 2:First thing I have my protein shake, so I have a little morning routine, but it's sometimes it's a big one yeah sometimes my, my 10 am or my 11 am gets canceled and it's like, okay, now I can do my big five to thrive in the morning. I was writing last night at while Emilia like prepared dinner prepared is the took chicken out of the Instapot, took rice out of the rice cooker, made our salad. While she did that, after our walk, I wrote for 20 minutes while she did that and I don't know, it was nine, probably 930 or something. I have these non-negotiables that I do and when Darren was talking about the Keystone habit, I was thinking to myself I have like eight keystone habits that I don't miss. One thing that I. I don't want to make this about me, but I hope there's value in this. I do believe there is.
Speaker 2:Dude, when we first started nine years ago seven years ago for you and I working together, but nine years ago when I started tracking habits, I had one keystone habit which was watching Ode to Excellence every morning. Morning mindset workout is what I called it. Then I added another one which was my purpose statement, and I've done both of those every day for nine years no exaggeration, every day for nine years. But then I do my dreamliner every day, but none of those are my big five to thrive. My big five to thrive is writing 20 minutes of writing, 20 minutes of WhatsApp, 20 minutes of sales, 10 minutes of mobility and 30 minutes of exercise. So there's eight habits right there that are every single day and I'm talking Sundays too, like no bar, not like every day in 2024. I've done all eight of those things every single day in 2024. And I tracked my habits every day in 2024. So I'm getting to the point where it's. It's this weird thing where it still feels really hard, but it's doable, and I'm not saying everyone should do that. I actually don't think most people should and I don't want that to come off wrong either. But at the end of the day, what it comes down to is I created this pyramid of achievement and I'm going to teach it today at Next Level Certified Coaching to Lizzie, jerrianne, amy and Nicole, and they're on the team, the NLU team, and I want to bring this up on this episode because I wrote it this morning in my dreamliner when I was thinking I think this is why most people don't achieve their dreams. I feel like this is going to land in a new way for everybody. So I'll go quick with the pyramid because I don't want it to be overwhelming.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of layers, but I want everyone to picture an iceberg. We've all seen that image of an iceberg where the top is small and then underneath it is a huge, gargantuan iceberg. All right, and I think that's the perfect metaphor for success. So, at the very top of this iceberg I want you to, above the surface of the water, is results, and that is what you can see. So million dollars, million listen, nlu, let's use us as an analogy. Okay, those are the results, awesome, but what you don't see underneath it is these layers. I'm going to go from the bottom up, okay.
Speaker 2:So the very deepest layer is beliefs what you believe about yourself, what you believe about others, what you believe about the world. The next layer is awareness. This is hyper consciousness. This is how much you understand. Do you understand how you work, how other people work, how the world works, why it all works that way? Then you have values. Values is what do you value? You don't value the same things I do. I'm not willing to give up movies. You're not willing to give up UFC. Okay, but we have to give up a lot of other stuff if we want the tip of the iceberg to be huge, right, and then there's skills. So what are the skills that you need to get the results? So the tip of the iceberg is the result and all these other things are underneath it, and the reason we don't get the results we want in life is because these other things underneath are not aligned. So your beliefs have to be in line. So imagine everyone, picture a result they want. So you want to lose how many pounds before jujitsu competition.
Speaker 1:Uh 10.
Speaker 2:Okay, how many he needs to lose 10 pounds. Okay, You're not going to diet on vacation. That's a good example for this, Ready. So if Kevin wants to lose 10 pounds by that date, Ready. So if Kevin wants to lose 10 pounds by that date, what was the date? August 10th? Okay, Everyone out there can relate to fitness, so I always use it as a metaphor.
Speaker 2:Who here, metaphorically or hypothetically, wants to lose 10 pounds? Most people would say that would be great. Right, we can all lose 10 pounds. I certainly could. Okay, here's the problem. None of us are actually going to do that unless all of these align with it.
Speaker 2:Ready, Kevin's beliefs have to align with it. He has to understand awareness how to actually do it. His values have to align with it. Meaning you have to value fitness more than ice cream. Good luck with that.
Speaker 2:Your skills have to align with it. Meaning you have to know how to body build. You have to know how to weight train. You have to know how to run. You have to know how to do it. Then your choices have to align with that.
Speaker 2:Meaning you have to eat certain things and not eat certain things, and your behaviors have to align with that. And those behaviors become habits. And if your habits are on point, because all those other things beneath habits are on point, then you'll get the result. And then people will see that result and go, oh, that's great, but the things underneath it are so alarmingly challenging. And so when I say I track all these habits, and 20 habits a day and six metrics and all this stuff, I want to be very clear with everyone. That's what I believe is required for my goals.
Speaker 2:I don't think anyone else should do that. I actually used to think that all of us should try to do that. Worst idea ever. I get it now. If you want to build a billion-dollar business that changes the world, you will most likely you should be doing a lot of what I'm doing. But if you want to lose 10 pounds, you just have to align all those things with losing 10 pounds. So the bigger the result you want in anything in life, the longer it's going to take and the more aligned you're going to have to be in beliefs, awareness, values, skills, choices, behaviors and habits.
Speaker 2:And dude, that's why most people don't achieve and even when they do achieve it, they end up regretting it because the values they had to sacrifice family they had to sacrifice time with their kids. They had to sacrifice dude, I get it. I never used to get it and I get it now. This is achievement is brutal, and anyone who says otherwise, question them seriously. Question them, because they gave up some stuff that you did not want to give up. And I'm starting to notice that way, way, way more when I learn about these people in this industry saying these things it's a whole thing, Achievement is a whole thing.
Speaker 1:It is. I think I'm sad or frustrated that I don't have, I'm not putting myself first more, but I also don't know if right now is the time for that. And again, could I stay up later and work later? Yes, of course Do. I think that would be putting myself first. Not necessarily. No, not necessarily. I do aspire to get to the place where I can wake up and I don't have to and I don't look at my WhatsApp messages first thing in the morning, like right when I wake up. I don't look at my WhatsApp messages first thing in the morning, like right when I wake up. I don't walk right into the office, I do something else that's happening. That season is coming. That season is coming because things are changing and we're in a different time and it's just, it's so hard. It's so hard to keep things constant when everything else is changing. Things constant when everything else is changing. I do think it's good, right, if you have.
Speaker 1:No matter what, whether we're traveling, whether it's raining, I do 30 minutes of some sort of exercise. If it's not raining, we go for a walk Awesome. If it's raining, I go to the gym or I do yoga or I walk on the treadmill at home. Whatever Awesome I get my steps in Awesome, every day, no matter what I track my finances Awesome, that's huge. And every day, no matter what I say, what I'm grateful for about my partner or myself, if I'm riding solo Awesome. Those are all really really really valuable amazing habits, and sustainable to the degree that you're willing to prioritize them is what I'll say. Sustainable to the degree that you're willing to prioritize them is what I'll say.
Speaker 1:But then, when you start adding other stuff, you have to choose. What are you going to allow to fall Based on? Okay, you get a large opportunity to make more money at work, but then you're going to see your partner less potentially, or you're going to lose that time block you had in the middle of the afternoon to go exercise. Okay, how do we recalibrate that? That's the challenge of it is how discipline. One of the reasons consistency is so important and challenging is because when you don't have any options, consistency can be very easy. It can be easier when you have a bunch of options.
Speaker 1:It's not just consistency now, it's discipline. It's consistency plus discipline, plus saying yes to the right things and no to the wrong things. Or saying yes to the most right things and no to the less right things. They might not even be wrong things, but yeah, today's a really good example of that. I got up at 7. Our first meeting was at 10. Around like 7.45, I had hammered work, I was deep in flow and I said, alright, I might be able to leave for the gym around 8.15, 8.20. And then something came up and it's like alright, I'm not going to the gym until this afternoon, maybe because I have a break in the day.
Speaker 2:I don't even know if that'll happen, Am I not? Well, can you talk about, dude, if you weren't a business owner? You?
Speaker 1:wouldn't have to worry about that. Well, I think that's why it's important. I think it's important to talk about because we've had cycles where I was tracking however many I got 100% of my PPT every day for like five months or something. And that was a really good time for me because I was learning a lot and I was growing a lot and I felt like I was way more into way more than I had ever been into self-improvement. I was like all right, this is awesome. Then it was almost like it's not as important for me to do this thing as it is to do this thing that is never going to get tracked but is super important for everything else, so I'm not as worried. The meditation thing I know it would be really the meditation thing. I know it would be really good for my mental health. I know it would be really good for mindfulness. I know that, but it's just not as important as growing the business right now. It just isn't.
Speaker 2:Well, this comes down to your values. What do you value more? Do you value growing the? The result you want is to grow the business. The behaviors necessary to do that and the habits necessary to do that are different than what used to be Like when you talked about in COVID, when you were meditating every day and you had your morning routine and you were learning first thing and you didn't have to Pre-next level live. The reason why that was so hard on me is because I had to check my messages constantly. It was the first thing I had to do every single day, and in between every meeting and in between every time with Emilia, every exercise, whatever, I had to check my messages.
Speaker 2:That's something that's very, very misunderstood and for any of the future entrepreneurs out there, the difference between working at a company and owning a company is, when you own a company, it's on you. There's no one else who's going to do what you did this morning, kev. They are going to go to the gym and they should yeah, for sure, and they should. And that's the difference is, if you didn't do what you did this morning, we would have lost a client, and you know that, and our business would have suffered and our team would have suffered and the community would have suffered. And our team would have suffered and the community would have suffered. Because when nlu grows, everything grows and I appreciate it. But I don't think people understand that when they get into business Because people say, well, put yourself first, it's yeah you can't always.
Speaker 1:You can't always. That's I think that's the truth. I don't think you always can.
Speaker 2:Exactly, I don't think I had to do that constantly pre-next level live, and that's why it wasn't sustainable. And so what we have to do is yeah, okay, it sucks and that's kind of your life right now, but we have to slowly and strategically get you out of that chapter, yeah, where you actually can put yourself first again, and then we'll grow. Yeah, same thing will happen, and then we'll get more clients and then there'll be more headaches, and that's just what next level is about, and lately the episodes have been very much focused on achievement, and I think that's really good, because success makes life more challenging, not easier. Everything in the previous level is now easier because you're more capable, and that's really what it comes down to. I didn't even mention the gratitude game that I do with Emilia every single night.
Speaker 2:There's several other habits that are non-negotiables for me, and I always say you can only have so many non-negotiables. I talk about trying to go from 30 minutes a day to 45 minutes of exercise, and we did that for a while and I said I got to go back to 30. I did that for a while and I said I gotta go back to 30. I can't sustain this. This is, it's 15 minutes prior, just getting ready, you know, pre-workout. All that hydrate. There's a lot. There's a reason why I just want to share this with everybody there's a reason why I do have to hop out.
Speaker 1:Let me leave a minute, literally.
Speaker 2:Oh my god good call, all right. Last thing I'll say is there's a reason why why get achieving goals is so hard. Everyone has New Year's resolutions. Very few people actually achieve them Very few. That's okay, it's awesome, and I encourage everyone to give it a shot and to really. But anytime you hit that wall, just remember you're not alone. Everyone else is making it look easy, trust me, trust me. Trust me, it's not Everything you see on the surface of that iceberg was built with blood, sweat and tears. And just if you can remember that in those tough moments and say it's the hard that makes it great and I know it's supposed to be hard then I think you'll be better off.
Speaker 1:And I think you will lose yourself at times along any journey, but along any journey. But the more you lose yourself, the faster you find yourself next time, and this is just a really good example of that. I feel like I'm putting myself second, but I will put myself first. It'll happen again, and then this will happen again to a different degree, and then I'll have different opportunities and different options and different privileges and all that. So it's not a bad thing. I don't think it's a bad thing. I think it's just a thing. I think it's just one of those seasons. All right, I don't know what we're doing for tomorrow's episode because Alan and I haven't discussed it. I want to make sure we discuss it before we do it. As always, we love you, we appreciate you, grateful for each and every one of you, and
