#1692 - How To Not Quit

In this episode, Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros discuss perseverance’s significance in work and life. They provide insights into staying true to our beliefs, even in adversity. Additionally, they emphasize the value of letting go of pursuits that no longer align with our primary objectives. This conversation is a testament to the virtues of courage, wisdom, and the art of moving on. It’s a lesson that resonates with everyone, particularly those on a journey of personal growth.

Links mentioned:
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For more information, please check out our website at the link below. 👇

Website 💻  http://www.nextleveluniverse.com

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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/

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Show notes:
(2:12) How did you keep going?
(7:05) Believe it will be worth it and never quit tattoo
(8:57) Meaningful
(12:12) Next Level Dreamliner: the planner, agenda, journal, and habit tracker to rule them all. Get a copy: https://a.co/d/f1FWAQA
(13:30) Wandering generality or meaningful specific
(16:17) Life le

🎙️ Hosted by Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

Next Level University is a top-ranked daily podcast for dream chasers and self-improvement lovers. With over 2,100 episodes, we help you level up in life, love, health, and wealth one day at a time. Subscribe for real, honest, no-fluff growth every single day.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

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. It was Freestyle Friday Today for episode number 1,692, how not to quit, or how to not quit, how to never quit, however you want to phrase it.

Speaker 1 0:26

I was on a wonderful podcast the other day and I haven't been going on a ton of podcasts. Now I'm back on a bunch of podcasts and it's always fun because you get asked questions that you haven't asked yourself in a long period of time. Maybe you've never been asked before and you have to sit with those questions and hopefully provide somewhat of a valuable answer. The podcast I was on the other day. One of the questions was how did you not quit in the beginning of this journey? How was it that, as much of a challenge as it was and the struggles and the mental health and the anxiety attacks and the brokenness and all that stuff, how did you not quit? How did you keep going? And I said well, I think for me I have a very unique case, but I do believe that we can bring that into context for everyone. I said I have a business partner who has nothing but belief. So if I ever lost belief, I just had to tap into Alan's belief and borrow a little bit of his belief to get to the next step. I said that's part one. So even if we were to say, okay, well, what does that mean for the rest of us? It means find somebody who can help you, increase the belief in what you're doing and ultimately will bring you more accountability. I said transparently I probably would have quit if I didn't have a business partner, if I didn't have somebody waiting for me on the other side of the microphone seven times a week. I don't know if I would have quit if I didn't have a business partner, if I didn't have somebody waiting for me on the other side of the microphone seven times a week, I don't know if I would have showed up. And I said it might be the same for Alan. I think he probably would have gotten a lot farther than I, but I'm sure he has days where he doesn't want to show up, but he knows I'm waiting.

How did you keep going?

Speaker 1 1:57

That's one way not to quit is to have somebody alongside of you that you know is not going to quit and you can borrow that. You can borrow momentum, you can borrow energy. Sometimes I show up and I'm dragging ass and I'll tell Alan. I'll say hey, man, I need you for this episode. I got nothing to give. Other times, alan will show up and he'll hey man, I had back-to-backs all day, I just need you to bring the energy. Cool, awesome, love that. So that's one thing right off the bat is having extra accountability. Extra accountability is super important.

Speaker 1 2:31

Second thing that I talked about was you need a certain level of necessity. I think a lot of us quit something because it doesn't matter if we do. It doesn't really matter if we quit because nobody's going to know about it and it doesn't matter if we do. It doesn't really matter if we quit because nobody's going to know about it and it doesn't really matter to us that much. I said this recently, alan, on an episode I was working with two business owners and I said, on a scale of 0 to 10, how important is this business to you and the success of it?

Speaker 1 3:01

And she said, honestly, it's not super important because I have a husband that makes good money and I'm at the stage where he can be very supportive, and I said I think it's time to call it quits. You're not going to win because you don't have to. It's not important. It doesn't matter whether you win or not. It would be cool if you did for you, but that's not enough necessity. I got a message two days later from those business owners saying, hey, we need to put our coaching on pause because we need to figure out what we're going to do, and I think we're going to go in separate directions. Awesome, I think that's the right choice.

Speaker 2 3:34

They don't need a coach anymore.

Speaker 1 3:36

They don't necessarily need a coach. They don't need a business coach if they don't have a business. I think that's the way it's potentially going to go and, again, that's the right choice. That's the way it's potentially going to go and again, that's the right choice, I believe, for them. I would rather them do that than me say, well, I really think you should keep working with me because, no, I want you to go figure out your path and let's talk about what that path looks like. After the third one and this was the biggest one that I believe more than anything has gotten me here wherever I am today I don't really know where that is. I always believed it would be worth it. I told you that, alan, from the beginning. I said if I ever don't believe it will be worth it, I'll let you know If.

Speaker 2 4:14

I ever get to the stage. How did you know?

Speaker 1 4:15

that. Why did you believe that? Because I remember recording episode 7 saying if I could do this for a living, if I could do this for a living, if I could wake up when I want, I could go to sleep when I want, I could go to the gym when I want, podcast with amazing people, be my own boss, I knew that would be worth it because it was so far-fetched. It was the opposite of anything I ever experienced and it was a dream, I think, for a lot of us experienced. And it was a dream, I think, for a lot of us. We have that dream to work for ourselves. And then we what happens? We get to the place where maybe we're able to do it and then we say honestly, I don't even, I don't think this is worth it. I don't know if it's worth not having health insurance or whatever. Whatever it is For me.

Speaker 1 4:58

The closer and closer we got to actually becoming relatively successful, the more it was worth it to me, because it was like oh, this is actually working. I had and I have a deep belief that all the work and all the challenge and all the resistance will ultimately be worth it and I think that's one of the biggest keys to not quitting on something is believing it will be worth it. Believing when you get to the end of it, when you get to the top of it, when you get to the finish line, it ultimately it will be worth it. Believing when you get to the end of it, when you get to the top of it, when you get to the finish line, it ultimately it will be worth it. Because if it's not worth it and you don't believe it's worth it, why would you continue the journey? It honestly wouldn't make logical sense.

Speaker 1 5:38

If, if you have a somewhat serious relationship and you don't really care whether or not it succeeds, it's not going to be worth it to have vulnerable conversations, yeah, but if you are married and you have a family and you want to keep your family together and you want to be with this person for the rest of your life, you know it will be worth it to have that painful, sucky conversation because you know, potentially, what's on the other side.

Speaker 1 6:09

So those are a few of the things that came to my mind when I was thinking about how to not quit. And last thing, alan, before I kick it to you, I have a tattoo on my arm that says never quit, that doesn't mean I don't think you should never quit anything. If something is not serving you if it's a job, it's a relationship, it's a friendship, whatever it is a circumstance then quitting can sometimes be one of the hardest but most necessary things. So I don't want this episode to be never quit anything. My never quit tattoo is a reminder of don't give up on the things that you truly believe in, not stay in something that's not serving you for your entire life because of the tattoo.

Speaker 2 6:48

A couple things came up Strong work.

Speaker 1 6:50

Came with a whole list. I ain't messing around, you ain't messing around.

Speaker 2 6:54

Did your prep work this morning.

Speaker 1 6:55

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 6:57

I was. There's a song you must have ate your Wheaties this morning, no Wheaties.

Believe it will be worth it and never quit tattoo

Speaker 1 6:59

I went for a run, nice, so I'm on one. Today there is a song, uh, called your love by the outfield, and we have it in our. We have a recording of it in our, in our room here, where we record, and sometimes I'll play it when alan's coming in on friday and today I sing him a little verse and it's jeffrey so the song goes josie's on a vacation far away.

Speaker 1 7:20

my version is jeffrey's on a vacation far away, but I messed it up so I couldn't sing it to Alan A little side tangent of extremely useful information. That's all I bring.

Speaker 2 7:31

Always the things that came up for me when you were talking. One was the alternative is worse. A clip on YouTube from the woman actress, Emily Clark, who plays Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, which is the most successful TV show in history, I found out recently. By the way, the author of those books took 41 years before he became a quote-unquote overnight success. Ooh, that's a long time, 41 years man. And then he got noticed by the world. And, by the way, when I say noticed, I mean very wealthy and influential.

Speaker 1 8:14

Is that really the most successful, the most viewed television?

Speaker 2 8:17

show. I believe so. I could be wrong, but I believe so you can Google it. Thank you so much, yeah, yeah, I just I think it is. I could be wrong if I'm wrong I don't think it is I do want to know if I'm wrong.

Meaningful

Speaker 2 8:29

Genuinely, I like to know those things. I love stats. I need to know the stats. But here's my point. She was interviewed and said what do you think about advice for young actresses? And she says don't do it. And this is someone who, statistically speaking, is wildly successful in acting. And she said this and it was the follow-up that was important. She said acting, for most people, is just being unemployed. It's terrible. She said the only reason why you should be an actor or actress is if you can't be happy doing anything else. She says if you can be happy doing anything else, go do it. She said I couldn't be happy doing anything else, so I had to do this, and for most of my career I've been broke and unemployed. So I think that's a really good metaphor for being an entrepreneur.

Speaker 2 9:24

I was reading a book earlier. It talks about how, over any 10-year period, 94% of businesses are gone. Over any 100-year period, 99.9% of businesses are gone, and so never quit is only applicable to the things that mean the most to you. We all have those things in our life that we're never going to quit. Kev asked me once would you ever stop watching movies? And the answer is no, just like he'll never stop watching UFC. Would I ever quit on Emilia? No, but I've quit on past relationships Same, and I should have In a very honest, candid conversation. I'm glad that I did, because I never would have met Amelia if I didn't. And so we talk about how we've never quit at NLU and we never will. But let's talk about all the things I have quit. I quit snowboarding. I don't get to snowboard anymore. I do get to play basketball every now and then, but I don't play pickup basketball like I used to. I have way less friends than I've ever had before my college friends, my corporate friends, my high school friends. I quit spending a ton of time with extended family. So there's a lot of things that we've quit in order to not quit this, and I think that's the hard truth that I want to really make land here, and it's if you really do never want to quit that thing, whatever it is. There's a couple things in my life I'm never going to quit. One is physical fitness. I was so deeply unfulfilled when I was not fit, I hated it. Every day it ate me alive. Maybe that's not true for you. It might not be true for you? Totally fine. It's true for me Always has been, always will be. I'm never going to quit Emilia. I'm never going to quit NLU. I'm never going to quit the Wii. I'm never going to quit these certain things. But in order to sustain that, I'm going to have to quit pretty much everything else, and that's a choice we all have. So find you get to be. I've done this before.

Next Level Dreamliner: the planner, agenda, journal, and habit tracker to rule them all. Get a copy:

Speaker 2 11:41

Zig Ziglar, way, way, way, way, way back in the personal development industry, had this awesome thing called a wandering generality or a meaningful specific Way back. I was a wandering generality. I played basketball and I played all these different sports and I did track and I did cross country and I did. I was friends with the nerds and the popular kids and the jocks and I was. I went to this party and that party and I dated this person and that person. I was all over the place. I hated it so much. It was such a terrible life but it looked so fun on the surface. I was friends with everybody. I was everything for everybody. I had one person in college say you were the most popular kid on this campus and I remember thinking that's awesome. But now in hindsight I get what that did to me. It was so brutal.

Speaker 2 12:23

I remember I used to play basketball with these random kids down the street. My cell phone got stolen by one of them because they aren't good people and I just used to just spread myself so thin. I went to every party, every barbecue, every I come home. I do this, that and the other thing I spend time with this person. I was just If anyone has that phase where they went and ran amok, just went off the rails and just did a bunch of random things, but they felt aimless, they felt directionless, they felt purposelessness, they felt like none of it meant anything. They were constantly in drama. You want to know why I have very little drama in my life now, kev?

Wandering generality or meaningful specific

Speaker 2 12:59

because you have very little people, very little people yeah man and emilia and I joke, because occasionally we'll spend time with certain people and and all of a sudden we'll have a conversation behind the scenes. We go. Isn't it interesting how much drama has just been like brought into our world and all of a sudden you're thinking about this person and that person and what they're doing and this, and then this person's talking about that person, this person's working here and this person's doing that, that person, and it's just like I have really made such a peaceful, solitude existence, which is ironic because obviously we touch people's lives all over the world now. So I'm having a bigger impact than I've ever had, but I also have more peace and solitude every single day.

Speaker 2 13:34

So the things to never quit are the things that mean the most to you. Honestly, if they don't mean a lot to you, quit them now. Quit them Persons, places, things and ideas, ideas. If they don't mean that much to you, just quit. Trust me, your future self will thank you. And at the end of the day, here's what it really comes down to are you going to regret it if you quit it? There are certain friends, certain relationships I've had in the past where I would regret it if I didn't have quit. And so here's the question should I quit this person, place, thing or idea? And the question is in five years, am I going to regret not quitting it or am I going to regret quitting it? Imagine you and I dude you remember that podcast we had. What was it? Again, I was the hyper conscious right.

Speaker 1 14:28

I had a moment the other night where I was thinking because you and I had a it wasn't a serious conversation, but we were talking about the journey and how it's all started and how it's been and all that. And I had a moment where I was like, in 10 years, if Alan offered me 50 million dollars and said you're good, you don't have to do anything, you don't have to podcast anymore, I'm going to take over everything, I'm going to write you a check for 50 million right now, would I do it? And I was like no way I would regret that so much. What am I going?

Speaker 2 15:00

to do. What a weird spot to be in, huh.

Speaker 1 15:03

What am I going to do the next day? Trust me, and it's not because I wouldn't love the money. I love money so it's not, it's not that, but it's because I would regret not doing this as much as some days. It's hard and it's challenging and it's overwhelming and I can't imagine doing anything else. It's better than the alternative.

Speaker 2 15:22

100 I think it's very empowering to think about life like that. Life is going to suck no matter what. How do you minimize the suck? I don't want the suck, I don't want to say suck.

Speaker 1 15:30

I don't want to say suck.

Speaker 2 15:31

I know.

Speaker 1 15:31

I think you have a very, very honest, maybe overly masochistic view of life.

Speaker 2 15:40

If I'm being honest, All right fair.

Speaker 1 15:42

I do think no matter what life's going to be challenging.

Speaker 2 15:44

There you go 1,000%.

Life lessons on not quitting

Speaker 1 15:47

I can't imagine a life that doesn't have that, because people that you love are going to not respond in certain ways that you want. Unfortunately, people are going to pass away. We don't know what's going to happen with the economy. Your car is going to break down, pets are going to pass away. That stuff is going to happen to all of us. So I agree that life is going to be challenging, no matter what. I agree A thousand percent. This wouldn't be an episode about how to not quit if Kevin didn't give an example of one of the many jobs he's had that he quit. I don't think I've ever mentioned this one before.

Speaker 2 16:22

Had a lot of jobs, wait really yeah, yeah, I don't think I've ever Do I know about this.

Speaker 1 16:25

Yeah, yeah, I don't think I Do. I know about this. I don't know. I forgot about this for a while. I had a job when I was in high school. This was actually my first ever real job.

Speaker 2 16:33

Wait, let me guess you were one of those Thunder Down Under dancers. No, that was in.

Speaker 1 16:37

That was 22.

Speaker 2 16:38

Okay, yeah that was in 22.

Speaker 1 16:42

One of my grandmother.

Speaker 2 16:44

We're kidding, by the way.

Speaker 1 16:49

Yes, by the way, yes, we're kidding. My mom suggested that I was should be, a male escort at one point in my life. 100, I'm not. That's dead serious.

Speaker 2 16:53

I'm not kidding about that my mom thought I should be one of the thunder down under guys, did she? Yeah, my mom. I remember my mom was like you don't have to do anything.

Speaker 1 17:00

You could just go out to dinner with them. I was like, yeah, no, I'm gonna pass, that's not gonna be for me. My, my other grandmother, my grandmother my dad's side said I should have been a horse jockey. She's like you're little, you should be a horse jockey. I feel like it's a little late in life for me to take that on.

Speaker 2 17:16

I've never ridden a horse, but thank you so much for your input, going to win the Triple Crown with the.

Speaker 1 17:20

Seabiscuit Right. This was my first ever real job.

Speaker 2 17:25

You're a meatball man, You're too heavy.

Speaker 1 17:26

I wasn't back then. I was very. I was thinner than I am today.

Speaker 2 17:33

Bodybuilding horse jockey.

Speaker 1 17:36

First ever job. I'm friends with this kid in high school, so we were probably I don't know 17, 18?, probably 18. No, yeah, probably like 17 at this point. And he had been working at this butcher shop for like two years. I don't know how he got a job there at 15, but he'd been working there for a couple years and I was like, yeah, I need a job, I'm looking for a job. You know any places? He's like, yeah, man, I can get you in at the butcher place and come work at the butcher shop with me. And I was like, yeah, no, I'm not, this is it. I'm not going to come back. So I just no-showed the next day and the guy called, the owner, called me. He was very angry with me.

Speaker 1 18:33

So, my uncle went to pick up my check for me because I was scared.

Speaker 2 18:35

You funny man, I did dishwashing at a golf course. It is brutal. Shout out to the dishwashers. Whoever's been a dishwasher it is. First of all, the water is scorching hot.

Speaker 1 18:51

Yeah, yeah yeah's, it's not great. Well, and they were like clean it faster, but better. Uh, I don't know if those two. Those two are kind of opposites. So do you want me to do it faster or do you want me to do it better?

Speaker 2 19:00

yeah, and then I realized yeah, yeah, it's gonna be what do you want?

Speaker 1 19:04

what would you rather me do? And it's just like piles and piles and piles. So, yeah, I quit that job and, uh, I was very happy I did so my friend at the time was mad at me. He's like dude, you kind of made me look bad. I was like yeah, no, I know, I'm sorry, man, I'm immature, I don't, I have no courage, I can't do this job man I can't I?

Quality over quantity: Some quits are essential

Speaker 2 19:24

won't do it, the never quit kid. I always joke. I he said never quit kid as his instagram handle, which I noticed early on. I remember thinking like that's, that's the dude, and I always joke.

Speaker 1 19:36

I say the sometimes quits kid I've quit every job I've ever had the often always, almost, they almost always quits kid yeah, I'll quit. I'll quit jobs like it's my job for sure, like it's your job.

Speaker 2 19:48

Yeah, for everyone out there. You get this one life and I never finish this. But there's a wandering generality and there's a meaningful specific. I used to be a wandering generality and I was deeply unfulfilled and, yes, I was more popular, for lack of better phrasing. Now I'm a meaningful specific. I don't do a ton of different things, but I walk around with the centeredness of someone who has a life of meaning and instead of having 500 friends, I have a close, very, very, very, very, very, very deep, close five friends, very, very, very, very, very deep, close, vibrant, and I do think that as you get older assuming you get wiser, that's what happens. You get quality over quantity and then the irony is that you end up touching the lives of more people. It's this weird inverse thing where the more you and I have quality in our life, the more we can actually pour into the lives of more multitudes of people. We've been heard in over 170 countries.

Speaker 1 20:55

Isn't that wild? That's wild. Yeah, I know, I think about that all the time.

Speaker 2 20:58

It's unbelievable. But the only reason we've been able to do that is because we've quit all the things around that. Not all of them, but most of them. I coach, I speak, I write One-to Not all of them, but most of them. I coach, I speak, I write One to one, one to many, one to scale. I don't do a ton else and that's okay. It's up to you. So I think life is a series of go out and explore and figure out what you do like and don't like, what means a lot to you and what means nothing to you and everything in between, and then start quitting the stuff. I call it the 3D plan Delete the things that aren't meaningful, delegate the things that still need to get done and then double down on the things that mean the most to you, even if they suck.

Speaker 1 21:39

The old 3D plan.

Speaker 2 21:41

The old 3D plan.

Speaker 1 21:42

Speaking of 3D, we have to 3D our way on out of here. If you have not yet joined our private Facebook group and you're looking for awesome humans and a safe place to be yourself, next Level Nation is just that. And if you are interested in group coaching, so we have a group running right now, but we're going to have another group starting in the first or second week of July, I believe. Website is ready. So if you want to lock your spot now and you want to make sure that your summer is super productive and the most next level it can be, we'll have the link in the show notes for that. With promo code NLULISTENER, it ends up being $96.60 per month and each month you get four calls Two with Alan and myself and then two with the wonderful Amy. So link will be in the show notes.

Speaker 1 22:30

I don't know what we're doing for tomorrow's episode because we are just figuring it out as we go and that's it, no excuses. As always, we love you, we appreciate you, grateful for each and every one of you, and at NLU we don't have fans, we have family. We will talk to you all tomorrow.

Speaker 2 22:45

Keep it meaningful.