Next Level University

#1763 - How To Create An Aligned Dream Statement

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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Ready to find your “True North”? In today’s episode, hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros discuss the importance of knowing yourself, including your core values, beliefs, and aspirations. They share personal stories and insights on why most people struggle with goal setting and how a lack of self-awareness is often the culprit. Learn how to create a dream statement that keeps you on track and true to yourself. Tune in for an engaging discussion to help you find clarity and direction.

Links mentioned:
Alan’s Blog #6 - “How to Streamline Your Dreams” - https://bit.ly/3LrOs5C
Next Level Dreamliner - https://a.co/d/f1FWAQA
Free 30-Minute Coaching Call with Alan - https://bit.ly/3zLc1Up
Book Club Registration - https://bit.ly/42E4n8M

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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

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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/

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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:
(1:58) Core beliefs, values, and aspirations
(5:15) Why does self-awareness matter?
(7:44) Examples of dream statements
(11:45) Aligning daily habits with long-term goals
(13:18) At NLU, we want you to win! So, we’re giving tools and resources to ensure your success. Join our Monthly Me

Send a text to Kevin and Alan!

🎙️ 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.

Speaker 1

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. Today for episode number 1,763, we teased it a little bit in yesterday's episode how to create an aligned dream statement. I was on a podcast recently, alan.

Speaker 2

Yes.

Speaker 1

Kevin. Yes, alan Jeffrey. We were talking about clarity and self-awareness and they said what are some of the more important things to be clear about, to help you with self-awareness? And I said core beliefs. What is it? What's the order? You say it in Core values, core beliefs, core aspirations.

Speaker 2

No, I go the opposite. I reverse engineer. So I do core aspirations, core values, core beliefs.

Speaker 1

You know how, when you say it the same way over and over, you can't say it any other way. Yeah, the things don't exist. Yeah, I usually say core values, core beliefs, core aspirations that's usually what I say which makes aspirations, that's usually what I say which makes no sense. I mean, I, I can do what I want. That's fair. You know, core beliefs are from your past.

Speaker 2

Core values are in your present and core belief, uh core aspirations are in your future core values, core beliefs, core aspirations core aspirations you're going present, past, future, that's all right.

Speaker 1

Chronological time I real and my apologies for wasting everybody's time. You know how I've been really testing out the protein ice cream.

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1

The batch I made last night, when I tell you this is some of the best ice cream I've ever had. It was world class Nice.

Speaker 2

I ran the bedroom and I told Taryn Next level ice cream.

Speaker 1

I mean don't get me started, man. You know I have terrible ideas for side businesses. Don't get me started, I'll be.

Speaker 2

next thing, you know, I'll have a chef hat, you'll have an ice cream truck. Yeah, I'll have a chef hat, I've got a guy we can do it.

Core beliefs, values, and aspirations

Speaker 1

Yeah, I'm in how to create an aligned dream statement. So I just kind of told the origin story core values, values, core beliefs, core aspirations. I'm going to say it how does somebody do this, why is it important and why do most people not create these? Because I didn't have one of these. I don't. I don't know if I have my own personal one.

Speaker 2

Honestly, if I'm being honest, you do, you do. I mean, it's what you've just adopted, the one that we both use, yeah, but what about my personal one? There is no personal one. What do you mean? You're gonna have multiple dream statements we'll get into it, but to have the most positive two north stars hold on hold, on hold on to have the most positively impactful self-improvement company on the planet.

Speaker 1

But there's no yeah in quality, uh, increased quality of life.

Speaker 2

Let me explain let me explain why this is good better okay, here's why better explain it's impossible for you within and I, with an integrity, to build the most positively impactful self-improvement company in the world without you improving yourself and your life holistically no, no, I said, I said like uh, quality of life, yeah is what I said, your quality of life is a part of that equation, right I?

Speaker 1

thought you were going to say it's going to be impossible for us to create that and enjoy our lives no, no, I don't think that's true.

Speaker 2

No, I feel like our quality of life has increased incrementally. Not exponentially Incrementally.

Speaker 1

All right, let's get into the value. The first thing that came up.

Speaker 2

First of all, I'm so grateful we're doing this, because I love this stuff.

Speaker 1

I occasionally throw Alan a softball of something he might enjoy. We talk a lot about the deep inner stuff. I know Alan likes this extra stuff.

Speaker 2

This is a softball for the kids. This is great, all right. So why does self-awareness matter? Okay, don't answer, this is a hypothetical question. For me, self-awareness matters, I think one of the reasons why most people statistically do not achieve their goals and I did some research on this brief research we were doing a meetup on New Year's resolutions, so every January we do a meetup, usually on goals because New Year's resolutions, that kind of thing and I researched it in 2023, the beginning of 2024. The research that I did said only 4% of people ever set goals that are written down and only 8% of those people ever achieve them. And it's in my brain. I need to know why. Now there's a lot of whys. Low self-belief takes a lot of grit, blah, blah, blah. I think one of the main reasons is low self-awareness, the goals we set. Think about it. You said this to me one time. You said, alan, if you're wrong about one thing, you're wrong about everything.

Speaker 1

I'm quite profound with my statements, aren't I?

Why does self-awareness matter?

Speaker 2

Yeah, it's a good one. It's a good one. So if you're wrong about yourself, aka if you see yourself inaccurately you're going to set goals that are not aligned with who you really are, and then you're going to have to change who you really are in order to hit the goal. So if you set a goal in the future that requires you to go outside of alignment with who you really are, you're in some serious trouble, and that's why a lot of results-driven people end up achieving results at the expense of their character, and I've been guilty of that in the past. So that's what this is about. Is these dream statements that I'm about to share. We've got three examples. I've got 25 people that I've done this with on my roster currently, but I've been doing this for seven years and iterating and trying to improve, and I've tried to really help people be successful and fulfilled. If your goals are in alignment with who you really are, your true self, the version of you that is real behind the scenes when no one's around if your goals are in alignment with that person, you not only in my opinion will be successful person. You not only in my opinion will be successful higher probability of success but you'll also be fulfilled along the way. That's what I've found. That's what I've found, okay.

Speaker 2

So the three examples I'm going to give are predicated on deep conversations with these individuals, anonymous of course, that we had to customize the true north statement. I wear this necklace around my neck of a north star and it reminds me every single day of what I'm aiming for. What is the goal? The true north? What guides us in the dark? And it gets dark. So, okay, all right. So the first one. I've got three examples and we cherry cherry picked three examples that we think are really, really awesome. All right, so keeping this anonymous. The first one is to build. So this is the dream statement. Okay, so this is just something 10 years into the future, and there's a blog We'll put the blog for dreamlining at the link in the show notes, you can read it if you want which teaches you how to do this okay.

Speaker 2

And we also have a dreamliner journal too. We'll put that link as well, and we also. I'm kidding. All right, that's enough. All right, so let me tell you about my fifth business. All right, so this is something 10 plus years into the future pie in the sky, but it has to be aligned with who you really are and what you really value. That's the key.

Speaker 1

Self-awareness is the starting point, okay quick question yeah, and don't go off on a giant tangent, I'm gonna keep. We gotta keep us on track. Where does self-belief play into this? Because you said pie in the sky. But what level of pie in the sky? Based on level of belief?

Examples of dream statements

Speaker 2

yes, great question. I do check in with your level of self-belief and make sure remember I would rather you have this 10 plus year dream statement. Be more reasonable for lack of better phrasing and then up the ante later, than the opposite, because a lot of times if you start high, it's hard for your ego to go down, but it's much easier to climb. So start with something that you really believe is possible within a decade and again, and then you can increase it over time. When you get there it's really important. Okay so, and it'll make more sense when I give the example.

Speaker 2

All right, first example to build wealth in real estate that provides the financial abundance to help my family flourish and enjoy my passions. I'm going to say that. One more time To build wealth in real estate that provides the financial abundance to help my family flourish and enjoy my passions. Boom, it's just a North Star. Now the annual and quarterly goals and inch pebbles that we set. So we do annual goals, we do quarterly milestones and then we break the milestones into daily habits, which is inch pebbles.

Speaker 2

All of that needs to align with that one statement to build wealth and real estate that provides the financial abundance to help my family, flourish and enjoy my passions. I know this person and I feel very strongly that, while this statement might evolve a little bit, it's definitely aimed in the right direction. Okay, two more. To build a ghost writing and editing business that has enough clients per year to create financial freedom without jeopardizing my quality of life? This person we made sure we put that last part in because she saw my life and was like hell. No, to build a ghostwriting and editing business that has enough clients per year to create financial freedom without jeopardizing my quality of life. Kev is like why don't we have that?

Speaker 1

that's what I was alluding to at the beginning in our. We don't have any of those we don't have any of those disclaimers built in. What's this about? I've been, you've been, hoodwinked.

Speaker 2

The wool has been pulled over my eyes, yeah no, we'll talk about it okay third, one, third one to build the most supportive financial services firm and create the most impact possible in the communities we serve. This is someone who's in the financial services space and wants to help people build wealth. Awesome people. I know all three of these people. They now have a true north that guides them.

Speaker 2

Now, quarter to quarter basis, you're going to I mean, every quarter is gonna be a little different, every day is gonna be a little different, but the north star is always in the same spot and you iterate and improve and orient yourself toward the north star and, yeah, you get off track. But then you it's like being lost in the woods. Oh, north is that way. Okay, got it. And so you and I do the same thing. You're trying to go off the rails, start these side businesses. One of the reasons why we were able to say no to some of those ding dongs is because I had the true north in mind and you were chasing the quick fix, son look, if I want to have a freaking ice cream truck, you'll do nothing, nothing about it, and I'll come deliver it to you Next level ice cream dude.

Speaker 2

Let's do it.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I'll show up and it'll be awesome.

Speaker 2

Imagine you in like a little next level ice cream hat and you show up. You'll compete with our ice cream truck that you hear sometimes on the podcast.

Speaker 1

Compete. It's not going to be a competition, son, I'm going to take the whole neighborhood over. I'll be giving self-awareness Sundays Nice, you know what I mean Like fortune cookies, except it'll be a Sunday that has some sort of philosophical quote. Nice, I'm going to take over the world. So we'll try to find someone who can fill my shoes for the podcast, but I'm going to chase this beautiful butterfly.

Aligning daily habits with long-term goals

Speaker 2

That's me, with your Winnebago and travel the world. Yeah, yes, right after you're in the mlb a little late for me there.

Speaker 1

What else do you have to add value to in this episode?

Speaker 2

I think that's I mean that's pretty much it huh that's. That's pretty much it. If anyone wants help creating their dream statement, their true north, it is really helpful because, quite frankly, all of us wake up sometimes and it's like what the hell am I doing with my life? Everyone has that Every now and then I'll be like I think I'm lost still, and then I go back to redesigning these simple things.

Speaker 1

Can we break it? Can we try? And again, I know it's not this simple, but obviously you're not gonna be able to coach everybody. Listening, as much as we love that, what is it made up of what? What are the, the, the ingredients to this?

At NLU, we want you to win! So, we're giving tools and resources to ensure your success. Join our Monthly Meet-up every first Thursday of the month at 5 PM.

Speaker 2

it has to be something in the future. At least that that it has to be something in the future that you feel called to. It has to be at least a decade out and it has to be something that you deeply value and it has to be in alignment with service. You have to serve something greater than yourself. Okay, so let's break these down. So it has to be in alignment with who you really are. That's number one. Number two it has to be something you value, that's meaningful. It has to be something in the service of something greater than yourself. You notice how it said for my family or for the community. It has to be in service. That's when we're at our best, when we're serving something greater than ourselves. It also has to be at service. That's when we're at our best, when we're serving something greater than ourselves.

Ingredients of an effective dream statement

Speaker 2

It also has to be at least a decade into the future and it has to be specific enough to be a true north, but vague enough to where it's not any. It doesn't pigeonhole you completely. So, for example, to build a holistic self-improvement company, that's UNI's true north, the most positively impactful holistic self-improvement company. That's UNI's True North, the most positively impactful holistic self-improvement company. The Dreamliner is only one department where we help people become more improved, more fulfilled and more successful. That's our whole mission Help people get more successful, more fulfilled and improve themselves holistically. The Dreamliner is one tool, one product on that mission. So it has to be specific enough to where it creates direction, but vague enough to where you're not pigeonholed and that we actually could do next level ice cream if you really wanted to. I know it's a joke and it's metaphorical, but as long as it helped people improve themselves and there really was a quote in it hypothetically that could be something we would actually do. I know you're joking.

Speaker 1

Obviously yeah, I think so. Huh, okay, we're on to something here. Got some momentum in front of the scenes. Good conversation after. Well, it's, you're gonna get a dm from someone at next level live.

Speaker 2

Show it to b, to BJ Clark. He came to Next Level Live. He has a food truck, so you're going to get a shout out from him. Probably he's going to say let's do it, man, let's collab.

Speaker 1

I was thinking of and again, I don't know if it's possible to do it, but I was thinking of when people say what's supposed to be in a podcast intro. I usually say it's welcome to blank show show. I'm your host. Blank in this show you're going to learn blank. Tune in every week to learn blank. So is there any version of that that we can give? Yeah, I know I'm putting you on the spot. No, no, I appreciate it. This is good. I mean I should have that.

Speaker 1

Let's be honest I there's a lot of things I should have that I don't, so I'm not.

Speaker 2

I'm not calling that out I would say to create or to build or to to build is a good way to start it. To build like all three of these start with to build or to To build is a good way to start it. To build Like all three of these start with to build yeah. So to build blank In blank, in blank, that provides blank to help blank. That's a pretty good framework right there. So let's do it right now. So you do this, mad Libs, you ready Me?

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah, improv, yeah, I'm ready, ready.

Speaker 2

Pretend you're someone else. All right To build blank what To build the most positively impactful ice cream business. Let's run with it. Let's run with it, ready to help.

Speaker 1

Children of all ages and opportunities. So they can believe in themselves now and create a brighter future for themselves. Cool, nice.

Speaker 2

Yeah, nice, all right, so now all at once.

Speaker 1

I don't remember any of them. You know me when I say something it comes from, wherever it comes from. Let me give you a better example. How dare you?

Framework for creating your dream statement

Speaker 2

To build a positively impactful ice cream company that helps people increase self-awareness while enjoying the summer.

Speaker 1

I like mine better, but I accept the attempt that you have made.

Speaker 2

The thing that's so cool is when someone has the right, true north and enough commitment, I know they'll win. I remember when I thought Emilia's business was in trouble and ever since we got that mission statement right, they're going to crush. I'm so proud of them. I'm so proud of them. But I remember telling you behind the scenes I was like they're off the rails, I can tell, and they were figuring it out, so I get it. And they were figuring it out, so I get it. But when someone has the right, when you have a mission statement, a dream statement that's really in alignment with your core values and your skills, your skills, your competence, your natural inclinations, you really do flourish.

Speaker 1

Whether people are aware of it or not, they do have these beneath the surface, I mean well, nobody, ever when I was goal setting, nobody ever said like, hey, just so you know it's going to take most of your life to accomplish the goal. So you should probably design the day-to-day in a way that you actually enjoy and are fulfilled. And again, I don't enjoy everything. Some days suck and they're hard. Yeah, yeah, but I'd still rather be doing that. But that's why my new frame. I say this on podcasts I don't care about the goal, I don't care. I care about how aligned the process is for you, because if the process is not aligned, the goal is not sustainable, mostly.

Speaker 2

But the process won't be aligned if the goal is set improperly.

Speaker 1

That is fair.

Speaker 2

Yeah, is set improperly. That is fair. Yeah, so I give one half, you give the other half. If anyone wants help with this, reach out to kevin or I.

Speaker 1

Seriously don't reach out to me, reach out to alan.

Speaker 2

If you have a podcast, reach out to kevin uh, but yeah, if you want help with this, please book a call. Three free, 30 minutes. Seriously, I love meeting listeners. Book a call, I would love to help. At very least we'll get that done, for sure, for sure and that's.

Speaker 1

It's one of those things where it might I don't know, maybe it doesn't seem super impactful through a podcast episode I'm not saying that but it's going to be something that helps you where you know exactly what you're shooting for.

Speaker 2

Yeah, Feeling lost is a really depressing thing. It's not 100% I don't want to use depressing because I don't know the clinical stuff but it's really sad when you feel lost. I don't like feeling lost.

Real-life impact of aligned goals and values

Speaker 1

I think it can be depressing. Yeah For sure, and that's one. We are privileged, I don't know. I'm always cautious to use that word because we've done a lot of work. I don't want to lessen what we've done, but that's something you and I have had for a long time is we've had a very, very, very and, mostly due to you, we've had a very, very high degree of certainty and clarity of where we're going. So that is definitely something you will leave with a free call from Alan, and again, we're not going to try to sell you on anything. That's not why we do free calls.

Speaker 2

You don't have to coach with me. I just want to meet the listeners. And if you want to coach with me, that's great, but that's not why Gen coach with me, that's great, but that's not why, genuinely like, even if you came and we did the dream statement and we dreamlined you and we got you set up on the peak performance tracking and then you never coached with me, that's totally fine yeah, yeah, I would say you've probably been ghosted more than most humans, so it's really the same.

Speaker 1

I'm right up there you and I are competing on that one.

Speaker 2

Uh, you're ahead, I think who? I think You've been doing it longer. Yeah, for sure You've been doing it longer.

Speaker 1

I always tell people no matter what, whether we work together or not, I will still root for you, I will still love you and I'm always a message away.

Speaker 2

Assuming you're not a bully.

Speaker 1

Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, I'm not going to talk to you in.

Speaker 1

If you are focused on getting to the next level every single day, make sure you are subscribed. Please subscribe on whatever platform you are watching or listening to us on. I know growth can be challenging and especially on those days where you wake up and say you know what, I just don't feel like doing it today, but you'll get a little notification from NLU that says NLU dropped another episode and maybe that will be the gentle kick in the butt that you need to maintain your momentum. So please do that if you haven't yet.

Speaker 2

It means the world to us if you, we already talked about my coaching, so uh perfect if you want to join book club, though I got an email yesterday, shout out to mo. She said hey, alan, I'm not going to be able to make book club this weekend. I'm away something along the lines of but I'm loving this book I. I'm 90 of the way through. Thank you again so much, and it was just just that. That was it. I said, mo, we'll miss you. Have a great weekend and, don't worry, you'll catch up next week. You don't have to come to everyone. You can come in and out as you like and it's good accountability to to read a book, and same as ever, by morgan housell, is the book. The zoom link will be in the show notes to register. And, yeah, come and go as you please, there's no obligation here. Seriously, it's a revolving door and it's a hell of a community, so I hope to see you there.

Speaker 1

As always, we love you, we appreciate you, grateful for each and every one of you, and at NLU we don't have fans.

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Alan Lazaros

Host
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Kevin Palmieri

Host