Next Level University

3 Questions That Can Change Your Life… (1858)

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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Are you getting level 2 results from level 10 investments? Join Kevin and Alan in this thought-provoking episode as they share three simple questions that could change your life. Whether you’re struggling with time management, feeling burnt out, or wasting resources, this episode provides real-life examples and valuable advice on investing in what truly matters. Great for anyone looking to improve their focus and create meaningful results in life and work!

Link mentioned:
Free-30 Minute Business Breakthrough Session Call with Alan:
https://bit.ly/4f3MSUz

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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
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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:
(2:04) Overview of coaching strategy: Metrics, habits, and identity
(4:50) Question 1: Where are you wasting time?
(9:24) Question 2: Where are you wasting effort?
(12:46) Next Level Dreamliner: the planner, agenda, journal, and habit tracker to rule them all. Get a copy: https://a.co/d/9fPpxEt
(13:53) Question 3: Where are you wasting money?
(16:18) Being honest with yourself and making better choices
(19:15) Communication in relationships and aligning values
(24:40) Outro

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

you could easily say , all right , cool , just door , dash it , and then you save time and you save effort . Well , no , because it costs more money . You really have to go through and figure out where are you maxed out on the amount of time you're investing ? All right , cool . Maybe then you want to use money to buy back time . That's a deeper conversation .

Speaker 2

If you're really , really , really honest with yourself , just make sure you're not investing level 10 time , effort and money into level two value . Not everything is of equal value and it shouldn't be , and if you do that , you're going to spread yourself too thin and then you're going to burn down .

Speaker 1

Welcome to Next Level University . I'm your host , Kevin Palmieri .

Speaker 2

And I'm your co-host , Alan Lazarus .

Speaker 1

At NLU , we believe in a heart-driven but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers .

Speaker 2

Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life , love , health and wealth .

Speaker 1

We bring you a new episode every single day on topics like confidence , self-belief , self-worth , self-awareness , relationships , boundaries , consistency , habits and defining your own unique version of success Self-improvement in your pocket every day , from anywhere , completely free .

Speaker 1

Welcome to Next Level University , level University , 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 1,858 , three questions that can change your life . We've done a lot of these episodes because I believe a lot of questions can change your life .

Speaker 2

Oh yeah , is asking yourself the question going to change your life ? We've done a lot of these episodes because I believe a lot of questions can change your life ?

Speaker 1

Is asking yourself the question going to change your life ? No , it's going to be what you answer and then what you do with the answer . I've always liked questions that raise awareness and I always like episodes that have questions that raise awareness . So , alan , these were your three questions , so I will kick

Overview of coaching strategy: Metrics, habits, and identity

Speaker 1

it to you .

Speaker 2

My brethren , the coaching that I do with individuals . These are three questions are some of my go-tos . The first one is some of your gophers .

Speaker 1

I gotta adjust my lights in here . Pardon the , pardon , the the just jeffing of lights . I my lighting's all jeffed in the studio . I gotta figure it out all right , we're out here doing it always always , always .

Speaker 2

We're still here , baby . We're out here doing it , okay . So I'm trying to think of a way to provide context for this . I've said this before , I will say it again , that the only three human resources we have are time , effort and money . That's what it comes down to . So I'm going to break down how I coach people in a very the shortest possible form . This is what I've got , okay , someone comes to me , they tell me a goal and we dial in their metrics , habits and their identity .

Speaker 2

Now , what you measure determines what you focus on . What you focus on determines where you invest your time , effort and money , and where you invest your time , effort and money is what determines the results that you achieve in your life . If I could really , that could be a flow chart of how to . So someone comes to me , they have a goal and I sort of break all that stuff down . And when you do this for so long mentoring for 10 years , coaching for seven and , honestly , even before that let's be real . But ultimately it's my favorite thing in the world and what it comes down to is you , you have persons , places , things and ideas , and you have time , effort and money , and so , for example , the amount of time and effort that I've put into my relationship with Kev is extremely , extremely , extremely , extremely , extremely high , and that is a relationship that has benefited me tremendously Okay , more so than almost any other relationship in my life other than Emilia Smith .

Speaker 1

I'm in second place . Emilia always takes first place . There's nothing I can do to take that top spot . Darn there , really isn't .

Speaker 2

I'm good with second place , a simple second place would suffice .

Speaker 1

Just give me the medal and let me step on the podium . You don't have to tell me why I didn't win . Thank you very much .

Speaker 2

But seriously , out of all the relationships in my entire life , 35 years on this planet , emilia , by far the most Best investment I've ever made . Second would be my man . Kev grew up in the same small town .

Speaker 1

Oh yeah , a couple kids without fathers trying to figure it out dreams , holy crap big dreams and naivete two things those are dangerous big dreams , naivete , those are tons of self-belief , zero humility .

Speaker 2

Baby , I'm kidding on me , all right , so uh , the first question where are you wasting

Question 1: Where are you wasting time?

Speaker 2

time ?

Speaker 2

questions yes number one where are you wasting time ? I did this with my man , andrew , on a coaching session on tuesday . Where are you wasting time ? And all of us can , and again , a waste of time . What's a waste of time for me might not be a waste of time for you . It depends on your core values . It depends on your goals , it of time . What's a waste of time for me might not be a waste of time for you . It depends on your core values . It depends on your goals . It depends on what's meaningful work for you . It depends on what you care about . Uh , it depends on what you , your circumstances , and so it depends on your age . It depends on a lot of things . So , for everyone out there , ask yourself this simple question when am I wasting time ?

Speaker 2

Kevin and I in in group coaching , we have a slide where it shows a little baby on the far left and an older woman on the far right and it shows days , weeks , months , quarters , years , decades , and I think we actually go seconds , minutes , hours , days . Yeah , we go all the way from seconds to lifetime and it's a really powerful slide , and I often have said this before . If you live to 100 , it's 365 days times 100 . That's 36,500 . If you only had 36,500 days left , or $36,500 , how carefully would you spend your money ? You could never make another dollar . That's the metaphor .

Speaker 1

So where are you wasting time , ke , my man ? Let's lead by example . I said social media , so I it's awesome , I have so many wonderful conversations going on with many of you listening through social media specifically . Well , I was going to say specifically instagram , dms , but facebook , quite a lot , and linkedin somehow is coming into the fray . I don't .

Speaker 1

I'm not excited about it , if I'm being honest , because LinkedIn is not my jam , it's definitely coming up , but it's very easy for me to be talking to someone and the next thing I know I find myself on pizza huts Instagram . It's not it's not out of the realm of possibility for that to happen or a BMW page where I'm looking at cars I love I . Or a BMW page where I'm looking at cars I love cars that I need to stop getting derailed and something happened . So on my phone remember how I was talking about you can measure screen time . Mm-hmm . You can't see it on . Yeah , you can't see it on this view , unfortunately , but I have a lot of lights in the studio and a couple of the lights I have are app based , so I can change the colors with an app . I can turn them on , turn them off .

Speaker 1

If that app is open , it counts as screen time yeah I left it open the other day for eight hours said I was on my phone for eight hours . I was like there's not , not a chance , I was on my phone , there's no possibility sunday no , no , no , no , no , no . This was during the week , because I left the app open and I was in the studio all day , so the lights were on all day and I was thinking to myself there's no way , there's no possibility that I was on my phone for eight hours . I just worked 12 .

Speaker 1

but that's not related at all social media for me what's yours .

Speaker 2

My kevin and I talked beforehand about this . I really so . Every single day , I listen to a morning mindset workout . It's a video called ode to excellence uh , on a youtube page called your world within with eddie panero , and I've been listening to that every single day for almost 10 years and it's super motivational . It's a letter to yourself about how to get after it and reach your potential Adore . It Absolutely adore it , and in order to get to that playlist , I have to open YouTube and if you're on YouTube , you can see this and it shows okay , there's me , there's a little Kobe Bryant , there's Tom Brady and then this is Michael Burt . Michael Burt , my man , michael Burt . So I get sucked down these reels sometimes , including my own , so sometimes I'll review the reels that we have as well , but that's really it is . I'll fall down the rabbit hole of YouTube reels more often than I should . I just got a recruiter hitting me up for a job .

Speaker 1

What do they need ? Send it on my way , I could probably I'll take care of it . What are they looking for ? Some sort of mechanical ? Hey , I'm .

Speaker 2

Naomi from Tiger Recruitment Uh-huh , there's a remote job that seems like a great fit for you .

Speaker 1

Would you like to learn more , including the pay ? I would like to learn more , especially the pay , and I think the job title would also be beneficial to know yeah , what are we doing here ?

Speaker 2

maybe industry ?

Speaker 1

so that's the first one . What's the second one ? So the number one question is where are you wasting time

Question 2: Where are you wasting effort?

Speaker 1

?

Speaker 2

yeah , number two is where are you is ? Where are you wasting time ? Yeah , number two is where are you wasting effort ? Where are you wasting effort , kev ? You struggle with the effort one , because what's the difference between time and effort ? Time is seconds , minutes , hours . That's pretty self-explanatory . Effort is what you're putting into the seconds , minutes and hours . Battery power .

Speaker 1

Yeah , exactly Battery power . Yeah , exactly Battery power .

Speaker 2

Willpower , battery power . A good metaphor is the iPhone . When you have 50 apps open , the battery drains quicker and if you have too much going on and you're too overwhelmed and you're focused on too many priorities in a given day , it it's overloaded and you can crash your computer , metaphorically , or your iphone , uh . So where are you putting too much effort ? I have an example emily and I we painted our deck when we first moved into this condo and she got two-thirds of it done . And I'm over here , mr painter , jeff , just trying to do it perfectly , and I said , yeah , but look at , look at mine , mine is pristine . She said , alan , you're not a deck painter . What do we like ? Get this done right . And I agree with her 100 . I just I used to paint up in maine . It was multi-million dollar mansions on the ocean , so I have a certain standard when I paint because , I was going to get fired if I didn't paint to a certain standard .

Speaker 2

You can't paint a multi-million dollar ocean mansion quickly , and so I treated our deck the same . But , honestly , too much effort , waste of effort . You don't want to put level 10 effort into level 2 things .

Speaker 1

Well , this is where the how you do one thing is how you do everything quote holds true . I still don't believe in it . I think it's BS . I really do it doesn't . Unless it was . Yeah , I still I can't get it . I can't get on the train . I can't get on the train . But how you do one thing is essentially how you do everything . You're very thorough thank you .

Speaker 2

You're welcome also sometimes it sucks , yeah , sometimes too much right , and that's . Every strength comes with a weakness . Boom , there it is . Yeah , what about you , man ? Where are you wasting effort , this ?

Speaker 1

one I'm . I'm struggling with this one , not because I'm not wasting effort I'm sure I am , I just don't know where it is . I feel like I'm pretty dialed in . I essentially eat the same thing every night , so I'm not wasting effort on cooking ground . Turkey and rice and veggies is pretty much what I eat every night , if Taryn makes something leftovers hit me with it .

Speaker 2

Here would be an example , imagine you really like . So here's one for me . There's a place near us Jumbo Donuts , you know , has the best egg sandwiches ever . Huge fan and I could easily just stay home . That's a waste of time and money and effort . Now can I fully call it a waste .

Speaker 1

Let's be honest how often are you getting these things ?

Speaker 2

uh , once a month probably , but it's right near the track that we go to , so , uh , hammer a couple bacon , egg and cheese , of course , bagels , bagels , lately bulk season , uh , but ultimately it is a waste of effort , it's it's out of the way kind of . Yeah , it's a waste of effort and again I want to be clear here , it doesn't mean it's a hundred percent waste , right . Right , obviously these are delicious and they are delicious , so in some ways they're worth it . But if I was really honest with myself , yeah , I could probably do better with that and maybe make something at home .

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

Speaker 2

Know about the Next Level Dreamliner . This is a journal that I use every single day . Achieve your dreams 90 days at a time . It breaks down your dreams into goals , milestones and daily habits . We hope you enjoy it . The link will be in the show notes .

Speaker 1

I would say then , probably for me , it's my once a week takeout meal , whether it's Taco Bell . Taco Bell is like 12 minutes away .

Speaker 2

Oh yeah , there you go . Waste of time , effort and money .

Speaker 1

Yeah yeah , here's where things get wonky . You could easily say , all right , cool , just door , dash it , and then you save time and you save effort . Well , no , because it costs more money . So you really have to go through and figure out where are you . Are you maxed out on the amount of time you're investing ? All right , cool . Maybe then you want to use money to buy back time . That's a . That's a deeper conversation , but yeah . I would probably say that I would say effort in achieving and acquiring Taco Bell .

Question 3: Where are you wasting money?

Speaker 2

Third and last question where are you wasting money ? This remember , with all of these you're never really wasting it , and I want this to really land in a new way . Think like an investor . I remember I asked Amelia once . I said would you rather buy Walmart stock or Amazon stock ? And she said well , I don't , I'm not really sure . And I said Amazon . And she said why ? I said because e-commerce is much bigger than people going to stores . Now I actually think Walmart's doing a lot of interesting re-innovating and stuff , and I'm not for Walmart , necessarily , or Amazon , so don't put me on those trains . What I am saying is that it's a more solid investment to go for the thing that's most likely trending up .

Speaker 2

You and I joked one time about selling newspapers or selling kale outside of a candy store . That's your joke , yeah , okay , well , personal development challenging to grow a company in that space . We're doing a great job . I'm proud of us . Now , ultimately , this is an investment of time , effort and money . So when we say , where are you wasting time , where are you wasting time , where are you wasting money , where are you wasting effort , you're not actually wasting it fully . It's just not as optimal or as dialed in .

Speaker 2

And here's the last piece of this . I have a couple clients I call them my Navy SEAL clients . They're two times a week . I can't imagine why you'd want me to coach you twice a week , but I'm awesome . They're crushing . They're absolutely crushing it . I just feel like that's it . Hey , let's go , let's go . It's constant , okay , and one of my clients said thanks for ripping me a new a-hole and I said that's not exactly what I'm doing . However , the point that I'm making with this is I'm really hard on her , and she has asked me to be really hard on her and I've constantly checked in . Is this what you want ? So the point that I'm making for everyone watching or listening to this the more you admit where you're wasting time , effort and money , the better choices you'll have with your resources , and then , ironically , you'll actually have more resources . So it's the people who are the most honest with themselves where it comes to where they're wasting time , effort and money that I've found tend to be the most externally successful not necessarily internally fulfilled , but externally successful mine is ufc .

Being honest with yourself and making better choices

Speaker 1

That would be mine . Now again , am I going to stop that ? Oh man , it would hurt me deeply to my core in my bones . So maybe not , but I am splitting it with someone which . May that not be legal , I don't care really . There's bigger fish to fry than that and I'm going to live my my life . So don't come at me , bro . But I would say that's probably the biggest space . We've done a lot of viewing of the bank account to figure out where we're not investing money wisely . And can this youtube tv ? Can that ? How much are you really using it ? Is it actually valuable ?

Speaker 2

so I would say probably ufc I had one client , anonymously , always , and she sent me screenshots of her iphone , of the subscriptions that she had and her grandkids had actually gotten into her phone and there was a bunch of stuff on there that she never even purchased , she wasn't even using , and I'm talking hundreds , hundreds and hundreds of dollars . And I remember saying you're whoa You're gonna be . Can you imagine how much you're gonna succeed when you button this up ?

Speaker 2

Right kevin , and I can say this authentically . I realized this yesterday , kevin . I was thinking between next level podcast solutions , next level social media let's really do this real quick . So between next level podcast solutions , next level social media group's really do this real quick . So between next level podcast solutions , next level social media , group coaching , and then my clients , that's 26 plus 12 plus 51 plus 11 , so we are working with directly with 100 . That's not even including the 19 person team , so you're looking at 119 people that we work directly with , that we actively , we're playing an active role to help them achieve their goals and dreams , and we work with 61 podcasters if you include group coaching . That's wild . So what my point of all that is , rather than just bragging about us , is there's certain common patterns that kevin and I can tell you this very candidly the people who are the most dialed in are the people who succeed .

Speaker 2

And if you're dialed in with your time , your effort and your money and you're willing to ask these hard questions and own it because , to answer the question about where I'm wasting money , I have Disney Plus , I have Apple TV , I have Netflix and I have Amazon Prime . I would have anyway . So I have Prime Video , but it comes with it , but ultimately I have too many subscriptions . I got rid of Max and obviously , film is one of my favorite things in the world . Ufc is one of Kevin's favorite things in the world , right , so you got to do a cost value analysis with this stuff . But if you're really really really honest with yourself , just make sure you're not investing level 10 time , effort and money into level 2 value . Not everything is of equal value and it shouldn't be , and if you do that , you're going to spread yourself too thin and then you're going to burn down .

Communication in relationships and aligning values

Speaker 1

Last thing I would add is when this gets hard is when you , let's say it's a business partner Alan and I are business partners , but let's say it's an intimate relationship a valuable use of time or a preferred use of time for your partner seems like a waste of time quote unquote for you . That's where some conflict can arise and that's where you have to figure out okay , let's have this conversation , and is it a level 10 for you ? That's a question that Alan and Emilia would ask themselves . I don't know if you still do , but that's something that Taryn and I have used . Is this a 10 out of 10 for you ? I use it all the time . This is something that you would regret highly .

Speaker 1

So my father-in-law's birthday , I think , is November 1st , and his favorite skier is going to be . There's some ski competition somewhere in Vermont I don't know where it is and Taryn said hey , do you want to come ? And I said , honestly , there's too much going on . I said where is this for you ? Is this like a 10 out of 10 ? And she said no , no , no , I completely understand . If you can't make it , I appreciate it . I can't make it , there's just too much going on right now . But if that was a 10 out of 10 , that might be a different conversation . I'd have to approach it differently and then I could say for me , babe , it's a 10 out of 10 for me not to go . Then we would have to figure out what is aligned .

Speaker 2

That is a world-class conversation right there . That's so important . Emilia had her grandmother coming over and it was right in the middle of sessions and calls and podcasts and training and coaching and I said 0 to 10 , how important is it to you that I come down and say hi ? And she said it's okay , no worries that I come down and say hi ? And she said it's okay , no worries . But that's the thing is , if it's 10 out of 10 important for me not to do it and it's 10 out of 10 important , or it's two out of 10 important for her , then I'm obviously not going to do it , but that's let's say Taryn said it was 10 out of 10 , the ski thing .

Speaker 2

You'd have to invest time , effort and money differently . You'd have to go to Vermont , pay whatever and invest the time and effort and reallocate your . And that's really when I had regrets after my car accident at 26, . That's what it was . I regretted the time and effort that I wasted and the money that I wasted on things that were not as meaningful . And if you want a meaningful life , you have to invest your time , effort and money into meaningful endeavors , and that is based on self-awareness and it's based on your awareness of your partner and your awareness of your friends and your awareness of your surroundings .

Speaker 1

So right on , all right . The three questions are where are you wasting time , where are you wasting effort , where are you wasting money ? Next level nation . If you are focused on staying consistent when it comes to your fitness whether that's weightlifting , whether that's Pilates , whether that's yoga , running , whatever it is we have the Next Level Fitness Accountability Group . I think we should probably stop putting the link in the chat or link in the show notes , because we've been getting some spam people selling stocks and shit and I have to research people when they request .

Speaker 1

So if you're interested , please reach out to Alan or myself , alan , when they request . So if you're interested , please reach out to Alan or myself . Alan at nextleveluniversecom . Kevin , at nextleveluniversecom , you can do it on social media . Alan's handle is alazarus at alazarus88 , a-l-a-z-a-r-o-s-88 . Mine is at neverquitkid on Instagram . Message us and we'll get you set up . You can do it on Facebook , whatever . Whatever's easiest for you . I just want to make sure that the group stays safe and I don't want to have people that somehow come across trying to sling stocks in there . I ain't about that life .

Speaker 2

I was concerned when we started putting the WhatsApp link in the show notes .

Speaker 1

We tested it . It was my idea , we tested it and we are . The test results are in and it's not going to be next level stock accountability group . It's next level fitness accountability group , so I want to make sure we keep it that way also for anyone out there who really wants to achieve their goals in q4 or into 2025 .

Speaker 2

We're going to create your top three goals . We're going to measure your top three metrics , we're going to track habits underneath those metrics and then we're going to work on the identity blocks that you have , and that's ultimately what my coaching is . Free breakthrough session . The link will be in the show notes 30 minutes free breakthrough session . I'm not going to sell you anything . I just want to meet you . I just want to help you get you off to the races and ultimately , it's my favorite work in the world , and Kevin and I have had sort of a weird identity crisis recently of we have been doing this for so freaking long now that we're forgetting how valuable these simple fundamentals actually are , because this is kind of all we do .

Speaker 2

It's like if a mechanic's been doing fixing cars for 20 years and again 10 years in this case . You see the car . Oh , I know what's wrong with it . That's how we feel with these certain things . Kevin , podcasting me business , but also just grow yourself , grow your podcast , grow your business . I'm telling you please , please , please , book . There's gonna be insights in there that you might not have thought of and I have dozens of mentors and coaches . I have a therapist . They have helped me tremendously get to where we are and I know that that people need more of that in their life . In hindsight you realize what made the difference , and there's a couple coaches in my life that were very , very , very accurate about some of the hard truths I didn't want to hear , and I really hope that you book .

Speaker 1

Well , and imagine getting asked questions , like we talked about today , every other week or once a month , or whenever it is every week , depending on what it you're gonna . You're gonna raise your awareness and you'll be able to take different actions after that . All right , we have a team call . Right now we're gonna jump on the the zoom with the wonderful nlu

Outro

Speaker 1

team . 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

Please reach out .

Speaker 1

Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level University . We love connecting with the Next Level family .

Speaker 2

We mean it when we say family . If you ever need anything , please reach out to us directly . Everything you need to get a hold of us is in the show notes .

Speaker 1

Thank you again and we will talk to you tomorrow .

Head Shot

Alan Lazaros

Host
Head Shot

Kevin Palmieri

Host