Next Level University

Does Alignment Get HARDER Or Easier? - Freestyle Friday (1971)

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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What if staying true to yourself meant taking the harder road—would you still do it? In today’s episode, hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros discuss the challenge of staying true to yourself in a world that rewards shortcuts. They share personal breakthroughs on choosing integrity over quick success, why most people quit too soon, and how real success comes from consistency and personal growth.

Links mentioned:
Next Level Live 2025 - Saturday, April 5th, 2025 (10:00 am to 5:00 pm) - https://bit.ly/4aTwC7Q
Free 30-minute Coaching 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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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:
(2:07) The fear of doing things differently
(5:09) Knowing which fears to face
(7:18) The mix of fulfillment and vulnerability
(9:36) The challenge of sharing your authentic self
(12:55) The blurred line between personal and professional life
(22:53) 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.
(27:46) Why most podcasts don’t last past eight episodes
(34:08) Turning down money to stay in alignment
(40:17) Core values Vs. Goal achievement
(45:06) Outro

Send a text to Kevin and Alan!

Kevin Palmieri:

I think the longer you do something, the longer, the easier it is to find alignment, recognize alignment and really recognize misalignment. And I think it's just also scary to just get in the groove of I'm going to be myself.

Alan Lazaros:

No matter what you're trying to achieve, there is a blueprint. You're not the first person to try to do anything. You're not the first person to build a smartphone. You're not the first person to try to do anything. You're not the first person to build a smartphone. You're not the first person to build a tech company. You're not the first person to start a podcast. No matter what, there's an existing blueprint and I think we all have to start out studying that and, yeah, maybe modeling it a bit.

Kevin Palmieri:

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

Alan Lazaros:

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

Kevin Palmieri:

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

Alan Lazaros:

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

Kevin Palmieri:

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.

Alan Lazaros:

Self-improvement in your pocket, every day, from anywhere, completely free.

Kevin Palmieri:

Welcome to Next 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 1,971, it's Freestyle Friday. For those of you who may be new to NLU, Freestyle Friday is where Alan and I just kind of show up and just have a discussion about maybe something we're going through, a lesson we learned. It's just, yeah, the opportunity to show up here and have a conversation, as opposed to we're going to talk about this thing and we're going to try to stay on task with this thing for the whole time. This is my thought.

Alan Lazaros:

I recorded an episode of podcast growth you today, probably my favorite episode I've ever recorded podcast growth you, yeah, yeah, why? And?

Kevin Palmieri:

it because I had a breakthrough right before I recorded it where I said you know, you know, what I think makes me different, that I've been afraid to lean into, is that podcast is not just about tips and tricks and tactics and strategies. It's about what it takes to succeed externally as well as internally as a podcaster. And I think I was struggling a little bit with the fear or with the pain of comparison before, because I think there was a little piece of me that felt ashamed that I wasn't doing it the way that other people were doing it, and I didn't realize that until I started doing the episode. And there was a point in the episode where I was like this is I said it internally this is really easy, I feel like I'm in flow, it's just feel I don't know how to explain it was just like this is really easy and I feel just you love talking about the internal stuff well, I think that you always have.

Kevin Palmieri:

I was the external guy well, I know, but I think for a lot of people when they're as podcasters, jesus, it's the external stuff that I pulled my mic down, almost ripped it off the off the desk speaking of external stuff.

Alan Lazaros:

How certain are you, to 10, that your audio is optimal?

Kevin Palmieri:

Less than 1.

Alan Lazaros:

Really.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, let me check it out.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, I just need you to give it a little.

Kevin Palmieri:

It's optimal.

Alan Lazaros:

It's optimal. Yeah, it's optimal. If you're confident, I'm confident. I just Sometimes, when I'm on other shows, I move my amp.

Kevin Palmieri:

Never move it. No, you'd never move it. That's rookie shit.

Alan Lazaros:

You know why I move it? Because if I dial it up I can hear myself better and then I am not as concerned about how close the mic is to my mouth and a lot of people on other podcasts. They like the mic to be farther down than you and I.

Kevin Palmieri:

We're much more podcast-focused and a lot of other people are much more video, I think people ask you to move the mic.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, yeah for sure, really, absolutely.

Kevin Palmieri:

I can say nine, 900 and some odd episodes. Nobody has ever asked me to move the mic.

Alan Lazaros:

Really.

Kevin Palmieri:

Ever Nope. Not one person no.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, that's happened several times. Man, they must hate me. Either that or they hate you.

Kevin Palmieri:

I'm kidding.

Alan Lazaros:

I don't think they hate me. I think it's possible that hey, let's not.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, let's not. I'm not going to go there. That's not what I'm going to say. No, no.

Alan Lazaros:

It was kind of a. You're just presupposing what I'm going to say.

Kevin Palmieri:

No, no, no.

Alan Lazaros:

It was kind of a joke.

Kevin Palmieri:

But then when you responded the way you responded, I was like maybe I'm right, maybe I'm onto something here, go ahead, go ahead no, I I do think that some people research, they find out I was a model and I think they probably want to put that on youtube. That's all. How fucking dare you? I did one modeling shoot as well myself, and nobody's ever asked me to move the mic. If I'm on your show, you want me to move the mic so you can show off my face on youtube? Just let me know, I'll do it. I'll do it for you. Sounds good, take one for the team.

Kevin Palmieri:

This was a breakthrough for me. It was a breakthrough and it was scary. There was a moment during the episode where I was like I am, I like sabotaging everything we've done up to this point if I do this episode. It was really scary, but it felt really good and it felt really right. But it was also scary and I think that's kind of that's the weird thing about knowing knowing the difference between a fear you should face and a fear you shouldn't face, because it didn't feel good at first and then, as I I spoke more, I was like this feels right, but I'm still scared.

Alan Lazaros:

How do you feel?

Kevin Palmieri:

after I'm still nervous yeah.

Alan Lazaros:

I said in the episode.

Kevin Palmieri:

I'm probably going to record a new intro. I think I just figured out who I am. After 3,000 episodes, I think I finally just figured out who I am, you know.

Alan Lazaros:

It's weird, another layer of the Kevin Onion has been unfolded. Yes, the Kev Onion. The Kev Onion when I was at the training three weeks ago. Now Say what you said right before this.

Kevin Palmieri:

That kid's lost it. I was talking some shit. I was talking about, uh, comparison, and so you how to know whether it's a fear that's worth facing?

Alan Lazaros:

yeah, that got it, thank you so I talked to the kids and I said they asked me a question. I forget what it was how do you know when you're growing or how do you know when you're on the path, or something like that, when you're in your calling, how do you know when you're in your calling? And I used fulfillment and regret. I think that you regret when you're after you do something that you really wanted to do, that was maybe filled with fun or pleasure or enjoyment, and maybe you weren't that scared of it. Sometimes you regret it and you're like, ah, maybe I shouldn't have done that or maybe you weren't that scared of it. Sometimes you regret it and you're like, ah, maybe I shouldn't have done that or maybe I shouldn't have been at that party or whatever. And then there's other things that you do that you're actually really terrified to do or say, and you know that you're on the path.

Alan Lazaros:

When, after you're done with the thing, you feel icky, emotionally, not in a negative, dirty way, but in like a vulnerable way. You feel vulnerable, you feel exposed, you feel, but simultaneously you feel fulfilled. So it's, you feel fulfilled as a man or as a woman, but you also feel like, uh, I don't know that was. Am I? Who am I? And is that okay? Did I say something wrong? And and I told them. I said, after this training, I'm going to feel fulfilled, but I'm also going to feel emotionally. Rationally. I know this is great, I'm grateful to be here, all this stuff makes sense Passion, purpose, profit, engineer, design, a life, awesome, great. But afterwards, because of all the stuff that I shared, that I was scared to share, I'm going to feel fulfilled but also emotionally vulnerable.

Alan Lazaros:

On the car ride home. I'm going to feel emotionally vulnerable and I don't know how to describe that at all. I don't think I did a good job whatsoever describing that feeling, but that's why I asked you how do you feel right now? Because you recorded it today. I think that you're on the path, you're in alignment with your calling, your potential, your contribution, whatever you want to call it. Some people call it destiny, some people call it fate, some people call it calling, some people call it purpose, some people call it mission, some people call it your true potential, your greatest level of contribution. There's all these different names for it. But ultimately, is Kevin in alignment with best Kevin? And I think the answer is yes. If number one, you feel fulfilled as a man. But number two you feel vulnerable emotionally fulfilled as a man.

Kevin Palmieri:

but number two you feel like vulnerable emotionally. I think that the best way I could describe it is you've thrown something up in the air and you're like anxious for it to come down or you're anxious for it to fall and break. It's like it's out of your hands, but you can still feel it and you want the control back. That's the the best way, because after I did the episode, it's like well, that's done now, so that's going to go, it's going to go out into the world. I'm not going to redo it, that's it. That's going to go out into the world.

Alan Lazaros:

You know, in my opinion that's the hardest part of being a podcaster. Every now and then I'll think to myself we have almost 2,000 episodes out there where we've shared a lot of ourselves, and I think I blur personal and professional quite a bit. You obviously do too. This podcast does. Yeah.

Alan Lazaros:

I'd say so and I've had clients who said I feel like we're hanging out every day. And I've had clients who said I feel like we're hanging out every day and it's well, that's great in terms of being on the train with us, on the growth train with us. We want the listeners to feel like they're on this journey with us. And there's some downsides to that too, where maybe you don't hold as high a perception and maybe listeners perceive you as a peer more than they really are and that kind of stuff. But it can be hard to not lose yourself and all that. And I think it's also really. Kevin and I are not famous by any means, but we are heard in 175 countries. We have coming up on 1.2 million listens across the four podcasts between the two of us and far less far.

Kevin Palmieri:

It's very underwhelming when you put it that way, like four podcasts, you know.

Alan Lazaros:

I think it's still pretty awesome.

Kevin Palmieri:

That's a rough one, a little bit Like this. One has 1.1 million. The other three together have like Well, they're newer 60, 60,000 you know, yeah, fair, I don't even care. You put four people together, it's like, yeah, these together, these four guys Are worth 15 million dollars. Yeah, fair, I don't even care. You put four people together, it's like, yeah, together these four guys are worth $15 million, except one of them is worth $14 million and the other three are worth $333,000 each.

Alan Lazaros:

I am done caring about any of that. That's fair. I'm just throwing it out there. No, I appreciate it, but being heard in over 175 countries when there's only 195 on the planet, there's this vulnerable thing to Kevin's point of throwing something up in the air and feeling like you're out of control of it. There's a lot out there about you and I, and through the last eight years we've been in different versions of ourselves. I mean, sometimes, every now and then, I'll think like what if one of my friends from my past like I'll always think about different people, like I guess I'm saying like so goddamn much I'll think about other people and I think everyone goes through this where they'll have people pop into their head from their past and I'll think to myself, what if that person did listen? So-and-so commented recently, someone so-and-so liked so-and-so, is watching my story, even though they won't talk to me. I wonder if, if they listened, what would they think of this version of me?

Alan Lazaros:

because the version of me that they knew 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago. I've, the essence is the same, but the unlayering of the onion is. I mean, it's a massive contrast. So I think about that all the time. And so for anyone out there watching or listening, if you do want to endeavor in any sort of public figure, realm or podcaster or the vulnerability piece is huge, especially if you want to stay authentic.

Alan Lazaros:

I was on with my therapist earlier. Her name's Carol, and we were talking about this merger of personal and professional and how that messes with my relationships sometimes and I said I I don't like the fact that I have to like put on some professional front and then like shift into personal. I I don't want to do that. What a giant waste of energy, in my opinion. It's I get why people do it, do. I think it's actually alarmingly challenging not to do it. And I remember when I was in corporate I would see these people, they would have these professional bravados and then I know at home they're not like that and some of them I knew in both scenarios and I think it's kind of exhausting to try to be professional in one sense and then different in your personal life, and I always used to say this there's and I've been talking a lot about the social world versus the real world, and I think that there's the professional world and then the personal world and there's some crossover, of course.

Alan Lazaros:

But I remember in corporate I'm thinking of one of my bosses at the time manager I guess we'll call him leader. And I remember in corporate I'm thinking of one of my bosses at the time manager, I guess we'll call him leader. And I remember thinking to myself he's very competent, very capable, very intelligent, mit grad, phd, awesome, billion-dollar tech company, great, cool to learn from. And then I saw a picture of him and his wife and his daughters and I wonder what he's like at home. Then I saw a picture of him and his wife and his daughters and I wonder what he's like at home and it I could be wrong about this, but he's in charge here.

Alan Lazaros:

I doubt he's in charge at home. I just got that sense. And he doesn't seem super happy in his marriage. Necessarily, he's always at work and I'm not making that wrong either. I get it, I'm an achiever, but I yeah, that's something to consider for anyone out there In the 21st century. Things have gotten blurry as shit. There used to be work and home. That is not a thing anymore. Seriously no.

Kevin Palmieri:

You don't even have to be a content creator. I mean, think about. I mean just I think about people who post. Like I post pictures of Taryn and myself and the cats, but like I don't have kids, I don't know Even that you post your kids online. What happened behind the scenes in order for that to happen? What was your thought process when you were taking the picture? Did you take it to post it Again? I'm not making that wrong either. I had a moment when I was recording the episode today where I was like I think the scary thing is I know it will be harder to win like that and then the even scarier thing is I don't think I care. I don't really care. I don't want to do it. Somebody asked me today. They said hey, can you take a look at our YouTube thumbnails?

Kevin Palmieri:

I said yeah, yeah yeah, and they said are there some commonalities that you've seen between the clients who are doing really well on YouTube and like lessons you can take from that? And I said I'll be very honest, I don't know. I'm smacking the shit off my head, I don't know what the hell is going on here. I'll be very to everybody out there the vast majority of you that aren't content creators or podcasters or YouTubers. Maybe you want to be, though, but there is a strategy right now that a lot of people are doing, where they'll just go find a channel that's not that big, that has outlier videos. So let's say, there's a channel that has 1,000 subscribers, but it managed to create a video that has 500,000 views, and they'll just copy the thumbnail and they'll copy the title and they'll just do the video in their own unique way, because it's something happened to make a channel that had no reach kind of go viral. So why wouldn't we just try to figure out what they did and replicate it? You can't play that game it.

Alan Lazaros:

And I said you can't play that game.

Kevin Palmieri:

Well, I said you can't, don't look at our thumbnails because we're not doing that, so you can't look at our channel. I don't, I know, I, I know we could be doing different. I don't really care, I don't really want to, I don't, but that's scary yeah I think that's scary. That's a little bit scary well, let's have this conversation.

Alan Lazaros:

You said I'm afraid that it's going to be harder to win this way, and what you mean is in terms of external success, yes, however, there's something to be said for this, and I've been contemplating this for at least 10 years, if not longer. There's this interesting understanding that I had when I was in corporate, where I saw these people that were very, very, very, very, very externally successful. I'm talking wealthy as fuck, okay, but there's a. There's something you pay for that Not always, but most of the time on the emotional and soul level. There's something you pay. You pay a dividend or a price or a sacrifice, whatever you want to call it but there's something that dies inside a little bit, and I was always trying to figure out how do I win in corporate?

Alan Lazaros:

This is back when my dream was to be a fortune 500 CEO like my hero at the time, steve jobs. He's not my hero anymore, but I wanted to do for me. It was lawyer, politician, president, or it was engineer, mba, ceo of a fortune 500 company like Steve Jobs, and I've studied his whole career and we actually use his org structure at NLU, with much less people, but back then I was studying all the greats in the business world quote unquote in corporate, and I was around some of the greats as well, which is really wild to say out loud here, and I was in my early 20s, so this is interesting. But ultimately, you always want to learn from the best in the game in order to try to become the best in the game. So if you want to learn basketball, you try to study Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant or whoever. If you want to be the CEO, you got to understand the best in the game. So if you want to learn basketball, you try to study Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant or whoever. If you want to be the CEO, you got to understand the differences.

Alan Lazaros:

So I'm doing all of that and I realized very early on and I think this was more intuitive than anything that they were very different at home than they were at work and that they paid a price. They paid a price on the soul and emotional level, and I don't think they're super fulfilled and I think that that was something that was very alarming for me and I'm talking multimillionaire CEOs, and when that's your dream, you get concerned. It's like, well, I wouldn't trade places with you. So what does that mean Because you look fucking miserable, you're out of shape and you're not happy and getting divorced. And how do I not? How do I get that level of impact and success without the downsides? And that's been really what I've been trying to figure out for my entire life. Quite frankly, and it's the truth of the matter is, you say it's going to be harder to win this way, and I'm with you. I think in some ways that's true, but there's got to be something to be said for not having to change who you are, because how hard is that?

Alan Lazaros:

right yeah, to try to put on this professional front versus yeah, so you and I don't have to waste time and effort on that shit, because we're just kind of showing up as ourselves yeah, but we did in the beginning more than we do now.

Kevin Palmieri:

So that's the question is, if I just started a podcast about podcasts same level of knowledge, far less level of experience I don't know if I, number one, would have had that thought of I'm just going to do it my way.

Alan Lazaros:

Number two, I definitely don't think I would have made it okay right if I make okay, you wouldn't have had the confidence or the courage.

Kevin Palmieri:

I wouldn't have said if it takes longer, it takes longer, or whatever. Yeah. Because, we've just done that so many times up in. We have another client, just a good. I don't. I'm not interested in having guests on NLU anymore. If I was going to have a guest, she would be a guest. I would like to have Nice, because she's just a good person. She turned down a seven-figure sponsorship opportunity.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri:

It's over a million dollars. That's awesome, because it was out of alignment.

Alan Lazaros:

I did that with a million as well, and it's. I know I did that with a million as well, and it's. I know I don't want to win out of alignment with who I am, but I think that's why that's the harder, longer road. Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri:

I think you and I have just done that and again, this isn't, if anything, it makes it harder, so I don't. Again, I think it makes it harder externally. I think it makes it far better internally yeah, and I think that's what.

Alan Lazaros:

That's what staying power is. Would you, if you have the 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and again no one knows for sure, but average life expectancy right now is 78. It's increasing. If you're intending on a long career, a long calling, you don't want to sell out early because it'll fuck you up internally for sure for sure what?

Kevin Palmieri:

what did would you? What advice would you give to somebody about this? Like, do you play the game or do you just be you and and trust that you'll attract the right people eventually, in time, eventually, whatever? However, it works to somebody just starting. I don't want to eliminate the large percentage of people listening, because I know most people probably aren't content creators, but it's anything out of any career.

Alan Lazaros:

Let's just say anything out of Any career.

Kevin Palmieri:

Anyone who has, let's just say anything out of the realm of normalcy, Like I'm not saying a 9-to-5 corporate. I'm saying you want to do something different Doesn't mean you have to start your own company, but like you want to do your own thing, you want to be in control of what you're doing. That's how I'll is very clear competition and a blueprint for how they're doing it.

Alan Lazaros:

Those are the pillars of this NLU listener what is happening. I just wanted to jump in here and let you know if you want to get to the next level faster. We have a free, virtual monthly meetup at the first Thursday of every month. You can connect with like-minded people and become a bigger part of this amazing global community. The link to register will be in the show notes. Of course, I would go deeper understanding rather than tactics, so I'll give both, but I'm going to start with deeper understanding, please.

Alan Lazaros:

No matter what you're trying to achieve, there is a blueprint. You're not the first person to try to do anything. You're not the first person to build a smartphone. You're not the first person to try to do anything. You're not the first person to build a smartphone. You're not the first person to build a tech company. You're not the first person to start a podcast.

Alan Lazaros:

No matter what, there's an existing blueprint and I think we all have to start out studying that and, yeah, maybe modeling it a bit. And then, as you go into the journey, you realize you know what it's like a buffet. I don't really like curry or I don't really like whatever that is. And so Kevin and I started a podcast and we went out naive as shit and we interviewed all these people and we saw what the top of the game was doing and we studied Joe Rogan and and everybody. And then we were like you know what? I don't want to win that way and that's not who we are.

Alan Lazaros:

And so you study the existing game and then you model that and realize it's not who you really are or maybe it's not fully fulfilling, and then you have to realign the existing blueprint with who you are, which is unique, and then you start to master that and eventually you start to change the game. You. You start to do it your own way within that old blueprint but in your new custom blueprint. And if you do that really well which is what I'm really hoping is happening for us then you can change the game. And then eventually people start to model you and you have changed the game perpetually.

Alan Lazaros:

And then, a hundred years from now, that gets changed again. Michael Jordan changed the game of basketball, michael Phelps changed the sport of swimming. I never used to be able to say this out loud because I would come off as a nutcase, but I intend on changing the game of business in the 21st century and I've studied the 20th century entirely and before that, quite frankly, and I'm studying what businesses are doing now, particularly in this space, but beyond that and I, we're doing it very different, and I do believe that we can Do something that's never been done. In a way it's never been done that eventually Would be studied.

Kevin Palmieri:

But that's not the advice you'd give to somebody else necessarily.

Alan Lazaros:

What the advice I would give to someone else is. You have to align what works with your core values. Yeah and if you trade in your core values and your integrity For external success, that will fuck you up. And I've been there, but to a much lesser extent than most, and I didn't do it for 30 years. I had my wake-up call at 26. Some people don't have that until 56.

Kevin Palmieri:

Well, anytime I hear Michael Jordan or that, it's like well I know, but that's one, for every Michael Jordan there's a thousand.

Alan Lazaros:

Bob dingoes you know more than that, honestly.

Kevin Palmieri:

For every Michael Jordan, there's probably a hundred thousand Bob dingoes For every. You know that there was a. I showed this to Bianca and Emilia today. I had a call with them. Let me pull it up real quick.

Alan Lazaros:

That's been a trip for me you coaching her and then me hearing through. That's been fascinating.

Kevin Palmieri:

A little triangulation I am a huge fan of getting the opportunity to talk with them. There's a platform for podcasters called pod match, and it helps hosts find guests.

Alan Lazaros:

Great, great platform awesome, alex san filipo hosts and guest find.

Kevin Palmieri:

Guest finds, hosts yes, alex san filipo is the creator of it and it's it's great. I don't have anything. It's really good. It's a really really good platform. Tinder for podcasters. Tinder for podcasters except less sex. So right now, there are 2.757 million podcasts. Let's just say there's three million podcasts, quote unquote. Out of those, there's only 383 000000 active podcasts. Okay, mm-hmm. Now this is the next. This is the one I wanted to share. 56% of podcasters don't make it past episode eight. Okay, so let's do the math.

Alan Lazaros:

That's 44.54%, do so 368. What thousand are? Active oh geez 383,5 and I promise we're not doing this to pump our tires, yeah times. So what percentage? 55 percent uh 55.46 I'm just gonna put 45 then. So that means that 172,000 are active.

Kevin Palmieri:

Past eight episodes Well, I don't know if this number is, I don't know if they correlate like that.

Alan Lazaros:

That would make sense. So if 55% don't make it past eight episodes, then that means 45% do.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, but I don't know if that number is from this. Oh okay, I just don't know, I'm not sure. I just don't want to give out false data.

Alan Lazaros:

Okay, well, alright, no one quote us on this, and I think this feels like a pretty sound analysis so far.

Kevin Palmieri:

Okay, the thing I really wanted to point to was the chance of reaching the milestone of recording 300 episodes is 2.76% Mm-hmm, which means out of every 100 podcasts that get created, only 2.76 of them. So less than three get to 300 episodes.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, Think of them so less than three get to 300 episodes.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, think of that number, just think of that?

Alan Lazaros:

Why do you think that is?

Kevin Palmieri:

And again this is the way it works, with all success.

Alan Lazaros:

This is the way it works with businesses, podcasts, all that. This is why I have such a hard time with people at the top of the game that say I wouldn't have worried so much. Listen, Oprah, you worried and I'm grateful you're worried because look at what you did with your life. That's great. But these people need to be concerned, like if you're not concerned about being out of shape, you're not going to be as in shape that is.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, that is true I. It's really hard to do anything for a long period of time. Yeah it is. And why I'm convinced it's really hard to do anything for a long period of time? Yeah, it is, and I'm convinced it's because the thing is going to teach you more about yourself than it's going to teach you about the thing.

Alan Lazaros:

Unless you have a mask on the whole time, In which case you're a performer.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, but even then it's going to teach you stuff. It's just going to be behind the scenes and it's not going to be lessons that you take. I don't think you can get through anything unscathed. Quote, unquote I think either you sell pieces of yourself to get there or you go through the thorns with the lessons and the pain. But you grow, you grow from it. So my thought was we're 1900, whatever episode. I don't know what that is. I mean the number of podcasts. Again, this isn't to pump our tires, but I just want to use it as an example. The number of podcasts that get to 1971 episodes is probably one percent of one percent of 1%.

Alan Lazaros:

How many podcasts do you think are past that mark?

Kevin Palmieri:

I don't know.

Alan Lazaros:

I don't know. You've got to figure maybe, I don't know, probably like 1,000.

Kevin Palmieri:

If we're saying there's 30,000, sorry, what did we say 285,000?

Alan Lazaros:

No 385. So 385,000 inactive that are still active, and then 45% of them is 176,000.

Kevin Palmieri:

I did it so you're looking at maybe 1,000. Yeah, very small. Maybe 10,000. Okay, how many of those people played the game?

Alan Lazaros:

The whole time?

Kevin Palmieri:

How many of those people played the game for 75% of the time? How many of those people played the game for 75% of the time? How many of those people played the game for 50% of the time? Can you define playing the?

Alan Lazaros:

game, because here's the thing, right, the fundamentals could be considered playing the game. So here's a fundamental what you focus on determines where you invest your time, effort and money. Where you invest your time, effort and money. Where you invest your time, effort and money in terms of persons, places, things and ideas dictates your results in life and what you measure dictates your focus, so those are fundamentals. I got a definition for you. But that's playing the game from my perspective, but it's not playing the social perception bullshit game.

Kevin Palmieri:

This is my definition of playing the game You're risking character alignment for results alignment.

Alan Lazaros:

That's my definition. I think you lose long-term and you win short-term when you do that, I think, and you and I decided early on we'd rather do it our way and fail than succeed at the expense of character Well, but there is a downside from the outside looking in.

Kevin Palmieri:

I mean, there is a downside of that. Yeah, there definitely is, and I think it's important to discuss it, just yeah, it might take longer.

Alan Lazaros:

The old me never would have shared this, but I think it's really important and I am again not trying to pump my tires either, but I had the opportunity to be given a million dollars to start a company with. That would be, at the start, a million dollars boom. But then I would have people that have a vested, an invested interest in what we do and don't do. So we wouldn't be able to say you know what, we're not going to have that mentor and you know what, because they would own a piece of everything we do and I didn't want to play that game To me. I knew there was a way to do it without that money and there is.

Alan Lazaros:

There is. There's a way to do it without that money. It's going to take way longer, it's going to be alarmingly difficult in ways beyond what I comprehended. Yeah, but it's been worth it, in my opinion, because I don't know, I know it's corny, but live free or fail like I would rather be free and fail than succeed and be trapped. I don't think that's normal. Yeah, I don't either. And then the irony and paradox of that is, if you don't have that self-belief, you're going to take the million and then you're going to be trapped.

Alan Lazaros:

But maybe you're going to be trapped in an unfulfilling success. But I had already done that, dude. I felt trapped in corporate.

Alan Lazaros:

I had already done that and I would have probably if it, if I was offered that opportunity, you weren't around I probably would have taken that I wouldn't, I wouldn't have known any better there's a weird lesson in that and I'll go brief with it because I know we got to jump. But the weird part about life and I've never been able to figure this out, so I'm not pretending to know why this works this way, but because you would have taken it, you almost are guaranteed not to be offered it, and that's just a whole other episode.

Alan Lazaros:

I think it's the same, because if you became the type of man who didn't need it, you'd be offered it In a way.

Kevin Palmieri:

You know what I mean it's the same things that create the opportunity, also create the awareness of the opportunity.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, no one's going to go to you and say, hey person, who's never proven anything do you want a million dollars to start a company. There was a lot more to it. It was hey, there's a lot of capital, private equity is a big deal. We have tons of capital, but we can't find good entrepreneurs. You're a great entrepreneur. I believe in you. Let's set up a meeting. No, I'm good, thank you. Send me in with a blonde wig, send Kevin.

Kevin Palmieri:

Do you ever see the little? Hunting scene when Ben Affleck goes in, what does?

Alan Lazaros:

he do. He shakes them out of 700 bucks or something.

Kevin Palmieri:

I don't remember exactly what it was, but I remember the outline of the scene.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, so here to hither 700, you know.

Kevin Palmieri:

I need to watch that again. I haven't watched that in a long time. That's the thesis in today's Freestyle Friday. Yeah, it's. I think the longer you do something, the longer, the easier it is to find alignment, recognize alignment and really recognize misalignment. And I think it's just also scary to just get in the groove of I'm gonna be myself. I've been trying to do that on my Instagram story. I've just been like hitting record and like what am I thinking about? Because I think that's I do think it's valuable, I think it's a different perspective is as weird as it might sound, I just don't. There's like no, it's not sugarcoated, it's not perfect, there's no edits, there's no music. It's just like this is what I'm thinking and this is that's where this whole thing started for me. And I think for a long time I just stopped doing that because maybe I lost sight of it or I got overwhelmed or whatever, I don't know.

Alan Lazaros:

So, yeah, A little freestyle Friday. I texted you recently I said I gotta get back to my deepest, why I have a folder with just all the impact over the years and people saying thank you and all that, and I just every now and then, when life gets really hard, it's just what are we doing this for again. And then I get back to that and it's a nice recentering and, at the end of the day, impact was the goal at the beginning to be the male role models we never had, and I think that we're doing that. And whenever you lose sight of that, everything starts to fuck up. You know, of course, you really got to stay tethered to something deeper and whenever you don't, well, business and the team and it does it gets complicated and it's like wait a minute, this was a simple mission, this was a simple calling, this is self-improvement.

Alan Lazaros:

Having deep conversations with Kev to try to help people re-evaluate their life, change the way you think, change the way you act, change the way you live. It's about transformation, it's about growth. And it gets really complicated later on, like and all of a sudden, now you, you have this, you have a lot of people counting on you and now you have to be a certain way it's. It's very hard not to get lost in all that shit. And again, again, I obviously you know we're not rich and famous or anything, but we're certainly on our way to wealth and you know we, we have a name and I just never want to lose sight of that dude straight up, that it has to.

Alan Lazaros:

It has to be what you tether to, because you'll get lost. You'll get so lost in all that shit.

Alan Lazaros:

I, some people, love you that used to hate you and some people hate you that used to love you. That's been wonky and this person said that and this person told you that but then told this person. It's just. It gets really weird. And then people want to be around you but they also don't they. They want to be around you but they don't really know the real you anymore and they certainly don't want that version. And so, anyways, it does. It gets for anyone out there watching or listening to make this completely full circle whatever job, career, calling that you choose, what really matters is how fulfilled you are along the way, like that has to be what matters, like being in love, being healthy and being fulfilled and building wealth In that fucking order. It has to be in that order, dude.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, Because it's. I think it's. I'm not going to say it's easy to build wealth, Because it was never easy for me, so I don't want to say that, but it's almost like you ever go on a website. Anything You're looking for, let's a website. Anything you're looking for, let's say this you're looking for a home and there's filters. It's gonna be three bedroom, two bath, filter, filter, filter, filter, filter. You know how easy it is to find a house when you just take off all the filters.

Kevin Palmieri:

yeah, just pick anyone, it's a good and again yeah, if you had like a, if I gave you $50 million, say, yeah, just go buy a house. You could pretty much go on, zillow anywhere in the world and turn off all the filters and you'd be able to buy it. There's not that many $50 million houses. I think it's very simple. But if it had to be, you had to have five acres and it had to have a two-car garage and it had to be a smart home and had to be in a safe neighborhood and had to be in a safe, a really good school system and had to be in a certain town, in a certain state with a certain price range is really hard to do that. I think that's why core values are so challenging to work within.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, and.

Kevin Palmieri:

I think that's why it's so easy for people to try to push them to the side to achieve stuff, because when there's less filters it's just easier.

Alan Lazaros:

What I've found promise. Last thing what I've found is some people are more goal achievement oriented and other people are more core value oriented. And a goal is future tense, something you're trying to achieve in the future, and a core value is how you show up in the present. For me, I was more focused on goals than I was on core values and I lost myself. And you were more focused on core values and less focused on goals. Who knows? But I think that you need both and it's very hard. I mean, that's what the GPS is right Current location, destination location. You need both and if you compromise either one, you forget where you came from and you forget where you're headed. So you get lost and you need both and we're about to do a meetup encore.

Kevin Palmieri:

Values in now 44 minutes, but it will be in the past, if you're listening to this. So it already happened, but we're still haven't done it yet. That's wild shit right there there. Alright, next Level Nation, april 5th 2025. Next Level Live 2025. Virtual event, purely virtual. Alan and I will be live streaming to Zoom. It's going to be from 10am till 5pm A full day event, all about what we have had the opportunity to learn and practice and teach over the last 8 years.

Kevin Palmieri:

For me, like 10ish years for Alan, it's going to be $47, a bargain. Again, you're not going to add a zero. It's not going to be $500. None of that shit. It'll be $47. That's how much it's going to be and with that $47, you're going to get access to the replay. So, let's say, you start and then the kids are up running around like maniacs. You can track them down. If you miss anything, you'll have access to the replay. So we'll have the link in the show notes. We would love to have you there. Our goal is to add as much value as possible and we know we have listeners to Alan's Point all over the world. So that's why we're going purely virtual, so we can see as many of you as humanly possible and not what's the word I'm looking for? Limit, I guess, not limit those of you who want to attend, based on georogliphly, throw back to the beginning of the days of georogliphly.

Alan Lazaros:

And please do not fall for the well. When you hear $47, it means less value. No, no, no. The amount of time and effort we're going to put into making this as valuable as possible is I would put it up against any day long event that's virtual. So I don't want you to hear 47 and think less value. No, think 47 and go. Oh, my goodness, this isn't going to break the bank. A full day of personal development and personal growth, and we're going to put time and effort, just everything we've learned over the last eight years on this journey, all condensed into one day, the very best work we can possibly do. So I just don't want anyone to think, you know, if it was $4,700, it would be more valuable. That's not what we're about.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, no, and it wouldn't.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, it would be the exact same. It would be the exact same, exactly.

Kevin Palmieri:

We're going to put everything we've got into this. It's more heart. That's what it is. That's why it's $47. Because we actually want people to be able to come and we don't want to get rich off of it. Okay, that's it.

Alan Lazaros:

That's all that's what it is, but we also don't want to lose money on it. Well, we don't want to lose money.

Kevin Palmieri:

I mean, we've lost enough money, but it doesn't have. You know, we can. I always say this to clients and potential clients if it's not a win, win, win, it's a loss. I want it to be a win, win, win, damn right. And if it was five thousand dollars, alan and I showing up at a fucking conference room, you know it's like all right, we're gonna change your life today and when you leave here you're gonna be able to make a million, ten million hundred thousand billion dollars you would, you're You're going to be so rich you're going to be sick of money.

Kevin Palmieri:

So that's not going to happen.

Alan Lazaros:

Speaking of win, win, win. If you are out there and you've always wanted a coach, I have no, just give it a shot. My link will be in the show notes. Business coaching, yes, but I help with career development, I help with self-improvement. I help with career development. I help with self-improvement, I help with fitness. It's all goal. Achievement is what it is Goals, priorities, metrics, habits, skills and identity. Get on the train tracks, improve the train tracks, stay on the train tracks. Accountability, accountability, accountability. And if you just want someone to be in your corner motivating you constantly, give it a shot. You can cancel anytime.

Kevin Palmieri:

Reach out. That would is say now, the live event's not going to make you a bajillionaire overnight that we can't promise but if you do have interest in that, you want to sign up for my one-on-one coaching. Sky's the limit. Mortgage your house, you know. Sell your car. Whatever you got to do to do this coaching, whatever Max out your credit card, whatever you got to do to get in this coaching program, it's going to change your fucking life. It will change your life and you won't have to do any of those things because it's wildly affordable. Okay, cool, as always, we love you, we appreciate you, grateful for each and every one of you At NLU. We don't have fans.

Alan Lazaros:

We have.

Kevin Palmieri:

Next Level Nation and we will talk to you tomorrow.

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Alan Lazaros

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Kevin Palmieri

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