Next Level University

It’s Really Hard To Get To The Next Level Without THIS - Freestyle Friday (2006)

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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What if the one thing holding you back from real progress is not tracking it? In this episode, Kevin and Alan dive into the power of measurement—how tracking your weight, sleep, finances, or relationship habits can change your results completely. They share personal stories, practical tips, and surprising insights about why some struggle while others succeed. Whether you want to improve your health, build wealth, or strengthen relationships, this episode will challenge you to rethink how you measure success.

Learn more about:
Next Level Live 2025: Saturday, April 5th, 2024 (10:00 am to 4:00 pm EST)  - https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/next-level-live/

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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.

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Kevin: https://www.instagram.com/neverquitkid/
Alan: https://www.instagram.com/alazaros88/

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Alan@nextleveluniverse.com

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Kevin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-palmieri-5b7736160/
Alan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanlazarosllc/

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Show notes:
(3:39) Daily vs. Weekly weigh-ins: What studies say
(5:45) How measurement drives behavior changes
(7:47) Where to start if you’ve never tracked before
(10:27) Why some people fear measurement
(17:35) The three key metrics for health, wealth, and relationships
(21:13) Join Next Level Live: A virtual, immersive event for those committed to growth, meaningful relationships, and a life they love. https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/next-level-live/
(25:08) The danger of miscalculating food intake
(30:25) How successful people use tracking to stay ahead
(40:07) Announcing Next Level Live: What to expect
(42:08) Outro

Send a text to Kevin and Alan!

Kevin Palmieri:

I told Alan before this. I said I'm definitely getting leaner, but my weight is not doing great. I was aiming for a pound a week. I'm at a half a pound a week. That sucks, that's not great. And then I said, yeah, but honestly, I've only. I was intuitively tracking for the first month and a half and the scale was moving so I was like, alright, cool, this is good. Now I am really really tracking everything.

Alan Lazaros:

So the most important metric for wealth for me is gross revenue, next Level University. The most important metric for health for me is my sleep score 80, 80 last night. I've been crushing it. I've been in the high 80s most of the week. And then my most important metric with Emilia is our exercise streak.

Kevin Palmieri:

Welcome to Next Level University. I'm your host, kevin Palmieri, and I'm your co-host, alan Lazarus.

Alan Lazaros:

At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers, our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life, love, health and wealth.

Kevin Palmieri:

you level up your life, love, health and wealth. 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 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 2006,. It's Freestyle Friday. Freestyle Friday is where we have a thought and we just go with it. We don't really know where we're going to go with the episode. Every other one we kind of have the title in mind. Before, so a little Freestyle Friday. I've been reading a lot about willpower and today so the book is by something Bowmeister and somebody else.

Alan Lazaros:

Roy Roy Roy Baumeister.

Kevin Palmieri:

Baumeister, how dare I Hold on?

Alan Lazaros:

And you said it recently.

Kevin Palmieri:

It is, oh, my God, I forget.

Kevin Palmieri:

Smallest? Oh, john Tierney. John Tierney, great book, great book thus far. And they were talking about how. We've talked about this a bunch, but this was an interesting point for me the weighing yourself every day versus weighing yourself once a week. They've done studies I don't know how many studies, I can't cite the studies off the top of my head but they've done studies on that and that is the most effective way to do it.

Kevin Palmieri:

Again, disordered eating, that type of stuff. Obviously that can be different, body relationship stuff, that can be different. So I know there's a subset of people that it just won't work as well with. I understand that completely. But as a blanket statement, that was super interesting to me and the other thing that I kept Can you go into that more? So there's a lot of different data out there where some people say you should measure yourself once a day, the same time every day. You wake up, you use the bathroom and then you weigh yourself and you kind of have an ideal baseline. Other people say weigh yourself once a week. I understand the once a week thing because you're only getting one piece of feedback per week, but it's also a lot easier to miss that one time as opposed to missing seven in a row. So it makes sense. It's like can you imagine what was the point in the book? Weighing yourself every day is the way to go.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, what you measure, you manage.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, it's just. Yes, it's as much about seeing the number, but it's just about the behavior. I'm willing to bet if you just weighed yourself every day and did nothing else, consciously, you would probably start to end up losing weight at some point.

Alan Lazaros:

Back in the day when you played COD, what were you optimizing for? Were you looking for more kills?

Kevin Palmieri:

Optimizing for mayhem? Yeah, I just wanted. What were you optimizing for? What were you looking for? More kills? Optimizing for mayhem?

Kevin Palmieri:

yeah, I just want to know what were you going for most kills uh, I yeah, but I wasn't good so it didn't really matter, you were playing for fun. There was a. There was a level where it was like a big train and we would use the sniper rifles and I optimized for headshots Because when you shot somebody in their helmet it went ping and Matt and I would play all the time and it was just like we just had a blast with that.

Alan Lazaros:

But I sucked. What was the stat you were trying to?

Kevin Palmieri:

win at Kill-death ratio. Yeah, kd, I was shit, though I wasn't very good.

Alan Lazaros:

Well I've said this before, but I think it's a really good metaphor is what you measure determines how you play the game. So when I was playing COD back in the day and I was optimizing for KD kill-to-death ratio, I had to play a certain way, yeah, and I think that that's a really important principle for life. I mean, that's one of the top 10 things. I would share with anybody.

Alan Lazaros:

It's like if you're measuring Emilia and I are measuring certain things, Like we're measuring our sleep score and we're doing very well what you measure definitely determines a lot of how you behave as a human being. That's why video games have stats. That's why every sports team has stats.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, I even to that point. I told you I haven't been sleeping nearly as well. I was like crushing it. I was getting 85, 86, 87, 88 sleep scores out of 100. Those are really good. I measure it every day and now it has me questioning why aren't I sleeping as well?

Kevin Palmieri:

We moved our beds a little bit and then I think maybe I moved the fans, so I think I'm hotter than I usually am. I think that's probably why. All right, I'm going to test that out tonight, so you measure it and then you're able to focus on. Okay, why is the measurement not the way I want it to be? The other thing is and this, this was sit with me on this because it's going to sound arrogant when they were talking about willpower, I was like I don't know about that a lot of the stuff. It was like you eat more, if I don't remember, I don't know the percentage, but if you're watching a movie or you're watching television, you eat X amount percentage more food than if you weren't. And it's like, yeah, I understand unconsciously, but once you become conscious of that, and maybe this is a blind spot- for me.

Alan Lazaros:

It's a blind spot for you because you track what you eat.

Kevin Palmieri:

You prepare a meal in advance that is already of the macros and calories that you want, or within a certain range Well, and I also know I only get so much food per day.

Alan Lazaros:

But that's why that's such a blind spot, because for most people, like for you and I again, this is very challenging for us because we you've been tracking calories since when did you start? I mean teenager 16, yeah, 16?

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, so it's just a blind spot.

Alan Lazaros:

I mean there are 16. Yeah, probably like 16. Yeah, so it's just a blind spot. I mean there are some people, a lot of people, that have actually never tracked galleries the majority of people. The majority of people yeah, what would?

Kevin Palmieri:

okay, you, I did fitness coaching back in the day. You did a lot of fitness coaching. Let's say somebody is out there right now and they don't have a negative or toxic relationship with food, because, again, I know it's not for everybody. It's not for everybody for me to say it is on a podcast and then for you to figure it out yourself without some help. What is the process of beginning that for someone?

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, it would be measuring something that has to do with food. Where would you start? You could measure meals per day. You could measure the size of the meals. You could measure protein. Just start there. I have one client who just does protein. I'm not a fitness coach anymore, but I have. I mean, I'd say, at least five or six of my clients that I do fitness stuff with, just because they know that I'm in shape Again, depending on who I'm standing next to.

Alan Lazaros:

And the angle, the angle of the photo, the angle of the photograph and which camera and the lighting and whether or not I edit it. I'm kidding, although I do the auto edit thing on the iPhone. But I have one client who's just measuring 54 grams of protein, so her goal every day is just to make sure she hits that. And she struggles to hit that.

Kevin Palmieri:

It's a good place to start though?

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, exactly, well, it all depends, right? She doesn't get enough protein. She's vegetarian or vegan, I forget which, but she doesn't get enough protein and she knows that. So, boom, whereas I have another client who tracks every calorie. He's doing 3,400 a day.

Kevin Palmieri:

Shout out to you, friend yeah.

Alan Lazaros:

And he's, he's in the you know who you are. He's. He's challenged by feeling fluffy, and that's how I feel right now Like, feel very fluffy, it's a kind way to put it. It reaches a point where you, you have the, the fat rolls on your pec when you take the photo for the fitness accountability group and you're like, okay, I should probably dial it, cut now. I should probably cut now.

Alan Lazaros:

But again, for anyone out there to kevin's point too who doesn't do bodybuilding or fitness or whatever, I feel extremely in control of my physique at all times and I remember what it was like back in the day when I did yeah, and so what would I say?

Alan Lazaros:

I'd say start with some measurement around food, because you have to become. There are certain people in my life I'll keep it anonymous that they have the worst relationship with food ever. Emily and I were talking about this on our walk yesterday and they are afraid of food, but yet they love it and they, whenever I'm with these people, they I'm like do you want me to keep the leftovers for you, or do you want me to take them leftovers for you, or do you want me to take them home? They're like take them, take them, take it, take the leftover. Like take the leftovers, please take the leftovers, please take the sweets. I'm like, okay, hell, yeah, perfect. I think that it all comes down to they don't really measure calories, they don't really measure protein, they don't. They don't measure much of anything, and I think that you can't really control an outcome without measurement. I would go as far as to say that yeah, it's hard.

Kevin Palmieri:

I understand it's a challenge and it seems extremely inconvenient and it is at times, honestly, but it's just like anything else. I think it's super beneficial. There has been so many studies that talk about how effective it is to measure what you eat and track calories and track macros, and then oftentimes, what people will say is well, I did that and it didn't work for me, so you practice the behavior. Were you practicing the behavior correctly? Because I'm an idiot and I was measuring rice wrong.

Kevin Palmieri:

I've been tracking calories for decades and I still. And here's the thing I tracked it one time. I saved it in my app and I just kept using that measurement. I was wrong. Was it the calorie tracking that was wrong? No, it was the calorie tracker. It was me. It was the measurements that were off. But I don't know if I'm good to talk about this, because I am very similar. I don't know if I've ever really felt out of control when it comes to fitness. I mean, yeah, I had a mild eating disorder after my bodybuilding show. I definitely felt helpless, I couldn't stop eating, but again, that was like a physiological hormone thing that was going on. Unfortunately, that was brutal.

Alan Lazaros:

The question I would ask you is, when you did do personal training, like what would be the first steps that you would give people? Because for me it would be pick a gym that's close, make sure it's got good hours and they're not like closed at 7 pm. Uh, make sure that it's a gym that is something that are people that don't freak you out or intimidate you, but it needs to be not a big fish, small pond, but not a small pond, huge ocean type of thing. You try to find the right gym for you and, again, proximity is more important than anything. And then it would be nutrition would be you'd have to measure your weight for your measure weight and then measure something to do with your meals.

Kevin Palmieri:

It was hard for me because I worked at like a boutique place where the issues that you might have so our clientele was very wealthy and they had a lot of money and I worked in a very nice place, like a very nice town, so a lot of it was like hey, I know you're going out to a fancy dinner with all of your clients or whatever. You got to stay away from this, this, this and this you, you just how you can't have four glasses of wine I know that's that's not necessarily a high income thing, but it was.

Kevin Palmieri:

It was the basics first, and the other thing was I remember somebody came in who had never really exercised before and I was like, all right, I got to make sure. So this is our first exercise session we have together. I'm just going to do like body weight squats, pushups easy, easy, easy stuff. They were so sore the next time I got my ass chewed out by the owners. Really yeah yeah, yeah.

Kevin Palmieri:

They're like you're lucky she came back. You went too hard and I was like, fair, maybe I did. But I went body weight, squats, body weight, everything, everything was body weight. I thought we were getting to a good place. Obviously I overdid it.

Kevin Palmieri:

I've been there, man right levels man same same thought is honestly, I don't really care if you get any results from the exercise in the beginning. I just do the process. Yeah, it's not about the results in the beginning, it's about it's about doing the process, and they were talking about another. So there's websites and there's apps where you can essentially create your own commitment device. So there's apps where you can bet on yourself that you can lose X amount of weight in X amount of time. Nice, that's awesome, right, well, 80% of people, they take a cut.

Kevin Palmieri:

They take it all if you don't do it, but they give it all back if you do, Plus some depending on.

Alan Lazaros:

But how do they determine whether or not you did it?

Kevin Palmieri:

I don't know, they just mentioned it in the book I don't know, but I was like that'd be easy money. Yeah, how much. Okay, I give you $1,000 and you give me $2,000 back if I do it, that back if I do it. That's like an ideal situation for me because it guarantees I do it. Like what? Yeah, well, you're not very money-driven.

Alan Lazaros:

Well, I also think there's luck in saying it's not, you give $1,000, you get $2,000 back, is it?

Kevin Palmieri:

There are sports books, yeah, yeah, there are sports books where you can bet on yourself to lose the weight. What?

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, but I have to imagine they won't let you do it over and over again, though Probably right.

Kevin Palmieri:

Probably, and there's probably a vetting system Like how long have you been exercising? How much weight do you want to lose? What do they?

Alan Lazaros:

interview you.

Kevin Palmieri:

Honestly, you come in.

Alan Lazaros:

Oh, I've never exercised before in my life, never once tracked a gal. I have no idea, right?

Kevin Palmieri:

Think of how sports team's really good and this team is really bad. This team's likely to win. We're going to give the odds. You know that's how it, but the other one and this is a really good. I know we've beaten this into the ground, but it's a fundamental. That just, I think, is just true. There are some apps that will not let you set too big of a goal. They won't. They won't let you. Okay, you want to lose a pound a week? Cool, that's sustainable for many people. You want to lose three pounds a week? We're not even going to let you set that as a goal, because, number one, for most people, it's not sustainable, it's probably not healthy and you're not going to have a good outcome. You're not going to have a good experience with that.

Kevin Palmieri:

This probably isn't where you had intended to go, but it's freestyle friday freestyle friday baby.

Alan Lazaros:

I, as a math guy, engineer disclaimer first I don't know what it's like to not measure something. So if I want to get an outcome in any arena, I measure. I measure it emily and I. We measure the amount of days in a row we have for gratitudes. We have a fitness streak that we're measuring every day. I literally the first thing I do when I wake up walk out of the bedroom, go to the whiteboard and update the streaks. I don't know. I track metrics, I track habits. I have Google Sheets boom, boom, boom business. I track metrics, I track habits. I have Google Sheets boom, boom, boom business. If I can get you to measure the right things, I can get you to focus and optimize on the right things, then you're going to get eventual results, because if you don't, we're going to notice and then pivot.

Kevin Palmieri:

Well, the question is why? Why, okay, we all want a result, and a I just mean like the letter. A awesome that's going to require us to do b behavior. Didn't mean it to line up that way, but it's lined up that way, are you okay? You're clear on the A result Awesome Love that Great start. You're relatively clear on the B behavior Awesome, love that too. What is the C metric Like? What is the actual thing that you're measuring?

Alan Lazaros:

For you and Taryn, it's thoughtful, proactive thoughtfulness, yes, right Number of times that you're proactively thoughtful Can you give us?

Kevin Palmieri:

an example. She is actually. I got to send this text at some point. She is going to New York, so we're recording this on Thursday. She's going to New York on Friday to visit family and friends and I'm going to text her today and say, hey, I know you're going to get home late and hopefully it's nothing too big. Is there anything I can do to help you optimize for your packing, Because I know you still haven't packed and you're leaving tomorrow morning? Nice that, just I'm thinking of you and I know there's a lot going on and I want to make sure I can help in any way I can. And you measure that every day? Yeah, I give myself a one or a zero A lot of ones lately Nice, which has been good.

Alan Lazaros:

Well and again, NLU is very unique in this because we measure everything. That's one thing, that's. I was on a podcast yesterday. Her name was tricia and she said so you guys are all about consistency and discipline.

Alan Lazaros:

And I said I suppose yeah yeah, fair, I'm grateful that that's what shined through. I'd say we're hopefully more than that. But yeah, and I guess from the outside in, I guess, guess, that's good. That means that she's seeing what we stand for Consistency, self-discipline, self-improvement, holistic and I think measuring things is bigger for us than I think we realize. I don't hear a lot of other podcasts or podcasters talking about what they measure.

Kevin Palmieri:

Maybe that's a me thing, maybe that was just like a I think in fitness it's common, but I don't know, in relationships I don't think it's common at all. Yeah, yeah, yeah, fair that. I feel like that. I think in fitness and in money and success it's fairly common.

Alan Lazaros:

From someone in the past, past relationships you always did in fitness. Sorry to interrupt you that from someone in the past who wasn't measuring much like you didn't usually. You didn't measure things daily back then. I mean you did for calories, but that was it essentially yeah now you measure lots of, lots of things, lots of things I mean 10 plus metrics and habits every day. I can't even it's hard for me to even imagine how out of control we would feel if we just stopped measuring everything.

Kevin Palmieri:

Imagine if you and I I don't know if I would feel out of control because I wouldn't have the awareness to know the benefits of it. Ignorance again ignorance is bliss. It's a dumb saying, I know, but it does feel like bliss until it cracks you over the head when you feel lost.

Alan Lazaros:

you'd feel lost. You'd feel out of control. Like measurement creates certainty.

Kevin Palmieri:

But it also creates pressure. Remember we talked about certainty and clarity create a lot of pressure.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri:

What was it like?

Alan Lazaros:

what would you say to you who didn't measure stuff? Like, sell old Kevin on why they need to measure things. Because, again, I. The last thing I want to do is come off as arrogant or pretentious or tell you what you should do. Viewer, listener, uh, the disclaimer I always give is we're here. We're not here to have fun. We can have fun, but that's not the point. The point is to improve yourself and improve your life. That's why we're here. We're here to improve yourself and improve your life, and you're never going to meet an athlete who plays at a high level or a gamer who's a professional or whatever, who doesn't measure I mean, the higher you climb. You're never going to meet a business owner who is very successful who doesn't measure. That's not a thing. It's actually not a thing.

Kevin Palmieri:

Next Level Nation. We are very, very excited to announce that we are doing our first purely virtual Next Level Live. On April 5th 2025, from 10 am to 4 pm Eastern Standard Time, Alan and myself will be live streaming from Worcester, Massachusetts.

Alan Lazaros:

Next Level, live 2025. Be there, it's only $47 for a full day of personal development, self-improvement, holistic health, wealth, life and love.

Kevin Palmieri:

We have a global audience. Obviously, if you live somewhere else in the world, it's hard to come across the country or across the world for a one-day event, so we wanted to make sure it was accessible to everyone.

Alan Lazaros:

You're not going to get to the next level of your life by default. You're going to get there by design. Join us, Design that next level. Somebody's measuring. Cfo is someone who's measuring the finances. Ceo is measuring stuff. And I, just as someone who came from a world where there wasn't a ton of measurement even back when you were a foreman, you were measuring the amount of time, the job, like all that stuff I just wonder why we do it in our careers and not in our personal life, Because, I mean, it's a cheat code. Measuring is an important part of improvement. I mean it's the. It's a cheat code Like measure. Measuring is a is a important part of improvement. I mean, even at report cards, progress reports, as kids like you, you can't just, oh, everyone gets an A, Okay, Well. Well, there goes all the meaning right, who learned and who didn't, who knows more, who doesn't Right? So measuring is critical. So how would you sell old Kev on that?

Kevin Palmieri:

Man. Is this pre-fitness or during fitness? Because if it was during fitness, I think it would be, easier 26.

Alan Lazaros:

Kev. Pre-hyperconscious Podcast. Like a day before the Hyperconscious Podcast.

Kevin Palmieri:

You have been measuring. Okay cool, you just got in the best shape you've ever been in. Yeah, you were in better shape than almost anybody you've ever known personally. And why did that happen? Because you were extremely intentional about everything and every single thing you did was measured. What was measured? Calories, carbs, proteins, fats, fiber. Calories burned to a degree, but not my coach was measuring that. Sleep was measured. I posed almost every day.

Alan Lazaros:

Like I was measuring, all that. Here becomes the question too Is it possible to get in that shape without measuring?

Kevin Palmieri:

That shape.

Alan Lazaros:

Without a lot of drugs.

Kevin Palmieri:

I mean, even with drugs you got to measure. Just not, probably not, probably not as much, right? I don't know. Yeah, there's, maybe there's a genetic anomaly out there that could do it.

Alan Lazaros:

I don't know, probably not for you, is it possible for you? Okay, well, and again, I actually had that moment of like I want to believe it's possible too. Maybe that's an arrogant thing too well, I told Alan before this.

Kevin Palmieri:

I said I'm definitely getting leaner, like Like I can tell, and people are telling me at the gym. So it's like okay, that's good, but my weight is not doing great. I was aiming for a pound a week. I'm at a half a pound a week. That sucks, that's not great. And then I said, yeah, but honestly, I've only. I was intuitively tracking for the first month and a half and the scale was moving so I was like, all right, cool, this is good.

Kevin Palmieri:

Now I am really really tracking everything yeah I mean I I had a protein shake before this and I had 16 ounces no, sorry, yeah, 16 ounces of almond milk, that's all. And the reason I had 16 is because it's easier to measure than 17.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah agreed.

Kevin Palmieri:

Now I'm measuring all that. So I think, okay, what is the common thing that happens? I measure it and then it starts to work and then, for some reason, I start to lose momentum and then I don't get the result anymore. I should probably just stop measuring. No, the measuring is what built momentum in the first place.

Kevin Palmieri:

Maybe we're not measuring correctly, maybe the behavior's not right, maybe we have a fundamental misunderstanding. Here's a really good thought. Imagine if somebody came to you and said I make $100,000 a year. Cool, can I afford this $75,000 car? Well, no, you don't actually make $100,000 a year. No, no, I do. That's my salary. No, I understand, but that's not what you take home every year. Well, no, no, but that's the number on my paycheck. Yes, yes, before taxes and before health insurance and before you contribute to all your things, you're not making $100,000. You're probably making $75,000. That one little misunderstanding could set you up for a ton of pain. Same thing if you think peanut butter is yeah, I can have, and peanut it's just. There's nothing to it. Really, I can have as much as I want. No, that's all fat, which means it's all calories.

Alan Lazaros:

If you think a lot of people don't know that one gram of fat is actually nine calories as opposed to protein and carbs, which is what four, four, yeah, right.

Kevin Palmieri:

So that's why things that are high in fat are high in calories because they're they have more calories per gram. It's a whole fucking thing. But regardless that little understanding, or well, I know, fish is really healthy. I could eat salmon. Salmon's really good for you, but it has a lot. It has a fair amount of calories, because fish a lot of fat, yeah, like salmon, are fatty. It's healthy fat, it's good fat, but it still adds up calorically. So it's just I don't know. Again, as somebody who right now is I'm very aware of how to diet and fitness and all that, I feel really good. I hit a stuck point with my weight and my thing was not well. I should probably stop tracking it was.

Kevin Palmieri:

Am I? Am I messing up somewhere? Am I not drinking enough water? Am I drinking less water than I usually do? So my body's not working the way it should. It wasn't abandoned behavior. It was get clearer on measurements and get clearer on behavior. Unfortunately, I know it kind of sucks potentially, but when I get down to 170 and then when I hopefully my goal is 165, maybe it's going to be because of the system, not anything else. That it's. I think it's so easy to just like see somebody who has the result and forget all of the stuff that went into it behind the scenes.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri:

Forget all of the stuff that went into it behind the scenes. Yeah Right, like if we think of some of the most successful, we're podcasters, so we talk about this often, but some of the most successful podcasters and YouTubers, they're measuring everything, everything, everything is getting measured.

Alan Lazaros:

I have a YouTuber client who measures oh every day. If I butcher this brother, he listens. I want to say at least 12 things a day for YouTube.

Kevin Palmieri:

It wouldn't surprise me.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, correct me if I'm wrong, brother, reach out, let me know if it's more than 12 or what the actual number is. But I mean he has a whole spreadsheet. He has three spreadsheets, three sheets within a spreadsheet, three sheets within a spreadsheet All for just YouTube.

Kevin Palmieri:

I believe it. I mean, there's a lot to measure. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff.

Alan Lazaros:

And he's improving every video, he's thumbnail. So there's a book called Measure what Matters OKRs, objectives and Key Results, all this stuff and he really recommended it years ago. I said, okay, duh. Results, all this stuff and he really recommended it years ago. I said, okay, duh. But I also understand that I come from an engineering world. I come from a math and science world, yeah, and in in the engineering world, I mean we're at parties, at a fraternity and we're talking about what we're measuring. I mean we were mining for bitcoin in our dorm room in 2007. So so we would build computers and we would measure. I mean I just I think this is a blind spot for me because I've never not measured, even as a kid. I mean 20th in the world bungeenet, like I was always measuring everything. I don't know how you can't win a game without measuring. At least that's my, that's my.

Kevin Palmieri:

I think you can. You're just not as in control as you could be.

Alan Lazaros:

You know, what I was thinking about too is when I used to be in the sort of pro gaming world. I was semi-pro but there was coaches. Imagine being at a video game tournament. You'd see four people on a team playing 4v4 and they'd have a coach watching the game and coaching the team in real time. And I remember back then I didn't have a coach. I remember back then thinking is that fully necessary? Like you, guys are probably good enough to just win without someone looking over your shoulder.

Alan Lazaros:

Right Now, I disagree strongly with that old mentality. That coach is watching the whole game and is seeing things, that each player isn't. That the 2v2, 4v4 sort of match up blind spots. Okay, double team. That's why I think a lot of people succeed in hear me out for this. And again, depending on where you live in the world, there's some sort of infrastructure, though. So I'll speak for kevin and I, because we both grew up in mass massachusetts, so it was kindergarten, middle school, high school, college, corporate, all along that trajectory. There's other people measuring for you. You get report cards, you get progress reports. You get, you know, needs satisfactory, meets satisfactory or needs improvement or exceeds, whatever. I don't know, I don't remember.

Kevin Palmieri:

I believe it's satisfactory, meets expectations.

Alan Lazaros:

There you go, thank you and then in report card 95 GPA grade point average. I think that once you become a dream chaser, maybe it's a blind spot to realize that you have to measure everything on your own. No one's going to measure your relationship for you.

Kevin Palmieri:

No.

Alan Lazaros:

No one's going to give you a progress report. Hey you, alan, you and emilia are doing really well lately, strong fucking work. No one cares. No one's gonna say hey uh, taryn and kev, you guys had 30 gratitudes last month.

Kevin Palmieri:

Excellent job, uh if you download expectations, if you download an app, it will. Yeah, yeah, you can, but I think that the responsibilities on us.

Alan Lazaros:

One of the hardest parts about leaving corporate for me was I realized how fucking unproductive I was. I bought a productivity journal and it promised me I'd be 200 more productive and I it worked. It worked and it was just built on prado and 20 of effort produces 80 of results and all that stuff. But it just what are your top three tasks? Why do you? But when I was on my own this is pre kevin it was up to me. I didn't have any boss, I didn't have any teachers, I didn't have any professors. I wasn't going to lose thousands of dollars on a college course if I failed it. I wasn't going to lose my academic scholarships. So it was like, okay, hanging out sounds good to me. I guess I can watch a movie at 11 am.

Kevin Palmieri:

Terrible fucking idea I miss those days, though, I do dude I know.

Alan Lazaros:

But, dude, they're real great until they leak into months and years and then you realize that none of your dreams came true. Dude you, if you're out there watching or listening, you are a dream chaser. The disclaimer of watching this show is it's not going to maybe be a lot of fun to tell you the hard truth that you need to hear. You have to measure. You have to If you want to succeed. If you want to succeed at your goals, you have to measure. Imagine doing a 5K and not measuring it.

Kevin Palmieri:

I think you can get to a certain degree without measurement. I got to be. I think you can get to a certain degree without measurement.

Alan Lazaros:

I gotta be on the other side In the beginner, novice, amateur, sure, but if you want to do anything professionally, you better fucking measure and you better measure quick If you want to take a really big leap.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, I mean, if you've been doing something for five years and it's like, alright, I feel like I've kind of maxed out these results and you're not measuring, I'm willing to bet measuring will be maybe the best thing ever of all time for you.

Alan Lazaros:

When we played horse in the Next Level Hope Foundation with the kids we measure who's winning. Okay, I got an H, you got an H-O-R. I think I won one game of horse.

Kevin Palmieri:

That was a tough one, man Basketball it's.

Alan Lazaros:

You won in knockout. You didn't win in horse. I was trying to drain. Shout out to.

Kevin Palmieri:

Will.

Alan Lazaros:

Steph's son, Will, was Crushing it. He was close to beating me. I was shaking in my boots. No, but again, to wrap this up, I have measured things my entire life and I've always wondered why other people don't. And even that short time when I became an entrepreneur, I was still probably measuring a lot of things in my head that I didn't realize I was. And when I say I was unproductive, I was still probably statistically fairly productive. And again, that's not my point of any of this. My point of all this is dream chasers out there health, wealth and love. I promise you this.

Alan Lazaros:

This is my next level lesson, If you find one. I call them a MIM most important measurement. I do this with all my clients. What is the most important metric Measurement? Metric same thing, clients. What is the most important metric Measurement? Metric same thing. So what's the under health, what's the under wealth and what's the under love? So the most important metric for wealth for me is gross revenue, next level university. The most important metric for health for me is my sleep score 80 last night. I've been crushing it. I've been in the high 80s most of the week. And then my most important metric with emilia is our exercise streak, because we exercise together, yeah, which I guess is kind of a health one too. But I was gonna say but but what?

Alan Lazaros:

But what are yours? And if you have one under each, start there.

Kevin Palmieri:

Start there. Yeah, you kind of stole mine again. That's the benefit of going first Start measuring something. If there's something in your life where you feel frustrated and you're not measuring, start by measuring the simplest thing possible. It doesn't mean you have to do anything else yet. I think that's just a really good. I think it's really impactful and it can be very, very powerful and very, very telling when somebody says wait, there's 275 calories in that. Yeah, yep, yeah, yeah, way more than you thought, right, yeah, I thought it was cool. Great New awareness. Now you'll never look at peanut butter again the same way.

Alan Lazaros:

You'll always.

Kevin Palmieri:

look at it a little bit. I love peanut butter. I can't have it, not right now. It's just too many calories and I can't give up a tenth of my calories for two tablespoons of peanut butter.

Alan Lazaros:

for two tablespoons of peanut butter. Emilia bought this new gnocchi.

Kevin Palmieri:

Say that again Gnocchi.

Alan Lazaros:

You know how to pronounce that, gnocchi.

Kevin Palmieri:

Gnocchi, gnocchi, gnocchi. You got it. It just sounds weird. Gnocchi, gnocchi, yeah.

Alan Lazaros:

Dude, I looked at the stats on it 28 grams of fat.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, man, it's the butter sauce.

Alan Lazaros:

It's, yeah, man, butter sauce. It's the butter sauce, oh, it's the best. So here's what we do we open the bag and we take out two-thirds of the butter sauce. Still awesome, still awesome. We have jars of butter sauce. Oh, we can use for other stuff by the way?

Kevin Palmieri:

well, do we talk about this on air?

Alan Lazaros:

I did have domino's stuffed crust pizza last week uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, did we talk about it on air? I did have Domino's stuffed crust pizza last week.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, did we talk about it on air.

Alan Lazaros:

I don't know if we did 8 out of 10.

Kevin Palmieri:

I'm getting it again this week, for sure, for my cheat meal.

Alan Lazaros:

We got it delivered and we got home from the gym late. It was cold, not good cold Air fried it the next day Better.

Kevin Palmieri:

Let me tell you we have a Domino's five minutes away.

Alan Lazaros:

Nice.

Kevin Palmieri:

When I got there they were taking it out of the oven, so when I got home it was still too hot for me to eat. Yeah, that's what's up it was.

Alan Lazaros:

The cheese was nasty when it was cold.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, that's a cold when we re-air fried it.

Alan Lazaros:

Air fryers are the cheat code. That doesn't matter if it's left over or not.

Kevin Palmieri:

You air fry it, it's good as new no, no, no, no, it's good with pizza is new, it's close.

Alan Lazaros:

You got to try it again if it's not I'm gonna hammer it one more time. I I do agree with you, though it was way better the second night, so that means fresh. It would probably be even better. I try to time it well, to where it gets there at the same time as we get home from the gym, especially after leg day, because I'm trying to grow my legs.

Kevin Palmieri:

Eight out of ten. I'll be having it this weekend, Sad I mean. Unfortunately, that's all I can eat. What is the?

Alan Lazaros:

deal with you. Can't get chicken on it, did you notice?

Kevin Palmieri:

that you think I'm. First of all, I'm personally offended that you think I'm getting chicken on my Pepperoni on your pizza Of think I'm getting chicken pepperoni on your pizza of course always.

Alan Lazaros:

I'm not kidding, you can't get chicken on it, have a protein shake. No hey hey no, have a fucking I got bacon on it instead. Had to get bacon on it instead. Dude, couldn't get chicken on it, not an option, thought it was the website. Boom went on, the phone didn't work, can't get chicken on it. I don't know if it's a ui issue or they just somehow are like no, you can't have stuffed crust and chicken.

Kevin Palmieri:

I don't know.

Alan Lazaros:

Makes no sense.

Kevin Palmieri:

Here we are talking about health and fitness. We're talking about this.

Alan Lazaros:

We eat 80% of the time clean.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, I've been having a. I know you gotta go. I've been having a bag of Brussels sprouts. I know frozen's not the way and it's not as good. I know it's just been about convenience.

Alan Lazaros:

Butter sauce.

Kevin Palmieri:

Nothing, no, no, dry, as can be Nice. Throw some salt on there, get a little bit of hot sauce. Big fan of Brussels sprouts. Yeah, yeah, brussels sprouts are where it's at Beets.

Alan Lazaros:

Big fan of beets, lately. Pickled beets Pickled beets are the way.

Kevin Palmieri:

The red ones.

Alan Lazaros:

Pink ones.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, we used to have those, my grandma used to buy jars of.

Alan Lazaros:

Emilia loves them, they're good.

Kevin Palmieri:

How are the cows in them?

Alan Lazaros:

Oh, not bad at all. Cool yeah, probably beats 15 per Not even Per Per one beat. Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri:

Are they sliced?

Alan Lazaros:

They're whole beats. No, they're whole beats.

Kevin Palmieri:

Whole beats. They're small, though.

Alan Lazaros:

They're like that Okay cool.

Kevin Palmieri:

All right, we're going to get out of here, april 5th 2025, next Level Live, 10 am to 4 pm, totally virtual. You don't even have to leave your house, there's breakout sessions, it's a full-day event, so it's a full-day NLU episode essentially. Obviously it's different, but we're only having 50 people. Tickets are actually and again, we're not just saying this they are actually selling faster than we expected, which is good because, for the first eight years they didn't.

Kevin Palmieri:

So if you want to attend, make sure you get your ticket, Don't wait to the last minute because they won't be there, because we're focused on making sure they're not going to be there, because we want to make sure we don't lose sleep before the event. So link will be in the show notes in one sec, please.

Alan Lazaros:

47 a bargain at twice the price full personal growth day again, 10 am to 4 pm. Take a step off the treadmill, think and contemplate about your health, your wealth, your love. It's different than a podcast, it's different than a meetup. It's it's gonna be. Uh, I I was telling this to someone who I coach because he does group facilitations. I said it's kind of like a speech, a training, a podcast and a group facilitation all wrapped into one day and you don't have to attend the entire thing if you have to dip for a little bit, whatever bit whatever it's, come and be there when you can, like-minded dream chasers who are into personal growth and you get access to the replay.

Alan Lazaros:

If you and you get access to the replay, yeah, we're gonna have a percent of the whole thing, but if you want to meet like-minded dream chasers, if you're lonely on this journey, this is the place to do it. For 47, I mean. I would be willing to bet you're never gonna find a live event like this for that price point, and that's on purpose. So please don't wait to get your tickets. Seriously, we are only doing 50. Five groups of 10 people, and take a step out of your life for a second to work on it, instead of just being on the treadmill every day.

Kevin Palmieri:

Boom, 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.

Alan Lazaros:

Keep it Next Level Next.

Kevin Palmieri:

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

Alan Lazaros:

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.

Kevin Palmieri:

Thank you again and we will talk to you tomorrow.

People on this episode

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Alan Lazaros

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Kevin Palmieri

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