Next Level University

A Simple Hack TO Make Yourself More Consistent (2023)

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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In this episode of Next Level University, hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros unpack the often-overlooked power of deadlines. They share honest stories about pressure, accountability, and how creating necessity has helped them grow their podcast to over 2,000 episodes. You’ll learn why motivation alone isn’t enough—and how setting deadlines in areas like health, wealth, and relationships can keep you on track, even when life gets busy. Whether you love structure or resist it, this episode will help you build systems that support your success.

Learn more about:
Free 30-minute Coaching Call with Alan - https://calendly.com/alanlazaros/30-minute-business-breakthrough-session?month=2025-04

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NLU is not just a podcast; it’s a gateway to a wealth of resources designed to help you achieve your goals and dreams. From our Next Level Dreamliner to our Group Coaching, we offer a variety of tools and communities to support your personal development journey.

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

Website 💻  http://www.nextleveluniverse.com

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Any of these communities or resources are FREE to join and consume
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Next Level U Book Club - https://bit.ly/3BQBYDr

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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:
(4:05) Coaching, metrics, and holding the line
(6:31) Real-life deadlines: 2,000+ episodes and counting
(7:17) Brandon’s football story: Why motivation isn’t just internal
(9:07) Creating a life that requires you to show up
(11:19) From gym goals to life goals: Set the date
(13:23) 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/
(14:04) Designing pressure to build the life you want
(21:07) Choosing the right kind of pressure over survival mode
(22:56) Outro

Send a text to Kevin and Alan!

Kevin Palmieri:

This is a guaranteed way to never have to hang out with somebody you don't want to hang out with. Every time you run into them, they say Alan, long time, no talk, buddy, haven't seen you in a minute. Let's get something on the books, let's get something on the calendar. Yeah, man, I'll reach out. I got to run. Right now I'm doing grocery shopping. I'll reach out. The reason is because there's no deadline, and if there's no deadline, it's really hard to follow through with something. It's really hard to be consistent. Now, if you have somebody in your life you don't like, that's a really good way for you to not have to see them anymore.

Alan Lazaros:

Preschool, kindergarten, middle school, high school, college, whatever your education system was corporate. I think that a lot of us are more successful long-term when we have accountability. What do all of those things have in common? Deadlines. I remember in college I would wait to the last minute to study before a test, but it got the job done. The problem is, when I became an entrepreneur and I became my own boss and I became a dream chaser, I had no one holding me accountable. So Kevin and I incorporated deadlines, set the deadline. Now you have the necessity to actually follow through and it does suck, but it is necessary.

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 today for episode number 2023, a simple hack to make yourself more consistent. We say this all the time. It works so well that we stop doing it, and I think that's one of the things that happens with deadlines is setting a deadline. All it really does is it creates clarity and it creates necessity and it creates accountability, really, and that's really what you want if you are trying to be more consistent. If we think of let's think of a personal trainer, if you're someone out there who says, you know, I know how to exercise, but I'm really struggling with doing it, I'm going to hire a personal trainer. Well, what are you hiring them for? Necessity is one You're paying money. You're not going to let that money go to waste. Accountability is two you know they're going to be there. And then, three, there's a deadline. You know Tuesday at 10 am. That's when your session is, and it just helps you stay more consistent with things.

Kevin Palmieri:

And I think that, to Alan's point, they kind of suck and they do create a certain amount of pressure. But which pressure is worse Having a deadline of knowing when something is supposed to get done or not doing it and then regretting it and then having all the anxiety of, well, what happens now if I don't do it? Or what happens now that I didn't do the thing? I think that's that's really, really, really scary.

Kevin Palmieri:

When you get an invoice from somebody, it says due date. I don't know about you, I am the type of person that waits until the due date to pay it, just because that's it's top of mind. I'm I need to know when it has to get done by, because if I don't know when it's going to get done by, it's going to get done when it's most convenient for me, and that could be who knows when. So yeah, deadlines are. I don't think we utilize them enough and I think one of the reasons is because they do suck and they can make you feel bad about yourself. But I'd rather get the thing done under pressure than not do it and then feel like shit about myself.

Alan Lazaros:

This is going to be really something, because most of the things that we achieve in our life we were held accountable to by things outside of ourselves, and when you become a dream chaser and you want goals, and when you become a dream chaser and you want goals you now need as a coach. This is what I'm basically doing all the time, which is I'm holding people accountable to goals, priorities, metrics, habits, skills and identity work, but it's the peak performance tracker. So Kev has metrics and habits that he tracks every day. Every team member does, every client does. I had a call earlier and we went over the metrics Meaningful actions. What did you get done over the last two weeks? I pulled up a report. This is what you did. This is what you didn't do, and I know for a fact that those bi-weekly meetings hold him to a different standard. I was thinking about the fitness shows that I've done in the past and how I was in the best shape of my life, and I don't want to do another fitness show because I don't want to do what's necessary to succeed at a fitness show. However, I also know that that helped me be in better shape, and so I think that the flip side of this coin is on one hand, you have a goal, you have a dream, something you want to achieve in your life.

Alan Lazaros:

How do you put yourself up against a deadline, even right now? We have to get this episode done. In how much time? 17 minutes, 17 minutes. You and I have 2,000 episodes, plus 2023. This will be our 2023rd episode. How in the hell did we do that? We made sure we never missed. We always had a deadline. I'm going away to the lake this weekend. I'm leaving in an hour and a half from now and I'm not bringing my recording equipment. So I told kev, I messaged him three days ago. Two days ago, I said we got to record four episodes before I leave. This is the fourth episode. There's a deadline. We have a deadline of 17 minutes from now to finish this episode.

Alan Lazaros:

The truth of the matter is is I don't think human beings can achieve their potential without deadlines. Sports teams is the perfect example. I will never forget a conversation I had with Brandon. He's on the team. Shout out to you, brandon, I know you listen. Every single day. Day, brother, run a mile every day for like 900 days. Wild, yeah, sicko, love it.

Alan Lazaros:

Brandon and I had a conversation way back. He was really, really, really good at football and he had a big high school too and he was like the football star. I mean 60 yard touchdowns, just run over the ref, give him the ball, no celebration, just a humble guy. Right, he ran, I think a 4.6 or something. He's fast, super fast, but he's a littler guy and I mean littler, shorter, jacked, but anyways.

Alan Lazaros:

So I was talking to Brandon. I said okay, how did you do it? When were you the most motivated in your life? He said football. I said, okay, let's, let's unpack why that is. I put brandon in the center of the whiteboard and I just wrote went through all these. Okay, his grandpa supported him. Someone in his life said he couldn't do it, he's too small to play in college, and that fired him up. So someone with loving support, someone firing him up. Okay, you had practices five days a week. You had offensive coach, defensive coach, head coach. You had teammates counting on you. You had the support of the school and the fans in the school. You also all the girls liked the football players. So you've got that social status. You can't show up late. You have accountability, you have deadlines. Here's the deadlines. There's a game every damn Saturday or Sunday, I don't fucking know.

Kevin Palmieri:

But one of the two.

Alan Lazaros:

I think it was Saturday for high school, I don't know, but we went through all the reasons. I said what if? What if you being more motivated had nothing to do with you being more motivated? What if it had everything to do with all the things around it? You had a clear goal. You had a dad and a grandfather who supported you. You had someone who said you couldn't do it because you were too small, so that fired you up. You had an assistant, all this stuff.

Alan Lazaros:

One of the things that I'm very proud of at nlu is we create an environment Around achieving your own unique version of success. Kevin always shares on this show how he is more inherently lazy, but he forces himself to do this stuff. The truth is, brother, you're in an environment that requires it of you. Book club has a deadline. Monthly meetups have a deadline every month. This podcast has a deadline. You have a team that's counting on you. You have a wife that's counting on you. You have bills that have deadlines. You have boom, boom, boom.

Alan Lazaros:

We have incorporated deadlines into every single aspect of our life and we've arranged our identity in a way where we're consistent and we don't want to let the community down. We don't want to let our girlfriends and wives down. We don't want to let our team down. We have payroll every month. There's deadlines in everything we do and if anyone's out there watching or listening and they're like shit, I'm not that consistent or I'm not that motivated. The truth is, we just have so much necessity, we've manufactured so much necessity. We just talked in the last episode about Kev back in the day driving to that person's house, getting high and working. In quote unquote brother, you didn't have any necessity, I was working, I know you were. We didn't have that many deadlines, we didn't have that much responsibility.

Kevin Palmieri:

We didn't have as many bills. We were losers.

Alan Lazaros:

But I hope that, people, that's why we design group coaching the way that we did. It's public accountability, it's got an assistant coach, it's got a head coach, it's got the sessions, it's got bi-weekly deadlines, it's got homework assignments. I think we flourish in an environment that is set up for flourishing and it's all by design. And I'm all for willpower, I'm all for discipline, I'm all for holding yourself accountable, but the truth is, if you don't have any deadlines, you are never going to be super, super productive, whether it's a company I mean think of a company you used to work for. They used to track you down to the minute and you had a deadline for every project Deadlines. Blow a deadline for every project deadlines blow they seriously.

Kevin Palmieri:

They're terrible, honestly bad, but they work. They, they work, they do and they're necessary. Yeah, one of the reasons and again, it's not I had a moment the other day where I actually realized that I wasn't really leveraging it before. But one of the reasons I'm so consistent in the gym right now is I'm going to south carolina in july for matt's bachelor party. Yeah, yeah, and I intend on being the guy who's in the best shape, like that is. I will not not let that happen.

Alan Lazaros:

I have to, that's that's why I want to.

Kevin Palmieri:

There's a deadline. So that's however many months away. I'm going to continue dieting till then. Yep, that's, that's a guarantee, but yeah, it's a deadline. So imagine, imagine if you had a deadline under health, a deadline under wealth and a deadline under love.

Alan Lazaros:

At all times.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, imagine One of the things that's happened. Tara will ask me like hey, can you check on this thing for us, whether it's like a bill or whatever. The problem is, I don't give myself a deadline and then it doesn't get done and it doesn't get done, and it doesn't get done. And then she's like hey, did you do that? Yet it's like no, and eventually it's like, honestly, I'm going to do it right now because I know I keep pushing it off and I keep pushing it off. So, if you have I don't know what it is I'm going to cancel YouTube TV. All right, cool. When, by when? When is the date that you're not going to have YouTube TV anymore? All right, awesome, cool. You know, I feel like my gym kind of sucks and I need a better gym, because I know if I had a gym that I liked more, I'd be more consistent. Cool, when are we going to do that? By when are we going to have an answer? Is it going to be this week? Let's put that on the calendar. And then, money is a hard one. Well, we kind of did that YouTube TV.

Kevin Palmieri:

So, for your relationship, if you're riding solo, when are you going to have a conversation with somebody that interests you. When are you going to get a dating app, whatever, however you choose to pursue it? But yeah, you're just way more willing to do it. No-transcript. Hey, man, long time no see. We never see each other anymore. Let's set something up. If you don't set something up right there, it's most likely not going to happen. I know Matt and I were talking about that the other day. We're like, yeah, we have to get back on a cadence because we're both busy and it just oh, it's been three months, okay.

Alan Lazaros:

Damn, that doesn't work, not as an adult, as a as an adult, as a kid, you can fly by the seat of your pants. That shit doesn't fly anymore there's not.

Kevin Palmieri:

There's not as much going on yeah unsung heroes. Dead deadlines are unsung heroes, for sure, because to your point they kind of suck. But it's one of those things where it works so well that we stop doing it because we feel the pressure. And then we're like, wow, that I actually got that done. But you don't want to put yourself back under the pressure again because now the pressure is relieved.

Alan Lazaros:

Can we talk about that for a sec? I know we got a deadline, we got to go.

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. We have a global audience.

Kevin Palmieri:

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. But how do you proactively put yourself? Okay, I think it's arrogant to believe you can achieve great things without deadlines. I genuinely think that's ignorant or arrogant. Okay, one of the both, one or both.

Kevin Palmieri:

One of the both.

Alan Lazaros:

I honestly think we were arrogant in the past. I really do. We were ignorant and arrogant. Dude, on what planet are you going to build a company without working that hard?

Kevin Palmieri:

the planet I was living on was the thought um, the pressure.

Alan Lazaros:

You and I are always talking about the pressure cooker growing pains, part 17. Uh, we're under pressure right now. We have an event coming up, we have a deadline, we have group coaching coming up, we all these things. We're always under pressure, always, and you actually have. That's why I want you to kind of go off on this, because, all right, kevin thinks there's a sneaky part of me that likes it kevin is certain there's a sneaky part of you that's not that sneaky that likes it.

Alan Lazaros:

Yes, I'm certain of it I need necessity to be at my best. That's one of the reasons why I like the exercise streak. I can't miss it's just you don't want to break the streak. You don't want to break the streak. Emily and I went on a walk this morning, 45 minutes, because we're going to the lake tonight. I'm not gonna have time. I'm coaching from seven to eight it it creates a daily deadline yeah it's.

Alan Lazaros:

I know I'm not. I think it's arrogant to think oh yeah, I'll just exercise whenever it's like. I like the daily cadence because it puts me in the pressure cooker, so I don't think you can. Okay, you want to achieve your goals, your own unique version of success? Great, okay, awesome. What do you have to do? You have to set a goal okay, awesome. Now you have to set a deadline. Now you have to break that goal into chunks. You know months, weeks, days. Okay, what are the habits that need to happen? As someone who doesn't like, I'm just gonna say this. I've traveled with Kev. I've known him for a long time. You love hanging out.

Kevin Palmieri:

Love it. Huge fan, huge fan.

Alan Lazaros:

Okay, what do I mean by that? I don't want to villainize hanging out. I used to say things like this and then Kevin would shield, bump it you can't achieve great goals without and like want to hang out and Kev's like no, no, yes, you can. You can want to achieve great things and want to hang out simultaneously. I don't believe and this is coming from years and years and years of coaching people. There's one person I'm certain is winning right now. She's unbelievable. She's crushing it, but she's under pressure every goddamn day. She has deadlines for everything. She uses her calendar for everything. She has metrics and habits. She's going to win, I'm certain of it. 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now, she will be a multimillionaire. I'm certain of it. Mathematically speaking, I have 98%. We'll give 2% chance. Not why would you? You cannot have that, in my opinion, if you build it yourself without pressure. For people who don't like pressure, how do we explain this in a way that's of value?

Kevin Palmieri:

Maybe redefine pressure as opportunity. I don't know how do you deal with it as someone who doesn't like it.

Alan Lazaros:

You have to record a Podcast Growth University episode every week. You cannot miss. You are what? 155 in a row, or something.

Kevin Palmieri:

I don't know 145?. I don't know 140-something.

Alan Lazaros:

Okay, I just recorded my 164th episode of Conscious Couples Podcast. We've never missed and we never will. Now, me saying that sounds arrogant, but the truth of the matter is we'll make it happen. We'll make it a priority because we have a weekly deadline. The production team needs it by a certain time. You don't like pressure, but yet you've designed a life of constant pressure. Talk to me.

Kevin Palmieri:

I've just realized that it is an unfortunate byproduct of the place I want to go. I think that's kind of I don't like being hungry either, but that's kind of what it takes to get into the shape that I want to get into.

Alan Lazaros:

I don't know if I have a good answer, because Well, how have you overcome your want to just hang out? Because the truth is you love hanging out. I've seen you Like you love not having pressure, Love it.

Kevin Palmieri:

I'd rather hang out in a bigger house when I can hang out. I think that's the thing is. I don't really want to hang out all day anymore because it does get boring, but I want to make sure that when I do have the ability to hang out and I have the privilege of hanging out, it's in a higher quality, that I want to watch UFC in my movie theater, because I'm not going to have that many pleasantries. There's not going to be that many pleasantries.

Alan Lazaros:

Unfortunately.

Kevin Palmieri:

I don't know. I don't know if I have a really good answer, other than so much of the wonderful results we have have come from like I don't know how I'm gonna do this. I was the other night. I couldn't sleep. This whole this whole week. It's Friday. We're recording this on Friday.

Kevin Palmieri:

This whole week I've just been laying in bed just thinking about like this, this, this, blah, blah, blah, and I was like tomorrow, you just have to get up, literally set a deadline. Tomorrow you have to get up and I need to bullet point all the things that have to get done and I feel infinite. Last night I slept great. All it was is there was too much noise and not enough focus. It wasn't directed in any specific place. I feel way better.

Kevin Palmieri:

I got a bunch of stuff done today. I need to get more done today and tomorrow and next week we'll be good to go. I think it's this. I think, no matter what, you're going to have some type of pressure. I think you can choose. Hopefully I won't even say that we're at a place now where I have the opportunity to, now more than ever, choose the type of pressure I'm under. Would I rather be under the pressure of I don't know how, to how I'm going to pay the bills, or would I rather be under the pressure of? I have to get this done by a certain time for a certain client?

Alan Lazaros:

Nice.

Kevin Palmieri:

I'd rather have the second one, because I've had the first and it blows and it doesn't blow. Is it blows worse than the second one?

Kevin Palmieri:

At least we're, at least the pressure is leading to something, as opposed to just feeling down and out and feeling stuck and feeling like your back is up against the wall forever. There's a difference between my back is up against the wall but the stairs in front of me lead somewhere, and my back is up against the wall and there are no stairs and I just have to find a way to survive. I don't want to be there. I've been there. I don't want to be there. I've been there. I don't want to go back there. That place was not fun and I empathize with anybody who's going through that. I think deadlines are a necessary evil, unfortunately.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, well said, I appreciate it. You have one second to say your next level lesson.

Alan Lazaros:

Next level lesson is I do believe it's ignorant to believe that you can achieve your goals without deadlines and without pressure and without responsibility and without accountability and without necessity If you're out there listening or watching this and you know that you're not holding yourself to a certain standard. I had someone tell me this recently. I know I don't certain standard. I had someone tell me this recently. I know I don't have time. I had someone tell me this recently. He said I'm not ready yet, but I'm coming. I know I'm not ready to hold myself to the standard that you're setting. Listen, I'll set a standard. That's a staircase. I've gotten better at this. I can help you set a good standard. We can start with three habits. We can go three, five, seven. You will be blown away.

Alan Lazaros:

I have one client I started working with six eight months ago. Eight months ago now this dude is running circles around his past self. It's unfreaking, believable. He's getting certified. He's got five different jobs. I know that sounds terrible. He's successful as fuck. I just he's really successful and he's gonna be super successful and I just.

Alan Lazaros:

If anyone wants more deadlines and more necessity, it's no wonder why it's harder to sell coaching, because I know it sounds terrible, but if you, if you really want to hit your goals and you want some necessity and some pressure and some responsibility and you want someone to help you stay aligned and on track, I've got you. That is my favorite work in the world like, and I gotta hold myself accountable. I hold kevin accountable. I hope the company accountable help you stay aligned and on track. I've got you. That is my favorite work in the world and I got to hold myself accountable. I hold Kevin accountable. I hold the company accountable. I want to help you win. You can win and you have no idea what you'd be capable of with the right coach in your corner. I mean, it is unbelievable.

Kevin Palmieri:

So yeah, alan's link will be in the show notes Boom, bada, bing, bada boom. All right, we got to go. 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.

Kevin Palmieri:

Everything you need to get a hold of us is in the show notes. Thank you again and we will talk to you tomorrow.

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Alan Lazaros

Host
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Kevin Palmieri

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