Next Level University

Your Future Self May Hate You If… (2028)

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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Learn to need nothing and you put yourself in a position to have everything. In today’s honest and eye-opening episode, Kevin and Alan explain how every decision—big or small—comes with a cost. They break down opportunity costs in simple terms and explore how prioritizing long-term growth over quick fixes can radically improve your life. With personal stories, smart advice, and just the right dose of tough love, you'll feel inspired to think ahead and act with purpose.

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

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

Website 💻  http://www.nextleveluniverse.com

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Any of these communities or resources are FREE to join and consume
Next Level Nation - https://www.facebook.com/groups/459320958216700
Next Level 5 To Thrive (free course) - ​​https://bit.ly/3xffver
Next Level U Book Club - https://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.

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

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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:
(4:15) Binge habits and lost potential
(6:56) From wealth to welfare
(9:17) Building a life that trends up
(11:01) The real cost of quick pleasure
(13:08) Next Level Dreamliner: The planner, agenda, journal, and habit tracker to rule them all. Get a copy: https://a.co/d/9fPpxEt
(17:21) Debt, discipline, and delayed rewards
(19:23) Designing a life that’s worth it
(22:57) Outro

Send a text to Kevin and Alan!

Kevin Palmieri:

I was watching a video the other day and in the video the person was talking about how if you spent $200 on Jordans, it's $200 today. But if you were to take that $200 and invest it in the stock market and get what I think was an 8% return, I think in I don't remember how many years it was, I don't remember the exact math of it, but eventually it would be $8,000 or something it, but eventually it would be $8,000 or something. We're essentially doing that all the time. We are taking something now and, whether we know it or not, it takes away from the future. We just don't often understand how much it's taking away from the future.

Alan Lazaros:

I used to say that in early speeches I gave 10 years ago when I was Alan Lazarus LLC, before Kevin and I got together, what you'll never learn in school but desperately need to know Bringing personal development to the masses. I used to say if you spend each day investing your time and effort into making sure tomorrow is better than today, eventually your entire life will be awesome and that's what we're going to talk about.

Kevin Palmieri:

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

Alan Lazaros:

And I'm your co-host.

Kevin Palmieri:

Alan Lazarus At NLU.

Alan Lazaros:

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:

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 2028, your Future Self May Hate you If you Don't Understand Opportunity Cost. I know that's kind of a that's a rough title, I know, but I have definitely had a little negativity towards myself for not understanding opportunity cost in the past. There were some things that I and I'll let Alan explain opportunity cost and define it and all that, but there are some things in the past that I definitely shouldn't have done and I didn't understand how much it took away from my future. How much it took away from my future. We've all heard YOLO. You only live once and again you can say that after a heavy night of drinking and it's fun. But I think, by the opposite front, you only live once. So you should probably do your best to make sure that you're living the best, most aligned, most abundant, long-term life that you possibly can.

Alan Lazaros:

What is the definition of opportunity cost, opportunity cost? Is this idea that you not doing something today is actually taking away from your future? What is the opportunity cost of not reading a personal development book daily? Not a book every day, but 30 minutes of reading, or 10 minutes of reading, or 20 minutes of reading, whatever it is? What is the opportunity cost of drinking alcohol excessively? What is the opportunity cost of not being grateful for your intimate partner? What is the opportunity cost of not exercising? What is the opportunity cost of not investing Future self?

Alan Lazaros:

Past self, current self? Which one do you prioritize? I think we all. This is one of the reasons why, in the early personal development days 10 years ago, I would I would read certain books. One of them, your Erroneous Zones, by Wayne Dyer, that I recommended to Kev. We talked about it on the last episode. One of the things that always bothered me about Wayne is he was always so focused on the present. Be in the present, stay in the present. The present moment is all you have. The now is what matters. No, it isn't. The now builds towards your future Right now. Now, everyone watching or listening, your future is getting brighter for listening to this podcast, because what you allow into your brain is determining what you think. It's what's influencing you. What are you laughing at my lighting?

Kevin Palmieri:

your lighting got brighter.

Alan Lazaros:

As you were talking about getting brighter, I did that purposely with my with my mind, but the truth of the matter is, if you were to binge drink for three weeks and not listen to any personal development and do drugs and not get good sleep and be hungover and not treat your partner well and not exercise and not take care of yourself, that would be an opportunity cost. You would lose a ton of future greatness. You would lose a ton of future potential. That's what opportunity costs. It's about. The potential of the future. Potential is one of my top three core values legacy, potential and um. Rationality and potential is this is my definition of it a deep belief in what is truly possible and what human beings are truly capable of. I love at your wedding when I cried that was what I was crying about. It was you could have been nothing. You came from very humble beginnings and you made something of yourself. That's the most inspiring thing in the world. So to me, I'm always looking at potential. That's the future potential. The future can get brighter if we put in the effort now and if we invest now. That's what education is. You invest in your college education for a bigger, better, brighter future, and the people who don't invest tend to, statistically speaking, have not as big of a future and I was talking to the team about how I'm going to get my PhD and Emilia and I she's going to get PsyD, I think.

Alan Lazaros:

And I was talking to the team about how I'm going to get my PhD and Emilia and I she's going to get PsyD, I think. But I was talking about how it was a dream to one day go to MIT and my guidance counselor said I wouldn't get in, which I think is so I didn't even apply and I regretted it ever since. So I'm probably going to end up doing that and I said, ah, that'll be in my forties. It's not for a long time, but I'm always thinking about the future, always. 24, seven, three, 65, future, future, future, future future. Everything you're saying, thinking, doing, feeling and believing right now is building your future, and that's what this podcast is. How do you reach your potential? How do you build your future? How do you make sure your future's bright? You have a very bright future. I think the present moment is way better when you know your future's bright.

Kevin Palmieri:

Do you think that you're One of the reasons you don't? Okay, what's the order of this? You never really cared about lifestyle, so it made sense to think about the future, or you understood how important the future was, so you knew lifestyle was going to be a hit. You're going to take a hit on lifestyle, or, third one your lifestyle is exactly what you want, because I don't want to assume that it's not.

Alan Lazaros:

All three Simultaneously? No, but to give you a real answer, it's a staircase. I actually feel bad, okay. So when I was 14, stepdad left. We went from. I mean, everyone thought I was the rich kid. We lived on a lake and my mom and stepdad didn't get along. So from the outside in we looked like we had the dream and we had snowmobiles and we had a ducati motorcycle and we had a yacht. We had boats and ski trips. I had a dreamcast and an xbox and early christmas presents. And we had a Ducati motorcycle and we had a yacht. We had boats and ski trips, I had a Dreamcast and an Xbox and early Christmas presents and we had a really beautiful home. We had five acres of land, we on a private pond slash lake. So from the outside in it looked magnificent. When he left, he took all the income with him. He worked for a company called Agfa A-G-F-A. They did hospital computers during the dot-com bubble in Massachusetts. So it was just. I mean, we did well and everyone did well back then Not everyone, but most people. Economically, the 90s were wild. You can research this okay, especially in the US.

Alan Lazaros:

But to answer your question, kev, I lost everything when he left and I went from like that was very humbling for me. That was very traumatic because I obviously lost him and his entire extended family. So everything I knew up to that point was kind of ripped out from under me in a way. And there's more to that too, because my mom got in a fight with my Aunt Sandy and we got kind of ostracized from her side of the family. So by the time I was 14, I kind of lost three families in a way, because we didn't talk to my birth father's side anymore. My real last name is McCorkle for the listeners who don't know John McCorkle. For the listeners who don't know John McCorkle my birth father died when I was two and I took the name Lazarus. Steve Lazarus was my stepdad, around age seven I think, but we didn't really associate with the McCorkles much. So when you lose sort of three families by the time you're 14, we went from boats and ski trips to I get free lunch at school.

Alan Lazaros:

Now, because I'm the poor kid, we trade in the BMW for a little Honda Civic 2005. How do we keep the house and the family? I look into the future and I go we are fucked. No generational wealth, no dad, no trust fund. We're going to lose the house. We are fucked. How am I going to go to college? So I straight A's through all of high school scholarships and financial aid, wpi, master's in business, off to the races. 1% earner by the time I'm in my early 20s. $150,000 in a Vanguard account, $84,000 worth of college debt paid off in a single year. I'm proud of all that because I came from absolutely nothing.

Alan Lazaros:

But, to answer your question, the lifestyle piece, I think it's a staircase that's supposed to trend up A lot of people. It doesn't trend up. This is one of the big things that I really want to make land. Let me try to explain this. There was someone who I dated when I was in high school, and she had a very wealthy. Her dad inherited millions and she had stuff she doesn't. It was the nineties. A lot of people had money, especially them, and she grew up with a lot. She grew up with a lot of things stuff, you know, range Rover, just really nice home, lake, multiple homes, that kind of thing. Space, home, lake, multiple homes, that kind of thing. Abundance, and I'm not making that wrong. What I am saying, though, is I actually for someone who did grow up that way. If, the if that doesn't continue trending up like where do you go from there, dude?

Alan Lazaros:

that's fair and that's there's something to be said for that. Like you, kev, you came from such humble beginnings that it's always up from here You're. 36 is better than 26. 26 is better than 16. 16 is better than six. So I am trying to play the game of life from a frame of up, upward and onward, and I know what it's like to go from a very high place to a very low place in a very short amount of time, and that can be very dramatic. And so for me, opportunity cost is go into your future, and in a very short amount of time, and that can be very dramatic. And so for me, opportunity cost is go into your future and ask yourself how fucked you're going to be if you don't change.

Kevin Palmieri:

I've had this conversation with Taryn many times because she'll see friends and family traveling and she's like I want to travel more. And I said I completely understand and we went to Scotland and we've done a little bit of traveling. But I said that you gotta, you gotta trust me on the fact that in 10 years we'll be able to go to much nicer places if we hold off. It's almost like the opposite of gambling, when you're gambling. So I used to like to play blackjack on draft kings and I was like this is a danger, not on draft kings, this is a dangerous game. Yeah, I when you're gambling. So I used to like to play blackjack on DraftKings.

Alan Lazaros:

And I was like this is a dangerous Not on.

Kevin Palmieri:

DraftKings. This is a dangerous game. I should not be able to play blackjack from my couch in my pajamas.

Alan Lazaros:

This is a recipe disaster. Yes, it is Real quick, huge blackjack fan, so I'm with you on that.

Kevin Palmieri:

I used to bet a dollar. All right, I'm going to bet a dollar and you win. And you win 75 cents. You keep doing that. The reason you're doing that is because you have some level of belief or delusion that if you keep doing that, the money is going to get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger.

Alan Lazaros:

Or you just like the feeling of playing. Yes, you get addicted to it. Yes, but I'm, I'm not.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, I'm not going to put that dark, that dark voodoo on here. I'm going to say you're in full control. If you're not, there's many places to seek help. And again, it is a dangerous game right now because you can literally do it from your cell phone. So nothing but empathy for that. But it's the opposite when it comes to opportunity cost. Like, okay, you can spend a thousand dollars and go to Disney World today, hypothetically. But what if I told you, if you save that thousand dollars, you'd be able to go to Disney World for a month in 10 years, instead of the four days that you're going to be able to do it today? Would that again? This is very similar to the delay and gratification episode today. Would that again? This is very similar to the delay and gratification episode, but that's my thought process. I was talking in a clip about the fact that I wanted to go to UFC, but I knew I shouldn't. I want to go to a UFC event, but it's not time, I shouldn't.

Alan Lazaros:

Well, let's play, let's do both sides of the coin. Some people are sitting there thinking, well, you got to live some point, you got to live at some point.

Alan Lazaros:

Well than now. It breaks down your dreams into goals, milestones and daily habits. We hope you enjoy it. The link will be in the show notes. This is the thing that I want to try to break down, and this is a really important conversation. I know we've only got a little bit of time here.

Alan Lazaros:

I remember I had a friend. He said well, if I don't eat the rest of these Oreos, if I were to die tomorrow, I'll regret it. So I'm going to eat the rest of these oreos. If I were to die tomorrow, I'll regret it. So I'm gonna eat the whole sleeve.

Alan Lazaros:

And it was more of a joke. Yeah, it's funny, but I I think to myself and I don't, I didn't share this, but I thought to myself that's the dumbest shit I've ever heard. And the reason why my brain says that is because you're you're not gonna die tomorrow. Statistically you could. If you lived every day like you're gonna die tomorrow, you and I wouldn't even record this episode. It's not rational. I just want to be honest here. Irrationality is dangerous. It's not rational.

Alan Lazaros:

The average life expectancy is 80. If you're not planning to live till 80, people say what if I die tomorrow? Hey, what if you don't, brother? What if you don't, is your family gonna be upset when you gamble your fucking life savings away? You know what I mean. So I remember one time I was at a bar uh, barbecue and bonfire. And uh I said, why are you smoking cigarettes, brother? Like I'm actually asking. It's just, it doesn't make any sense why you smoke so much. He said, well, I'm gonna die of something, anyway, I might as well smoke. And I remember is that actually your logic? That's like saying, ah well, I might as well run in front of oncoming traffic, Like I'm not trying to be unkind. Smoking cigarettes is unintelligent. Everyone knows that. If you're going to choose to do that, I've smoked in the past when I drank occasionally.

Kevin Palmieri:

I've had a cigarette before a couple darts.

Alan Lazaros:

Oh yeah, man for sure. Oh yeah yeah, not, not regularly. I've never bought a pack or anything but I've been.

Kevin Palmieri:

I've made some poor ass choices a couple cloves back in the day, I didn't know. I thought they were cigars.

Alan Lazaros:

I didn't know what the hell they were here's the difference, though, and I just need to share this. I made so many poor choices, kev, so many, but I never told myself a story. They weren't poor choices when, when I was drinking, I never was like, oh, this is good for me. I was like this is probably a terrible idea, I'm going to do it anyway. But this is not intelligent choice. I never deluded myself into thinking this was smart. And so when someone says, well, I'm going to die anyway, I might as well smoke, that means you don't value your life. And so, to bring this full circle, the average life expectancy for women is 79. Globally, it's 76 or 77 for men, you can look this up. So average, the average means you have to plan for that. You have to plan for that. How many people do you know, kev, that didn't plan for retirement and they're working into their 60s and 70s and 80s? So many okay. So if you don't plan for the future, you're gonna pay the fucking piper. And opportunity cost is something I get so riled up about, because I I feel like I'm trying to help people live a better life, and, again, I do come from a past with some people that I love dearly, that never made good choices and it hurt me a lot to watch them suffer. My uncle when my father passed away, my Uncle Joe, he drank excessively and he just died two years ago or a year and a half ago and it's just hard to watch someone their poor choices literally slowly kill themselves right, and I know everyone out there watching or listening. I know that you've been affected by watching a loved one who didn't care about their future. I mean that's just sad. That makes me sad, and there are people that I love dearly that are not going to be here long because of their own poor choices and that's unfortunate. But I want to share this with everybody real quick too. I had a client reach out to me and share a journal entry anonymously. She said I wanted to share this journal entry with you.

Alan Lazaros:

I'm paying down debt like a savage. I paid off $500 of the money I owe blank for the MacBook. I've paid off $1,300 to the Chase credit card and a lot of money towards the Capital One credit card. I'm in such an abundant place and it's only getting better. I plan on paying off the Chase credit card, or at least paying it down to $500 within the next two months, and then every extra dollar I have is going to go toward paying off the Capital One credit card, which I can probably pay off by the end of the year.

Alan Lazaros:

I'm so proud of myself and the woman I'm becoming April 3rd Awesome, and this is what I said to her. I said first of all, I said let's fucking go with an exclamation point. And I said learn to need nothing and you put yourself in a position to have everything. I hope that's landing differently these days. Someone who needs very little to be whole has a huge cheat code and can actually put themselves in a position to succeed long term, versus someone entitled or spoiled who needs a lot just to exist in a reasonable place. Self-esteem wise, it virtually guarantees they set themselves up for short-term gain and long-term pain.

Alan Lazaros:

When you learn to need less which I had to do when my stepdad left you set yourself up for the long game when you don't need much to be fulfilled.

Alan Lazaros:

Now you can play the long game and make sure you make smart choices and you can delay gratification for bigger rewards. What people don't fully understand mathematically is that the the exponential increase in the future. It's, it's exponential. So if you, if you give up and sacrifice in the moment now for a bigger future. It's exponential. So if you give up and sacrifice in the moment now for a bigger future, it's not one times one, it's one times 10 times 10 times 10 times 10. And that's how you build generational wealth and that's how you build a bigger, better, brighter future that compounds. Like you and I have achieved more success in the last two years than the previous six before that, achieved more success in the last two years than the previous six before that. But if we stopped during those first couple years that absolutely were terrible and it was only delayed gratification, we would never be experiencing this abundance now, and so I hope everyone is at least to some degree igniting that in their own life.

Kevin Palmieri:

Well, I think the question, the lesson that I would leave everyone with, is what is the current ratio or what is the current equation? Is it eight out of 10 now, two out of 10 for the future? What is it? And again, I don't know what the goal is for you, because I think everybody is different when it comes to fulfillment. I don't want to be 10 future zero now. I definitely don't. Yeah, I'm not either, by the way.

Alan Lazaros:

I know I'm not, I think I'm. Mine is 95.5. 5% now, 95% future, but I think that's excessive, pretty close to 10. I do, I think that's excessive. That's pretty close to 10.0. Yeah 9.5.5.

Kevin Palmieri:

Right, I'm not that, but I'm way. 70.30. Nice 70, future 30, now Used to be 100.0.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, it was 95.5 the other way, for sure, but it's not about getting to 100.0.

Kevin Palmieri:

I think it's about getting to what works best for you, what is sustainable for you, what gives you the goals you want, what gives you? I won't even say what gives you the goals you want. What gives you? I won't even say what gives you the lifestyle you want, because sometimes you take a hit in lifestyle. Oftentimes you take a hit in lifestyle now for a hit in lifestyle eventually. But you also have to make sure you're doing the right things, because if you're not doing the right things, then it doesn't. It's not going to compound that way. So that would be my next level lesson is just move the needle in the right direction a little bit. Next time somebody invites you to go do something that's like whatever 50 bucks, whatever an amount of money that you're like, I really need to think about this. Maybe you say no and your future self will thank you, but you have to believe it'll be worth it. Again, I always go back to that, kevin real quick.

Alan Lazaros:

I know we're going to jump the next level. Live is $47, right, yes, and it's six hours of someone's time, assuming they attend the whole event 10 am to 4 pm.

Kevin Palmieri:

It's today. If you're listening, it's literally today.

Alan Lazaros:

Oh, whoa, yeah, oh, holy crap. Well then, I hope everyone's gotten their tickets by now. I just wanted to. So it's today meaning they cannot buy a ticket. Yeah, so it's over.

Kevin Palmieri:

Okay, it's over.

Alan Lazaros:

It's over. Okay, well, let me use this as a point. Anyone who did attend next level live, shout out to you. We had a couple more come through, by the way, in the last couple days. But it's 47 is the investment and it's six hours of your time. But what if I could? What if you really were gonna make 5 000 more dollars over the next decade, and then 10 000 decade, and then $10,000 the decade after that and then $50,000 the decade after that? As a matter of fact, for some people that come to that event, it might be millions more. I know that sounds grandiose, but it actually could be more. I know one person at that event that I'm certain will be a multimillionaire and she's going to learn a lot. That's going to compound and she's going to earn more. So 47 for this event versus 47 on I don't know, the cheesecake factory or whatever I love cheesecake.

Alan Lazaros:

I I love food. I'm not saying not to spend money on food. My point is what is the opportunity cost of not coming to next level live? What is the opportunity cost of not buying that book? I told ke buy the book, whatever it is. You want a book, Buy it, Don't waste time thinking about it. It's a great investment. There's never going to be a personal development book that isn't worth 12 bucks assuming you actually implement it, I would say that's fundamentally incorrect.

Kevin Palmieri:

Sir, I found some of them.

Alan Lazaros:

That's a fair assessment, assuming you got a good recommendation with a good author from a good person. But the point is buy the book and Audible lets you return them if you buy the wrong book.

Kevin Palmieri:

That is true. 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 explanation.

Kevin Palmieri:

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.

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Alan Lazaros

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Kevin Palmieri

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