Next Level University

How Your Perspective Creates Your Reality (2071)

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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In this episode of Next Level University, hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros journey through the landscapes of the mind, where beliefs become boundaries and perspective builds possibility. Through stories of travel and lessons from coaching, they reveal how your inner map shapes every step you take.

Learn more about:
Next Level Dreamliner - https://a.co/d/9fPpxEt
Next Level Monthly Meet-up #42 - https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/drNdstrXSt6d7q7NnHITgA

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https://calendly.com/alanlazaros/30-minute-free-breakthrough-session?month=2025-04
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https://calendly.com/kevinpalmieri/free-30-minute-podcast-breakthrough-session-with-kevin

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

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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:
(3:33) The power of daily reflection
(6:15) What slow living teaches us
(11:05) The three decisions that shape life
(14:38) Why mental maps matter
(18:10) Meet your people. Chase your dreams. Level up your life with Next Level Group Coaching. https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/group-coaching/
(20:29) Experience that redefines possibility
(28:02) How awareness builds freedom
(33:27) When dreams become strategy
(37:50) Outro

Send a text to Kevin and Alan!

Kevin Palmieri:

I did a lot of traveling for my job You've heard me talk about that many, many times and while I didn't go any extravagant places, I think going to different parts of the country really, really helped me with my perspective and I got to meet people from different parts of the country.

Alan Lazaros:

I got to client I was on with earlier today who traveled to 13 countries over the last six months and we talked about her mental map and what she learned about herself, others and the world, so that she can reinvest all of that learning into her future.

Kevin Palmieri:

Welcome to Next Level University. I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri, and I'm your co-host, Alan Lazarus. 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 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 2071, how your perspective creates your reality. Last year, so last year, last year, tara and I went to Scotland for two weeks and when we came home everybody was like how was it? Tell me all about it. I can't really give you any specific details. I mean I can, but I felt very different after we came back because it was like going to a different world in a lot of ways.

Kevin Palmieri:

We went yeah, we were in the city for some of the time, but we went like hours out into the middle of nowhere and there were sheep crossing the road and it was just a really, really, really cool experience and I feel like it gave me a lot of perspective of what's possible. It gave me a lot of perspective of how life looks in different places. It gave me a lot of perspective of people and I think that's why traveling is such a unique thing. Maybe it's not about where you stay or what you do when you're there or whatever the sites that you see, the pictures that you get, but I feel like there's so much perspective that comes from traveling because you are quite literally seeing differences in real time. So to your your point about your client. I have not gone to 13 countries in six months. That's a whole other level, but I can only imagine the amount of perspective and the amount of context that person has from those travels.

Alan Lazaros:

Well, I heard a quote by Jim Rohn way back. He's a personal development speaker and he said some people are just trying to get through the day, other people are trying to get from the day and we have this thing called an experience review at the end of our peak performance tracking system. If anyone wants a peak performance tracker, please reach out to me. You can email me. My email will be in the show notes. All of our team members, all of my clients, they all have peak performance tracking, which is metrics and habits aligned with your goals and dreams. We can jump on a free call and set that up for you. But at the end of peak performance tracking, I don't want to just track metrics and habits, just track metrics and habits. I think that that's silly. I want to track metrics and habits and then do an experience review.

Alan Lazaros:

So at the end of and this is in the dreamliner as well, so I'll just read it but in the dreamliner there's something called an MIW and an MII most important win and a most important improvement. So what's the most important win from yesterday and what's the most important thing I'm going to improve for tomorrow? Imagine 365 days a year. You reflect on the day before bed and you say, okay, what was my biggest win for today and what am I going to improve for tomorrow? What was my biggest win for today and what am I going to improve tomorrow? And if you did that consistently over time? Because a lot of people say wisdom comes with age. Sometimes wisdom does not come with age because you're not investing the learning, you're not locking it in. So when I was with my client earlier, I drew on Zoom a map and I put her in the center and you know who you are, if you're listening, by the way and I drew some stick figure people around her always as this is you, of course, yeah, of course.

Alan Lazaros:

This is you stick figure and this is other stick figures around you and this is a map, and the map represents your mental map of the world. The people around you represent the people you've met and other people way to go, alan. Yeah. Other people, the people you've met in other people, way to go, alan, yeah, other people. The people you've met in all the different countries. And then you, the stick figure, represents you. I want three. My God, my coaching calls sound so fun.

Alan Lazaros:

I want three new distinctions, new understandings of yourself based on the 13 countries. Because you just traveled for six months to 13 countries. You better come back with some software upgrades. This is a software engineer, by the way, so she knew the deal. I said let's reprogram you to have this version of you be better 3.8. Version of you 3.8 is going to be better than 3.7, based on all this experience. Some of us are just getting all these experiences, but we're not upgrading our software.

Alan Lazaros:

Imagine an iPhone that doesn't update. Imagine a Tesla that doesn't update. Imagine Alexa that doesn't update. Imagine you use Google Home it doesn't update. It's not going to get any better. Windows 11 updates every other day. Mac updates why? Because there's deeper understanding. That's how you innovate. So, anyways, three distinctions of self, distinct distinctions about people and three distinctions about the world, and we spent the entire hour doing this and there was a couple really good ones. I actually can share some anonymously. But one thing I have for you, kev you went to scotland for 13 days, I think so. 12 days, 13 days. I always ask this question. I asked this to my client earlier too. What's the one thing I would never understand, unless I actually spent time in Scotland?

Kevin Palmieri:

It's a much slower life. Like things close at like six o'clock, it's slow, slow living.

Alan Lazaros:

Not a lot of hustle. People would not like me there. A lot of people would not like me there. No people would. People would not like you there and I so I've been on.

Kevin Palmieri:

afterwards I went on a couple podcasts that were hosted by people that lived or grew up in scotland and they said and again this is not I don't have any context for this, but they said that if there isn't really any like dream chasing, like it doesn't nobody really wants to chase dreams, they said that there isn't really any like dream chasing. It doesn't know, nobody really wants to chase dreams because I think for so long they were just focused on survival. So it just that's like a privilege that they just don't practice.

Alan Lazaros:

I had a Canadian not long ago say Alan, one thing I love about America, and there's a lot I don't understandable pros and cons of everything. Right, Of course, she said you guys, you guys and girls are unbelievably goal-oriented, Like you guys have dreams. And I'm sitting there going. I don't feel like we do, I feel like most people don't and, again, of course, I tend to be on the very high end of this. Obviously, this is a podcast about achieving goals.

Alan Lazaros:

Emilia and I were on a walk earlier today and we we live in a very, very, very nice condo complex that we're the youngest Emilia and I have done very well for ourselves, particularly her. We both have and we are able to afford something that most people our age just simply can't and I'm very grateful for that, and it's a really, really, really nice, high-end condo complex. And so we got stopped on the side of the road by this lady. She pulled up. She said, oh my God, do you guys live here? And we were like, yeah, and they're like are your parents around? No, we live here. She's like, oh, how old are you? Because she's like in her 60s. It's kind of a retirement home, basically, but really really high end, really really nice. And we're the youngest people here, except for people with kids, Because usually you can't afford a place like this until you're way older. This is actually a place where I think the median age is like 50 plus. Anyways, what's my point of all this? It's very slow living here and emilia and I are go fucking go, fucking, go, fucking go. 24 7 365.

Alan Lazaros:

And we had an old man earlier today. He's literally, I kid you, not kev. He gets in his car to go get the mail and then drives around the little complex and drives home. That was like his event for the day. And first of all, with all the love, I know you're old, it's all good, but you'd probably benefit from walking.

Alan Lazaros:

He seemed like he could walk fine, but again, it is what it is and maybe he's hurting, I don't know, but he was. He wanted to stop and have a whole conversation and Emilio and I have to get to our first call by 11 on the dot and we have to get our shit together, Like we're not here to talk. And so he's like oh, your dog is so cute and we had this whole. And it's like listen, I love you, sir, Appreciate you, Like I got to fucking go right, what are we doing here? So we just avoided him the whole rest of the time. But what's my point of all that? In Scotland, the slow living thing sometimes I feel like I'm in that living here Because of where you live. Yeah, I mean it's definitely slower.

Kevin Palmieri:

Well, I don't know, I guess that's different. I didn't realize that most people I didn't realize the median age was 50. But I guess it makes sense. I guess it makes sense. I don't know if that's a European thing, I don't know. I've been to England and then I've been to Scotland. Well, you went to London. That's fast paced. I went to London but then we went. We went to some like Northern beach town that was in the middle of nowhere and we went like we would go to the bar at night and it was just like a townie bar and people just loved it. I had a blast. It was so much fun, people were so fun. But yeah, I that's that's the vibe I got and that's what I've heard is it's a much slower. It's a much slower. I mean places close at like six o'clock, it's like weird.

Alan Lazaros:

This person was telling me that in amsterdam you can wake up at 5 am, you could wake up at 5 am, you could wake up at midnight and there'd be kids riding their bikes. She said it's 24-7 there. Amsterdam is a wild place, apparently.

Kevin Palmieri:

I don't know, I've never been, I've never been either.

Alan Lazaros:

She said it's 24-7. There's always people on the streets, no matter when you wake up. Anyways, we're talking a lot about different parts of the world, which I think is good. It's good, but the world map thing, yes, and this is a something we talked about in the relationship talks event last night, emilia, she pulled up a slide and said the three most important decisions you're ever going to make our events sound really fun. Number one is your environment, where you choose to live. You thought I was going to forget, didn't you?

Kevin Palmieri:

no, I was thinking in my mind I that was one, I think I have two, uh, maybe three, I think I have two out of three. But hammer them where you live, who you, who you marry, slash partner up with. That's a gimme, it's a relationship talks well again look, don't be mad at me that I actually get full credit. And I think the third one would be like what you do, like what is your occupation? Slash passion Killed it, you crushed it.

Alan Lazaros:

Wow. She said purpose. You used passion, so Purpose.

Kevin Palmieri:

Purpose is better. Yeah, I'll take a B+. Look, that's higher than most of the grades I used to get, so I'll.

Alan Lazaros:

It's who you choose to marry or be with and it's what you choose to do for your career. I mean, if you get those three wrong, you are kind of screwed honestly, because that's most of your life right there other than sleeping.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, those are the big ones. Those are the big ones. So the point of this episode is what's your mental map? And I have it pulled up here on my phone from the notes we had earlier and again. I'll keep it anonymous, but she has some distinctions of the self, others in the world, and I want everyone thinking of theirs, not hers. Not just any business will do.

Alan Lazaros:

It turns out she really cares about what she's doing in the world. I don't want a nomadic lifestyle. She thought she wanted to travel all over, and now that she has traveled all over, she realizes she really wants to build community. And then there are certain things that she was born with that are not necessarily normal in the rest of the world. Those are three about the self, there's three about others and three about the world. And what I would ask everyone to contemplate here for a second is when we're kids and I try to make this land, because when we're kids and I try to make this land when we're kids, we just don't know anything. You don't know the globe, you don't know the difference between saltwater and freshwater, you don't know what fish are. You don't know anything.

Kevin Palmieri:

I'm just picking stuff. Yeah, I was going to say we're going to an ocean right now.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, you know, when I was a kid we did a lot of deep sea fishing and and, uh, lake fishing, but you just don't know anything.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah.

Alan Lazaros:

When you're a kid. You don't have a mental map of the world. You don't understand, and that's why I love numbers so much. There's 5.65 billion people on the internet. There's 8 billion on in the world. People are still saying seven. It's been eight for a long time and it's been round up to eight for a long time. But the point is and this is one thing that I notice when I coach people it's your mental map is off. When you and I first met, when we first reconnected eight years ago, 10 years ago.

Alan Lazaros:

But whatever we started this podcast eight years ago you and I didn't know the podcast space, we didn't have a mental map, we didn't understand. We thought, oh, this guest will do it, and we didn't understand anything. So to your point, on the last episode, you said I know more than you with Ron Swanson.

Kevin Palmieri:

Ron Swanson. Don't call him Rob Swanson. It's Ron Swanson From Parks and Rec.

Alan Lazaros:

What's it from Parks and Rec? I know more than you. Everyone out there watching or listening has a more accurate mental map than me in something. What I tried to do, what I try to do, is I try to have the most accurate mental map. I had a client ask me why do you care so much about anomalies? Why do you need to know everything? I said said because if something, if she thinks she's five, two, I don't think she is and she's like, why does that matter? I said because my mental map. That means I'm wrong. I need to know where I'm wrong so I can update my mental map.

Alan Lazaros:

Because imagine your brain is a simulation machine like a video game, and if you have the wrong mental map, you're basically making decisions that are very bad for you. If you think alcohol is not bad for you and it's actually terrible for you, you might drink a lot. I remember someone told me when we were really young, like this is really bad for you guys. You guys are like 15 years old, you shouldn't be binge drinking. I remember thinking what do you mean? Shout out to that person. Turns out they were very accurate. Yeah, and I was inaccurate and I don't think I cared enough to look it up, but that's a bad decision. The definition of a bad decision is something that you, if you're going to make a bad decision, don't make it out of ignorance, make it out of I know this is a bad decision. I'm going to do it anyway and honestly, back to the last episode high road. I'm going to do it anyway and honestly, back to the last episode high road. I think most people make terrible choices because they their mental map is skewed.

Kevin Palmieri:

Well, you, it's really hard to do better if you don't know better. I don't I don't mean that as like an excuse to get out of jail free card, but if you don't know better, it's really hard to do better and you can only do to the degree you know. What is what has been an experience like? What's the experience that gave you the most perspective? If you could sum again, impossible question to answer maybe, but Like what is one experience that the depth of perspective it created for you was?

Kevin Palmieri:

The car accident, for sure. Okay, other than that one.

Alan Lazaros:

Oh, damn College, I figured that was. It's not what you learn in class. I mean, that's part of it. It's just the amount of people you meet. I met people from all over the world, every country. It was my master's in business in particular. It was oh oh, that makes sense, especially in business. If you don't know how business works, you kind of don't know how the world works, because the whole world is business, especially in a capitalistic society. I was asking her, this client did you notice a difference in government socialism versus democracy versus capitalism? And I don't think a lot of people even know how the US government is set up. I don't think they know how most governments are set up. I all the different governments, I know the different types, I know the all the different branches I forgot after high school judicial.

Alan Lazaros:

I know we have some legislative, I know we have a couple different, but if you don't know that you kind of don't have, you can't make an informed choice, in a way it's it's really unfortunate how and again, we're less ignorant than we've ever been because of google and chat. Gpt, and I mean even just google earth 30 years ago didn't exist. Now you can, instead of having a map. People used to go around and explore and map out where the mountains were and map out where the rivers were. I mean, maps were wrong. Imagine you and I hiking across the country with an inaccurate map. We would be screwed yeah for sure.

Alan Lazaros:

Oh shit, turns out that's a mountain. Uh-oh, hope you brought your hiking boots. So I think that's why we don't achieve our dreams and our goals. Kev is, because I don't know why I keep calling you kev, uh is is because we have a really bad mental map of ourself, others in the world, and so we can't make effective choices, and that's. I would ask you the same question is. I feel like you've become exponentially more aware In the last eight years. You just know a thousand times more than you did. Is that fair?

Kevin Palmieri:

That's I don't know. That's always hard Anytime we get like more than a hundred times. It's like I don't know, man, I feel like 10 times can we say that?

Kevin Palmieri:

yeah for sure. Next level nation. What is happening? If you've thought to yourself I want to try coaching, but you don't really know where to start, group coaching would be a wonderful place for you. That's really why we created it in the first place. We start a new round every 90 days. So if you're hearing this, go to the website nextleveluniversecom and we have the landing page where you can actually hold your spot right now. Even if there's a group going on right now, you can still lock your spot for the next one. The biggest thing that we've seen is, as we get closer and closer to the date, unfortunately, some people end up missing. The group fills up and they can't do it, and then they end up regretting that. So please head over to the website. The link will be in the show notes and we would love to see you there.

Alan Lazaros:

Okay, your chances of success just leapfrogged really high because now, you just won't make dumb choices.

Kevin Palmieri:

Less dumb, exactly Less dumb. I't make dumb choices. Less dumb, exactly Less dumb. I still make dumb choices, just less. What's?

Alan Lazaros:

it like to feel like you've got a lot figured out and knowing you also don't have it all figured out.

Kevin Palmieri:

Lonely, yeah, lonely, because I feel like my awareness far exceeds my results and I know you know that you probably feel super seen in that, but that that I see stuff all the time. It's like that that's not real. What I know, I know you're what you're seeing. It's like, oh, this is this and you do this and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and this is how you have a successful relationship. It's like that's not real.

Kevin Palmieri:

That's not actually how how it works. I saw somebody share today. They shared something on Facebook Like if you want to make an extra $10,000 a month, all you have to do is sell 50 products at $200 a month, five products at $2 a month, five products at $2,000 a month, and they just changed the zeros. That's the dumbest shit ever. Do you know how freaking hard it is to sell a $500 product so hard? Oh, you only need to do that 20 times. Awesome, cool. You have to have 500 conversations for that to happen. Good, fucking Cool. You have to have 500 conversations for that to happen. Good, fucking luck.

Alan Lazaros:

That Nice that's, but it's. What would old Kevin have thought of that? I love these conversations. Your mental map was wrong. You would have believed that shit and then you would have been screwed because of it. That's why I'm so glad we do this.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, no-transcript. All you have to do is buy like 90 worth of shit a month and essentially your thing is free, and then anybody who buys under you like you'll get money from it. And I was like, okay, I'm not gonna do that. You think I'm gonna pitch this to people I care about? I'm not gonna do that. So I signed up for it for like a couple months, like just to get the stuff. And then I remember I was like, dude, this is, this is dumb. There's no way. There's no way. No, I'm not gonna do this. Like you're making like a hundred bucks a month, you think I'm gonna go all in on this. And no, no, no, no, no, no, this is no, I'm not gonna do this. Like you're making like a hundred bucks a month, you think I'm gonna go all in on this, and no, no, no, no, no, no, this is dumb, I'm not gonna do this. So that was.

Alan Lazaros:

It was just a weird thing for me one thing I do, the only well. Again, I don't want this to be an mlm bashing session. I one thing I do love about mlm the the one thing I'll say. One thing I love about them they love personal development. Their personal growth is such a thing. Yeah, they're into growth. I had in in my college days there was an amway get together that I went to and the personal growth side of it was good I just remember thinking like not so good.

Kevin Palmieri:

So I like I can see that you have like an entire your bedroom is filled with this product. Okay, you're making like 143 bucks a month and you want me to do the same shit better than you do it? Yeah, and then then I have to have these same conversations with people no, no, I'm out. Uh, let me get the deodorant. They had like pretty good protein bars, like let me get the soap. Hell, yeah, I'll, I'm in, I'm in on that. And then eventually I was like what happened to that? He's like, oh, dude, it was terrible, I just stopped doing it. It's like, oh, so that would have been me, that would have been.

Kevin Palmieri:

But I think that's, that's a mental map thing is Again, it's very easy to be deluded into stuff like that, unless you're really well-educated.

Alan Lazaros:

Well, unless yes, it's really hard to hoodwink Kevin. Now I'll use you as an example just because I don't want to use me, but it's very hard for you to sell something to Kevin. That's not real. I said this to my therapist recently. I said I think the relationship I have with someone is completely predicated on how not full of shit they are it's fair, but the downside of that is I tend to say no.

Kevin Palmieri:

First. Somebody asked me recently are you a part of any masterminds? I was like nope, why? I'm like, well, there's, there's a mastermind that I feel like you'd be. It's like how much does it cost? How much is it? How much does it cost a month? How, what's the buy-in? So like, oh, it's like 400 bucks. I was like no, nope, no, we're in a, we're in, um, no, we're in a like kind of a financial phase. We're trying to really focus on saving money and putting it towards things. So you can't say that, though, because people are like, well, yeah, but you got to be around other men, you know like you got to let it, let it, let it unleash it.

Alan Lazaros:

It's like no no, I'm good, appreciate it. I have a mastermind, my business partner. Yeah, I don't.

Kevin Palmieri:

We're supposed to be recording, I don't I don't want to pay 400 to be around people. I pay 400 not to be around people. I don't. I, this is it, and, and my wife and our amazing team and the amazing community. It's like I got everything I need I'm not lonely all the time.

Alan Lazaros:

I know that's the thing. Masterminds are very important if you don't build your life around it. I'm very. I would pay money to cautious on the wall of that, like if I could be on a fly on the wall.

Kevin Palmieri:

Well, this is somebody I care. This is not like a. This wasn't a random person. This was somebody who genuinely cares about my success, so it's it was weighted a little bit differently, but I had I. I mean, come on. Yeah, that happens all the time. It's like no, I'm, I'm, I'm good, no, I'm, thank you.

Alan Lazaros:

We need to make this as clear as possible. I need to. Kevin might not? I actually think masterminds are really important, kevin and I's whole world. First of all, make sure it's the right one with the right people and make sure they're not full of it. Yeah, and, and number two, make sure it's a reasonable price.

Alan Lazaros:

Kevin and i's whole life is built on masterminding and brainstorming. I mean, I have book club, we have meetups, we have group coaching, we have each other, we coach, we. I mean it's, it is, and that's one thing. That's been really hard and I don't want to make this about us, but I kind of do in this moment. Dude, when you go out into the world Emilia and I went to Walmart last weekend you and I's whole world is built around. How do we get better? How do we get better? How do we get smarter? What don't we understand? Yet? What else can we contemplate? What other books, what books are you reading, hey, what books are you reading? Book club, monthly meetups, trainings, coaching, podcasting, constant conversations with people, personal development, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual my whole world is built around that. When I go to Walmart with Emilia and this is from a compassionate place, this is not trying to be toxic. It is very clear, oh oh, you guys are not doing that at all. Well, you just got to look at the stats.

Kevin Palmieri:

Shout out to.

Alan Lazaros:

Brandon on the team. He said something to me recently. He said, brother, if you worked at my company, you'd be running it within a year or two. I was like what do you mean mean? He said you just learn things so fast. And when I'm in walmart I'm thinking about the whole company. I'm thinking about why they price things the way they do, why the checkout stations are where they are, how they've improved their tech the wi-fi is unbelievable what that costs, how much people are stealing versus paying for stuff where where, like walmart, apparently has more stolen from it than other companies make revenue period.

Kevin Palmieri:

I just saw that target is getting rid of their self-service because there's too much theft. I don't know if it's across the board. That's surprising, but I was in my mind thinking walmart considers that an automatic loss.

Alan Lazaros:

It is what it is.

Kevin Palmieri:

I mean they have the but every business has theft.

Alan Lazaros:

A lot of people don't know that, like walmart has. I read this one somewhere. I, I I have, I follow some instagram accounts. One of them is called visual capitalism and they they show these stats. So Walmart was the most. It grossed the most revenue in 2024, 538 billion in a single year, and the amount of people that stole from Walmart that revenue number is more than basically the top thousand companies. Basically, if you're in the top 1,000 biggest companies on the planet, walmart has more stolen from them than your entire revenue. And again, don't quote me on the exact stats of that, because I obviously butchered it.

Alan Lazaros:

But the point is, is a lot of these things back to mental map?

Alan Lazaros:

If you don't know how Walmart works and you don't know how Panera works and you don't know how computers work and you don't know how the internet works and you don't know how computers work and you don't know how the internet works and you don't know how StreamYard works and you don't know how to use a mouse and you don't know how to use a Mac and you don't know how to use an iPhone and you don't know how to use AirPods and you don't know how to do weight training at the gym and you don't know how relationships work and you don't know courage, humility, vulnerability. If you don't know these things, you're in so much trouble. We do in the world, kev, because every episode that we do at next level university might as well be hey, update your fucking mental map so that you can build a bigger, better, brighter future and reach your potential, because if you don't, you're not gonna reach your potential. You don't even know what's possible. Kevin, eight years ago didn't know what was possible.

Kevin Palmieri:

Dude well, that's the perspective. I think that's the big piece of perspective is you? I think oftentimes perspective is just possibility. It's like you go see something you've never seen before. It's like holy, you and I were talking about this. We talked about this in an episode recently. We have a client who has a very big house, like a very big home, an elevator, it's beautiful, it's on 40 acres or whatever. Going there changed my life forever. I've never seen that in real life before and you know what it costs.

Alan Lazaros:

It's not actually that much. That's fair, dude, that was a reasonable. I mean, it's a multi million dollar home, so everything's relative, but it's not as much as I thought. Same, same, I mean, holy shit, right, it depends where you live. Yeah, and the winters are brutal for sure whatever this place is in maine. Well, dude, you can actually afford a place like that one day. And now, you know that because you've been there and also crunched the number. That's the piece.

Kevin Palmieri:

I think, the experience of it. I think there's a difference. There's the experience of it and then there's the intelligence of it. For me, the experience I'm telling you, we talked about this in one of our it was in Next Level Live the reason I drive a BMW is not because I manifested a BMW. It's because I rented one first and I was like, oh, I like this, that was it. And that was because I rented a Mercedes for Taryn's birthday. We went to the drive-in, it was awesome. I was like, well, this is something.

Kevin Palmieri:

I went to go give a speech on podcasting and I said to Alan I need to have a nice car. I don't know how to explain it, just trust me. He's like whatever man, don't fucking lose all the money. I rented a bmw. Now that's in my consciousness and it exists and it's not as far out of reach as I thought. It was okay. Now I have a bmw. If I rented a different car, I would have gotten a different car, most likely. But I think that's. That's the experience, part of it too. For perspective, if you've experienced something for the first time, it might seem possible for you for the first time and that also adjusts your mental map. That's a big piece of it, for me at least.

Alan Lazaros:

I feel like this is the best part about coaching. I know we got to jump here in a second. My favorite part about coaching is how much I get to update my mental map, my understanding of myself. Others in the world updates on every call. I have one person who owns seven properties, about to be eight. I have another person who is about to gross $3 million in their three companies, three different industries. I have another person in California doing this, one person from New Zealand who's been in business for 12 years. I learn how the whole world works by getting behind this. And I'm not talking fluffy on the front facing podcasts. I'm talking in feet on the street, hands in the dirt.

Alan Lazaros:

I do the actual numbers of it butts in the seats feet on the street, butts in the seats, hands in the dirt. That is my favorite part about coaching. Is you just go? Oh, it's way different in australia. I have one in australia, one in new zealand. I coached someone in italy for a long time. I was just on with someone in vietnam earlier. I get to learn everything about all these places so that now I go, oh, okay, so I don't want to live there, I might want to live here. I know already the home prices in New Zealand and maybe one day we want to have a home there. There's ways to up. Here's the thing. It's not a possibility.

Alan Lazaros:

You use the video game analogy and then I'll get off the soapbox. Kev said this. He said it's like being in a video game where the level ends and you just are up against an invisible wall. I feel like every time I get on a coaching call, every time we're done with a podcast, every time I podcast, I podcasted with someone in iceland. Dude, iceland has no people. There's like very few people. Maybe it was greenland. I forget which one. I genuinely forget which one.

Alan Lazaros:

I think it was like 437 000 people in the entire country. What? There's 14 million in Massachusetts alone, where I live. That's one little tiny state. There's only 42 million in all of Canada. Canada's huge, it is massive, and there's 110 million in the little Philippines. So it's very important to understand these stats so that you can make choices.

Alan Lazaros:

And so the very last thing I'll say is if you're a little kid and you're born naked, scared and ignorant, like we all are, you go out in the world and then you realize, oh okay, I'm up against this invisible wall, let me learn. Oh, look at this possibility. Oh, this possibility. Oh, this possibility. There was a time in the past when I said, hey, I want to have a house like that one day, and you thought that was arrogant. Now, knowing me the way you know me and I'm not planning on having it tomorrow Now I can reverse engineer that. I understand real estate, I understand what it's going to cost, I understand the mortgage, I understand the insurance, I understand the taxes. I understand how to reverse engineer the monthly payment and how to make that much money. Now it's obvious to you how I could do that. I'm actually not going to now.

Alan Lazaros:

No because you're not, it won't be there. Oh yeah, I don't think I have a place in Cali, but at the end of the day when you know how to do it. It's no longer magical, it's just something that's now a possibility, and then now you have to grind to get it something that's now a possibility and then now you have to grind to get it.

Kevin Palmieri:

I was on a podcast today with somebody who bought and sold web domains and I was like, is that just like buying and selling real estate? He's like essentially, yeah, pretty much. I mean, there's different, different, there's like 20 different things you can do. It was I was mind blown. I was like that's so cool, that's super cool. If I didn't know how and again, I'm not super versed in real estate, so don't put me in that bucket but if I didn't understand generally how real estate works, I wouldn't understand how that works. I would have no context. One of the worst things you can do is try to give context to a story by telling another story that somebody doesn't understand. That's like speaker speaker one-on-one because you don't understand that their mental map can't see that yet Right? So that's a piece of it.

Alan Lazaros:

I do that all the time.

Kevin Palmieri:

You do that so often, whoa so often.

Alan Lazaros:

But you're working on it. That landed in a new way for me. Look at us go. I got to go to their mental map, got to go to their mental map and fill in the gaps.

Kevin Palmieri:

I'm trying to jump them to my mental map. Whoa, the walmart thing. It's like it doesn't surprise me at all yeah, if you think about it, if, if 60 of the population is, let's say, overweight and 60 of the population is struggling with money, you're gonna see 60 of the population there. Most likely 60 of that population is probably going to be like that. Yeah, 100, right. So I mean, I don't think I'm ever surprised when I go see a large you have a more accurate mental map.

Alan Lazaros:

When it comes to that, I think I'm working on well.

Kevin Palmieri:

I also think I have a more accurate mental map when it comes to how much the work has really helped me. Again, when it comes to fitness, I think I'm above average. I'm not surprised when somebody isn't. It's that it's the contrast between how much I'm growing and maybe somebody else isn't growing. It's not just them or me, it's the contrast between the two. I don't know if that makes sense. It does All right. Next 11 Nation.

Kevin Palmieri:

If you're looking for some perspective, one of the best ways to get perspective, in my opinion, is the journal, because you can see where you were at this point last month. You can say look, I was struggling, I'm doing way better. I was, I was doing way better, and now I'm kind of struggling. Let me kick my ass in gear. We have the next level dreamliner. We'll have it on amazon. It literally takes like five minutes a day. It is on amazon. We'll have it in the show notes. Takes like five minutes a day. It will help you get to the next level. And we do not talk about stuff that we don't believe in and we believe in the dreamliner.

Alan Lazaros:

We do a monthly meetup every single month. Go figure nice. And the next one for june is on drum roll, please. The top five things I've learned from 10,000 hours of coaching, training and podcasting. I have a 10,000 hour tracker of coaching, training and podcasting and I've learned a ton, and that's the point of the episode. We just did the mental map. Let me share the top five things with you that I've learned from 10,000 hours.

Alan Lazaros:

Now, quick announcement Kevin and I used to do these together. Kevin has not been fired. I've not been fired, he's not been fired. We have realized that we are strapped for time and there's only two of us and we have a lot to accomplish. Now that it's Next Level University, podcast Growth University and I just launched Business Growth University. I'm not going to bore you with all the details. Basically, I'm going to be running monthly meetups solo. If you want to learn about success and personal development and achievement and the five things that I learned from 10,000 hours of podcasting, coaching and training, come join me. Kevin will no longer be there because eventually he will have his own for only podcast Podcast growth meetup monthlies.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, yes, soon. The link will be in the show notes to register.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yes, join and I hope you enjoy and I hope it's valuable and if it's not? Please reach out to me and tell me.

Alan Lazaros:

Let me know what's going on in there.

Kevin Palmieri:

Okay, you're safe. It will get you on the inside and you can let me know. No, please, please, attend. That's a lot of hours, you learn a lot about people, you learn a lot about yourself and I'm sure the lessons will be super valuable, so make sure you attend. All right, as always, we love you, we appreciate you, grateful for each and every one of you and NLU. We don't have fans, we have family. We will talk to you all tomorrow. Keep it. Next level.

Alan Lazaros:

Next level nation.

Kevin Palmieri:

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

Alan Lazaros:

Level family. 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 you.

People on this episode

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Alan Lazaros

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Kevin Palmieri

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