Next Level University

If It’s Not Sustainable You Literally Can’t Succeed… (2082)

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

Share episode

What you want lives past what you avoid. In today’s episode, Kevin and Alan get real about what happens when your ambition outruns your energy. They talk burnout, broken streaks, and why sustainable progress beats short-term intensity. Whether you're building a business, a habit, or a healthier life, this conversation will help you recognize when it's time to slow down before you burn out completely. It’s not about doing more. It’s about staying in the game.

Learn more about:
Big goals don’t happen by accident. Next Level Dreamliner helps you plan, track, and follow through. Grab your copy 👉  https://a.co/d/9fPpxEt

Free 30-minute Business Breakthrough Session with Alan -
https://calendly.com/alanlazaros/30-minute-free-breakthrough-session?month=2025-04
Free 30-Minute Podcast Breakthrough Session with Kevin -
https://calendly.com/kevinpalmieri/free-30-minute-podcast-breakthrough-session-with-kevin

_____________________

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

_______________________

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/

_______________________

Show notes:
(2:01) Burnout, boundaries, and balance
(3:51) The power of long-term habits
(6:56) Knowing when to hold the line
(10:21) Why we never quit the podcast
(11:22) Next Level Dreamliner: The planner, agenda, journal, and habit tracker to rule them all. Get a copy: https://a.co/d/9fPpxEt
(15:13) Everything you want is hard
(20:43) Slow down or stop completely?
(22:12) Outro

Send a text to Kevin and Alan!

Kevin Palmieri:

Alan and I had a very heated discussion and Alan said dude, I can't go backwards. If I go backwards, it makes me feel really, really bad and I honestly don't know how to do it. And I said maybe that works for you, but I think for the vast majority of people, if it's not sustainable, you literally can't be successful, because if it's not sustainable, you end up leaving the game.

Alan Lazaros:

I said to Kev this is next level university, not previous level university. No, but we did. We had a rumble and I realized that sometimes you have to take one step back temporarily to move three steps forward.

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 Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life love health and wealth. We bring you a new episode every single day, on topics like confidence, self-belief, self-worth, self-awareness, relationships, boundaries, consistency, habits and defining your own unique version of success.

Alan Lazaros:

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

Kevin Palmieri:

Welcome to Next Level University, next Level University, next Level Nation today for episode number 2082. If it's not sustainable, you literally can't succeed. We had somebody message us in the group coaching chat, whatsapp chat, and they mentioned how they, for the first time, were like burnt out of podcasting. I said I just I haven't really been in it, I haven't really been feeling it, and I realized that I'm burnt out and I'm going from two episodes a week to one episode a week. And so there's two thoughts Okay, and again, we're going to keep it, keep it a hundred percent. Here we're going to be as real as possible.

Kevin Palmieri:

One thought is you're going to lose a ton of momentum and that's a huge mistake. That's Alan's thought. My thought is, if the alternative to you going from two episodes a week to one episode a week is quitting, you're doing exactly what you need to do, because you cannot win if you're not in the game anymore. Now here's the important piece to add Okay, if you had a bad day, it doesn't mean you should change everything that you're doing. So I'm not saying quit when it gets hard, I'm not saying that. But if the alternative to what you're doing is not doing it at all, we have to find some sort of middle ground. That is my thesis for today's episode.

Alan Lazaros:

Recently, emily and I I we had a streak going of mobility before bed. We had probably a month and a half or something and I we were on a walk. I said I can't, I fucking hate it, I can't do it, I don't want to do it anymore, I can't do it and I derailed us. And now we're three days without any mobility, three days sober yeah, three days mobility list and it's my fault and I'm ashamed. No, the I said I'm trying to hold too many lines. I'm trying to do too. I have too many streaks going. I gotta, I gotta centralize. I know we talked about that a few days ago and, as much as it pisses me off, I do understand that sometimes you have to take a step back to go forward. And Kev called me out earlier. He said well, with your exercise streak, the minimum was 30 minutes when you first started March of 2022, emilia and I. I came to her and I said I want to beat my old best. She said what do you mean? I said I, the longest I've ever exercised in a row is three and a half months Back in college. I'll never forget it and I want to beat that. I want to go for four months. She said I'll do it with you. I said, fuck, yeah, let's do it.

Alan Lazaros:

We passed the four months mark. I said we did it. She said awesome, let's keep on going. Passed the year, never forget it. Drive into the garage after a workout. I said we did it. She said we did what I said. We just passed a year. It's a year of exercise without missing a single day, whoa. And I said now what she said let's do this for the rest of our life. And I playfully joke and say I had a mini panic attack and honestly, I did have a moment and I said this to her. I said, emilia, I'm not. If you say we're going to do that, do you understand what that means? She's like Alan, yes, let's do it, I've always wanted to do it. I was like fuck, because that's forever, you know.

Kevin Palmieri:

Forever is a long time.

Alan Lazaros:

Forever is a long time. It's a long time. So that was 1,184 days ago and we went from 30 minutes of exercise to 40, to 35, then to 40. And then we had to jump back to 30, back to the minimum of 30. So I've exercised a minimum of 30 minutes every day for 1,184 days. Now we're at 45. We've been doing 45 minutes all of 2025.

Alan Lazaros:

And that actually seems I don't want to say, easy, but it seems totally doable. What I will share with everyone and I shared this at Next Level Live I said it as some people struggle to exercise even two or three days, so I don't want this to come off wrong. It hasn't actually been that hard. However, what I do want to make clear is it has been really hard to do that and everything else. So exercising every day I actually don't think is that hard. Exercising every day and sustaining a household and three businesses between the two of us and having pets, and being CEO, and tracking metrics, and getting to bed on time, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and. So this is next level level university, and sometimes you have to go to the previous level, like I did, because you called me out. You basically said you went back to 30 minutes. Motherfucker, I did I said that was no, I did.

Alan Lazaros:

Those are the exact words I said and I was like, yeah, that's true. We didn't have to go back to 30 minutes for a few months to get momentum back it sucks, it's.

Kevin Palmieri:

It's the same conversation of it. There's a big difference between it being optimal and it being realistic. Optimal is usually not well, it's not always realistic. Optimally, you'd choose 45 and that would be perfect and it would be a challenge, but you'd crush it and then, boom, you'd never have to go back. I don't, I just don't think that's realistic for most people. And if the reason you started it Is no longer being served. So in this case we're talking about podcasting. But this could be anything. This could literally be anything. Oh yeah, my, my partner and I we go out to, we go out on a date night every single Wednesday, awesome, until you're trying to save money and you don't want to go spend $75 on dinner and you, you have to find out something else to do, and maybe it's stay home or whatever. You're going backwards, backwards, it seems.

Alan Lazaros:

But how do?

Alan Lazaros:

you know, when to hold the line, though, and that's that's the question. That's the conversation that I think all of us have to have with ourselves, because, at the end of the day, no one gives a shit about my streak. I do, and no one's gonna know if you got to bet on time, or or you did your mobility or you exercised every like. I will know, and what's the point of this? Anyway, I always say this what's the one thing that you can solve today that will solve a thousand future problems? Exercise is one of them. You, you, everyone out there could make the decision to exercise every day, even if it's just walking, and that would solve a thousand future health problems. There's so many studies on this. Daily exercise is just important. Consistent exercise is important Check the box Done, but there's only so many of those you can do, right. Well, what about your journaling streak? What about your gratitude streak? What about consistent podcasting? What about making sure you're on your meetings, coaching, whatever it is? So, at the end of the day, I think we all have to find sort of this sweet spot between what streaks really matter to us, which ones are essential to us, because all of us and this is the thing about life that's so frustrating.

Alan Lazaros:

I was on with a client earlier. I said health, wealth and love. You want to be healthy, wealthy and in love. Who the fuck doesn't want to be healthy, wealthy and in love? That is the dream being healthy, wealthy and in love. And the only thing better than that is being healthier, wealthier and more in love.

Alan Lazaros:

That is what I think the whole world wants. But, my goodness, those are three full-time jobs and you only get 168 hours a week and if you sleep well, you do at least 56 of them gone seven times eight, so it's very. And then 40 at work if you have a full-time job minimum, so they go quick and if you want a high quality of life. So if you want to enjoy your life, don't try to be top 1% of 1% of 1% of 1% in health, wealth and love. But you could be top 1% in health, wealth and love If you play the long game and if you listen to Next Level University and if you work on yourself. But every now and then you're going to have to take a step back in certain things in order to double down on others.

Kevin Palmieri:

As much as it sucks. But I think it's conversation of what's your relationship with it. I don't know, I don't think I have that much of a negative relationship with like going backwards to go forward, because I also realize where I'm going backwards from is further than I've ever been. So I don't feel like I have a pretty good relationship with it All things considered.

Alan Lazaros:

You remember you read a book. It talked about holding yeah, Holding in your consciousness the conflict. This is the conversation I want to have with you. I want to ask you this You've met people who let themselves off the hook too easy. It's okay, so I haven't drank in six years. What if I just suddenly was like you know what, Fuck it, I'm just going to go off the rails this weekend. That's not the type of man I am. It's not the type of man I want to be either. I will be honest as scary as this is to share, I think most people let themselves off the hook too easy. That's it. And there's so many people who haven't achieved their goals and dreams, and one of I said this to a person recently.

Alan Lazaros:

I was coaching one-on-one. I said 90% of Kevin and I's success comes down to the fact that we just never stopped. We just never, ever, ever stopped the podcast, no matter how bad it was, no matter how late it was, no matter how much my fucking throat hurt, we just never stopped. It's two things. It's one we never stopped, aka sustainability. And number two we improved almost every time. We tried to improve every time. That I can say authentically. We've tried to improve every single time.

Alan Lazaros:

I thought last night's episode was fucking garbage between you and me. I went to bed upset with myself. It's like Alan, you've got to get it together, man Now. Is it not valuable at all? No, but it's not a 10 out of 10. And so, at the end of the day, frustration comes as a byproduct of standards not being hit, and standards are a byproduct of the size of your goals, and so what I want to ask you is how do you know when to hold the line and what to hold the line on, and then when to let it run? Hello, hello, hello. Nlu listener, Thank you, as always, for listening to Next Level University. Real quick. I just want to jump in and let you know about the Next Level Dreamliner. This is a journal that I use every single day. Achieve your dreams 90 days at a time. It breaks down your dreams into goals, milestones and daily habits. We hope you enjoy it. The link will be in the show notes.

Kevin Palmieri:

Usually it's the thing If I don't want to do it, I should probably do it, and if I want to do it but I know it's not sustainable, I have to show restraint and think smarter. It's it's usually the opposite I. The reason this person got burnt out is because they didn't want to slow down. That, to me, is a suggestion that they probably need to slow down. There's days where I don that they probably need to slow down. There's days where I don't want to go to the gym. Those are the days I need to really really push, and there's other days where I want to go and lift super heavy. I should probably just do cardio. Today was one of those days. I am fucking exhausted. I'm going through it. I'm overwhelmed. I'm stressed out. I was sitting on the floor playing with fudge at 640 this morning Like I do not want to fucking. For the new listeners, that's his cat. Yes, I was rolling a candy bar across the floor hoping it would inspire me. Yeah, Fudge is my cat. I used to have a cup holder in here.

Alan Lazaros:

I'm on the floor playing with f here. I might as well have been.

Kevin Palmieri:

That's what it felt like, but I didn't. I wanted to go and then I was like, well, I, honestly, it's probably not going to be good for me to go. And then I was like, honestly, I don't want to fucking go. All right, let me find a middle ground and go and just do cardio. There's other days where I don't want to go at all and it's just like get in the car and start driving and by the time you get there you'll be fine. Like that's the hardest part. The hardest part just fucking leaving, just leave. I think that's the conversation. Sometimes the thing you want to do is not sustainable. If we we talk about new year's resolutions all the time, that's the reason most people don't accomplish them. It's not a fucking sustainable goal. You're not gonna go from not exercising to exercising six times a week. Like that's not gonna work for most people. It just isn't. It isn't sustainable. Yeah, you get hot out of the gate and then you're two weeks in and it's like this kind of fucking sucks the first two weeks are dope first.

Alan Lazaros:

First week is always dope.

Kevin Palmieri:

But that's of everything. And then eventually it's oh, what have I gotten myself into? Yeah, yeah, that's of everything, everything. The first two weeks of a relationship, the first two weeks of a job, the first two weeks when you get something new, and then eventually you either forget about it completely or you really. Then you start to see the downsides.

Alan Lazaros:

That's when the that's when you prove, that's when you earn it. That's where earning it is. Again, I'm going to start another mobility streak and I actually already have an idea. Emilia and I were on a walk this morning and I was talking to her about how I messed up our streak my bad, I'm working on it and she said, well, why don't we stack it on something we love? I said there's a couple of things I can't fucking stand. All right. One of them is mobility. For some reason, I hate it. Tracking calories I hate it. I fucking hate it. There's a few things I just hate, and another one is I struggle with social media. I do. I have a hard time with it. At the end of the day, these are necessities. You want to be healthy, wealthy and in love. I need to do mobility, I need to track calories and I need to do social media. We have an online company. So, on one hand, alan, get over it.

Alan Lazaros:

I call it a want, love, hate framework. I want more clients. I love one-on-one coaching. I hate social media. Okay, well, guess what you have to do. I want a great body. I love weight training. I hate dieting. Well, guess what I have to do.

Alan Lazaros:

Every person I've ever coached has a want-love-hate framework. Everything you fucking want is on the other side of something you hate. That is a fucking scientific fact. I've never seen someone where that's not the case. I want to be wealthy Okay Well, but I hate working late Okay Sorry. So I know the stuff. It's just you can only do so many things. You can't stand every day and you have to pick wisely.

Alan Lazaros:

And so, rather than the whole thing being about going to the previous level, figure out what level you want to play at in each area, and then what is the want, love, hate framework? And I know listeners, listen. I could look at a thousand things I'm doing well. I don't want to just beat myself up here. I'm doing better than I've ever done in many areas. I am happy, healthy, wealthy and in love. To be honest, statistically speaking, quite frankly, I don't care that much about that, because I care about the next level, and I was talking to one of my clients earlier about that too. I said it is, it's awesome. I'm so grateful. Seriously, I am grateful, but it doesn't change the fact that I want to squat heavy and I can't do it if I don't get on the fucking yoga mat. So I know this is a unique, intense thing with me.

Alan Lazaros:

Having really, really, really high standards is really, really, really important to me, but I do know that I have to figure out for me. It's these three Fitness, personal development and business. I need to be level 10 in those three things, but each one of those requires several sub facets. Like fitness alone you have to sleep really well, you have to hydrate really well, you have to train hard, you have to eat fucking perfectly. You have to if you want to be in really good shape. You don't have to eat perfectly if you're not. And then mobility, breathwork, supplementation you have to take your supplements right.

Alan Lazaros:

So there's a thousand things all of us are doing really well, and this is the unfortunate truth for everyone out there who wants to reach their goals and dreams. The science of achievement doesn't care. The science of achievement doesn't care that I don't like mobility. So here's what I'm going to do I'm going to stack it on learning, because I love learning. So we have this awesome projector. I'm going to put on a speech or some TED Talks, something I'm excited to learn and I'm going to get my ass on that yoga mat and I'm going to piggyback it on spending time with Emilia and I think that's going to be a good streak. And once we have a streak going, I'll hold the line and I'll help her.

Kevin Palmieri:

I'll have her help me hold the line as well well and I think that's the last thing we'll we'll touch on before we go is the standards dictate how you feel about it. So if you don't have any standards in fitness right now, you're not going to have any problem going back, which is potentially dangerous, because maybe for you, going back is not doing it at all. That's a whole nother conversation, right? If somebody came to me and said, yeah, I want to take like six months off of podcasting, no, no, no, you can't do that. Yeah, terrible, that's, you're going all the way back. Also, if they came to me and said I want to do an episode every day for six months, no, I wouldn't do that shit either.

Kevin Palmieri:

When I there's, we're jumping at the, the polarities here, why don't we? We can either take one step back or one step forward. We don't have to take 10 steps forward. We don't have to take 10 steps back. I think either of those is very, very dangerous unless you no longer want to do the thing or unless you're willing to dedicate your life to the thing. Those are, and then everything in between there, I think, is just the old sliding scale.

Alan Lazaros:

Well, last thing I'll share here is this past week I've been. I want to be someone who can share the truth. There's a lot of podcasters who I know behind the scenes are a mess and they don't talk about how much they struggle. And there are some people that I used to listen to in the podcast space. I used to watch speeches and all this stuff and they would say things like just get it together. Just what do you mean? Just go to the gym, just get it together. You got this and it's like you're out of fucking shape, like you obviously don't have it together. If you were so on point, why are you so out of shape? And I just frustration and challenge and trying to figure out what's sustainable and what's not. I just for our listeners. I really do aspire to be this man, this person.

Alan Lazaros:

I am doing better than I have ever done in every area of my life that matters to me. There's a couple things that I just can't seem to hit my standards on. I asked Emilia one time on a walk. I said zero to 10, how close are you to your own standards? She said three and I said I know we're so far below our standards, but she is the most peak performing human I've ever met and I think that there's something to that. I have a client who I always say when the gyms closed during COVID, she was the most upset about it. She was also in the best shape and every single other call we did it was us basically freaking out about the gyms being closed. There's something to that. So if you're struggling to hit your standard right now, don't give up the standard. Don't give up your goals and dreams. But if you have to temporarily take a step back so that you don't quit altogether, that I can get behind Cool.

Kevin Palmieri:

We're in agreement on that. Sometimes, yeah, is it optimal? No, no, it's not optimal. It's not optimal to take a step back, necessarily, but it's also not optimal to stop completely, right. So if that's that's my, that's my next level lesson, and then we'll, we'll kick on out of here. If the alternative to slowing down is stopping completely, then I would. I think slowing down is a good option. That's that's what I would say.

Kevin Palmieri:

But if you can hold the line. If you can hold the line, hold the line. If your emotions are trying to jeff you out of it, like then you gotta, you gotta shit. Talk yourself or, uh, motivate yourself to do the right thing because, again to alan's point, nobody else is going to do it for you. Nobody cares. Nobody really cares about your goals, is nobody, I could say this with confidence. Nobody cares about your goals, is nobody? I could say this with confidence. Nobody cares about your goals as much as you do.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, that I am certain of Now, if you are looking for somebody who cares, probably in a weird insane way, more about your goals than you do, reach out to Alan for one-on-one coaching, because he does. He's up at night. I get a message at. I think I saw calendar stuff getting switched around at 3am. I was like oh oh.

Alan Lazaros:

Alan was up last night burning the midnight oil.

Kevin Palmieri:

So we'll have the link in the show notes for a free 30-minute business breakthrough session. And if you're looking for sustainable journaling, we're talking five freaking minutes a day, nothing crazy. Next Level Dreamliner. We'll have the link in the show notes. You can get it on Amazon. Ship it right to your house. Bada bing, bada boom. As always. We love you, we appreciate you, Grateful for each and every one of you. Nlu, we don't have fans, we have family. We will talk to you all tomorrow.

Alan Lazaros:

Keep it Next Level, next Level.

Kevin Palmieri:

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, we say family. If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly. Everything you need to get a hold of us is in the show notes.

Kevin Palmieri:

Thank you again and we will talk to you tomorrow.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Alan Lazaros

Host
Head Shot

Kevin Palmieri

Host