Next Level University

Here’s How To Get Better At Anything (2094)

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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Mastery doesn’t shout, it whispers in the quiet, where repetition meets intention and growth begins to bloom. In this episode, Kevin and Alan reveal the four steady rhythms that lifted them from the shadows into global reach. This isn’t a story of overnight success, but of daily devotion. You’ll hear how they move past routine, shape feedback into momentum, and build unshakable confidence through practice. If you’ve been chasing progress without direction, this is your call to slow down, root deep, and rise strong, with purpose, with presence, and with power.

Learn more about:
Next Level Dreamliner is a productivity journal designed to help break down dreams into goals, milestones, and daily habits. Grab your copy 👉  https://a.co/d/9fPpxEt
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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

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

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

Website 💻  http://www.nextleveluniverse.com

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We love connecting with you guys! Reach out on Instagram, Facebook, or via email. We’re here to support you in your personal and professional development journey.

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

Facebook ✍
Alan: https://www.facebook.com/alan.lazaros
Kevin: https://www.facebook.com/kevin.palmieri.90/

Email 💬
Kevin@nextleveluniverse.com
Alan@nextleveluniverse.com

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

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Show notes:
(3:09) Why most people stay stuck
(4:43) The game changer
(8:15) The real problem NLU solves
(11:53) Next Level Dreamliner: The planner, agenda, journal, and habit tracker to rule them all. Get a copy: https://a.co/d/9fPpxEt
(14:56) Crafting the right emotional tone
(17:22) How to know what to improve
(22:05) Avoiding the trap of surface success
(24:02) Outro

Send a text to Kevin and Alan!

Kevin Palmieri:

What if I told you that with four simple steps not necessarily easy, but simple steps you could get better at pretty much anything you wanted to? Am I saying you're going to be the best in the world at it? No, but you definitely will get better with these four simple steps.

Alan Lazaros:

A fixed mindset means that you believe that talent is natural and inborn. Natural and inborn. A growth mindset means you believe you can get anything. You can get better at anything that you want with intentional, deliberate practice.

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 2094. Here's how to get better at anything. I went on a podcast a couple weeks ago and this is something I've been testing to just really get to the next level, like get better, get better, get better. I actually said I think I said something about their. Oh yeah, I was singing in the waiting room, as I usually do, and the person let me in and they said what are you singing? And I said I'm just mumbling to myself. I said I'm not quite a strong singer like you. I know you've done some acapella in the past. Oh nice.

Kevin Palmieri:

He's like how the hell did you know? I did acapella and I said I do research before every single one of these little checks. Listen to an episode. I don't don't, don't you fucking dare research, as if gpt isn't real research. It can't, it can't. Listen for you. I gotta know the flow, I gotta know the energy. I need to know.

Kevin Palmieri:

And he's like is that like your thing? I was like what do you mean? He said do you do that every time? And I said yeah, I've pretty much done that every time for the last thousand episodes. I do that before every episode I go on. Yeah, is it? That's. That's part of my system, and I think I've just gotten way better at that. And then that made me think of the fact that maybe that person is not improving in their craft because they don't have the four steps that we're going to talk about today. They're relatively new, yeah, but the fact that I did more research as a guest than they did as a host is telling that they're probably not practicing this as much as they could be. So I'm going to let you do it, because this isn't my framework. Normally I would just steamroll it and pretend it was mine. I'm trying to be more self-aware, though.

Alan Lazaros:

Nice. What do you mean? It's new. We've been running this thing for like six years, man.

Kevin Palmieri:

No, no, I didn't say it was new you For like six years man.

Alan Lazaros:

No, no, I didn't say it was new you just said it was fairly new.

Kevin Palmieri:

He was fairly new to podcasting, oh got it Okay.

Alan Lazaros:

So the four steps to getting better at anything. This is the mastery formula. That's what I call it Very sexy title Prep, rep, reflect, perfect. Four simple steps to get better at anything. The first one is prep you prepare. So Kevin and I, for the last I think it was 33 minutes before we hit record 37 actually, we talked about a bunch of stuff To build rapport, to get in connection, talk about the episode. What do we want to do? Why do we want to do it? What have we learned? It was the weekend boom, boom, boom. So that's prepare. Then there's rep Do the rep, do the thing.

Alan Lazaros:

Rep is like a fitness metaphor. It's when you're putting in the reps, putting in the reps, putting in the reps. So prep, rep, rep is do the actual thing. Now the key with rep is to try to stay out of the coaching mind while you're on the field. This is hard for me. This is a lot of times why I fuck up on the show, because I'm coaching myself in real time instead of just being present and being in flow. So that the power of now that, that that actually is true for being in the rep. The moment you're done with the rep, you better reflect and you better go into the past, the present and the future and you, you better future orient and redesign. I think the power of now is dangerous because the people who learn about it don't realize only when you're on the court. Here's the idea when you're on the court, metaphorically, stay in the game, stay in the present moment, focus on the craft, focus on what you're doing. When you get off the court, you've got to watch the game and see what you did wrong. You've got to review. We call it an experience review. So prep rep, reflect, reflect is the experience review.

Alan Lazaros:

Kevin and I were I was reluctant to do this episode because I said, brother, I'm doing nine episodes a week now between Next Level University, business Growth University and Conscious Couples Podcast, and it's really really, really hard for me to review nine episodes a week. So back in the early days, kevin used to prepare for an interview or prepare for a solo episode, a dual episode in this case, because there was two of us. Then we would do the rep, then we would listen to it. I remember back when we were once a week, I would listen to every single episode and then I would reflect on okay, where do I suck and where am I good. For me it's in that order. For other people I recommend where are you good and then where do you suck? And wherever you suck, that's where you can go to work.

Alan Lazaros:

So I reviewed a speech that I did at training. I say okay, I say right, I don't say um as much as I used to. I still say like, I still say you know, there's certain things that I'll say in between my words that just need to stop. Just hold space. As speakers it's really hard to do that because it's so fucking uncomfortable. It's very uncomfortable and then perfect. The reason I like prep rep, reflect perfect, is because it rhymes. I kind of don't like the perfect label because there is no perfect. There's the pursuit of perfection, knowing you'll never get there. It's kind of a duality. But perfect means implement Next time, prepare better, do the rep better and then reflect better, and a lot of that is meta skills. Meta skills are skills about obtaining skills. So a skill is effective communication. A meta skill is getting better at learning how to perfect communication.

Kevin Palmieri:

Do you think we're still doing the optimal amount of reps, based on the fact that we cannot reflect on all the reps that we're doing?

Alan Lazaros:

Yes, but only because of what this podcast represents. So we're doing it for the listener, not for us. But the 1% improvement in your pocket every day, from anywhere on the planet, completely free, personal development and success that idea of get a little better each day. I was on with a client recently. I appreciate the question. I said NLU solves a problem. I don't know if we've ever communicated this to the listeners before. Whenever I'm talking to listeners, I look at the camera and we should, which is another reason we suck, to be honest. Okay, we don't communicate to the listener enough. Connect the dots. So here's one that we've never said. I don't think. And if I have correct me, the purpose of one per day is to help the listener get 1% better per day.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, you've said that. I've said that this is the part I haven't said. Oh sorry, my bad.

Alan Lazaros:

I said this to one of my clients. I said NLU solves a problem that you have. Even if you don't know you have it. And she's like what the fuck are you talking about? I said you love personal development. I dare you to go two weeks without personal development without having a full on panic attack. Have you ever fallen out of personal development for so long? And you're like who the hell am I? What am I doing? You fall off track. You just drift off track. It's like being on an inner tube and 10 minutes later you're nowhere near where you were. You fell asleep. I said I dare you to go two weeks without personal development and not have a full-on panic attack. Obviously playful. I said NLU solves a problem.

Alan Lazaros:

Here's the problem that NLU solves for every listener you never, ever, ever have to worry about going anywhere else ever again to get personal development every single day in your pocket, completely free. Kevin and I have taken everything we've ever learned, everything we've ever curated about success and personal development, and we've packaged it for free. Every single day we need to go learn. We need to go listen to books. We need to learn every day. We need to study business. Also, our listeners. It's taken care of. You never have to search on YouTube again. You never have to hope the speech is good Every day.

Alan Lazaros:

Nlu, kevin and I high humility, high work ethic, personal development. Reach your potential. You want to reach your potential. If you're listening this podcast, you never have to worry about any other resource ever again about how to reach your potential. 1% improvement per day and that's a problem that's solved now. The box is checked. Now. Kevin and I don't have that luxury because we can't just learn from ourselves for the rest of our life. Yeah, I wish Every business solves a problem. That's. The problem we solve is the fact that the world is very noisy and no one has to worry about. Do you know how much time I waste trying to get good content?

Kevin Palmieri:

I've heard, uh about the frustrations in time.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah I'd waste a bunch of time trying to get. I mean, have you listened to the podcast? It's so hard to find a good podcast.

Kevin Palmieri:

I just ask you. I people ask me all the time what are your favorite part?

Alan Lazaros:

I don't listen to podcasts see, you just ask me, so I'm solving that problem for you. You asked me what book to read. I'm the one who's reading all these garbage books and having to return them right Well you read faster, so I think it's good. I think it's good you listen faster. I read too. I read.

Kevin Palmieri:

I had a client ask me. She said how do you make sure that you're improving when you're doing so much like when you're going on so many podcasts? And I said, honestly, I do, kind of I have the metacognition aspect where I'm always thinking of what's happening in real time and how well I'm doing.

Alan Lazaros:

What's the first thing you do when you get off, assuming you don't have another meeting in one minute.

Kevin Palmieri:

If it goes really well and I like the person, I usually say, oh shit, that was super cool, that was a super cool person, I'm super glad I got to have that. And then I just think about it for a minute.

Kevin Palmieri:

What went well, what didn't? Did I hang in my story too long, too long? What was their response to it? One of the reasons I like doing so much prep is because there are some people who they're interrupters. So you start your story and they interrupt and you, you. I need to know that, because if I know that, I will pause more and I will let them inject things where other people say just go, I'll, I'll, I'll interrupt you if needed, but they'll let you talk for eight minutes straight and I just. I need to know so.

Alan Lazaros:

So you watch an interview, I'll watch.

Kevin Palmieri:

I usually jump. I don't. I won't watch a whole one, but I'll do like three different interviews or three different episodes from them, just to get a flow of how does the intro go, what is the conversation like? That's usually where I live 10 minutes.

Alan Lazaros:

Here's something that just came up. Sorry to interrupt you. The prep is both micro and macro, so one of the things that I find really cool is that because you've prepped so many episodes so long, so you've podcasted over 3000 times now. What do you know?

Kevin Palmieri:

the number three, I think it's like 3 110 as of today, I think.

Alan Lazaros:

Okay. So that's 3 110 iterations of prep rep reflect perfect and it's not saying that you did a full analysis every time, but you understand. 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.

Alan Lazaros:

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 and the cool thing is that your worst episode now is better than your best episode.

Alan Lazaros:

Five years ago, I listened to episode 402. We had Samantha Skelly on for a breathwork exercise. It was a live podcast and there was like 22 people in the room and I do that breathwork exercise every now and then, and at the end I listened to you and I shut your mouths. Will you? You get? And again it was. It was very, we were very grateful, we were very gracious.

Alan Lazaros:

We just sucked, in my opinion, at what we did and again, suck is a relative term, relative to now we we sucked. Compared to brand new podcasters, we were actually very good, right so. But she was ahead of us back then, for sure, and I and I understand now why it was so hard for us to have credibility back then. Because she knew, unconsciously, that she was ahead of us. She was in her mid-30s or early 30s.

Alan Lazaros:

We were just young and we acted young. I didn't know that we were acting young, but we had like a younger I don't know. It's almost like we hadn't earned our stripes yet. We also didn't hold you, and I didn't hold you better than me, but I didn't hold how well-developed I was. It's almost like I was always there to learn, not to teach, and I think that gave people the impression that I was less learned, when in reality I know far more than Samantha Skelly about everything except for breathwork, and even saying that out loud is scary because people think that's an arrogant, pretentious thing to say.

Alan Lazaros:

But at the end of the day, I do know, and I've coached her too, by the way, so I know this. Actually, I never used to say that I coached Samantha Skelly and no one, even you know. So, at the end of the day, what's my point of all this? You've done 3,110 iterations of podcasting On the macro. You actually don't need quote unquote to prep anymore However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't. And the question is you go from getting 10% better per rep to eventually 9% better per rep, and then 8% better per rep, and now you're, you're looking, you and I are looking at 0.1% little tweaks each time.

Kevin Palmieri:

I've. There's a point where I tell my story where I've noticed that I make somebody laugh before I talk about something super serious and it just doesn't work. It's. It's just a weird transition from like making somebody laugh to then talking about how I had suicidal ideation. It just doesn't work. It makes a really it's.

Alan Lazaros:

It's just weird yeah, people don't know how to feel and yeah, I know you, so I know I can well, yeah, but again, I I also I'm very open and I'm very me.

Kevin Palmieri:

it seems like a lifetime ago and I've worked through so much of the internal stuff not all the internal stuff but if I'm on a podcast that's talking about mental health and there's usually really heavy stories I don't want to make light of a situation that shouldn't be made light of, right? So what do you? What is your biggest strength out of the four and what is your biggest weakness out of the four?

Alan Lazaros:

prep is my weakness for sure. Uh, I would say my biggest strength is the reflect. I am constantly in contemplation of what needs to improve. How do you?

Kevin Palmieri:

know? How do you know what needs to improve, especially in the beginning? If somebody is just doing this for the first time, how do you know what needs to?

Alan Lazaros:

improve. Honestly, this is one of the biggest issues. The feedback you get is not usually good. Whoever said the customer is always right is very ignorant, because customers are consumers and they don't actually understand the behind the scenes. That's like me telling Leonardo DiCaprio how to act. Oh brother, I really don't think you did that scene right. It's like dude, shut your fucking mouth. You've never even been on camera.

Alan Lazaros:

So a lot of people who have the strongest opinions, when you do start a podcast or whatever, make a movie, anything, the customer has a perspective that you need to take in. But you can't take it literally. So if you've never podcasted before, you're going to give me feedback about what you think should be and I have to filter that through. Okay, that's your perspective, but when it comes to the craft, everything looks different from the outside in the inside out. So how do you know what to improve? You kind of don't. You have to constantly do the scientific method of. One of the hardest things in the world for me has been what I believe is a good podcast episode that adds value and helps people reach their potential. Some people don't think it's good. That's been really hard for me. You and I have given speeches where I thought my speech was way more informative, way more valuable it was, but they liked yours Well, no, no, no, but it isn't if they don't receive the value.

Kevin Palmieri:

But if we were just measuring it purely on, if you took it and absorbed it all, yours is more valuable.

Alan Lazaros:

So let me ask you this what are you and we're going to use podcasting as an example here, but we want you thinking about whatever you do for a living. So what is your process for reflect?

Kevin Palmieri:

and and I'll give you mine as well- honestly, a lot of it for me is the feeling like how did I feel doing it? I'm convinced the way I feel dictates the way I do and the way it lands. That's, that's one of the things for me how I feel.

Alan Lazaros:

Like what do you mean? How you feel about it?

Kevin Palmieri:

I how do I feel about the performance? How do I feel about the the way I answered the questions.

Alan Lazaros:

How do I trust your feeling? This is what's called an unconscious competency, so your feelings are attached. How you feel about your performance is connected to unconscious things that you're grading. One of the things you're grading yourself on is how well you make people laugh, whether or not they understand what you're talking about and, I think, whether or not it gets them to improve a little or think differently.

Kevin Palmieri:

I would say, yeah, I think all that it depends If I just when I feel like I'm in flow. You have those times, we all have those times. In whatever it is we do where it's like I feel like I'm on top of the world. I had one of those interviews last week. It was like I don't know where this stuff is coming from, I don't know where these answers are coming from. It's just working, it's flow.

Alan Lazaros:

And I got off that episode and it was like that was a fucking 10. What are you optimizing for? What are you optimizing for in an interview? I'm optimizing for helping someone leave with a deeper understanding.

Kevin Palmieri:

Same thing I want to make complicated things simple. I don't want it to be the episode you get off and it's like, well, that was a bunch of pie in the sky. No, I want to make it fucking so simple that it almost seems like it's not valuable. But if you do it, I guarantee it can really change your life. That I don't want to be like every and I'm not saying everybody does this but I don't want to be like quote, unquote everyone else who comes and they say, well, I have the answer to everything and it's this and it's this, and no, I don't have the answer to everything. I think most answers are way more simple than people make them, and my goal is to figure out how to convey the simplicity.

Alan Lazaros:

That's my goal. So you're optimizing for making it simple and actionable and digestible yeah.

Alan Lazaros:

I don't know if I know anymore what I'm optimizing for. I'm trying to figure that out. I think I know that I'm optimizing to help someone leave here with a deeper understanding. Kevin, ever since the beginning, he's always wanted people to have tactics that they could execute on. I've always wanted you to to leave understanding yourself, others in the world at a deeper level, because I believe if you do understand yourself, others and the world at a deeper level, you can make more effective decisions. And one of my clients said yeah, but you will Like. That's the thing. Other people know what to do and don't do it. That's why the knowledge is power thing is always an argument. Kevin and I have Discord, and to me, knowledge actually is power, because when I have a deeper understanding, I can make better choices. That's what I picked your brain for 37 minutes earlier about what don't I get, and I'll bring everyone behind the scenes. I asked Kevin if other people know that I'm smart.

Alan Lazaros:

Just FYI time, if other people think that I'm smart. And he said no, no one knows how smart you are. And I said how would I help that shine? I have no idea that other people don't know that and again, I don't even care if you know that. I just know that. If you don't think that I can't help you, if you think you know more than I do, I'm not going to be able to pour into you. People listen to people they think are smarter than them. That's just an unconscious thing. People listen to people they think are smarter than them. That's just an unconscious thing. So I have no freaking clue how to showcase intelligence. I don't think I have. No, I know what it I don't. I don't feel like I'm good at showcasing intelligence.

Kevin Palmieri:

It's hard to measure. Well, it's, how do you tell somebody's strong? It's how much weight they lift. If people were standing you next to me, they how would they know? I don't know if they would be able to tell I don't know. Right, there has to be like, seriously, I don't think.

Alan Lazaros:

I look that much stronger than you? No, no, no.

Kevin Palmieri:

Not strength, I mean intelligence yeah no, really no, no, I don't think so. I don't know I could be off on this. No, you're not, you're definitely I'm off on this all it is is how do you know? I think most of us if there, if we don't have awareness of something to the depths of it, we look for external cues on whether or not?

Alan Lazaros:

yeah, what are the external cues of intelligence?

Kevin Palmieri:

I think it's success for a lot of people. I think it's connected. I know some successful morons brother same, but that's because you're more intelligent than they are. They might be morons to you, but they might be super smart to me that is.

Alan Lazaros:

That is really unfortunate. Um, I know we jump here. I know that's not the point of the episode. That's so unfortunate, though Listeners, anyone out there watching or listening do not just go off of external signs of something making it look that way. I mean, that's the only skill some people have. I've coached a lot of people. Some people's only skill is making it look good, period. It's an empty bag of chips. That is so dangerous. That's so dangerous and you're right. You can't tell unless you're also informed, and you might be learning from the wrong people, and that's something hopefully we are solving as well.

Kevin Palmieri:

I think we all have learned from the wrong people at some point in time. For sure, for sure me, absolutely no-transcript, 1% improvement for me. Did Alan know that we had three minutes left? If he did? Cool, I don't have to say it, I'm so used to saying it. Maybe we've evolved past that. Awesome, that's my reflection. That that's my reflection.

Alan Lazaros:

That's why I said three minutes.

Kevin Palmieri:

That's what I figure. Yeah, that's what I figure All right.

Alan Lazaros:

Next level dreamliner real quick. Next level dreamliner. Did you already say that? No, I didn't say that. Okay, he doesn't even listen to me. No, no, I was thinking about other stuff. Sorry, next level dreamliner. This will help you with the prep rep. Reflect perfect, important improvement for a reason. What did you do well? What are you going to do better?

Kevin Palmieri:

And if you are looking for a group of amazing humans, if you're lonely in this growth journey, which is very, very common, we have a private Facebook group, next Level Nation posts every day, listen to the podcast every day, comment on the stuff, be part of the Facebook group every single day as well. Okay, 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.

Alan Lazaros:

Keep it Next Level, 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.

People on this episode

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Alan Lazaros

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Kevin Palmieri

Host