Success Isn’t Really About The AHA Moments (2176)

What if your big “aha” moment isn’t actually the thing that changes everything? In this episode, Kevin and Alan unpack the truth behind success and learning. They explain why the "aha" moments people chase are just small parts of a much bigger picture. The real change happens not in those flashes of insight but in what you do afterward. From starting a business to chasing personal goals, it's not the ideas or intentions that matter most; it's the action, consistency, and willingness to adjust along the way. This episode is packed with encouragement to set real goals, keep working even when it’s not flashy, and to stop waiting for the perfect moment to begin.

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For more information, check out our website and socials using the links below. 👇

Website 💻  http://www.nextleveluniverse.com

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Show notes:
(1:15) Why “aha” moments are overrated
(3:22) Your journey won’t go as planned, and that’s okay
(6:08) Ideas aren’t what make you successful; execution is
(9:00) The power of setting goals you actually intend to pursue
(10:25) Meet your people. Chase your dreams. Level up your life with Next Level Group Coaching. https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/group-coaching/
(13:00) Why luck stories don’t help anyone
(16:39) Real success comes from mission-driven consistency
(17:52) Outro

🎙️ Hosted by Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

Next Level University is a top-ranked daily podcast for dream chasers and self-improvement lovers. With over 2,100 episodes, we help you level up in life, love, health, and wealth one day at a time. Subscribe for real, honest, no-fluff growth every single day.

Transcript

Kevin Palmieri

(0:00) I've said this many times on other podcasts.

 (0:03) I've said it here for every public success you see there are 1,000 private failures and probably also 1,000 successes, but they don't actually seem like successes until later.

Alan Lazaros

(0:16) This episode is going to be about how learning matters, but you learn the most while in motion and while executing against your goals and dreams.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:26) Welcome to Next Level University.

 (0:29) I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri.

 (0:31) And I'm your co-host, Alan Lazarus.

(0:34) At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers.

Alan Lazaros

(0:40) Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life, love, health, and wealth.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:47) 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

(1:03) Self-improvement, in your pocket, every day, from anywhere, completely free.

Kevin Palmieri

(1:09) Welcome to Next Level University.

 (1:15) Next Level Nation, today for episode number 2,176, success isn't really about the aha moments.

 (1:22) That might seem counterintuitive.

(1:24) Alan sent me a clip the other day of, I don't remember if it was the one you sent me of Ray Dalio, I don't remember who it was.

 (1:30) But somewhere, somewhere in the conversation, I, well, I could be making this up completely.

 (1:35) Somewhere in the conversation, I believe he said, you, it was about nobody's success is actually what they thought their success was going to be.

(1:47) Because along the way, doors get opened to you that you didn't know were going to get opened.

 (1:53) But the only reason those doors get opened is because you're already walking towards a door that you think you want to get through.

 (2:01) Aha moments happen, and they're really good indicators that you're on the right path, they're good indicators that you're off the path, there's a lot of things.

(2:09) But if you're only playing for aha moments, you're not going to do the work behind the scenes that will actually create those.

 (2:14) That is my, my thesis, which goes very similar to what we talked about, about trajectory matters more than current position.

 (2:22) It's very, it's a very similar concept.

(2:23) But the aha moments are what gets celebrated.

 (2:27) The aha moments, I know my Cambridge did the thing, are what people are striving for.

 (2:32) And that's what we see on social media.

(2:34) We see the aha moments that eventually lead to success.

 (2:37) But there's so many things that have to go into the aha moments.

 (2:40) That's my thesis in the episode.

Alan Lazaros

(2:42) When Kevin and I first started, you wanted to be a successful podcaster.

 (2:47) The closest thing that I could point to of someone who had a career that I aspired to was Tony Robbins.

 (2:53) The closest thing you could point to was Joe Rogan at the time.

(2:59) And you wanted to be a successful podcaster.

 (3:01) That's the vision, be a successful podcaster.

 (3:05) The way in which you thought that would go versus the way it's going.

(3:09) So you've become a successful podcaster.

 (3:11) That's great.

 (3:11) You've achieved your dream.

(3:12) And that's a dream that gets higher as you climb.

 (3:15) But the approach is completely different than you thought.

 (3:18) You didn't do it the same way Joe Rogan did at all.

(3:21) It's completely different.

Kevin Palmieri

(3:22) Everything's different.

Alan Lazaros

(3:23) Everything's different with me too.

 (3:25) Tony did mostly live events in person.

 (3:27) And then when COVID happened, we went fully virtual and everything's different.

Kevin Palmieri

(3:32) So isn't that all coaching really is, is you're essentially going to someone and saying, I know you think it's going to work this way, but it's not.

 (3:42) Because when I started, I thought it was going to work that way too.

 (3:46) And it didn't.

(3:47) That's literally, that's a big piece.

 (3:50) When I work with podcasters, they're always, and I'm not saying you can't do this.

 (3:53) We have clients that do this, but it's always the same thing.

(3:56) It's like, well, I'm going to grow my show through interviews to the point where I can get sponsors and make $100,000 a month.

 (4:00) And it's like, yeah, no, I know.

 (4:01) Same.

(4:02) Yeah.

 (4:03) Same.

 (4:03) That's what I thought too.

(4:05) And so I realized like that ain't it potentially, that ain't it for, for me.

 (4:09) And that might not be it for you.

 (4:10) I think that's a, that's a big piece.

(4:12) And let me just real quick, one liner blanket statement.

 (4:16) This is my thesis.

 (4:17) I always say my thesis in the episode.

(4:19) It is not about the aha moments.

 (4:21) It's about what you do with aha moments.

 (4:23) That, that is my point for this episode.

(4:26) What do you mean?

 (4:28) It's, it's almost like the suggestion is when you have aha moments, that's what matters.

 (4:34) Well, no, an aha, all an aha moment is, is a revelation of truth or a new input or a new awareness.

(4:41) And then you have to do something with it.

 (4:43) Yeah, of course.

 (4:44) I think for a lot of people, it's almost like, ah, that's an aha moment.

(4:47) I put that in my pocket.

 (4:49) I'm on the right path.

 (4:51) Sure.

(4:51) But you got to, the aha moment dictates what happens next.

 (4:55) It's not a celebration when you get there, it's a new input.

 (4:58) That's it.

(5:02) And I know that's, that's, I know that's probably, you don't think of it that way.

 (5:06) You don't think of it as like, oh, an aha moment means it's happening.

 (5:12) It just means there's a new door that is open that you have an opportunity to walk through.

(5:16) I think that's probably a common, a common thought because that's all we see is the aha moments.

Alan Lazaros

(5:23) So by that rationale, people think that learning is going to get them to their dreams.

Kevin Palmieri

(5:28) I think when you hear somebody say, what's the one thing that made the difference?

 (5:33) It's like, well, I was walking down the street one day and I just had this fucking aha moment.

 (5:38) It's like everybody's dog poops.

(5:43) I could have a company that goes around and picks up their dog poop for them.

 (5:47) Now I'm a gazillionaire.

 (5:49) Like, no, that's great.

(5:50) You had an idea.

 (5:50) That's awesome.

 (5:52) And then you went and then you went and did the first truck and you went and picked up all the dog poop and then you found someone to do it.

(5:59) That.

 (5:59) Oh yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(6:02) So ideas.

 (6:06) I'll share this with everybody.

 (6:08) You can always spot a newbie entrepreneur when they think their idea is what's of value.

(6:16) When they're like, don't tell anyone.

 (6:18) 

Hey, Hey Kev, imagine if I came to you just real quick and be okay with laughing because you're not making fun of people.

 (6:23) This is just the truth.

(6:25) Imagine if I can't Kev brother, I've got this idea and no one else has thought of it.

 (6:30) Immediately your mind goes, that's not true.

 (6:33) Yeah.

(6:33) Of course that's not true.

 (6:37) My very first company I was going to start was way back in 2012 and it was going to be, if you've ever been to rottentomatoes.com, it's a place where you rate films and there's critics and then there's like accredited critics accredited.

 (6:51) I don't know what that means.

(6:52) And then the consumers.

 (6:54) And then there's, there was a website called rate R-A-T-E my professor.com back when I was in college and I had a landlord that was gaffing us in certain ways.

 (7:03) Again, it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't, there wasn't a lot of accountability.

(7:06) It's kind of like, Hey, deal with it.

 (7:09) You need a place to live in.

 (7:10) Yeah.

(7:11) Too bad.

 (7:11) Yeah.

 (7:12) College kids don't have a lot of leverage.

(7:14) I don't have any money.

 (7:16) Spend it all on college.

 (7:18) So booze and booze.

(7:21) So I wanted to create a website called rate.

 (7:27) It was going to be a merger, a marriage between rotten tomatoes and rate my professor.com.

 (7:34) It was going to be rottenlandlords.com.

(7:36) And I pitched this idea to my friends at the time.

 (7:39) We were going to start a website, whole thing.

 (7:41) We ended up doing campus Libre, which is a whole different thing, but it's not like I thought the idea was.

(7:48) Yeah.

 (7:48) The idea is good.

 (7:49) It's a good idea that actually should happen.

(7:51) I'm actually a little bit surprised.

 (7:52) It hasn't happened to be honest.

 (7:53) Maybe it has.

(7:54) I don't know.

 (7:54) Maybe it has.

 (7:55) Yeah.

(7:55) Maybe it has, but rottenlandlords.com is a great fucking idea.

 (8:00) Imagine every college there's 5,200 colleges in the U S alone.

 (8:05) Every single college has landlords that just have sort of a little monopoly.

(8:09) One of my clients, you know, has apartments outside of where I went to school.

 (8:15) And I brother, I'm not talking about you and your wife.

 (8:17) Okay.

(8:18) In this case, you, I know you're an integrious man, but college kids have no accountability.

 (8:24) So you used to be able to rate the professors that were terrible and, or difficult.

 (8:28) And then you could go online and say, okay, watch out for this professor.

(8:32) Don't take this course.

 (8:33) Don't.

 (8:33) So it held people more accountable.

(8:36) Imagine if movies, there was no critics, no one rated movies, no one, you just have nothing to go off of.

 (8:41) Like, you think that was good?

 (8:42) I don't know.

(8:42) I gotta go see it.

 (8:44) You have to like, ask your friends.

 (8:46) So it's a really cool resource, a really cool idea.

(8:48) So point is ideas don't matter almost at all.

 (8:51) All right.

 (8:51) Ready?

(8:54) Imagine hypothetical world.

 (8:57) I want to win an Olympic gold medal.

 (9:00) All right.

(9:01) Setting the goal is the easy part.

 (9:03) I'm going to win an Olympic gold medal.

 (9:05) Took me three seconds.

(9:08) Okay.

 (9:08) Now what the rest is all execution.

 (9:11) Now I have to basically spend the next 15 years doing nothing but trying to get that goal.

(9:18) Setting the goal is the easy part, but most people don't set the goal.

 (9:25) So it's, I talk about goals.

 (9:27) I talk about goal setting.

(9:28) I did a deep research function on chat GPT for a speech I gave on Wednesday.

 (9:31) Only 3% of people have clear written goals.

 (9:32) That is mind blowing.

(9:34) I think many people say them.

Kevin Palmieri

(9:35) They just don't set them.

 (9:36) They're different.

 (9:40) You with me on that?

(9:42) It's, there's a difference between saying and intending.

 (9:45) Those are two different things.

 (9:47) Two different things.

Alan Lazaros

(9:48) So you would say stuff with no intention of actually taking action on it?

 (9:51) Oftentimes.

 (9:52) Yeah.

(9:54) Okay.

 (9:55) Real quick.

 (9:56) Okay.

(9:57) Why?

 (9:57) Like, why would you do that?

 (10:00) I don't think I've ever done that in my entire life.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:02) Honestly, that's the only, that's the only way I knew how to do it.

 (10:06) It's just the, it was the only people that's like saying it like helps or something.

 (10:11) I just think that's because you start when you're young, you say shit.

(10:17) You mean you just, I've never done this before.

 (10:20) I swear to God where I said I was going to drive around in a Winnebago as a professional baseball player.

 (10:26) I just kind of thought it was going to happen.

(10:29) Next level nation.

 (10:30) What is happening?

 (10:32) If you've thought to yourself, I want to try coaching, but you don't really know where to start.

(10:37) Group coaching would be a wonderful place for you.

 (10:39) That's really why we created it in the first place.

 (10:41) We start a new round every 90 days.

(10:44) So if you're hearing this, go to the website, next level universe.com.

 (10:48) And we have the landing page where you can actually hold your spot right now.

 (10:52) Even if there's a group going on right now, you can still lock your spot for the next one.

(10:57) 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.

 (11:05) And then they end up regretting that.

 (11:07) So please head over to the website.

(11:09) The link will be in the show notes and we would love to see you there.

Alan Lazaros

(11:14) I'm sure you thought it was going to happen.

 (11:16) There was nothing beyond that.

 (11:17) What's next layer?

Kevin Palmieri

(11:19) I thought I was good and my friends were good and like we were going to go.

 (11:23) And after high school, we'd go to college or whatever.

 (11:25) And then we play in college and eventually we'd get to the major leagues.

(11:29) That was it.

 (11:30) Did you ever take action on that?

 (11:32) I mean, I practiced baseball, not as much as I should have.

(11:34) I didn't go to college, which is a huge concern, obviously, you know, I'm not going to get drafted right out of high school.

 (11:40) No, but I, nobody ever told me how to do it.

 (11:45) I never had the opportunity to go up to someone successful and say, how did you actually do it though?

(11:49) And tell me like the truth, not, I remember we had a family friend who somehow had money.

 (12:00) I remember he had a really nice Corvette and he wasn't like, he was not, if I don't can't imagine you're listening.

 (12:07) If you are listening, I don't mean this with any negativity.

(12:09) I'm definitely smarter than this person is for sure.

 (12:12) For sure.

 (12:14) I love you if you're out there and I don't know how this person made their money, if I sat down and said like, how did you make your money?

(12:20) Like give me a step-by-step process.

 (12:21) I don't think they would have given me a very good one that would have been useful.

Alan Lazaros

(12:25) And the reason why is because they are ashamed of the way they made the money.

 (12:28) They don't know that they don't have some, yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(12:30) Or they don't know.

 (12:30) Or they don't know.

 (12:31) It's just like, you know, I got into real estate pretty early and then I had 15 units before it really became a big thing.

(12:38) And then it happened to be in a good spot.

 (12:40) And now, yeah, now I have 15 properties that like, oh, so you didn't do that on purpose.

 (12:46) No, I just kind of, it just kind of happened.

(12:48) Just kind of worked that way.

 (12:50) It's like, oh, okay.

 (12:52) So I think that's a piece of it.

Alan Lazaros

(12:54) This is a story that I think will be very relevant.

 (12:57) So what is one, we looked this up before.

 (13:00) What is one Bitcoin worth?

(13:04) In 2007, in our dorm room, we were mining for Bitcoin.

 (13:08) It's worth $108,000.

 (13:12) I did stumble upon that.

(13:13) I wasn't the one mining for Bitcoin.

 (13:15) It was Ramsey.

 (13:17) And if I had gotten a few Bitcoin and then just hung on to it, let's say I had a hundred Bitcoin, 108 times, 108,000 times 100.

(13:29) Yeah, I'd have $10.8 million.

 (13:32) Imagine if I had $10.8 million and I was like, yeah, man, in 2007, me and my roommates, we like mined for this thing.

 (13:39) It was, it was like Bitcoin.

(13:42) I can't even, dude, between you and me, that's like winning the lottery.

 (13:47) There's nothing useful for other people in that.

 (13:50) That's what I'm saying.

(13:51) There's nothing useful.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:53) That makes for a really good teaser clip and a really good episode title.

 (13:59) How Alan made $10.7 million by accident.

 (14:04) There's the episode.

(14:05) No one should listen to that.

 (14:07) But everybody wants to, because they want to make $10.7 million by accident too.

 (14:11) But you can't do it by accident by definition.

Alan Lazaros

(14:14) By definition, there's nothing of value in that episode by definition.

Kevin Palmieri

(14:18) I understand, but it's, I'm telling you, it's not about value.

 (14:20) It's about perceived value.

 (14:21) That's where things get wonky.

Alan Lazaros

(14:26) I can't do it.

 (14:27) Nothing.

 (14:28) Okay.

(14:32) Execution, iteration, improvement, consistency.

 (14:37) There is no way around the work that I think that's really what it comes down to.

 (14:41) I didn't work for the Bitcoin thing.

(14:43) That was just, I happen to be right place, right time.

 (14:45) 2007 is when Bitcoin was invented.

 (14:47) I happen to be around geniuses who were on TV.

Kevin Palmieri

(14:50) But you also had done a lot of work leading up to that.

 (14:53) So we'll allow you to be around those people.

 (14:54) So that's a good point.

(14:55) That's a great point.

 (14:56) So that's a piece of it, but that's not fucking why.

Alan Lazaros

(14:59) So, okay.

 (15:00) Okay.

 (15:02) It is interesting though.

(15:04) Okay.

 (15:04) Straight A's in high school.

 (15:06) I did all that.

Kevin Palmieri

(15:06) I didn't know anybody that was mining for Bitcoin.

 (15:09) That's a good point.

 (15:10) And you wouldn't.

(15:11) And that's, we were making, we were making weed smoking devices out of tin cans in the woods.

 (15:17) That's what I was doing.

Alan Lazaros

(15:19) Well, I guess I did get lucky then, huh?

 (15:21) That is a weird duality though.

 (15:23) Because I didn't intend on anything Bitcoin ever.

(15:29) I was never like, that was never part of the plan.

 (15:36) Okay.

 (15:36) Here's, here's my next level lesson.

(15:39) You set a goal that you actually intend on working toward.

 (15:44) I find it fascinating that I even have to say that, to be honest, like you can't set a goal and not intend on working toward it.

 (15:49) What's the point of setting the goal then?

(15:51) But whatever.

 (15:51) Okay.

 (15:51) I don't want to.

(15:53) So you set a goal that you intend on actually working toward and then opportunities are attracted to the, to the path.

 (16:03) I said this to you recently, NLU and the mission, NLU, it's not about you.

 (16:09) It's not about me.

(16:11) NLU is about the mission of bringing personal development and success principles to the masses in our own unique way, helping people reach their full potential.

 (16:19) Everything, your AMG GTR is going to be a by-product of that mission.

 (16:23) There it is right there.

(16:24) There's the one he's going to, honey, I unshrunk the kids and blow it up and drive it away.

 (16:30) But seriously, when you get that car, it will have nothing to do with the goal of getting the car.

 (16:34) As a matter of fact, the goal of getting the car would have held you back from getting the car.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:39) But that's when I do the post in however many years it's going to be.

 (16:43) I have to make sure that I say it's not about the car where it doesn't, it doesn't work as well.

 (16:50) That's I'm telling you, everybody's looking for a micro moment instead of a macro impact.

(16:55) That's it.

 (16:56) Because if I say, I'll never forget, I had this car on my desk for the last 10 years, and now I drove the same exact thing off the lot.

 (17:05) And I've been thinking about that every day.

(17:06) If I don't have somewhere in there, my main focus was to grow my company as much as humanly possible and impact as many people as humanly.

 (17:13) If I leave that out, it doesn't matter.

 (17:16) Well, why would people leave that out?

(17:17) Because that's not really, that wasn't really their goal.

 (17:24) That's so unfortunate.

 (17:25) Well, for our listeners, we're just going to tell you the truth.

(17:27) We are.

 (17:27) The truth is we have to jump.

 (17:29) Yeah.

(17:30) The truth is we have to jump right now.

 (17:31) Let's do it.

 (17:32) Are you ready?

(17:32) It's good.

 (17:33) It's a good, good episode, man.

 (17:34) It is a good episode.

(17:36) All right.

 (17:36) All right.

 (17:36) We're going to hop.

(17:37) We're going to see you.

 (17:38) I was going to say, we're going to see you in a minute.

 (17:40) We're recording another episode right after this.

Alan Lazaros

(17:41) Meet up.

 (17:42) Link in the show notes.

 (17:42) Register.

(17:43) It's going to help you set your life up for success, real success in real life.

Kevin Palmieri

(17:47) Boom.

 (17:48) All right.

 (17:48) That's Thursday.

(17:49) That's this coming Thursday.

 (17:50) Next Level Nation, we'll have the link in the show notes for that as well.

 (17:53) As always, we love you, appreciate you, grateful for each and every one of you.

(17:55) And if you are as committed as you say you are to getting to the next level, make sure you tune in tomorrow because we will be here literally every single day to help you get there.

 (18:02) Keep reaching for your full potential.

 (18:04) Next Level Nation.

(18:06) Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level University.

 (18:10) We love connecting with the Next Level family.

Alan Lazaros

(18:13) We mean it when we say family.

 (18:15) If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly.

 (18:18) Everything you need to get ahold of us is in the show notes.

(18:22) Thank you again.

Kevin Palmieri

(18:23) And we will talk to you tomorrow.