What Beliefs Have Helped Us The Most? (2180)

Beliefs build your future, make sure they're the right ones. In this episode, Kevin and Alan share the mindsets that helped them grow and the ones that nearly held them back. From embracing mistakes to the power of small daily improvements, they reveal which philosophies drive long-term results and which create roadblocks. Listen now and discover the beliefs that can move you closer to your goals.

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Show notes:
(2:18) Philosophy Vs. Statistics for success
(3:16) Why mistakes fuel growth
(6:02) The myth of “who you know”
(8:57) If you want to start, grow, scale, or monetize your podcast? Join our "The Next Level Podcast Accelerator" - https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/group-coaching/
(10:20) The power of the compound effect
(13:41) The danger of the “arriving” mindset
(15:24) Daily habits that create results
(16:01) 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.

Chapters

• 2:18 Philosophy Vs. Statistics for success
• 3:16 Why mistakes fuel growth
• 6:02 The myth of “who you know”
• 8:57 If you want to start, grow, scale, or monetize your podcast? Join our "The Next Level Podcast Accelerator"
• 10:20 The power of the compound effect
• 13:41 The danger of the “arriving” mindset
• 15:24 Daily habits that create results
• 16:01 Outro

Transcript

Kevin Palmieri

(0:00) What if the biggest thing holding you back from getting to where you want is the main belief dictating what you do and what you don't do?

Alan Lazaros

(0:10) Kevin and I are going to talk today about what beliefs, what philosophies, what mindsets we think were most beneficial to helping us accomplish our dreams.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:18) Welcome to Next Level University. (0:21) I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri. (0:23) And I'm your co-host, Alan Lazarus.(0:26) At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers.

Alan Lazaros

(0:33) Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life, love, health, and wealth.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:39) 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

(0:55) Self-improvement in your pocket every day, from anywhere, completely free. (1:01) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Palmieri

(1:07) Next Level Nation today for episode number 2180. (1:11) Alan gave it away, even though he's not supposed to give it away, but he did give it away. (1:14) What beliefs have helped us the most?(1:16) So we were trying to decide on an episode and I said, I have a great idea. (1:20) And Alan did this little smirk smile he does. (1:22) And he said, love it.(1:25) And what if we did an episode on this? (1:27) So we're going to do this because I think at the end of the day, a philosophy, a paradigm, a belief, I mean, that is really dictating what you do, what you don't do. (1:36) And what you believe today is really creating your reality five years from today.(1:41) It just doesn't freaking feel like it.

Alan Lazaros

(1:44) When I asked you way back, if you could choose one high school course for your metaphorical child to take to set them up for a successful life, you said philosophy.

Kevin Palmieri

(1:54) I think philosophy creates humility because you realize how small you are in the grand scheme of everything. (2:01) I think it's a great answer.

Alan Lazaros

(2:02) You would do statistics.

Kevin Palmieri

(2:04) Statistics.

Alan Lazaros

(2:05) Yeah. (2:06) I think statistics helps you understand where you fit in the world at any current moment. (2:12) And then it helps you understand the world.(2:14) And philosophy helps you understand yourself and the world as well. (2:18) Okay. (2:18) So philosophy is what we're going to talk about, which is my first question for you is eight years in business, didn't intend on being a business owner.(2:29) You were the gas station attendant, afraid to become the townie, all of that stuff. (2:34) And now you have grown a multi-international conglomerate. (2:39) I was thinking about that the other day, global business.(2:42) Yeah. (2:42) It's weird. (2:43) Cool, man.(2:44) Yeah. (2:44) Very cool. (2:45) So in hindsight, what philosophy was the best, the most useful for success and what philosophy was the most detrimental in hindsight?

Kevin Palmieri

(2:56) The most useful for success. (3:01) It's very much on what we've been talking recently right now. (3:05) It's not about looking good right now.(3:09) If you're focused on looking good right now, you are most likely creating a detrimental view in the future. (3:16) You just don't see it. (3:18) That, that so many of the mistakes I made were because I didn't want to get rejected, or I didn't want to face failure, or I didn't want to make a mistake, or I didn't want to make an error.(3:28) And rebuilding that and understanding that every single day, I'm going to make a mistake and it'll get me a little bit closer. (3:37) It's just a new level of awareness. (3:40) I think we said this on the episode yesterday, chat.(3:43) Oh no, we said this on group coaching. (3:44) Chat GPT is really good. (3:45) You can learn a lot.(3:47) You can learn a lot, but you can't experience. (3:50) Yeah. (3:51) That's the one thing chat GPT, it cannot give you experience.(3:54) It can give you lessons and it can say, this is what you should do this, but it gives you layer one. (3:58) Well, what the fuck do I do if that doesn't work? (4:00) Don't know.

Alan Lazaros

(4:01) Don't know. (4:02) Don't know. (4:03) So it gives you knowledge and awareness.(4:04) It can't give you execution. (4:06) Yeah. (4:07) And experience.(4:07) Experience makes up for something. (4:10) It does because when you experience something, you have a more emotional, it brings in emotions, which then you retain it more. (4:19) The metaphor here is think of a really tough day you had when you were a kid.(4:24) You most likely remember that day or a really good day when emotions are high, you tend to retain more. (4:32) So experiential learning is what it's called. (4:34) That's also social learning.(4:36) A lot of people learn better in groups.

Kevin Palmieri

(4:38) I feel like that is not the case for me. (4:40) I shut down. (4:41) I learned better by myself.

Alan Lazaros

(4:44) When you're not afraid to look bad.

Kevin Palmieri

(4:45) Well, I'm not afraid to look bad. (4:46) I'm really, I'm really good at looking bad by myself. (4:49) I've gotten better at looking bad in front of other people.(4:51) It's just taking time. (4:53) And that's a fact, right? (4:55) When I used to test out new workouts and new exercises, if there's an empty gym, I'll go, I don't care.(5:00) I'm not worried about it at all.

Alan Lazaros

(5:01) In hindsight, you were really good at hanging on to the perception you had. (5:06) Yeah. (5:07) Still am.(5:07) You're funny. (5:08) Look at you smiling. (5:09) Still am.

Kevin Palmieri

(5:09) Still am.

Alan Lazaros

(5:10) Still am.

Kevin Palmieri

(5:10) Still am.

Alan Lazaros

(5:11) I am really good at not looking worse than I am. (5:14) That was always it for me. (5:15) That was the fear.(5:16) Just looking worse.

Kevin Palmieri

(5:18) Looking worse. (5:18) So to me, that belief had to shift. (5:22) Because that, so you're not going to- Working with me was the worst idea.

Alan Lazaros

(5:26) It was the worst idea ever.

Kevin Palmieri

(5:27) It was the worst. (5:28) But it forced me to, you think I ever would have bombed a speech by myself?

Alan Lazaros

(5:33) No.

Kevin Palmieri

(5:33) Like I would have, but not to that degree because I never would have done the fucking speech. (5:38) So it doesn't matter how I would have done. (5:41) So that's the belief that has been the most useful and beneficial.(5:45) The one that was the, this fucking, here we go. (5:49) Who, not how. (5:51) Fuck that.(5:51) I can't stand that. (5:53) Oh, it's not about what you know, it's about who you know. (5:56) That is not true.(5:58) That is 50% of the equation.

Alan Lazaros

(6:02) If that. (6:02) Who you know.

Kevin Palmieri

(6:03) Hey, if that, man. (6:04) Yeah, if that.

Alan Lazaros

(6:04) You know what's actually one-sixth?

Kevin Palmieri

(6:06) Who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Alan Lazaros

(6:07) Perfect.

Kevin Palmieri

(6:08) I love that. (6:08) Yeah. (6:09) Who is one-sixth?(6:10) What happens when the, who I know gives me an opportunity and I don't know what to do. (6:16) You fall on your face and nobody ever talks about that. (6:19) So I think that is one of the beliefs that I had in the beginning that this person, this guest, this client, this, this is going to be the thing.(6:28) No, none of those really. (6:30) They, they all are building blocks and some of those are bigger building blocks than the other one. (6:34) But none of those are the thing that like, that's the finish line.(6:37) And now I run through the, the tape and it's over. (6:40) That is a belief that was.

Alan Lazaros

(6:41) Now I'm a realist. (6:42) Detrimental. (6:42) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(6:43) It's wildly detrimental.

Alan Lazaros

(6:46) So I had asked you what your philosophy that, so you, did you actually adopt that for a time? (6:51) I've had some times during this growth journey where I'd be reading a book and I'd be into it. (6:59) And then I realize I'm losing.(7:02) I'd realize, oh, this is fucking me up. (7:04) This is bad. (7:05) Who not how is one of them for sure.(7:07) That was one of the books where it was like, I think I'm getting worse. (7:09) Am I getting worse? (7:10) Oh my God.(7:10) I think I have to put this book down. (7:12) Another one is 10 X is easier than two X. (7:14) You have to be careful with that book, that book.(7:17) It, it convinces you, well, there's less people at the top, so there's less competition. (7:22) That's the dumbest shit I've ever heard. (7:25) Everyone's trying to get to the top.(7:27) There's not less competition. (7:28) That's so just raise your prices. (7:30) And now you're, it, you gotta be very careful with that shit.(7:35) You really do. (7:36) Some people, here's what I think happens. (7:39) People go through life.(7:40) Some people just through math with 8 billion of us get really lucky and they have unconscious competencies that they don't know. (7:47) Meaning they're good at something that they don't know they're running. (7:49) It's a pattern, unconscious pattern.(7:51) They get a lot of success. (7:52) And then they try to sell a book on how they think they got success. (7:57) And they leave out the most important parts of the equation.

Kevin Palmieri

(8:00) So I, a friend of mine had a mentor in real estate who didn't know almost anything. (8:06) He was just in at the right place at the right time.

Alan Lazaros

(8:08) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(8:09) I know exactly who you're talking about. (8:10) I know. (8:10) I know that begins with a J right.

Alan Lazaros

(8:14) Uh, I don't even know. (8:15) First name. (8:16) My friend of the person I'm talking about.(8:18) No, no. (8:19) The person. (8:20) Yeah.(8:20) The person.

Kevin Palmieri

(8:20) Not, not the, I don't even fucking know the guy's name.

Alan Lazaros

(8:22) Oh, okay.

Kevin Palmieri

(8:23) But I, I know he's real estate Jeff. (8:25) I know he's, he's Jeff and that, that has been an interesting thing for me. (8:30) A lot of people just got in at the right time in their thing.(8:35) I think we got into podcasting at the right time. (8:38) It's different. (8:38) It's different now than it was in 2017, 2018.(8:41) Sure. (8:42) It's drastically different. (8:43) We got in at the right time and we focused on learning what worked and what didn't and all that happy jazz.(8:47) But okay. (8:48) What are you, what is the most beneficial? (8:50) They are hammering outside your window right now.(8:53) Most beneficial belief, most detrimental belief. (8:58) Next level nation. (8:59) What is happening?(9:00) If you've thought to yourself, I want to try coaching, but you don't really know where to start. (9:06) Group coaching would be a wonderful place for you. (9:08) That's really why we created it in the first place.(9:10) We start a new round every 90 days. (9:13) So if you're hearing this, go to the website, nextleveluniverse.com. (9:17) And we have the landing page where you can actually hold your spot right now.(9:21) Even if there's a group going on right now, you can still lock your spot for the next one. (9:26) 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. (9:34) And then they end up regretting that.(9:36) So please head over to the website. (9:37) The link will be in the show notes, and we would love to see you there.

Alan Lazaros

(9:42) Most beneficial is the one that I, if you listened to yesterday's episode, I was, I was intense. (9:49) That is how much I want to help people. (9:50) I can't stand watching people not be successful when they totally could be.(9:55) Not only are they not successful, but then they're unhappy about not being successful. (9:59) And then people are telling them the wrong way to be successful. (10:01) It's, it's a whole thing.(10:02) So underneath that is a deep caring, but anyway, so the most positive, the most positive philosophy I've ever adopted and ever will adopt, I think, Ooh, that's going to be tough. (10:20) Cause there's two that came up. (10:21) One is the compound effect, which is the 0.1% improvement. (10:25) My camera's doing its thing. (10:27) 0.1% improvement every day for 50 years, you become 84 million times better. (10:32) So if you put a dollar on a financial calculator and you grow it by 0.1% per day, which means you just get a little bit better each day, one 10th of 1%, one 10th of a penny percent, you essentially become 84 million times stronger, smarter, more aware, more capable, potentially wealthier, depending on what industry you're in. (10:56) Now you and I on the last episode did you're 36 years old. (11:00) So I did 36 years times 365 days. (11:03) And I put it in a financial calculator and it came to 505,000.(11:07) I just reviewed the episode earlier, $505,000, $1 became $505,000. (11:12) Assuming in this metaphor, Kevin got 0.1% better per day. (11:15) And I said, what do you think it is?(11:17) If it's half the days, let's say you took half the days off and you said, I don't know, like 10 grand, something like that. (11:22) I think you said 17, 17, I think it ended up being $711, less than $17,000 versus $505,000. (11:33) So because we're going to go in a second, I just want to run, run this number real quick numbers, 505,000 divided by 711.(11:40) So the person who stays consistent has 710 times more results, 710 times the result. (11:50) That's the difference between a reasonably successful YouTuber who just kind of started a YouTube channel for a couple of years and kind of did it spotty versus a really successful one. (12:00) So that's the most important philosophy is the compound effect, the law of compounding.(12:04) It is mind blowing.

Kevin Palmieri

(12:06) It is my book.

Alan Lazaros

(12:07) It's very important. (12:08) So a penny that doubles every day for 31 days becomes $10.4 million. (12:13) And on the halfway through, it's like, I don't know, 10 bucks or something.(12:17) I'd have to run the numbers. (12:19) Okay. (12:19) So that's number one, the most detrimental.(12:22) Oh no.

Kevin Palmieri

(12:27) Well, I'm excited for this.

Alan Lazaros

(12:31) Unless it's something I said, then I'm not excited for this. (12:33) All right. (12:33) I'm going to give you the most detrimental, but I'm a little bit scared too, because publicly people don't like this.(12:38) Okay. (12:40) This idea that you can arrive. (12:44) There was a time during my spiritual growth where I realized I'm going to fucking lose because I am very centered.(12:54) I am in the power of now, and I am very fulfilled and very content and, and wildly complacent to be completely honest.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:02) Remember Alan said, he's like, dude, I went for a run today and I saw these deer, and I just knew I could talk to them. (13:07) It's like, dude, you need to get in the fucking office.

Alan Lazaros

(13:09) Hey, I didn't say that shit. (13:11) Real quick. (13:12) I did at one point, I kid you not.(13:14) All right. (13:14) At one point I was in a spiritual phase. (13:17) It's a phase.(13:18) Okay. (13:18) And I wanted to see if I could stay centered enough to where the deer, I'm not fucking with you, to where the deer, the deer would not run away. (13:28) And they didn't, they hung out with me.(13:30) Okay. (13:30) I was fit as fuck too, by the way. (13:32) That was back in my fitness, following fitness competitions.(13:35) So I wasn't doing nothing, but I will say that the truth is the hard reality. (13:41) There is no arriving. (13:43) That is people that say all you have is the now.(13:48) That's not true. (13:49) You have the past, you have the present, and you have the future and all of them matter. (13:53) And the most successful people in the world, statistically speaking, are future oriented, period.(14:00) I have never met a successful person who doesn't have a future orientation. (14:04) The definition of an investor is you invest today for a brighter tomorrow, meaning you care more about tomorrow than today. (14:10) It's the dumbest advice ever, dude.(14:13) I understand what people are trying to say. (14:15) Stay in the present. (14:16) I'm in the present moment right now.(14:18) But what I am doing in the present moment is for what? (14:21) Future. (14:22) The future.(14:23) And if it wasn't, my future is going to get worse. (14:27) Imagine Michael Phelps. (14:28) It's mostly just, I just try to stay centered and present in the moment.(14:33) No, since he might forget, he might forget and say that eventually he might, he probably has already.

Kevin Palmieri

(14:40) I feel like a lot of people do because they regret it. (14:42) So I think a lot of people get to the point where they like, look back and it's like, yeah, cause we got always in the future. (14:48) I know I have an idea for a future episode.(14:50) I like that. (14:51) What does it actually take to get 0.1% better? (14:54) Like what does, give me like, I want tactical things.(14:58) Love it. (14:59) You want to do an episode? (14:59) We'll do that tomorrow and we'll tie that into what we talked about today.(15:02) So it's going to be a part one and a half instead of a part two. (15:05) We're getting better. (15:06) We're moving in the right direction.(15:08) I like the part twos. (15:10) I think they're great. (15:11) I do too, but I fucking like to, I like to go deep and I feel like I don't get a time to go deep enough.(15:17) All right. (15:17) That's true. (15:18) Next Salvation.(15:18) I dreamline today so I can actually talk eloquently about the dreamliner. (15:22) I literally dreamline today. (15:23) I'm back on my bullshit.(15:24) As they say, you'll have the link in the show notes for this a little bit every day. (15:28) Again, it's not going to take you 25 minutes. (15:31) It's going to take you five minutes to do it.(15:32) You can stack five minutes a day and I guarantee you will see a difference. (15:35) So links in the show notes.

Alan Lazaros

(15:38) This week, Saturday, 1230 PM Eastern standard time, Annie Duke's book, Thinking in We have 10 people did the poll. (15:46) We have 55 members of book club. (15:50) Most of the people in book club have never even heard of this book.(15:53) This is a life changing book. (15:55) I promise you it will help you make better decisions. (15:57) I promise it's free joint.(15:59) Great book. (16:00) Great book.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:00) All right. (16:01) As always, we love you. (16:02) We appreciate you grateful for each and every one of you.(16:04) 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 every single day to help you get there. (16:11) Keep reaching for your full potential.

Alan Lazaros

(16:13) Next elimination.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:16) Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level University. (16:20) We love connecting with the next level family.

Alan Lazaros

(16:23) We mean it when we say family. (16:25) If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly. (16:28) Everything you need to get ahold of us is in the show notes.(16:31) Thank you again. (16:32) And we will talk to you tomorrow.