2 Traits That Will 100% Help You Be More Successful (2187)

In today’s episode of Next Level University, hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros reveal what truly separates those who grow from those who stay stuck, with insights from coaching, business, and even Bill Belichick’s winning formula. If you’ve ever wondered why hard work alone isn’t enough or why some people with all the skills still fall short, this conversation will change the way you think about achievement. Tune in and discover the traits that can unlock your next level.

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Show notes:
(2:16) The two traits that predict growth
(4:40) Bill Belichick’s quadrant explained
(7:18) Why being coachable matters most
(10:25) Real coaching stories and lessons
(13:25) Humility, work ethic, and progress
(15:25) Self-assessment and raising your standards
(16:32) 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

• 2:16 The two traits that predict growth
• 4:40 Bill Belichick’s quadrant explained
• 7:18 Why being coachable matters most
• 10:25 Real coaching stories and lessons
• 13:25 Humility, work ethic, and progress
• 15:25 Self-assessment and raising your standards
• 16:32 Outro

Transcript

Kevin Palmieri

(0:00) I used to think the people that were going to succeed were the people that were the most confident, the most competent, and the most dialed in. (0:07) And while those are obviously super important for success, my tune has changed over the years.

Alan Lazaros

(0:13) I've got a bunch of new books lately. (0:15) I'm reading The Art of Winning by Bill Belichick, and he talks about a quadrant that he uses for people he believes in, and I have my own unique flavor.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:27) Welcome to Next Level University. (0:30) I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri. (0:32) And I'm your co-host, Alan Lazarus.(0:35) At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers.

Alan Lazaros

(0:41) Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life, love, health, and wealth.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:48) 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

(1:04) Self-improvement, in your pocket, every day, from anywhere, completely free. (1:10) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Palmieri

(1:16) Next Level Nation today for episode number 2,187. (1:20) Very honestly, I haven't even named the episode yet. (1:23) So, Alan came to me today.(1:25) You really have it together, sir. (1:27) I do have it together. (1:27) It's mayhem in the best way.(1:30) It's mayhem in the best way right now. (1:31) Alan came to me and said, hey, I'm reading a book, and there's this quadrant, x-axis, y-axis, if you know, you know. (1:39) We got some comments going on in one of our WhatsApp groups about the x and y-axis.(1:43) Shout out to the pod pack. (1:44) Shout out to the pod pack. (1:47) And...(1:47) Carla. (1:48) Shout out to Carla. (1:48) Was it in there or was it in the Next Level Accountability Group?(1:52) Oh. (1:52) I'm not sure which one it was in. (1:53) I know Carla's in group coaching, so that's what...(1:56) I don't know. (1:56) Yeah, yeah, yeah. (1:57) I think it was...(1:57) it might have been the fitness group. (1:58) I don't know. (1:59) But we're going to talk about the x and y-axis, but whatever.(2:02) Alan said, there's two traits that I have realized that are the people that work the best with me, and I think the people that are statistically going to be the most successful. (2:13) You wanted to talk about it. (2:14) I'm going to give you the floor.(2:15) The floor is yours. (2:15) All right.

Alan Lazaros

(2:16) So, the two traits right out of the gate are coachability and work ethic. (2:27) I believe that every human being should... (2:31) should...(2:33) should... (2:37) I believe that... (2:39) I'm in a good mood.(2:39) Every human being should find they're absolutely people and they're absolutely not people. (2:43) We did group coaching yesterday, and it was a business connection session, which is one of the in-between sessions if you're a podcaster, reach out because our group 20 is starting in October. (2:53) But on the session, it was a brainstorm of all things business fundamentals.(2:59) And I talked about you're absolutely people and you're absolutely not people. (3:03) So, my... (3:04) I'll speak for me specifically.(3:06) My absolutely people are people with high humility, that are coachable, that have high work ethic. (3:12) What I have come to understand is that if you have low work ethic, we will not get along. (3:24) I think that everybody would do well to understand the people they do and don't naturally get along with.(3:34) So, I had a person in the past I'm thinking of, I'll keep it anonymous, who I think is lazy as fuck, straight up, super lazy. (3:42) And we didn't get along very well. (3:44) And I now realize why she always wanted to hang out and she never wanted to work.(3:50) And I remember thinking like, don't you want a career? (3:55) Like, isn't there goals that you need to fucking... (3:59) Like, don't you...(4:00) Life is more than just hanging out. (4:02) Again, to me, right? (4:04) This is what life means to me.(4:06) So, the point of this is Kevin and I had a conversation behind the scenes. (4:10) This book, The Art of Winning, talks about a quadrant. (4:15) Bill Belichick is a NFL football coach, second most wins in NFL history of any coach.(4:24) And in this book, despite the fact that I'm not necessarily a huge fan of Bill, the book is fire. (4:31) And it's very hard for me to separate those two, but it is what it is. (4:37) He talks about a quadrant that he learned at a coaching clinic way back.(4:40) These coaching clinics sound fucking awesome to me, honestly. (4:45) And he learned about a quadrant and the y-axis was attitude, having a positive attitude, and the x-axis was productivity. (4:55) And he said, I've had players that have a positive attitude, but they're not very productive.(5:00) And those are a no. (5:02) But I've also had players that are super productive and very talented, but they have a bad attitude. (5:05) So, fuck that.(5:06) He didn't say that in the book, but he said like, they're off the bus. (5:12) And if you have a good attitude and you're super productive, that is a powerful combo. (5:16) So I said, you know what?(5:17) I was on my remarkable and I was taking notes and I was thinking, okay, who are my people? (5:22) Who are my people? (5:24) My people have high inward humility.(5:27) They know they don't know. (5:30) They don't have inflated self-worth. (5:31) They are super coachable.(5:33) They want to learn. (5:35) They know that what they know is limited and what they don't know is limitless. (5:39) And they have work ethic.(5:40) You fall into that category because I wonder to myself, how in the hell do you and I work so well together after eight years? (5:46) I mean, I have really been hard on you at times. (5:50) And usually when I'm hard on people, because when you're a leader, you basically have to be the pain in the ass of the standards.(5:57) If you have higher awareness, you'll have higher goals. (6:00) If you have higher goals and a bigger vision, you have to have higher standards. (6:03) You have to push progress forward.(6:06) You have to. (6:07) And a lot of people love coast mode. (6:10) They love coast mode.(6:12) Complacency, coasting, hanging out, enjoying the holidays. (6:15) Like, listen, fuck that. (6:16) That ain't me.(6:17) I'm going to always push. (6:19) Always. (6:20) 24-7, 365.(6:21) We got to push. (6:21) We got to grow. (6:22) We got to next level.(6:25) And I'm not resting on any fucking level. (6:27) That ain't me. (6:30) So people don't like you.(6:32) And it's understandable. (6:33) Most people don't like you. (6:35) If you don't have goals, you don't have humility.(6:37) You're not coachable and you don't have work ethic. (6:39) You will not like Alan Lazarus. (6:40) That is fine.(6:41) It's totally fine. (6:42) I finally feel fine with that. (6:43) It took me years for that.(6:44) Decades, really. (6:46) But I do believe that if you are coachable and you have high work ethic, and you have a good leader in your corner who wants to see you win, and who challenges you, it's called positive challenge. (6:56) They believe in you, so they challenge you.(6:59) If I didn't believe in you, Kev, I wouldn't challenge you. (7:02) There'd be no point. (7:03) If I didn't believe in what you're capable of, I wouldn't waste my fucking breath.(7:08) So someone who believes in you, so the right leader, coachability, and work ethic is a fucking powerful combination and conversation.

Kevin Palmieri

(7:18) Nice. (7:18) Well, well, well framed. (7:20) See what I did there?(7:22) I think it's a, it's a really good perspective because at the end of the day, you're not going to be able to accomplish it by yourself. (7:29) And essentially, in order to achieve a level of success that you have not gotten to yet, you're going to have to have all of your beliefs challenged, re-challenged, and re-challenged forever. (7:40) Forever, forever, forever, forever.(7:42) If the only way for you to be successful is to be right, you are fucked. (7:47) A hundred percent. (7:48) You are in so much trouble.

Alan Lazaros

(7:50) Yeah, go into that.

Kevin Palmieri

(7:50) You're in so much. (7:52) What are the odds you actually know exactly how to succeed already? (7:55) If you, if you knew how to succeed already, you'd be more successful than you are and, or we just have to factor in time, but that's not how it, it works for most people.(8:04) We had someone in group coaching one time. (8:07) I love it. (8:08) And we were talking about habit tracking.(8:10) I love it. (8:11) That was the thing, right? (8:12) This was, this was before it was the Next Level Podcast Accelerator, starting October 7th.(8:15) If you're interested, discount code NLULISTENER, 30% off. (8:19) We want you. (8:20) Let's do it.(8:20) Let's get to the next fucking level. (8:22) If you have high humility and work ethic and you're coachable. (8:25) If not, you're not for us.(8:26) We were in, this was when it was holistic personal development coaching. (8:31) And we were talking about habits and tracking habits. (8:34) And somebody said, well, honestly, I feel like I should be leading this.(8:39) I feel like I should be leading this group coaching. (8:41) It's like, Kev was like, you better put some respect on it. (8:43) You better put some respect on it.(8:44) I said, listen. (8:45) Put some respect on my name, Kev said. (8:47) When you start getting higher than like 50, 60% tracking your habits, you can.(8:53) You can lead a group coaching. (8:55) Until then though, you got to get your shit together. (8:58) What do you mean?(8:59) You're not going to lead this. (9:00) You can't lead me. (9:01) You haven't gone to the places I've gone.(9:03) How can you lead me? (9:04) That's not fair. (9:05) That's not fair.(9:06) Tell him. (9:06) This person wasn't very coachable.

Alan Lazaros

(9:09) That wasn't, that wasn't humility. (9:11) Between you and me, Kevin doesn't like to do this. (9:14) I don't like it.(9:14) But I'm going to challenge him. (9:15) He doesn't like to do this. (9:17) If you had to bet on her being very successful.(9:19) No, no, no, no, no. (9:21) Okay. (9:21) Okay.(9:21) Okay. (9:22) Same. (9:23) Not going to happen.(9:24) Why?

Kevin Palmieri

(9:27) Because I have actually worked with this person behind the scenes. (9:30) Every time I challenged their thinking, they gave me reasons why their thinking was more correct than mine. (9:39) And look, if you're asking me about parenting or you're asking me about planting or you're asking me about carpentry, don't ask me.(9:46) Don't ask me. (9:47) I don't know. (9:48) If you're asking me about podcasting, if you're asking me about speaking, if you're asking me about coaching, I've done more than that person has.(9:54) I at that point had done more than they will ever do for sure. (9:59) I'm ahead. (10:00) That's why you hired me.(10:03) You hired me to tell you the truth. (10:05) Do I know everything? (10:06) Absolutely not.(10:07) But if every time I say, I feel like we should try it this way. (10:11) You say, here's a list of five reasons we shouldn't. (10:14) Where are you getting these reasons from?(10:16) I don't understand. (10:17) Can you give us one? (10:19) No, I'm, this was years ago.(10:20) This was, this was years and years and years ago when I worked one-on-one with this person. (10:25) And again, I have love for this person. (10:26) I enjoyed working with them.(10:27) They weren't like negative towards me, but that was a really good highlight in group coaching of the type of. (10:35) The type of character, not, I don't mean in that way, but this, this person was somebody who thought they should be way more successful. (10:44) They thought they worked really, really hard.(10:46) They had excuses for why they weren't successful. (10:48) And when you tried to highlight areas of improvement, they immediately got defensive. (10:54) And those are not traits of somebody who's going to end up being successful.

Alan Lazaros

(10:58) AKA she was not coachable and she did not have high work ethic. (11:03) No, not high enough for the goals. (11:06) No.(11:06) One of the things that I've found really interesting, the people who think they have high work ethic usually don't. (11:12) That person I talked about anonymously earlier. (11:14) I think she thinks she's hardworking.(11:16) I think it's, it depends on where you start from.

Kevin Palmieri

(11:21) Uh, because I think I have high work ethic.

Alan Lazaros

(11:28) Okay. (11:29) Yes. (11:30) And I do too.(11:31) That's why it's, but that's a high self-awareness thing. (11:34) It's like when you talked about, well, you're not really allowed to say you're humble.

Kevin Palmieri

(11:38) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(11:40) So it's one of those paradoxes of a paradox. (11:42) And that's why I think we come off so fucking inaccurate sometimes. (11:47) Well, what about you, Ellen?(11:48) Cause you think you have high work ethic. (11:49) I actually don't, I don't think I am lazy as shit, but I think that's good.

Kevin Palmieri

(11:54) I, but I think I have high work ethic. (11:57) But compared to who?

Alan Lazaros

(11:59) I think you are lazy as it gets sometimes compared to you. (12:04) Well, fuck man. (12:05) What are we doing here?(12:06) Well, I think it depends on where you're comparing matters. (12:09) Yes, of course. (12:09) And I do think statistically you have high work ethic.(12:11) I do. (12:11) You are coachable and have high work ethic. (12:13) That's true statistically.(12:15) But there's something here where you have to own that you're lazy in order to get better. (12:20) Like if you don't, okay. (12:21) You have to admit the first step to progress is admitting where you suck.(12:25) I agree. (12:28) So the first step to progress is admitting the truth.

Kevin Palmieri

(12:30) Okay. (12:31) I'm a little lazy. (12:32) Can't I have high work ethic?(12:33) Just not as high as it needs to be.

Alan Lazaros

(12:37) That's how I think statistically.

Kevin Palmieri

(12:39) Yeah, yeah. (12:39) I think that's the truth is the delta.

Alan Lazaros

(12:41) Which one are you leading with? (12:43) What do you mean? (12:45) Shouldn't you say, I don't, my work ethic's not as high as it needs to be?(12:48) No, I don't think so. (12:51) Because then people think that you think. (12:55) When I say I'm lazy, no one actually thinks that.(12:58) I don't know. (12:59) I don't know. (12:59) I don't.(13:00) Yep. (13:00) I'm lazy compared to what I need to be.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:02) But if you don't say that, I don't know if people know. (13:05) And when people say it, I say I am extremely dialed in, extremely consistent. (13:10) I work my face off and I do not deserve to be any more successful than I am because I haven't worked hard enough to get there yet.(13:17) You say it's the syntax that's different with you and me.

Alan Lazaros

(13:20) I think it is with everything, right? (13:22) Yeah, of course. (13:23) That's so micro to macro, macro to micro.(13:25) Okay, because we have a minute and 34. (13:27) I'm gonna have to do a part two for sure. (13:29) Humility, work ethic, coachability.(13:31) They are all the same. (13:33) I can give you a system of success. (13:35) I can give you the roadmap.(13:37) I can reverse engineer the goals and dreams. (13:39) I can help you understand the time perspective and the approach and the strategy. (13:42) But if you don't work, there's nothing I can do for you.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:45) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(13:45) There's nothing I can do. (13:48) There's nothing anybody can do for you. (13:49) There's nothing anybody can do for you.(13:51) Really? (13:51) Imagine if you went to your coach, the fitness coach that you had, and you were like, okay, I want to win a fitness competition. (13:58) And he's like, okay, I think you could probably do it.(14:00) But I don't really want to work though. (14:02) He would be like, take a fucking hike. (14:09) That's everyone, if nothing else comes of this episode, self-assess.(14:13) I love this book. (14:15) He's talking about how they're always self-assessing. (14:17) The Patriots were one of the most successful franchises in NFL history.(14:20) These are the people that are the best in the world at what they do. (14:24) I love that. (14:25) It didn't fall out of the sky.(14:28) They are always self-assessing, going, where am I lazy? (14:32) Where am I undisciplined? (14:33) Where am I unfocused?(14:34) Where am I not focused enough? (14:35) Where can I do better? (14:37) Progress comes from saying.(14:39) He used an example of Tom Brady. (14:43) And he said that every time we won, Tom Brady didn't think we won by enough margin. (14:47) He said we should have scored at least 14 more points.(14:50) And even when you win, you've got to look at where you sucked. (14:54) That's really important for growth and for success.

Kevin Palmieri

(14:57) But to your point, syntax matters. (14:59) Do you look at where you sucked first or where you were good first? (15:01) I think it depends on the person.

Alan Lazaros

(15:02) It does depend on the person. (15:04) So you look at where you were good first and then where to improve. (15:06) I look at where I suck first and then where I was good.(15:09) That's your part two.

Kevin Palmieri

(15:09) Yeah, for sure. (15:10) That's your part two. (15:11) I like it.(15:11) You dig it? (15:12) All right. (15:13) Cool.(15:13) All right. (15:14) Next Elimination, if you're a podcaster who is trying to get to the next level and you want to actually know how to do it, not fake stuff, none of the stuff that you see as ads on social media, Next Level Podcast Accelerator starts on October 7th with the discount code NLULISTENER. (15:30) It ends up being $24 per call.(15:33) There's 12 calls. (15:34) I cannot imagine a more valuable program for a more affordable price. (15:38) We'll have the link in the show notes.(15:39) Would love to have you if, to the point we talked about today, you're our type of people and we're your type of people. (15:45) That's obviously important.

Alan Lazaros

(15:46) So you are telling me that you can't give me a top 10 show in three months? (15:52) No. (15:53) Unless you have like a million followers and I can for sure.

Kevin Palmieri

(15:56) For that reason, I'm going to have to be out then. (15:57) Well, fuck off.

Alan Lazaros

(16:00) You know, somebody more aligned. (16:02) I'm sure somebody more aligned will fit in, you know? (16:03) You know it.(16:05) It's not real. (16:06) For anyone in book club, shout out to you. (16:09) We are reading Annie Duke's Thinking and Bets.(16:11) Bet on yourself. (16:12) Every decision you make is a bet on your future. (16:14) Her words, not mine.(16:15) I agree with them wholeheartedly. (16:17) We probably will read The Art of Winning in book club. (16:20) We'll see.(16:21) We'll see. (16:22) But book club is a place where you will get better. (16:27) And it's free.(16:28) Join us. (16:29) The link to register will be in the show notes.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:30) Always, as always. (16:32) Always and as always. (16:33) We love you.(16:34) We appreciate you. (16:34) Grateful for each and every one of you. (16:36) And if you are what we talked about today, maybe some of those attributes, and you're super, super focused on getting to the next level, make sure you tune in tomorrow, because we will be here every single day to help you get there.

Alan Lazaros

(16:48) Keep reaching for your full potential. (16:51) Next Level Nation.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:54) Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level University. (16:58) We love connecting with the Next Level family.

Alan Lazaros

(17:01) We mean it when we say family. (17:03) If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly. (17:06) Everything you need to get ahold of us is in the show notes.(17:09) Thank you again, and we will talk to you tomorrow.