One Of The Most Important Success Principles Is FREE (2269)

Hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros break down one of the most misunderstood principles in self-improvement and personal development by showing why real consistency and high-level decision-making never come from pushing harder, but from mastering a foundational performance habit most achievers overlook. This episode reveals the hidden variable that drives clarity, discipline, and long-term progress, even for those who already put in the work.

If your effort is high but your results feel inconsistent, this conversation will recalibrate how you approach sustainable growth.

Learn more about:
Next Level Hope Foundation – GoFundMe donation link
https://gofund.me/5c6abcf7f

Referenced TED Talk:
The Science of Sleep (and the Art of Productivity) | Dr. Matthew Carter | TEDxNorthAdams

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

Website: http://www.nextleveluniverse.com

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:
(1:54) The TED Talk analogy that reframes sleep deprivation
(4:56) The “billion-dollar pill” sleep already provides
(6:39) How hustle culture convinced people to sleep less
(9:32) The pressure that comes with knowing better
(12:25) Identity, long-term consistency, and habit compounding
(15:20) How elite performers protect the asset through sleep
(16:03) Understanding the DEM sleep score
(17:04) 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

• 1:54 The TED Talk analogy that reframes sleep deprivation
• 4:56 The “billion-dollar pill” sleep already provides
• 6:39 How hustle culture convinced people to sleep less
• 9:32 The pressure that comes with knowing better
• 12:25 Identity, long-term consistency, and habit compounding
• 15:20 How elite performers protect the asset through sleep
• 16:03 Understanding the DEM sleep score
• 17:04 Outro

Transcript

Kevin Palmieri

(0:00) There are a lot of places, a lot of people, a lot of companies that are going to say to you, if you want to be successful, you've got to buy this thing, you've got to buy this thing, you've got to buy our thing. (0:09) Today, we're going to talk about something that is completely free, but it doesn't necessarily make it easier for you to be successful in a weird way.

Alan Lazaros

(0:16) For the last couple weeks, I've been waking up every morning and part of my morning routine has been listening to a neuroscience TED talk. (0:23) And today we're going to talk about what the TED talk was from this morning.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:28) Welcome to Next Level University. (0:31) I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri. (0:33) And I'm your co-host, Alan Lazarus.(0:36) At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven, but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers.

Alan Lazaros

(0:42) Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life, love, health, and wealth.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:49) 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

(1:05) Self-improvement in your pocket, every day, from anywhere, completely free. (1:11) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Palmieri

(1:17) Next Level Nation today for episode number 2,269. (1:21) One of the most important success principles is free. (1:26) I'm going to let you paint the picture because you came with a story, a compelling example based on your TED talk this morning, and I want you to say it.

Alan Lazaros

(1:35) Thank you. (1:36) So I'm going to link the TED talk in the show notes. (1:40) It's called The Science of Sleep.(1:42) So I'm giving it away right out of the gate here. (1:45) There's an asset that he pulls up. (1:47) It's just a simple picture.(1:48) A good night's sleep leads to a better day's wake, and then a better day's wake leads to a good night's sleep. (1:54) And he opens with a story that I thought was really compelling. (1:57) So he says, I want you to imagine you visit three colleges and you're 18.(2:02) You just graduated high school. (2:03) You're looking at colleges and you visit three campuses. (2:06) The first campus, the people are nice.(2:11) The campus is beautiful. (2:12) You're like, yeah, I could totally see myself going here. (2:14) But for some reason, everybody smokes cigarettes.(2:17) There's cigarettes all over the place. (2:18) Everybody's doing a pack a day. (2:19) They're high five.(2:20) And how many packs did you smoke? (2:22) Okay. (2:23) Next campus, same thing, but junk food.(2:26) Everybody's overweight. (2:27) Everybody's eating junk food. (2:29) There's wrappers all over the place, and they're high five.(2:31) And how much junk food can you eat? (2:34) Third campus, and he says this in the TED talk, he says those first two are very far-fetched. (2:40) The third one is not at all, because we've all been to a college campus.(2:45) Have you been to a college campus?

Kevin Palmieri

(2:46) A couple. (2:49) Visiting speeches. (2:50) I've been paid to go to college, which is good, because I never went.(2:53) And then I've partied a couple. (2:55) So yeah, I've made guest appearances, I would say.

Alan Lazaros

(2:57) Nice. (3:00) And he showed a bunch of pictures of people sleeping in chairs. (3:05) Some of these pictures definitely resonate.(3:07) When I was in college, I would fall asleep in a comfy chair in the common room or something like that. (3:13) Well, like your laptop. (3:14) Fall asleep doing work.(3:16) And he said the first two seem so far-fetched, because smoking cigarettes and eating junk food, everybody knows is bad for you. (3:24) The third one doesn't seem far-fetched at all. (3:26) As a matter of fact, that seems like every college campus, where people are pulling all-nighters and high-fiving.(3:31) Guilty as charged. (3:33) Okay. (3:33) So I don't know why I keep talking to the camera.(3:35) I'm going to talk to you, I'm right here. (3:37) You know it. (3:38) So back in college, a lot of people were super sleep-deprived.(3:46) Partying, studying, everything in between. (3:50) And he said, if I could sell a pill that did these three things, I would become a billionaire. (3:56) Number one, increases muscle growth.(3:59) Number two, increases fat metabolism, metabolizing fat. (4:05) And number three, increases bone growth. (4:08) If I could sell a pill and everyone could take a pill that did all three of those things, how many people would take that pill?(4:14) And then he said, all of you have that available to you completely free. (4:18) I thought that was an awesome frame. (4:19) Again, the link will be in the show notes.(4:22) And I was thinking about that today, of just how many clients I have tracking DEM score, deep in REM sleep. (4:31) And a lot of them have Oura Ring and, and or Whoop, and or Fitbit, and or Apple Watch. (4:39) But we get that for free every single day.(4:43) And he says, why is it that sleep, getting sleep deprived is a flex? (4:49) Why is it that we think being sleep deprived is a good thing? (4:54) All of a sudden, and this is the last piece.(4:57) He said this in the TED talk. (4:59) There was a meme on Facebook that said something along the lines of no one in their life ever remembered the days when they got a good night rest. (5:10) And there was apparently like 11,000 likes and shares and all kinds of things.(5:13) Again, don't quote me on this, but you'll, you'll see if you watch the TED talk. (5:17) And it seems to be, and I do think this is changing, but it seems to be at least when I was younger, being sleep deprived is somehow a flex in the social world.

Kevin Palmieri

(5:29) I think because so many people became successful in spite of not sleeping enough. (5:35) I'll never forget the Arnold Schwarzenegger thing, like where he's just said, sleep faster. (5:40) It's whatever, four hours of sleep a night.(5:42) How do you do it? (5:42) You just sleep faster. (5:43) It's like, that's terrible advice.(5:45) Terrible. (5:45) But there was a time where smoking cigarettes was considered cool long before people knew of the detriments of them. (5:54) Imagine me, I roll up on my motorcycle, my leather jacket, token away at a dart, ripping darts, ripping darts.(6:02) People might be like, holy shit.

Alan Lazaros

(6:04) It gets cool. (6:06) What happens when you grow up is you realize all the stuff that looks cool is actually really detrimental.

Kevin Palmieri

(6:13) Unfortunately, I think that is one of the great saddening parts of, of evolving. (6:18) But here's the other thing too. (6:21) One, and I can imagine this is what I would say.(6:25) I have more time if I sleep less. (6:27) How am I not going to be more successful? (6:28) Well, yeah, no, that's fair.(6:29) In a short amount of time. (6:32) Sure. (6:32) But if you do that for long enough, you're obviously affecting a lot of things.(6:35) That's one thing while everybody else is sleeping, I'm working, I'm getting ahead. (6:39) So I feel like it logically, if you don't understand the detriments of not getting the right amount of sleep logically from a success principle perspective only, it makes sense why people don't sleep enough.

Alan Lazaros

(6:52) For you, Kev, you talk a lot in the past about when you were younger, you were reckless. (7:00) Okay.

Kevin Palmieri

(7:01) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(7:02) And you were someone who, and I was guilty of this too, you know, I pulled an all-nighter, blah, blah, blah. (7:10) We both drank alcohol. (7:12) We've, we've run amok in our day, you and I.(7:15) And now that we're older and more mature and more success oriented and we're playing the long game, I feel like we're a lot, we'd be considered a lot more boring. (7:28) What's that like for you vulnerably, honestly, to be so boring now? (7:33) Honestly, I think I kind of always have been.

Kevin Palmieri

(7:35) So for me, I don't know if it's that much of a difference. (7:38) You used to run amok. (7:41) Yeah.(7:42) I used to run amok, but like when I wanted to prioritize myself, I could. (7:48) It wasn't, I don't know. (7:50) I don't feel like it's completely opposite of the way I used to live.(7:54) I think I just used to think if I wanted to get everything done, the first thing that would go off of the list is sleep. (8:05) I think that's how I used to operate. (8:07) We used to work.(8:08) So I would work depending on, it depends, but I would work, let's say I worked three to nine on a Friday in New Jersey. (8:20) So 3 PM till 9 PM, we drive five hours to the office, nine, 10, 11, 12, one, two. (8:27) I would take my pre-workout at the office and then I'd go to the gym at three o'clock in the morning.(8:31) And I loved it. (8:32) There was nobody at the gym. (8:34) I was in really good shape.(8:35) I could share it on my Snapchat story. (8:37) People thought I was insane. (8:39) I didn't understand the downside of that.(8:41) So even then I was boring just in a, in a different way. (8:44) But yeah, I would say if anything internally, there's just a lot of pressure. (8:49) There's a lot of pressure and there's a lot of regret of, oh fuck, I did it again.(8:53) It's 9 45. (8:54) I wanted to be in bed by 9 15 sleeping. (8:58) I, I just feel like there's a lot more pressure and there's a lot more responsibility because now I do understand the downside.(9:04) I'm running on a 61 sleep score. (9:07) One of the reasons I, when I get into bouts where I, I struggled to sleep is because I'm thinking about, I'm not sleeping. (9:13) So I'm doing damage.(9:14) So literally in real time, I can't fall asleep and I'm saying, well, this is not good. (9:18) This is quite bad that you can't fall asleep. (9:20) Which makes it harder to fall asleep.(9:21) And then I told Taryn, I said, well, I'm going to have to get up at six because if I sleep in, I'm not gonna be able to fall asleep tonight and it's this perpetual cycle. (9:30) So I have to bite the bullet at some point. (9:32) So to answer your question in the shortest possible, I, for me internally, it's way more about the pressure that I know I'm supposed to be doing it, that I'm not as opposed to the ignorance is bliss of the old days where I just didn't know.(9:45) So I didn't, I didn't understand.

Alan Lazaros

(9:47) Why do you think we didn't know? (9:49) It's not like rocket science, right?

Kevin Palmieri

(9:51) Because so many, so many of the successful people were talking about how they didn't sleep. (9:55) This is why I'm telling you, this is what I'm...

Alan Lazaros

(9:57) Arnold Schwarzenegger's speech, sorry to interrupt you. (9:58) I know, I know that speech. (10:00) He says, if you sleep eight hours, just sleep faster.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:03) Yeah. (10:04) Like that's dumb. (10:07) That's dumb.

Alan Lazaros

(10:08) It is dumb.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:08) Because this, the other things that got him success, like taking steroids to be a bodybuilder also weren't healthy. (10:16) Wait, you think he took steroids? (10:18) He might've.(10:18) Yeah. (10:19) We're joking.

Alan Lazaros

(10:20) He definitely did.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:20) He probably dabbled.

Alan Lazaros

(10:21) You and I are in the, we've been in the bodybuilding world, so we're certain. (10:24) Some people actually still are uncertain.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:26) No, no, no, no, no, no, no. (10:29) You see somebody as the best in the world at bodybuilding or physique, they're on steroids. (10:35) 100%.(10:36) How many, what percent of the time you think? (10:37) 100% of the time. (10:38) Yeah.(10:38) 100% of the time. (10:39) Unless it's like a completely natural show and then like 75% of the time.

Alan Lazaros

(10:43) Yeah, exactly. (10:44) I competed with some people that were on the sauce for sure.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:45) Maybe you could find a way.

Alan Lazaros

(10:47) I was not. (10:48) Never, never, never, never. (10:50) You could find a way to borrow someone else's pee.(10:51) Homegrown organic baby.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:53) But I think one of the reasons so many people are anti-hustle culture is because part of hustle culture was you wake up at 5am no matter what, you don't sleep, you grind. (11:04) Well, if everybody else is sleeping eight hours and you're only sleeping four hours, you get four more hours in a day. (11:09) So I think it was created by people that were really hard workers, but not the most intelligent hard workers.

Alan Lazaros

(11:18) Yeah. (11:18) I mean, we could talk for days about the benefits of sleep. (11:21) I know we got to get out of here in eight minutes.(11:24) The thing that I did recently with Emilia that was very powerful, I highly recommend everyone does it, is we went back and we saw a photo of when we first met six years ago in October. (11:35) So yeah, six years ago, six in a month. (11:38) And we just started listing out everything we improved since then.(11:42) It was crazy. (11:44) Everything from exercising daily all the way to the air fryer we got is now bigger so we can cook more food in less time. (11:51) Everything has improved.(11:53) Everything in our house, every tool we have, every computer, every device, the way the house is laid out, everything has improved. (12:01) And I have so many clients that have something called total productive output. (12:07) And essentially it shows if you zoom out on their data.(12:10) So I'm just going to use one client for some reason I know exactly when we started coaching. (12:14) So July 17th of the last year, shout out to you, brother. (12:19) If I unhide the columns in Google Sheets, we do something called peak performance tracking for anyone who's a new listener.(12:25) And all my clients, team members, we all have this peak performance tracker. (12:28) It's a dashboard that rolls up your success life. (12:31) And if you unhide the columns, because usually I hide everything except for the current one, the graph shows the data.(12:39) It's really cool because you basically see from July 17th of last year to now, his new 9% is his old 100%. (12:53) Meaning when we first started, we started with maybe six or seven habits, three metrics. (12:58) Now he has a whole dashboard.(13:00) And what you can see over time, and it's not exact, but you see this sort of staircase going on where you're old when you would get 100% days, it's like a little staircase because the moment that you start getting 100%, we up the ante. (13:12) And I think that's a good metaphor for next level you, next level YOU. (13:17) You hit a certain level of productivity, and then you go to the next level, and then you ratchet that in, and then you go to the next level, and then you ratchet that in, and then you go to the next level, and then you ratchet that in.(13:28) And when you look back to six months ago, or six years ago in the case Emile and I did, all of a sudden you realize you have become... (13:39) Everything's different. (13:40) Almost everything.(13:42) I did this way back 11 years ago when I first started Alan Lazarus LLC. (13:45) Well, you'll never learn in school, but desperately need to know. (13:48) I did something called the three columns.(13:50) First column is all your bad habits. (13:52) Second column is all your good habits. (13:54) Third column is all of your replacement habits.(13:58) And you take one from column one, get rid of it, and add one from column two. (14:04) So for me, I quit drinking and I started lifting weights. (14:07) Awesome.(14:09) Dude, if we were to go back and look at what you and I did on a day-to-day basis 10 years ago, right? (14:17) Think about how many things you used to do that you no longer do. (14:21) There's a big list.(14:22) If we wanted to and actually took time to do this, I could probably come up with 100. (14:27) I could probably come up with 100 things that are different. (14:33) Or I do differently, right?(14:35) Because obviously you still sleep. (14:36) You just sleep better.

Kevin Palmieri

(14:38) Not right now, but normally, yeah. (14:40) Well, like earplugs, sound machine, fan, mask, that's all new.

Alan Lazaros

(14:47) Every little 0.1% improvement makes a difference. (14:50) And I can't even believe that you and I got in such great shape. (14:55) And more you than me, because I was doing a lot of the, like I had quit drinking and started lifting and I still drink, like I drank at weddings and stuff like that, but very rarely.(15:07) Back in high school, can you imagine if you were dialed in?

Kevin Palmieri

(15:11) I watched a little bit of a YouTube series that follows around NFL players on a day-to-day basis. (15:18) Dude, my goodness. (15:20) Wake up, go to the stadium, hot tub, cold plunge, go workout, hot tub, cold plunge, stretch, go home, get a massage.(15:35) They are just making sure they get enough sleep. (15:39) They are taking care of the asset. (15:41) It's awesome.(15:42) Of course they are. (15:42) It's wild to think of. (15:43) Because every single week they're getting trapped.(15:47) Yeah. (15:48) All right, cool. (15:49) Sleep.(15:49) That's the name of the game, sleep. (15:51) Go to bed a half hour earlier, sleep in a half hour more if you can, but make sure the quality of your sleep. (15:56) So I'm doing this too.(15:58) My scores have been garbage lately. (16:00) But REM and DEEP and DEEP and REM is the DEM score.

Alan Lazaros

(16:03) Yes. (16:04) So all you do is add up the amount of minutes that you got for DEEP sleep and REM sleep and then you divide it by 60. (16:12) That's your score.(16:13) I got a 3.6. I haven't done mine yet, but it's not good.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:17) It's not good.

Alan Lazaros

(16:17) Also, next level Hope Foundation. (16:19) Yes. (16:20) So what day is it?(16:22) The 20th. (16:23) It's December 20th. (16:24) Saturday, December 20th.(16:25) Saturday, December 20th. (16:26) We're renting the entire YMCA gym and it's going to be children of single parents. (16:32) We're going to play sports.(16:32) We're going to do arts and crafts. (16:33) We're going to have pizza. (16:34) We're going to have a blast.(16:35) Please, please, please contribute. (16:37) We don't care if it's $5 or $500. (16:39) Every little bit counts.(16:41) Thank you so much in advance. (16:42) The link will be in the show notes.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:43) And if you are looking to be a part of a community that's trying to dial in habits every day, obviously you're already listening, but we have the Next Level Fitness Accountability Group. (16:51) We reach out to us. (16:52) We don't put the link out because it gets weird and somehow bots get it.(16:55) So we want to make sure that it's a safe space where we can all stay accountable to our fitness goals and part of our fitness goals is sleep. (17:02) So we'll reach out to us and we'll give you a link. (17:04) As always, we love you.(17:05) We appreciate you. (17:06) Grateful for each and every one of you. (17:07) 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.(17:14) Keep reaching for your full potential.

Alan Lazaros

(17:16) Next Level Nation.

Kevin Palmieri

(17:18) Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level University. (17:22) We love connecting with the Next Level family.

Alan Lazaros

(17:25) We mean it when we say family. (17:27) If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly. (17:30) Everything you need to get ahold of us is in the show notes.(17:33) Thank you again, and we will talk to you tomorrow.