How To Think More Strategically (2285)

Hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros challenge why so many people work hard yet fail to see real progress in self-improvement. Discipline is not the problem. Consistency is not the problem. The real issue shows up in how decisions are made when no one is watching.

This episode cuts through surface-level personal development and focuses on the thinking patterns that quietly determine long-term outcomes. If you care about making better decisions, building consistency that lasts, and growing with intention instead of urgency, this conversation will sharpen how you approach self-improvement.

Listen closely. Then ask yourself if your daily choices are actually taking you where you say you want to go.

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

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Show notes:
(2:01) Short-term cost Vs. Long-term value
(4:21) Reverse engineering outcomes
(6:45) Why goals are required for strategy
(10:05) Cost-value analysis as a life skill
(13:17) What you are optimizing for
(15:25) Strategy, consistency, and direction
(18:23) Failure as strategic feedback
(23:55) 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

• 2:01 Short-term cost Vs. Long-term value
• 4:21 Reverse engineering outcomes
• 6:45 Why goals are required for strategy
• 10:05 Cost-value analysis as a life skill
• 13:17 What you are optimizing for
• 15:25 Strategy, consistency, and direction
• 18:23 Failure as strategic feedback
• 23:55 (23:55) Outro

Transcript

Kevin Palmieri

(0:00) I did not realize you could spend as much time as I spent trying to figure out whether or not it was more optimal to buy a new modem and router or rent one when we move. (0:12) It's better than it sounds, I promise.

Alan Lazaros

(0:14) What is the most optimal next move? (0:17) What is the most optimal chess move? (0:18) What is the most optimal decision?(0:20) We're going to talk about that today.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:22) Welcome to Next Level University. (0:24) I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri. (0:26) And I'm your co-host, Alan Lazarus.(0:29) At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers.

Alan Lazaros

(0:36) Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life, love, health, and wealth.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:42) 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

(0:58) Self-improvement in your pocket, every day, from anywhere, completely free. (1:05) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Palmieri

(1:10) Next Level Nation today for episode number 2285, how to think more strategically. (1:16) So Alan and I have joked about this. (1:18) ChatGPT has given me an unfair advantage as compared to what I used to have because ChatGPT has really helped me think strategically.(1:28) And so Tara and I are moving in February. (1:32) The beginning of February, we're moving to a new home. (1:35) And I'm already trying to start the process of doing things.(1:39) That way, when we get close, it's not mayhem and it's a little bit more spread out. (1:43) So I preemptively am setting up our Wi-Fi so we don't have to do it. (1:47) Once we go, I'll be good to work.(1:49) I won't have to worry about it. (1:50) And when I'm calculating the numbers, so right now, I pay $220 a month for Wi-Fi. (1:58) Brutal.(1:59) Brutal. (2:00) Yeah, not great. (2:01) Ran some numbers, trying to be strategic, $85 is what we're going to pay.(2:06) Should be the same strength, roughly the same strength. (2:09) Awesome. (2:09) Love it.(2:11) But it could be only $70 if I don't rent their modem or whatever it is. (2:16) Like, okay, well, in order for me to be strategic, to know how much it would cost me to buy a modem and a router. (2:23) So if I pay $15 a month, $15, $30, $45, $60, $75, $90, that's $180 a year.(2:28) Okay? (2:29) If I buy the two that they... (2:32) $15, $30, $45, $60, $75, $90 times two, $180.(2:35) If I buy what ChatGPT recommended, it's like $400. (2:40) So it's easily to be thought that, well, no, you might as well rent it because it's going to cost more. (2:45) Well, yes, in the first year, it's going to cost more.(2:47) But if you have that for two years, it'll essentially end up coming close to paying for itself. (2:51) If you have it for three years, it's going to pay for itself. (2:53) I never used to think of that.(2:55) I never used to think of that at all. (2:56) I remember the first car I got, the first car I financed. (3:00) It was a 1997 Mustang GT, baby.(3:07) And we go to the dealership and I said, I like this. (3:12) I'd like this. (3:13) They say, do you have steady employment?(3:14) I'm the best goddamn gas station attendant you've met in your entire life. (3:18) I have the steadiest of employment. (3:20) How much is the router?(3:22) I don't know. (3:23) ChatGPT said $400 total for everything. (3:26) And you said how much?(3:27) $15 a month?

Alan Lazaros

(3:28) $15 a month. (3:30) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(3:30) It's going to take 2.2 years. (3:32) Nice job.

Alan Lazaros

(3:33) 2.2 years, which you're going to live there for five.

Kevin Palmieri

(3:35) So yeah, do it. (3:36) Problem solved. (3:37) Smart.(3:38) And regardless, you can always take the router with you. (3:40) So it's not like if you move, you can't take it. (3:44) First car I ever got, I had a 19% interest rate.(3:49) Did you know what that meant? (3:50) No. (3:51) I knew that was the barrier between me getting the car and not getting the car.(3:55) So I was like, yeah, what's $215 a month? (4:01) And there was no strategy. (4:02) That's a very conscious consumer purchase of you.(4:04) So point being, I am way more strategic than I've ever been for sure. (4:09) Much of that is a byproduct of you and I working together and me following your lead. (4:13) So I don't know necessarily how to teach it.(4:15) So that's why I'm kicking it to you. (4:16) How do you think more strategically? (4:17) What is the process here?

Alan Lazaros

(4:21) The first thing that comes up is you reverse engineer different potential outcomes. (4:28) So you just went into the future. (4:31) You saw two different paths.(4:32) I could rent. (4:33) These are the consequences if I rent the router. (4:36) These are the consequences if I buy the router.(4:38) And then you go into the future and do the math and reverse engineer which one's the more optimal choice based on statistical probability. (4:46) So I do that with everything.

Kevin Palmieri

(4:49) Does it require two things in order to be strategic? (4:53) Isn't strategy choosing the better option amongst at least two?

Alan Lazaros

(4:56) Yeah. (4:56) So I love this. (4:57) So in game theory, there's infinite games and finite games.(5:01) I do think we should talk about this, but in infinite games, one option is not an option. (5:10) Two options is a conundrum and three options is a choice. (5:13) So I always say to you, it's not like I chose to live here.(5:16) It's not like I defaulted to living here. (5:18) Every time I leave Massachusetts, I don't like it as much. (5:23) And Massachusetts is fucking awesome.(5:25) I love Massachusetts. (5:27) But what's my point of this? (5:31) I've contemplated living in Wyoming.(5:33) I've contemplated living in California. (5:35) I did live in California. (5:36) I've contemplated.(5:37) So contemplation is asking and answering questions, which brings you to the scientific method of strategy. (5:44) So real-time strategy games back in the day, Age of Empires, World of Warcraft, Warcraft 2, Starcraft 1, Starcraft 2. (5:51) These are called real-time strategy games.(5:53) Did you ever play any of those?

Kevin Palmieri

(5:54) No, man. (5:55) I wasn't a loser in high school. (6:02) Motherfucker.(6:02) I've been waiting for a chance. (6:05) No, honestly, very honestly, it required too much thinking. (6:09) I just want to go around the corner and blast somebody.(6:13) Call of Duty is a strategy game. (6:15) Not the way I play it. (6:16) Competitive.(6:17) Not the way I play it. (6:20) Brother, you and I, I would, okay. (6:23) Remember we played together.(6:25) You were so much better because I was like, I like a little chaos. (6:29) I don't want to just lay in the grass and do the smart thing. (6:32) I want to have fun.(6:34) Yeah, fun is for the fucking birds, man. (6:36) Well, it's not always the most strategic, right? (6:39) Strategy and fun are not always the same thing.

Alan Lazaros

(6:41) Yeah. (6:42) Well, back in the, I think this is why goals are so important. (6:45) So the first step to being strategic is having a goal that requires it.(6:50) When I was a semi-pro gamer, I had to be strategic. (6:53) Otherwise I was going to get stomped. (6:55) You can't just be 20th in the world at a game and not have strategy, right?(7:00) So, and the goal, the only reason I was 20th in the world is because I was going for number one, right? (7:04) And, but the idea here is number one set a goal. (7:08) Okay.(7:08) A goal is a timeline and a target in the future. (7:10) So that's step one. (7:11) Now, all of a sudden you have to be strategic.(7:13) I don't actually think you can be strategic without a goal. (7:16) Even if the goal is unconscious. (7:18) So everyone can right now set a goal.(7:21) Okay. (7:21) I want to get good, great sleep tonight. (7:22) That is a goal.(7:24) We just don't call it a goal. (7:26) And fun is a goal.

Kevin Palmieri

(7:29) What's the strategy? (7:30) What's the stress? (7:30) So somebody is out there.(7:33) And again, I know if you're out there, this might sound like the most simplistic thing ever. (7:37) I didn't think of it this way for a long time. (7:39) So I don't want to assume everybody else does.(7:41) Sleep is the goal. (7:42) What is the avenues for strategy? (7:45) Like how does that process unfold?

Alan Lazaros

(7:48) Yeah. (7:48) You make sure you don't drink a lot of water before bed. (7:50) Otherwise you'll be up peeing all night.(7:52) You make sure that you take a sleep supplement. (7:56) You make sure that you have blue light glasses, or you don't look at blue lights before bed. (8:01) You make sure you have earplugs and a face mask, especially because it gets light so early now.(8:08) You make sure you have the right playlist on that helps you in Delta waves for sleep. (8:13) Like we have a sleep playlist that we use. (8:17) I cannot even imagine a world where I don't strategize about everything.

Kevin Palmieri

(8:21) I just know that that's very unique to you. (8:27) The amount of strategies. (8:28) You used to drink a certain amount in a certain amount of time with a certain amount of food in your system to get a certain amount of drunk.

Alan Lazaros

(8:33) Yeah, it was the best.

Kevin Palmieri

(8:35) How many times did I black out because the ratio was off, baby?

Alan Lazaros

(8:40) The ratio was off. (8:42) I was a goddamn chemist. (8:43) I'll tell you what.(8:44) Those sparks. (8:45) I would calculate the Miller High Life in college was only $9 for an 18-pack. (8:52) It was 50 cents per beer to bargain.(8:55) It was a bargain. (8:57) I would purposely not eat and then drink a certain amount in a certain amount of time in order to get a certain level of drunk. (9:04) Then you can ride that buzz all night.(9:06) If you take it too far, bad things happen. (9:09) One thing that I'll share with everybody and I appreciate the strategy is my favorite thing in the entire world. (9:14) As an engineer, that's all you do.(9:16) When I wanted to get straight A's in high school, I had to strategize about how to do it. (9:20) Then when I got to college, you have a certain strategy. (9:23) It's like, okay, I want to graduate with high distinction.(9:25) Okay, well, how do I do that? (9:26) Okay, well, I need to make sure I don't take that fucking class because that professor is bad news. (9:34) Because I'm so goal oriented and so future oriented, everything I do in the present is entirely predicated on a future outcome.(9:43) I gave up McDonald's and Domino's and all that stuff. (9:46) It's because in the future, when I'm 80, I think about this all the time. (9:48) When I'm 80, I want to be very athletic.(9:51) I intend on being very athletic at 80. (9:54) Now, is it possible something goes horribly wrong that's not possible? (9:57) Yeah, but by that rationale, why try anything?(10:01) The first step to strategy is set a goal. (10:05) Then how do you strategize? (10:07) You ask and answer questions.(10:08) It's a scientific method. (10:09) You have a hypothesis. (10:10) If I rent it, this will happen.(10:12) If I buy it, this will happen. (10:14) I hypothesize that we will leave the house in about five years. (10:18) We'll probably be there.(10:19) Our ROI is 2.22 years. (10:21) We should probably buy it. (10:23) It's all based on probability.(10:25) Emily and I, we do math every morning. (10:29) If you can't calculate probability, you can't make effective choices. (10:36) There's something called a cost value analysis.(10:38) Every decision you make is a cost value analysis. (10:41) How do you know what to eat for dinner tonight? (10:44) Well, there's a lot of things to consider.(10:46) What tastes good? (10:49) What is aligned with your macros and your calories? (10:51) What do you and Taryn both like?(10:54) There's a Venn diagram there. (10:55) What's aligned with her diet versus yours? (10:58) Then how much does it cost?(11:00) How much time does it take you to make it? (11:01) It's a cost value analysis. (11:04) In a spreadsheet, all of our brains are calculating before we make decisions.

Kevin Palmieri

(11:10) One of the hard things is I very much strategize for time when she's usually strategizing more for taste. (11:17) For the last three or four nights, I've had ground beef, some sort of carb, and Brussels sprouts. (11:24) That's what I've had for dinner.(11:26) Number one, I love it. (11:28) Ground beef is the best. (11:29) I'm a huge fan.(11:30) Brussels sprouts are my favorite thing in the world for whatever reason. (11:32) I could eat that every day for the rest of my life. (11:35) I care about the taste, but not as, I would say, below average.

Alan Lazaros

(11:39) Yeah, fair.

Kevin Palmieri

(11:40) More than me.

Alan Lazaros

(11:40) My strategy is- She cares about taste less than me. (11:44) Less than you. (11:44) Less than me.(11:45) Wow. (11:48) She doesn't care at all. (11:49) I've never seen anything like it.(11:50) She'll eat terrible food. (11:55) We're optimizing for time because we don't have enough time.

Kevin Palmieri

(11:58) Bodybuilding took it out. (11:59) I can't even eat a chicken breast anymore. (12:02) I can't even look at it.

Alan Lazaros

(12:05) Well, that means it's suboptimal for you to buy chicken. (12:08) To bring this back, I also want to give a huge shout out and thank you to someone, Richard, for donating. (12:16) We have a GoFundMe page.(12:18) The link will be in the show notes. (12:19) Shout out to Steph, the director of Next Level Hope Foundation. (12:22) Crushing it.(12:22) We have an event on Saturday that has RSVP'd with over 31 adults and over 50 kids. (12:29) That is way more than we've ever done. (12:31) I think the most we've ever done is 22 or something like that.(12:33) We need some support. (12:35) We need some help. (12:36) Kevin and I are matching every donation.(12:38) We're at $700. (12:40) Please click the link in the show notes. (12:41) If you donate $5, we'll donate $5 on your behalf.(12:44) $10, we'll donate $10. (12:46) We're going to match everything up to $1,000. (12:49) Please and thank you.(12:49) We really appreciate it. (12:50) We're definitely going to need some funds because this is going to be potentially a huge bash. (12:55) We're excited.(12:56) We might get to play some half-court basketball, which I'm excited for.

Kevin Palmieri

(12:58) We're definitely going to get to play some half-court basketball. (13:00) Shout out to everybody who has donated. (13:02) If you're interested, link will be in the show notes.(13:03) We appreciate you all so very much.

Alan Lazaros

(13:07) So game theory, chaos theory, constraint theory, all these different mathematical modalities, it's cost value analysis based on what the goal is, but what the game is that you're playing. (13:17) So I always ask, what are you optimizing for? (13:19) And the moment that I meet someone, I'm always, when I coach, I'm always wondering what are they optimizing for versus what their goals require them to optimize for.(13:26) So your wife, Taryn, for example, she optimizes for taste with food. (13:30) If she had fitness goals, that would have to change. (13:32) Not fully.(13:34) I used to joke, Kevin and I both go into a coffee shop back in the day. (13:38) We would get Dunkin's all the time. (13:40) Kevin cares about what tastes good.(13:42) I care about the caffeine. (13:44) So mine is utility, meaning the caffeine helps me lower my adenosine receptors and increase my alertness. (13:52) Alertness is key for productivity, which is key for flow.(13:55) So everything's reverse engineered. (13:56) So I designed my entire existence around flow. (13:59) And the reason why is because that's your productivity and flow increases by 500%.(14:03) Your focus, it's unbelievable. (14:05) The brain chemistry, the whole nine. (14:06) At the end of the day, this is why I think goals is the most important thing in the world, because if you don't have goals, you don't have to do anything.(14:12) So you won't strategize. (14:14) And when I was a kid, I would play chess. (14:16) I loved chess.(14:17) There was also a game called Stratego. (14:19) Kiki and I would play it all the time. (14:20) It was awesome.(14:22) And I loved strategy games. (14:24) Every video game I ever played, I never understood why people play role-playing games. (14:29) They're the story mode where you just go on quests, but you don't actually have to do anything.(14:33) I used to love the Sims. (14:34) Remember the Sims? (14:35) Yeah.(14:36) There's some strategy in Sims. (14:38) I just wanted to build a McMansion. (14:40) Yeah.(14:40) And even when you do, they're unhappy and unfulfilled.

Kevin Palmieri

(14:42) Oh, they're always unhappy. (14:43) Yeah. (14:43) Which is great.(14:44) The Sims taught some good lessons. (14:45) Why are you peeing on the floor? (14:46) We just bought you a $4,000 toilet.(14:48) Why are you peeing on the floor, though? (14:49) Well, it's right there. (14:50) What are we doing?

Alan Lazaros

(14:52) Speaking of Sims, you and I talked off air. (14:55) We'll go brief with this, but everyone can go into their own future and imagine what they would want. (15:02) And I highly recommend everyone does this.(15:03) This is why we do vision boards. (15:05) Just imagine what you want. (15:06) What do you want to drive?(15:07) Where do you want to live? (15:08) Who do you want to be with? (15:08) What do you want to look like?(15:10) And then you can come back into the present and then get to work.

Kevin Palmieri

(15:15) Strategy, man. (15:16) Maybe one of the biggest differences in my life over the last couple of years, probably. (15:24) And here's the thing, too.(15:25) I think strategy is similar to the way people talk about consistency, where people say, well, I'm just not consistent. (15:32) That's not true. (15:32) You just might not be consistent in the right direction.(15:35) I think strategy is the same thing. (15:37) You might just not be strategic in the right direction. (15:40) Nice.(15:41) We know people in the past who are very, very strategic at finding a less work. (15:49) That's a strategy. (15:51) And that's cool.(15:51) If you get good at that, that means you can reverse engineer outcomes and be more strategic, but you could use that in a positive light, too. (15:59) And I think that's a piece of it. (16:00) I don't think it's that I'm not consistent or I'm not strategic.(16:03) It's just maybe you're not in a way that's serving you yet.

Alan Lazaros

(16:06) The Hyperconscious podcast, when you first had me on all those years ago, 2017, the questions that you would ask me were usually strategies. (16:17) I like how to. (16:19) Yeah.(16:20) How to is a strategy. (16:21) Yeah. (16:22) Why two is it's the who, what, when, where, why, and how, how is the strategy?(16:28) Why is the motivation? (16:30) And then what is the goal? (16:32) And you need all of them.(16:34) You need who, what, when, where, why, and how you need all of them.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:37) I think it starts with you already have the why you, it might not be the right. (16:41) Why necessarily? (16:43) I think it's that's most people don't know the real why.(16:46) No, but I think it's enough to get you going. (16:49) Potentially. (16:51) Like I didn't know the real why I was asking you those questions, but it got me to a deeper, you, the, you only can understand the why to the extent you understand yourself.(17:01) Yeah. (17:01) So it. (17:02) Yeah.(17:02) I feel like I wanted answers to questions that I wasn't certain I could understand the answers to yet.

Alan Lazaros

(17:11) But I want to saw that clip. (17:12) What came up for you? (17:13) Cause what came up for me very honestly is I didn't realize how much less strategic you were than me to be vulnerable here.(17:25) Oh, super, super.

Kevin Palmieri

(17:27) Yeah. (17:27) It was very strategic and fast and fitness. (17:29) I was very strategic, but with everything else, it was not.(17:32) Well, that's why you had the best results in what? (17:34) Fitness. (17:35) Yeah.(17:35) Fitness. (17:36) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(17:36) It's like brother and how to be liked. (17:38) I was very strategic with how to be liked. (17:40) Yeah.(17:41) Unconsciously. (17:41) Do you believe you can be successful without strategy?

Kevin Palmieri

(17:47) Not, I think you can unconsciously be strategic. (17:50) Agreed. (17:51) If you're good at pattern recognition, you say, every time I do this, this happens.(17:54) I mean, that is strategy. (17:56) Yep. (17:56) You might not label it that way, but for me it was always every time.(18:00) And again, this is going to sound ego, but again, this is all I had going for me. (18:03) So don't fucking judge me when I'm at a party and I take my shirt off. (18:08) Good things happen.(18:09) That was it. (18:10) That was the end of the strategy. (18:11) Yeah.(18:11) And when I say good things, I'm not saying like, I'm not saying a sexual, sexual innuendo. (18:16) It wasn't always that sometimes I made cool friends. (18:18) Sometimes I, it wasn't always like, oh yeah, I hooked up with somebody.(18:20) I'm not saying that. (18:21) And you felt good about yourself and all that stuff.

Alan Lazaros

(18:23) What if someone's unconscious strategy is always to feel good about themselves? (18:26) Well, you're in trouble when it comes to goals because a lot of the things necessary to achieve your goals requires failure. (18:31) I have a client.(18:32) I said, okay, you're, you're 10 out of 10 self efficacy with inputs. (18:37) You can run systems. (18:39) You're a workhorse.(18:39) Awesome. (18:40) Great. (18:41) I'm going to start challenging you.(18:43) By the next time we talk, you need to get this outcome. (18:46) She's like, oh, that's different. (18:49) I said, you need to get this outcome by this day and this time.(18:53) Boom. (18:55) She's like, that's uncomfortable. (18:56) I said, good.(18:57) She didn't, she failed, but she was close. (19:02) Very close. (19:03) And I said, that feeling that you just had of not accomplishing it is how I feel every goddamn day.(19:08) All the time. (19:09) I'm taking shots all the time. (19:10) And some of them are failures and some of them are successful, but you have to shoot over and over and over and over again.(19:15) And then go back to the drawing board. (19:17) Like we did this recently. (19:23) I would just ask questions.(19:25) So, what do you want in 2026? (19:28) Someone I'm thinking of, let's just do this. (19:30) Someone I'm thinking of, you know who I'm talking about?(19:33) Cause he listens every day. (19:34) He wants to buy a house in 2026. (19:37) Awesome.(19:37) We've already looked. (19:39) All right. (19:39) So the house is going to cost you $800,000.(19:41) Okay. (19:42) What are you going to put down? (19:43) 10%.(19:43) Okay. (19:43) So 80 grand. (19:45) I'm like, brother, you can do that tomorrow.(19:47) I'm looking at your numbers right now. (19:49) Done. (19:50) Oh, we're good.(19:51) Okay. (19:51) So then what's in between you and the goal? (19:53) What's the strategy?(19:56) You got to get a real estate agent. (19:58) You got to research. (19:59) To me, and I know I sound like a fucking dick.(20:04) I think this shit is super fucking easy. (20:07) Like it's not that hard to fucking buy a house. (20:09) People do it all the time.

Kevin Palmieri

(20:10) I wish it was easy.

Alan Lazaros

(20:12) I do. (20:13) It's easier now. (20:14) And people are like, well, that's easy for you to say 80 grand.(20:16) That's a lot of money. (20:17) Listen, it would accumulate so fucking fast. (20:20) You wouldn't believe this dude doesn't even make that much.(20:24) He makes like, I don't know, 57 grand a year or something Canadian. (20:27) It's modest. (20:28) You just have to be smart.(20:30) You have to make intelligent choices every day.

Kevin Palmieri

(20:33) And your whole life becomes this magnificent thing. (20:37) That's the hard part though is strategy in a very small amount of time is not the most challenging strategy over a year. (20:44) I was thinking of that the other day.(20:45) Like this year has been such a grind because we have very specific goals that we're strategizing everything around. (20:52) And I was like, wow, how many people would really, every single night before I go to sleep, I'm thinking about it. (20:59) I have to like turn it off.(21:00) Like Kev, there's nothing, you can't do anything else right now. (21:03) Like go to sleep.

Alan Lazaros

(21:04) You've done it.

Kevin Palmieri

(21:04) You've already done all you can do today. (21:05) Go to sleep. (21:06) And then you can do the same tomorrow.(21:07) Now the next strategy is get to bed. (21:09) Now it is. (21:09) And I can't, I'm struggling to fall asleep.

Alan Lazaros

(21:11) You're actually sabotaging your next day. (21:13) Yeah. (21:14) So you answer, because as someone who, you know, started off with very little strategy, now you're on the very high end of strategic.(21:21) Research.

Kevin Palmieri

(21:23) I'm, I'm convinced you, you got to research. (21:28) Study. (21:28) You got to study.(21:29) And the, unfortunately the, the only time we usually do it is when we're about to do the thing. (21:35) Like you don't, you don't look at how to buy a house 15 years before you buy a house. (21:39) It doesn't make sense.(21:40) Well, you do. (21:40) I do some weird stuff like that.

Alan Lazaros

(21:42) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(21:42) I know way more now than I did before. (21:44) Awesome. (21:45) But like for most people, I think it's a cause and effect or it's a.

Alan Lazaros

(21:49) I got to take back what I said because I think I chose a goal that required me to learn about the real estate. (21:58) If I want to be the best coach, the best business coach on planet earth, which is my goal, even if I never get there, I'm going for it. (22:05) That actually requires me to know real estate.(22:07) So maybe, maybe I don't just learn things because by that rationale, I would also know how engines work. (22:14) I don't really care. (22:15) It's like I could, I just don't, it's not relevant to my ultimate goal.(22:18) I'm not trying to be the best mechanic. (22:20) Well, I do think you actually need, but this comes back to the same conundrum of self-belief is required to set a goal, but you don't set goals without self-belief. (22:29) And I think underneath the underpinnings of self-belief, I think is understanding, which only comes as a by-product of goals.(22:35) So I think there's a conundrum in here.

Kevin Palmieri

(22:37) I think it's, again, I always, you got to research enough to have enough belief that you can jump into the water and get out. (22:43) And then when you're in the water, you realize, okay, this is, it's not as bad as I thought. (22:46) I could, I'm going to, I'm going to learn how to tread water for five minutes.(22:49) And then it's 10 minutes.

Alan Lazaros

(22:50) Luckily you were reckless.

Kevin Palmieri

(22:52) Yeah. (22:52) Well, I still am. (22:53) I'm still reckless to a degree.

Alan Lazaros

(22:56) Right. (22:56) You don't have as much risk aversion as I think you thought, because you really jumped into this whole thing. (23:00) You kind of acted like you knew what we were doing.(23:03) And in hindsight you, and again, it is what it is. (23:05) I'm not blaming you.

Kevin Palmieri

(23:06) I think I thought I did based on what I saw. (23:09) Like I was just going to do the same thing. (23:11) I mean, we're just podcasting.(23:12) So it's the same thing just without a job. (23:14) Well, no, it doesn't work that way. (23:17) Doesn't work that way.(23:18) So set a goal because it is going to determine what you strategize for. (23:24) If your goal is to do less work, you'll strategize. (23:26) If your goal is to get leaner, that's a strategy.(23:29) If your goal is to get more sleep, if it's to sleep with more people, if it's to find your person, every single one of those things is going to require a strategy. (23:36) Sit down and try to reverse engineer it and start as small as humanly possible. (23:39) That is what I would say.(23:40) Fire. (23:40) Good. (23:41) I agree on all of it.(23:42) All right. (23:43) If you're looking for a group of humans who also is into strategizing to reverse engineer outcomes, we will have our private Facebook group, Next Level Nation. (23:50) You've heard me say that a million times.(23:51) If you haven't joined yet, join. (23:53) Why not? (23:53) Link will be below as always.(23:55) And we appreciate you. (23:56) We are grateful for each and every one of you. (23:58) And if you're 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.(24:04) Keep leveling up to your true potential.

Alan Lazaros

(24:07) Next Level Nation.

Kevin Palmieri

(24:08) Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level University. (24:12) We love connecting with the Next Level family.

Alan Lazaros

(24:15) We mean it when we say family. (24:17) If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly. (24:20) Everything you need to get ahold of us is in the show notes.(24:24) Thank you again.

Kevin Palmieri

(24:25) And we will talk to you tomorrow.