Another Question To Ask Yourself On Repeat (2320)

Most limits stay invisible until results expose them. In today’s episode, Kevin and Alan challenge how most people think about progress, effort, and self-improvement. Hard work is not the problem. Misalignment, blind spots, and incomplete awareness are. This episode breaks down what actually drives outcomes beneath the surface and why real growth demands precision, accurate perception, and the courage to confront what is missing instead of doubling down on what merely feels productive.

If you want fewer setbacks and more durable results, this conversation will change how you evaluate yourself, others, and the world you are operating in. Listen without distraction. Then adjust your lens before the cost compounds.

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Learn more about:
Your first 30-minute “Business Breakthrough Session” call with Alan is FREE. This call is designed to help you identify bottlenecks and build a clear plan for your next level. - https://calendly.com/alanlazaros/30-minute-breakthrough-session

Join our private Facebook community, “Next Level Nation,” to grow alongside people who are committed to improvement. - https://www.facebook.com/groups/459320958216700

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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

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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:
(2:19) What blind spots actually are
(4:28) Mental maps and incomplete awareness
(7:33) Distinctions and why learning changes outcomes
(11:28) Self-belief and the courage to seek feedback
(21:29) Why education determines long-term success
(25:16) 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

• 2:19 What blind spots actually are
• 4:28 Mental maps and incomplete awareness
• 7:33 Distinctions and why learning changes outcomes
• 11:28 Self-belief and the courage to seek feedback
• 21:29 Why education determines long-term success
• 25:16 Outro

Transcript

Kevin Palmieri

(0:00) Back in the day when this podcast was called the Hyper Conscious Podcast, the best podcast of all time, maybe, in my humble opinion, the tagline was change the way you think, change the way you act, change the way you live. (0:11) One of the best ways to change the way you think is by asking yourself powerful questions like the one we're going to talk about today. (0:17) What am I missing?(0:19) What am I missing? (0:20) What am I missing? (0:21) This is a question I am constantly asking to try to figure out what I'm missing.(0:26) Welcome to Next Level University. (0:29) I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri. (0:31) And I'm your co-host, Alan Lazarus.(0:34) At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven, but no-BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers. (0:41) Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life, love, health, and wealth. (0:47) We bring you a new episode every single day on topics like confidence, self-belief, self-worth, self-awareness, relationships, boundaries, consistency, habits, and defining your own unique version of success.(1:03) Self-improvement, in your pocket, every day, from anywhere, completely free. (1:10) Welcome to Next Level University. (1:15) Next Level Nation today for episode number 2320.(1:19) Another question, excuse me, another question to ask yourself on repeat. (1:23) I've noticed there's a, we have a pattern. (1:26) When I do the cold open, I try to create curiosity.(1:29) When you do the cold open, you just give the answer away, immediately. (1:33) Always. (1:34) Well, shit.(1:36) I mean, shortest episode of all time. (1:37) That's, that's the question. (1:38) What's the question?(1:40) What am I missing? (1:41) What am I missing? (1:42) As always, we love you.(1:43) We appreciate you. (1:44) Super grateful. (1:46) We were, we were supposed to, so we met, and we were supposed to do two episodes, and we had a very deep conversation that was based on, I'm sure, to some degree, this question.(1:59) And I think that we wanted to do it, so we wanted to do an episode on how to find your blind spots. (2:05) And I said, what's your hypothesis? (2:08) How does somebody actually find their blind spots?(2:11) And I'll let you answer, but this was one of the things that you suggested. (2:15) So, where does somebody start? (2:18) What is a blind spot?(2:19) Let's start there. (2:19) You most likely know because you've been watching or listening to this long enough, but what is a blind spot, and then what is your advice for finding them? (2:26) I have a cool visual that we can take everybody through.(2:30) Love it. (2:31) I did this with a client yesterday. (2:32) I want you to picture whatever TV you usually watch TV on.(2:38) Got it? (2:39) Yeah. (2:40) Alright, nice.(2:40) Picture that. (2:41) Awesome. (2:41) Now, on said TV is a 360 degree rendering of Kevin Palmieri.(2:49) You get to see him from the back, from the side, from the front. (2:54) Now, that 360 degrees, now I want you to see him from the top. (2:58) See the top of his head.(2:59) Okay, now I want you to see him from the bottom. (3:02) Alright? (3:03) That is self-awareness.(3:06) So, it's not 360 degrees because it's technically infinite degrees. (3:11) Yeah. (3:12) Does that land?(3:13) Yeah. (3:14) Why I'm saying that?

Alan Lazaros

(3:14) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(3:15) Seeing you from every angle. (3:16) For anyone on YouTube, I'm looking at this coffee cup. (3:19) You can see the handle.(3:21) I can't. (3:23) I can because I'm looking in the goddamn camera, but you know what I'm saying. (3:26) So, the point is 360 degrees and then every angle.(3:30) So, you can see yourself from every angle. (3:34) Metacognition, blind spots are taking yourself out of yourself and looking at yourself from every angle. (3:41) I was on with a client yesterday.(3:42) She said, am I off about myself? (3:48) Am I off about how others perceive me? (3:51) Or do I perceive others perceive me different than how I think they do?(3:55) See how this gets down a rabbit hole very quickly? (3:57) Yeah. (3:58) All right.(3:59) I want you to imagine a truck that thinks it's a car. (4:01) It's going to keep hitting the guardrail because it's actually bigger than it thinks it is. (4:05) It is.(4:06) The point that I'm making is blind spots. (4:09) We all have them. (4:13) I want you to picture that TV with fucking 600 broken pixels.(4:19) You ever seen a TV with broken pixels? (4:21) Or some of the LEDs aren't working? (4:23) I'm sure.(4:24) So, 4K TV. (4:26) Let's say a thousand of the pixels are gone. (4:28) So, approximately one-fourth of the screen is gone.(4:32) That's the mental map that we're operating with. (4:35) So, imagine you're playing a video game and you can't see a fourth of the screen. (4:38) You're going to lose the game.(4:39) You're going to suck. (4:41) That's what it is in life. (4:42) How do you find somebody?(4:44) This is like, I think we've lost sight of this a little bit. (4:47) How do you find somebody that gives you unsolicited, regardless of themselves, advice? (4:53) Or perspective?(4:55) Or feedback? (4:56) Or whatever? (4:58) Well, I love the question.(5:03) Technically speaking, you can't. (5:04) It's impossible because everyone has a cognitive bias. (5:07) Yeah.(5:09) So, but you can get closer and closer and closer. (5:11) So, I'm always looking. (5:15) Okay, so you give me advice all the time.(5:17) I ask you for advice all the time. (5:18) I ask you questions all the time. (5:19) And then I'll, later that night, be like, nah.(5:23) He's missing it. (5:24) Ever go the other way where you're like, wow. (5:26) That was great.(5:27) Never happened that way or no? (5:29) Yeah. (5:30) Much rarer.(5:31) Well, you could just stop at the first part.

Alan Lazaros

(5:34) You don't have to say that last part.

Kevin Palmieri

(5:36) Well, dude, I always ask you, like, what am I missing? (5:38) And then you'll tell me what I'm missing and I'll get that pixel. (5:42) A lot of times I say, I could be wrong, but.(5:45) That's like my favorite line because I am wrong all the time. (5:50) Well, all's I'm trying to do, and I want this for the listener too, I need to see myself accurately, and I need to see how others see me accurately, and I need to see others accurately, and I need to see the world accurately. (6:04) A good example of this is, imagine, again, we're in the U.S., so imagine all 50 states. (6:09) Do you know where Louisiana is? (6:12) Down there, yep, next to Florida. (6:15) You got it, okay.(6:16) So, that's a mental map. (6:18) You didn't pull up a map on MapQuest right now. (6:21) You pulled up a map in your mind.(6:23) All of our decisions are based on that map. (6:26) So, if I said drive to Louisiana, you're going to go southwest. (6:31) But that's a metaphor for everything in life.(6:33) If I say, hey, go start a successful podcast, you have to go into your mental map, and you have a big mental map for podcasting. (6:41) You're nine years into podcasting. (6:43) We have worked with 86 podcasters currently.(6:46) It's technically 97 because we have group coaching. (6:48) But the point is, you have a 4K TV for podcasting, and you have a fucking pixelated N64 for fixing cars. (6:58) Does that make sense?(7:00) I would say so. (7:01) So, we were going to do an episode on breaking everything down into its smallest components, and that's kind of what we're doing, so I've hoodwinked you into doing it. (7:07) But at the end of the day, you always are asking, what am I missing, what am I missing, what am I missing, and you're always filling in your blind spots and then testing them.(7:17) I'm always coming to you like, what were we missing there? (7:21) Okay, that didn't go the way we'd hoped. (7:23) Why, why?(7:24) And then you give your opinion, and I'll give mine. (7:27) You give your perspective, I give mine, and then we find the new distinction. (7:33) And for those of you who don't, a distinction is basically like, there's 195 countries on planet Earth, that's a distinction.(7:42) I think of a thought bubble above your head, and every fact is a distinction. (7:48) So when you're born, you have no dots above your head, no thought bubble. (7:53) So, when I coach, what I do is I need to figure out what dots you have now, what dots you don't have, and then I have to give you the dots you need and then connect them for you.(8:06) And that's the aha moment. (8:10) And that's why when you and I meet the same person, I'm like, brother, that's a very different view. (8:16) We're not meeting the same person.(8:18) They react differently to you than they do to me, and you think they know a lot more than they know. (8:23) And I usually am more aware of how little they actually know, because I have more dots than you. (8:30) And that's why when, if you ever meet anyone who's not educated, they have very few dots.(8:36) They know, okay, book, but they don't know what the ancient philosophers have said, and they don't know the difference between philosophy and literature, and they don't know the difference between literature and global literature. (8:49) See, these are all distinctions. (8:50) Is it a blue pen, or is it a blue ballpoint pen, gel pen, that also leaks?(8:55) Everything is distinctions, and if you don't have the distinctions, you're basically not able to make effective choices. (9:03) How do you do it by yourself? (9:06) You can't.(9:07) How do you start? (9:08) Yeah, because I think everybody starts, again, it goes back to the conversation we have all the time. (9:13) If you don't have a ton of self-belief, you're not going to ask people, like, hey, where am I fucking up?(9:18) You just won't. (9:21) I don't think you will. (9:22) So I do this on every episode.(9:24) You, nine years ago, had a certain number of dots, understandings, distinctions about the world, right? (9:33) For sure. (9:34) What were some of the distinctions that cabinet 26 was missing, that he really fucking needed, by the way?(9:44) I mean, many distinctions in math, with numbers, for sure. (9:51) Understanding interest rates would have been super beneficial for me. (9:55) Nice.(9:55) Okay. (9:56) That's a big distinction. (9:58) Yeah.(9:58) Life-changing, that one distinction. (10:01) Change everything. (10:04) What else?(10:04) Yeah, just understanding, like, measuring stuff. (10:08) If I just looked at, okay, I'm making... (10:10) I only ever talked about how much money I was making.(10:12) I never talked about how much I was keeping or spending. (10:15) Ever. (10:16) That was...(10:16) I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever in a million years did that. (10:20) That would have been super beneficial. (10:21) I'm glad I made you CFO.(10:23) Right? (10:23) It's terrible.

Alan Lazaros

(10:24) You almost bankrupt the company.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:25) You did tell me not to, in your defense. (10:28) Look, if I am anything, I do try to be self-aware, and that's just blatantly obvious. (10:32) Why would you have the guy who hates math and is bad at it do the thing that requires math?(10:37) Well, you had a good relationship with money, I felt. (10:40) Yeah, but that's like... (10:41) I also have a good relationship with pizza, but I don't know how to fucking make it.(10:46) I'm not going to be a pizza chef anytime soon. (10:48) I like it. (10:49) Yeah, no, fair.(10:50) Liking it does not mean you're knowledgeable. (10:51) I presuppose you knew a lot more than you did. (10:53) Well, that was an L.(10:55) Yeah. (10:56) Learned a lot, though.

Alan Lazaros

(10:57) Yeah, for sure.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:57) Learned a lot in the position. (10:59) L, so many things. (11:00) I didn't have understandings on almost anything.(11:03) Fitness, I was good at. (11:05) I was good at hanging out with my friends. (11:08) I think I was a good friend.(11:09) I was fun. (11:11) But when it comes to success principles, none of that. (11:15) None of that.(11:16) But you and I started hanging out, and I was open to new ideas. (11:22) Definitely. (11:23) So I don't know if I proactively knew what I was doing.(11:28) I don't think I proactively woke up one day and said, okay, I'm going to go get feedback. (11:32) I don't think that was a conscious decision. (11:34) Were you used to fear chase?(11:37) Yeah, but that was more because I was sick of fucking feeling like a loser. (11:40) I just felt like a loser. (11:42) I was afraid of everything.(11:43) I got sick of that. (11:46) That was more. (11:47) What if one of the reasons you were afraid of everything is because you didn't know how anything worked?(11:52) It's like you study planes. (11:53) You're less afraid now. (11:54) Less afraid.(11:56) Yeah. (11:56) Nice if I could talk. (11:57) No, but what's the difference between tonality and volume?(12:01) That's a distinction. (12:03) Tonality, yeah. (12:04) Are we talking speaking terms?(12:05) Yeah, but that's my point. (12:06) If you're not a speaker, you don't need to know. (12:09) If you're a speaker, you better know that.(12:11) Yeah. (12:12) And what's storytelling? (12:13) You didn't know shit about storytelling.(12:17) No. (12:19) Maybe more than the average bear, as Amy would say. (12:22) Well, you were good at comedy, so you have to be a good storyteller.(12:25) But I think the point of all this is it goes back to two things. (12:29) One, I think it goes back to self-belief. (12:31) Two, I think it goes back to goals.(12:33) Is there a single episode where you're not going to tie it back to self-belief? (12:36) Not one ever. (12:36) No.(12:37) I firmly believe it is the most necessary thing on the planet. (12:43) I do. (12:45) I don't.(12:45) Yeah, without it. (12:46) I don't know why the world doesn't talk about it more. (12:49) Because nobody wants to admit they don't have it.(12:52) So somebody has to go. (12:54) It's like, yeah. (12:56) I don't know.(12:56) I think people forget. (12:57) They get on stage, and they're like, I am the fucking man. (13:00) And I've always been the man.(13:03) Well, what people say is, I was broke, but I knew if I kept going, I'd make it. (13:08) I was broke, and I didn't think I was going to make it.

Alan Lazaros

(13:11) Nobody wants to say that. (13:12) Are you going to be the first? (13:13) I hope so.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:13) Are you going to be the first to say that? (13:14) I'm sure I'm not. (13:15) Obviously not, yeah.(13:16) But I think that is the... (13:18) I don't know. (13:18) It's not a flex to not believe in yourself, even though I think it is.(13:21) I think it's the ultimate flex to admit it. (13:23) I think it's a flex to admit it, because no one does. (13:26) Yeah.(13:26) But I think without that... (13:31) I think it's the lack of understanding of the value of education. (13:34) When I say someone's really educated, does anyone...(13:37) Like, okay, there's this film. (13:40) What fucking movie is it? (13:43) It's a really good one.(13:47) Two young boys. (13:48) One of them becomes a doctor. (13:49) Their mom is struggling.(13:51) They're in the civil rights movement. (13:53) Damn it. (13:53) I don't know.(13:54) It's a really good movie. (13:54) Anyways, they clean houses. (13:56) She's a mom who's trying to put her kids through school, and she's cleaning houses.(14:00) She's in this mansion with this older gentleman. (14:04) His wife had just passed away, and he's grieving. (14:09) There's this big, beautiful library, and she's cleaning the library.(14:14) She is amazed. (14:15) She talks to the guy. (14:17) He's really kind.(14:17) He was very sweet. (14:19) He said, thank you. (14:20) You're doing such a great job.(14:22) She said, have you read all these books? (14:24) He looks around, and he says, yeah, most of them. (14:27) But he was humble about it.(14:29) She's like, whoa. (14:31) In that moment, you realize that one of the reasons this isn't always the case, but it's very, very hard to be really successful without being educated. (14:45) Some people do it.(14:47) Not all the rappers are educated. (14:49) But for the most part, the reason we have 5,200 colleges in the US is because we believed, someone believed, that education was the answer. (15:02) That's why public school systems versus private and college is so expensive and all that stuff.(15:06) Now, even me knowing 5,200 colleges in the US, there's 47 in Australia. (15:12) Those are distinctions. (15:14) There's more colleges in Massachusetts than the entire continent of Australia.(15:19) If not, it's close. (15:20) I'm not sure, but it's close. (15:21) The point I'm making is if you don't know there's only 43 million people in Canada and 350 million in the US and 110 million in the Philippines, you need to know distinctions in order to understand the world.(15:35) If you don't know how AI works, you don't know how the iPhone works, you don't know how the internet works, you don't know how computers work, you don't know how podcasting works. (15:41) This is where we disagree. (15:42) You have to know how the world works to flourish within it.(15:45) You have to. (15:46) I think you have to start with yourself. (15:48) I think you have to know how you work, too.(15:50) I don't disagree. (15:51) But you have to know yourself, others, and the world. (15:53) I know, but I think you have to start with yourself or others first.(15:57) Why? (15:59) Absolutely not. (16:00) You can start with the world first.(16:01) Let's say you and I are four and five. (16:03) You're four, I'm five. (16:04) We're hanging out.(16:05) Why do I have to start with self? (16:07) Why can't I play blocks with you and be like, yo, that's blue? (16:09) And you're like, no, that's red.(16:10) Well, at four, most people aren't aware about themselves. (16:14) That's not true. (16:15) I wasn't.(16:16) Human beings individually at fucking three, around two to four, that's when people see themselves in the mirror and identify that. (16:23) What I'm saying, all I'm saying is, I know a lot of fucking people that are successful that are not self-aware at all. (16:30) Yes, but they're not successful holistically, for fuck's sake.(16:34) Yes. (16:34) What would you rather be? (16:37) We'll pump the brakes.(16:39) I'm just kidding. (16:40) Would you rather be externally successful? (16:41) You've got to pick.(16:42) Don't give me that, well, I'll do it all. (16:44) Don't give me that shit. (16:45) You've got to pick one.(16:47) Externally successful or internal self-awareness. (16:50) Which one are you picking? (16:56) You're not going to pick externally successful.(16:58) You're going to pick internal self-awareness. (17:01) Yeah, but that would be pointless. (17:05) Don't say it's a fucking principle either.(17:07) Don't use that shit either. (17:08) It is a principle. (17:09) Don't use that shit.(17:09) No, no, real quick, real quick. (17:10) What is the point of internal self-awareness if you're not trying to be healthier, wealthier, and more in love? (17:16) Like, if your quality of your life can't improve, people think I don't care about quality of life.(17:20) Bullshit. (17:22) Bullshit. (17:22) Of course I do.(17:23) Just not as much as other people seem to.

Alan Lazaros

(17:25) And not necessarily in the way.

Kevin Palmieri

(17:26) My quality of life has improved every year for my entire life with a couple down years. (17:31) A couple serious down years. (17:34) But the truth is, there's no point in even listening to this fucking episode if you aren't going to become more educated so that you can go do better in the world.(17:42) I know, but I think the self-awareness piece. (17:46) So self-education matters more than formal education is what you're saying. (17:50) I don't disagree, but you need fucking both for sure.(17:53) I know you need both, but this is about blind spots. (17:55) Blind spots, I think, is a self-awareness thing. (18:00) No, it's a yourself, others, and the world thing.(18:03) I know, but I naturally go to yourself. (18:06) Why? (18:07) Because I think that's the pain.(18:08) So you have one third of the equation. (18:09) Congratulations. (18:10) No, no, I think that's the pain for a lot of people.(18:12) That's where my pain came from was not knowing myself. (18:15) So naturally I'm going to... (18:15) Oh, okay, okay.(18:16) That actually, okay. (18:18) Yeah, if you're not self-aware... (18:20) I feel like I always understood other people.(18:21) I feel like I understood other people better than I understood myself for a long time. (18:25) But that's unique to you, brother. (18:27) Well, but what I'm saying is my opinion.(18:29) I'm not saying for you out there watching or listening. (18:31) So you're trying to get people out of pain then. (18:34) If you want to get out of pain...(18:36) But here's the thing, it's always those three. (18:38) Because if you don't know anything about money and you don't know how to make money, you're going to be in a lot of pain. (18:43) Yeah, but what if you first know that you have a bad relationship with money?(18:47) No matter what, it's going to go... (18:49) It's going to happen in some order. (18:52) Yeah, which is why I don't agree there should be any one syntax, which is weird because normally I'm the syntax guy.(18:57) You know what it is? (18:58) It depends on the individual. (18:59) That's what it is.(19:00) I'm all in on that. (19:01) So if you want it to be self-awareness, I'll be very direct here. (19:06) Kev, you understood yourself when we first met nine years ago better than most men.(19:11) But that's because I had pain around it so I went and did the work. (19:15) Agreed. (19:16) But you didn't know shit about the world.(19:17) Pissed me right off. (19:18) I didn't know anything. (19:18) You didn't know how the world worked at all.(19:20) No. (19:20) So your issue wasn't self-awareness. (19:23) Your issue was the world.(19:24) You didn't know science, technology, engineering, mathematics, business, and finance. (19:27) You didn't know the different types of government. (19:30) But I still was a six-figure earner.(19:33) I don't care. (19:34) You were miserable. (19:35) I know, but listen, that's because of self, mother goose.(19:38) No, it isn't. (19:39) It's because you didn't know how to design a fucking career that you love. (19:42) No, I did love my career.(19:44) Bullshit. (19:45) I swear to you, in the beginning, I loved it. (19:49) Then...(19:50) You talked about nearly dying in attics. (19:55) Yeah, so I've almost died on this fucking journey, too. (19:58) What are we kidding?(20:00) I also talked about the panic attacks I had on the floor of a hotel in Florida. (20:04) That was terrible.

Alan Lazaros

(20:05) Yeah, that was bad.

Kevin Palmieri

(20:06) I thought I was dying for sure. (20:08) I got Vic's vapor rub, put it under my nose so I could prove to myself that I could breathe. (20:12) No, I can still smell it.(20:13) I'm good. (20:14) Tough times, huh? (20:15) It was terrible.(20:17) So maybe that's the lesson. (20:19) Maybe that's the takeaway for all of us. (20:21) That's what I thought I needed.(20:23) I felt like I didn't know myself for most of my life. (20:27) That's the irony, though. (20:28) I think you...(20:29) I know. (20:30) I have some... (20:31) One person's like, I have low self-awareness.(20:33) No, you don't. (20:34) You know yourself better than 99% of people. (20:37) And then I was on with someone earlier.(20:39) Oh, I know myself perfectly. (20:41) Oh, no, you don't, sir. (20:42) Oh, crap.(20:42) But isn't that... (20:44) Okay, that's crossing the chasm between self-awareness and other awareness. (20:47) You get self-aware and then you lose the fact of other people's awarenesses to the fact that you think you're not self-aware.(20:56) Yeah, they're all connected. (20:56) They're all connected. (20:57) We'll do a part two.(20:58) I think we should. (20:59) I think you should fuck right off. (21:01) Okay.(21:02) What do you think, though, seriously? (21:04) I said what I think. (21:06) I said it with my chest.(21:07) What else? (21:08) Should we do a part two? (21:09) We don't have time.(21:10) We can't do this forever. (21:12) We could do it forever. (21:12) No, we can't.(21:15) You're self-authors in the world. (21:16) This whole point of this episode, real quick, was what am I missing? (21:20) That's why we're debating.(21:22) Because Kevin and I at all times are trying to figure out what we're missing. (21:27) Yeah. (21:28) Okay.(21:29) Chessboard. (21:32) 32 pieces. (21:34) 64 spaces.(21:36) 8x8. (21:39) You don't know what the pieces do. (21:41) You've never played chess before.(21:42) You've never contemplated opening positions or ending positions. (21:46) You don't even know what the fucking king is, the queen, the pawn, the rook. (21:49) You're fucked.(21:51) That's not... (21:52) That's what life is when you don't have an education. (21:55) If you don't know yourself, others in the world, it's like playing chess against the greatest chess masters in the world.(22:00) You don't even know what the pieces do. (22:01) I used to say that in my 20s. (22:03) You can't succeed in life by design without learning how to play chess.(22:09) You need to know the pawn and the rook and the bishop. (22:11) You need to know the pieces. (22:12) You need to know the positions.(22:14) You need to know how they interact. (22:15) You need to know about the economy and yourself and finance and fitness. (22:20) You can't just wing it.(22:23) I still think self is the most important. (22:25) Oh my god. (22:26) I do.(22:27) There's no way. (22:29) You're scientifically wrong because it's all a mirror. (22:33) You can't know the world without knowing a little bit about self and you can't know the self without knowing a little bit more about the world because they're interconnected.(22:39) There's a relationship. (22:40) That's like saying, I want to learn how to swim but I don't want to learn how to float. (22:45) You have to do both.(22:48) I think when I connect learning about the world, maybe this is the disconnect. (22:53) This is where I'm right and now you're going to understand that I'm right. (22:56) When I think about learning about the world, I'm thinking about learning about the past, which is also the world.(23:03) Why? (23:05) Because that's how you build self-awareness. (23:08) It's one of the ways.(23:08) You look in the past and then you pattern recognize and you figure out, how the fuck did I get here and why am I afraid of this, this, this and why do I love this, this and this and why am I addicted to this, this and this? (23:19) That. (23:20) But you're still learning about the world.(23:22) All right, you and me, real quick. (23:23) You and I, we take away all your awareness of the world and others and just keep your self-awareness and we take away all my self-awareness but I get to understand others and the world. (23:40) Who is more successful?(23:42) I mean, there's a lot of intricacies here. (23:45) I mean, what do you mean by success? (23:46) You don't get to know about planes.(23:48) You don't get to know about business. (23:50) You don't get to know about finance or how weight training, like nothing external of you. (23:55) Well, by that definition, you'd lose too.(23:58) Yeah, yeah. (23:59) No, I cheated for sure.

Alan Lazaros

(24:01) Where I get two-thirds of the equation, you only get one-third. (24:03) I appreciate the honesty.

Kevin Palmieri

(24:03) That was to make my point. (24:05) I know, but that's a principle that you can't cross and I want to let you know. (24:07) All right, all right.(24:09) We'll do a part two for sure. (24:10) Okay. (24:10) We'll do a part two for sure.(24:11) Awesome. (24:12) And I'm coming, I'm going to come with the same energy or I will think about this. (24:17) Or you'll have some distinctions.(24:18) I'll think about this after and then I'll come back and be like, hmm, I think I was wrong about this, this, this because I've done that before and I most likely would do that again. (24:24) But regardless, regardless of all the, and again, Alan and I, this is our favorite thing in the world to have heated debates about self-improvement and growth and personal development. (24:35) Figure out how to get more understanding.(24:41) Whichever one you are the least competent in. (24:44) Start there. (24:45) Or the least competent or the one you want the least because usually the one you want the least is for a reason.(24:51) A hundred percent. (24:52) That's usually the hardest one. (24:53) All right, cool.(24:54) All right. (24:54) If you're looking for somebody to help you build self-awareness to limit the blind spots you have, Alan has coaching slots available. (25:02) We'll have his link in the show notes below.(25:05) And if you're looking for a group of amazing humans who are into doing the work, into growing, into understanding themselves at a deeper level, make sure you join our private Facebook group, Next Level Nation. (25:14) We'll have the link below for that as well. (25:16) As always, we love you.(25:17) We appreciate you. (25:18) Grateful for each and every one of you. (25:19) 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.(25:27) Keep leveling up your awareness. (25:29) Next Level Nation. (25:31) Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level University.(25:35) We love connecting with the Next Level family. (25:38) We mean it when we say family. (25:40) If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly.(25:43) Everything you need to get a hold of us is in the show notes. (25:46) Thank you again, and we will talk to you tomorrow.