Success And Failure Don’t Happen Overnight (2334)

In today’s episode of Next Level University, hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros challenge the belief that success or failure happens in one defining moment. They reveal how most people lose momentum through small daily choices, unnoticed habits, and gradual misalignment with their goals. This conversation breaks down why discipline fades, why consistency slips, and how high performers protect their standards when motivation disappears.

You will hear how identity, structure, and long-term thinking determine whether you build momentum or drift off course. If you care about personal growth, peak performance, and self-leadership, this episode delivers rare clarity. Do not listen passively. Listen to recalibrate. Then take action.

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• Kevin: https://www.instagram.com/neverquitkid/
• Alan: https://www.instagram.com/alazaros88/

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

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Email:
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Kevin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-palmieri-5b7736160/
Alan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanlazarosllc/

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Show notes:
(2:05) How drifting destroys progress
(6:21) Studying high performers and playing the long game
(9:21) Nine years of consistency without quitting
(13:38) Why foundational habits are invisible
(16:35) The difference between urgent and important
(18:01) Protecting non-negotiable fundamentals
(23:02) Systems, tracking, and performance design
(26:38) The one nail per day principle
(27:15) How drift leads to long-term failure
(31:59) 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.

Transcript

Kevin Palmieri

(0:00) You have heard us say many times and you hear all the time there's no such thing as overnight success. (0:06) For the most part, and obviously I know in in very specific cases, I think there's really no such thing as overnight failure either.

Alan Lazaros

(0:14) There are 55 people in our Next Level Fitness Accountability group and I said this this morning, I said everyone's hot out of the gate in this new challenge, but don't drift. (0:24) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:27) I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri. (0:29) And I'm your co-host, Alan Lazarus. (0:32) At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers.

Alan Lazaros

(0:38) Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life, love, health, and wealth.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:45) 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

(1:01) Self-improvement in your pocket, every day, from anywhere, completely free. (1:07) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Palmieri

(1:13) Next Level Nation, today for episode number 2334, success and failure don't happen overnight. (1:22) I had a buddy, started a business, became an entrepreneur as a seasoned, successful entrepreneur. (1:31) And that's in quotations for those just listening.(1:34) He said, you have any advice for me? (1:35) And I said, yes. (1:36) Very early on, I thought we were going to get one huge windfall and I thought it was just going to happen one day.(1:44) And I also assumed every time I made a mistake, that was also the end. (1:49) So I thought there was these massive peaks and these massive valleys, when in reality, it's very small. (1:57) So the successes we had were small, but they stacked.(2:00) The failures we had were small, so they were almost weren't noticeable in the grand scheme of things. (2:05) And I think that's a good way to put drifting. (2:09) You're most likely not going to wait, you're not going to go from tracking 20 habits to saying, you know what, fuck this, I'm not going to track any habits.(2:16) No, you'll say, I don't really care about mobility. (2:19) I'm going to give myself a rest. (2:21) I deserve it.(2:22) I'll get back after a week. (2:24) I don't really, this track and macros thing. (2:27) Kids are out of school.(2:29) Like I'm going to have fun. (2:30) I want to have ice cream every once in a while. (2:31) And then little by little by little, all the things that you built up little by little by little start to fall like a domino effect.(2:38) And I think that's probably the best example of drifting that there is really.

Alan Lazaros

(2:42) Where do you think that mentality came from when you, because I do remember that. (2:47) I remember you thought there'd be one big moment. (2:50) Still hoping for it.(2:51) No, not really. (2:54) And ironically, if we do have a big moment, it will probably be paradoxically because we aren't really shooting for one big moment.

Kevin Palmieri

(3:01) We have had big moments, but it's, I don't know, you get to a point where you understand it doesn't really, it changes a lot, but everything stays the same at the same time. (3:13) So where do you think that mentality came from? (3:15) Because I have a thought.(3:18) Yeah. (3:19) Because I think most people don't actually study how people get successful. (3:25) So they just assume it just happened.(3:28) They don't know that. (3:30) Who was I? (3:31) I was watching something the other day.(3:36) Oh, one of the rappers I like has been rapping for like 12 years and he's not successful at all in the grand scheme of things. (3:44) I love, I'm a huge fan. (3:46) He makes great music.(3:47) He might keep doing this for another like five years, 10 years. (3:51) He might never be successful, but let's say he pops off in three years. (3:55) Anybody who doesn't research him is gonna be like, oh, this new up and coming artist.(3:59) Now this dude's been at this for a decade and a half. (4:02) Unless you go back and do the research, you don't, you don't really know. (4:06) So I think it's, I think it's that a good example is would be like if you had never had a laptop before and you got a Mac book and you didn't understand like how far computers have come.(4:20) I just don't think there's enough context. (4:21) I think that's what it is. (4:22) There's not enough context.

Alan Lazaros

(4:23) Yeah. (4:24) Well, the, the, the lesson there's different than what we intended is to study success. (4:31) It's important.(4:32) If you want to be successful, study success. (4:37) That makes a lot of sense to me. (4:39) Why wouldn't that have made sense to you early on?

Kevin Palmieri

(4:42) Because most people, I didn't feel like most people actually talked about what made them successful.

Alan Lazaros

(4:47) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(4:47) A lot of people don't because you can't, you can't listen to what a lot of people say because they get to a certain point and then they change everything. (4:55) They say, well, now I'm in a different phase where I wouldn't have worked so hard. (4:58) It's like, well, that's because now you're 60 years old and you're financially set for life and you have to worry about anything.(5:05) Of course you wouldn't worry so much now. (5:08) Right? (5:08) Of course.(5:09) Or you did this in a way that is more misaligned than you realize and now you regret it. (5:14) So I think, or it just like, I don't know, it was, it was motivational to hear the story of the journey, but it was never, I never connected with, well, that's how I would have to do it too. (5:28) It was never that.(5:30) It was never that. (5:32) One of the things about rap is most of them glorify how long it's taken, which I enjoy. (5:38) Like, I really enjoy that.(5:39) I enjoy that very, very much, but you, I never connected with like, well, if I was to do the same thing, it would also be the same for me. (5:46) I don't think I ever thought about it that way. (5:49) You thought it would be different.(5:50) You'd just be a successful rapper. (5:53) No, there was none. (5:53) I didn't think anything.(5:55) It wasn't, I wasn't comparing my life to theirs. (5:57) It was just like, wow, imagine doing something like every week for 10 years and like still not making it and still doing it. (6:08) Like that's some shit right there.(6:10) I think for me, it was like inspirational.

Alan Lazaros

(6:14) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(6:15) But yeah. (6:16) But I never pictured myself doing it. (6:19) If that makes sense.

Alan Lazaros

(6:21) I, I have a client, I know you're listening and I said, you need to, you don't need to do anything, but if, if you want to be successful, cause I asked her, I said, do you want to be the best in the world at what you do? (6:35) Or do you just want to be successful? (6:38) She said the first one.(6:40) I said, well, okay, then you should do this. (6:42) You need to do this because everything's an if, if you don't want to be the best in the world at what you do, you don't have to do a lot of this stuff we talk about. (6:50) You know, most of it can be average on your own doing very little actually.(6:55) But if you want to be next level and I'm talking very successful in whatever it is you do, you have to put yourself in the shoes of other people in your industry. (7:03) I was just on with an actor. (7:05) He wants to be an A-list movie star.(7:06) And I said, okay, well, we have to study the entire industry. (7:08) We have to study who has done it, how they did it, what, what they did, where you fit in the whole thing, bell curve, the whole nine. (7:16) And I'm going to tie this back to drifting, but playing the long game and not drifting from your thing.(7:26) Michael Byrd, I had him on business growth university. (7:30) We had him on the hyper conscious podcast way back. (7:32) He used to have this quote that I loved.(7:33) He said, it's long obedience in the same direction. (7:37) And what do you mean? (7:38) And I like the word obedience, obedience to the goal.(7:42) I don't like the word obedience in human to human interactions. (7:45) Like don't be obedient to anyone, but to your goals, you better be, be subservient to your goals for sure. (7:51) And to your dreams, like in the fitness group, it's on fire right now.(7:56) I'm very grateful. (7:57) Everybody. (7:57) I am.(7:57) It's awesome. (7:58) Let's go. (7:58) But I had the thought, I had the thought it's like, you're out of the gate.(8:04) You and I are going to be in there once a day, every day for all of 2026. (8:08) We promise that to our listeners. (8:10) I've kept that promise.(8:12) I'm 99.99% sure I have as well. (8:16) I'm 99.99% sure that my camera needs changing. (8:22) No.(8:22) So it is, it's definitely the hand gestures, but anyways, no hands. (8:26) Can't use no hands. (8:27) Can't use my hands.(8:28) I talk with my hands, man. (8:30) Nope. (8:30) Not anymore.(8:32) Hands down. (8:33) No, the drift though. (8:36) We don't fall off our goals.(8:38) We just drift. (8:42) And I did, I had the moment today. (8:44) I was super grateful that everyone was on fire in the group, but I thought to myself, you and I will still be in there the same amount in three months, nine months, probably three years.(8:58) I intend on it. (9:00) We're not going to drift man. (9:03) And, and I don't want to just celebrate us all the time because I think that's stupid, but I do want to educate the importance of this and talk from my own experience.(9:21) You and I never really drifted in podcasting. (9:27) Now imagine having a successful podcast is the true North. (9:35) Okay.(9:36) Now let's be a little more specific. (9:37) Having a successful podcast in some sort of personal development, personal growth, self-improvement. (9:44) Okay.(9:46) Conversations change lives. (9:47) Hyperconscious podcast. (9:49) Next level university.(9:51) Listener focus. (9:54) Some form of personal development, self-improvement, personal growth. (9:59) One episode, two episodes a week, three episodes a week.(10:02) We never, we strayed. (10:04) We changed. (10:05) We evolved.(10:06) We switched the branding. (10:07) We switched the colors. (10:08) We, but we never strayed from the thing.(10:12) The main thing stayed the main thing. (10:14) And here we are nine years later in March, still doing it. (10:19) And we've seen podcasters come and go constantly.(10:24) And a lot of our success, quote unquote, we've achieved a lot of our dreams. (10:28) Not all, certainly not what I think we're capable of, not even a fraction of what I think we're capable of, but we've achieved a lot. (10:34) I'm very grateful.(10:35) I have 26 paying clients, one-on-one coaching that started with zero. (10:41) Way back. (10:42) And then it was two and then one, and then it was three and then two, and then it was five and then four, and then it was seven and then six.(10:49) I took as many L's as I did W's, but the W's were just a little more than the L's. (10:56) And more people stayed than left. (10:59) Less than I would have loved.(11:01) Less than I would have liked. (11:02) But you do, it's over time if you just don't drift. (11:06) And I think that a large majority of us just don't have the clarity or maybe the commitment or whatever.(11:12) You just don't drift that far. (11:14) You and I have drifted. (11:17) We did small talks.(11:17) We did scratching the surface. (11:19) We did one word a day. (11:20) We did the Motivational Monday.(11:22) We did the Freestyle Friday. (11:23) We did meetups and master classes and live podcasts and we did all this stuff. (11:29) But we never really stopped podcasting.(11:34) We never really stopped focusing on helping our listeners be more successful through some form of getting better every day. (11:42) There's certain things about us that just never strayed. (11:45) And I know that a lot of our success is because of that.

Kevin Palmieri

(11:48) I'll tell you right now somewhere that I'm messing up. (11:51) I am drifting with my habit tracking for sure. (11:56) I mean, how many times over the last month have you had to ping me and say, hey man, can you update your stats?(12:02) And it happened. (12:04) We got a bunch of new clients, many of them very big clients. (12:08) One client that requires me to travel and my morning routine went out the window.(12:13) So I wake up, I go to the gym, I come home and I sit my butt in the office and I go to battle. (12:21) And I check my WhatsApp and I check my emails and I make sure everything that needs to be posted gets posted. (12:26) And sometimes it just goes off the rails.(12:29) And I don't, it doesn't seem like I have time to do that. (12:33) And here's a very honest thing. (12:34) And I think one of the reasons a lot of us drift, it doesn't feel like it's the most important thing because in the moment it's not.(12:40) It doesn't matter when it happens. (12:42) It doesn't have to happen first thing in the morning. (12:43) It should be the last thing I do if that's what it takes.(12:47) But I've been fucking that up for a minute now and it's been, it hasn't been conscious. (12:52) I don't notice it necessarily, but Alan does when he's looking for metrics to track. (12:59) So I think that's a really good example.(13:01) It's not intentional. (13:03) Alan in the dark, Alan after dark, it's not intentional. (13:07) It, you know why drifting is so easy because the things that you're doing that create your success is the lighting is actually fucking worse.

Alan Lazaros

(13:22) Oh, Kevin, you did a good job powering through. (13:25) You really did listeners. (13:26) What's happening.(13:26) We're out here doing it. (13:28) I turned off one of my lights and it actually got worse. (13:31) Do we do, are we doing it?

Kevin Palmieri

(13:32) No, no, we're just going to keep going.

Alan Lazaros

(13:34) Yeah. (13:35) God, we can go drifting. (13:36) We're not going to drift.(13:37) We got this.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:38) I think that's why, because the things that bring you success are almost invisible. (13:42) So when you stop doing them, it's invisible too. (13:45) And it doesn't because the things that you're doing don't feel like they're making you successful.(13:50) So when you stop doing them, they don't, it doesn't feel like you're taking your success away. (13:53) That's why I think that's why it's so hard. (13:55) And very often you drift from a fundamental to, to a new opportunity that then becomes a new fundamental.(14:05) And then things get all wonky based on that.

Alan Lazaros

(14:09) Yeah. (14:09) You build a pyramid with the foundation, super strong, and then you climb to the next level, next level, next level. (14:15) And then the foundation starts to erode and you're like, meh, that's all right.(14:21) I'm still up here. (14:22) We're good. (14:22) It's like Jenga, just taking blocks out of the bottom, you know?

Kevin Palmieri

(14:26) Well, the goals change too. (14:27) I think that's a hard thing. (14:28) Like we were hyper focused on growing the business this year and some things I didn't focus as much on growing or sorry, last year, I didn't focus as much on growing myself as I had in the past.

Alan Lazaros

(14:41) Yeah, that was the foundation.

Kevin Palmieri

(14:44) But the foundation doesn't always get the thing.

Alan Lazaros

(14:50) That's why I'm so glad we're doing fitness again because fitness was where this started and we lost it, man, for a while. (14:57) So, uh, Kevin and I are in a very interesting energy and we're also trying to make sure my lighting doesn't keep messing up, but I also think we're in a weird space. (15:06) You just got a new place.(15:08) Uh, we're leveling up. (15:11) I also get annoyed that we drift. (15:17) I do think it's one of those things I don't want.(15:21) I do think that statistically speaking, we're good at not drifting, but I also don't think we're as good as we need to be. (15:27) Fair. (15:28) Like what's another example of things that we would do?(15:36) There are just certain fundamentals that it just doesn't feel like there's time for anymore.

Kevin Palmieri

(15:41) I understand. (15:42) I dude, I went to bed at 11 o'clock last night and I got up at five o'clock to make sure client stuff was done.

Alan Lazaros

(15:48) Yeah. (15:49) I didn't go to the gym today to do payroll.

Kevin Palmieri

(15:51) Right. (15:51) I didn't, I didn't get my exercise in yet. (15:54) I didn't, I haven't tracked my habits yet, but that's been the thing that's most important that because here's why this is why there are certain things that when you drift from them, you see the detriments immediately and you that it's the squeaky wheel.(16:13) It's a squeaky wheel. (16:14) You can't not do dishes because if you don't do dishes, your kitchen piles up, it smells like shit and it gets overwhelming.

Alan Lazaros

(16:22) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:22) But well, I didn't track my finances today. (16:25) Like nobody cares. (16:26) It doesn't affect anybody else.(16:27) It is seemingly invisible. (16:29) It takes a long time before.

Alan Lazaros

(16:32) Yeah, that's so true. (16:35) So some of the most important things are not urgent and they're not even noticeable.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:42) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(16:43) Yeah. (16:43) Until like, cause they're for the future. (16:46) They're not for now.(16:47) Exactly.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:47) When, when the things that are for the future are invisible in the now, when the things, when the things you did in the past for the future become the present, it's really hard to do them because now you have new things that you're building for the future that have to get done. (17:03) And it's a whole, wait, let's go through that.

Alan Lazaros

(17:06) Uh, I know we got to go in a minute, but past self built these, this momentum to bring you to this level of success right here. (17:18) And then this level of success right here creates opportunities that are new challenges to go and get, which takes away focus from the things that you did years ago to get you here. (17:33) Which ones do you keep and which ones do you get rid of?(17:36) And this is what I do in coaching all the time. (17:38) I just got off a coaching session earlier and I had him get rid of a bunch of shit that I don't think is relevant. (17:45) So you have to always be reassessing, reassessing, reassessing what is still relevant and what isn't.(17:51) And there's certain fundamentals that should never go. (17:53) One of the things that I think should never go is daily exercise. (17:57) You don't have to be crazy with it, but moving your body every single day.(18:01) I think that's just should never go sleeping. (18:04) Effective sleeping is should never go. (18:07) Um, reading, I don't think should ever go.(18:09) Otherwise you'll end up with rickets of the mind. (18:12) Jim Rohn says you just get dumber and you don't even notice it. (18:15) So there's certain fundamentals that should never go.(18:18) But then there's other things where it's like meditation, journaling, stretching mobility. (18:26) It stacks up pretty quick, man. (18:29) It honestly does.(18:29) Like there's so many things you could do. (18:32) Think about, okay, flossing, brushing your teeth, dream, uh, journaling, meditating, reading, uh, exercise, different forms of exercise, getting great sleep, tracking your sleep, tracking your calories, tracking your finances, spending, earning. (18:52) It does it.(18:53) It's, and it's like, what do you keep? (18:58) I try to keep the ones that I know will pay off the most long-term. (19:04) This podcast happens to be one of them.(19:09) I, uh, I've done a morning mindset workout every day for 11 years. (19:14) It's a video called ode to excellence and I still do it. (19:18) It's like three minutes, three minutes, 20 seconds, something like that.(19:23) And there have been days where I missed and then I doubled up. (19:26) But there's just certain ones that I never want to get rid of. (19:31) And there's certain ones that I did get rid of that I wish I didn't like mobility is one that I don't think I've ever stopped doing and not regret it.(19:37) Eventually. (19:38) I think it's one of the things that are best for your future self and you can't choose 20. (19:45) I wish you could.(19:47) I really do. (19:47) There was a point where I had 20 things on my tracker. (19:50) I don't do that anymore, man.(19:51) I don't.

Kevin Palmieri

(19:52) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(19:54) I did a BGU episode on this recently. (19:57) I know we got to get out of here. (19:58) Three for the morning.(20:00) We all have a morning and afternoon and evening. (20:02) Kevin's morning starts really early, probably around six, right? (20:05) Five, six, six.(20:07) Okay. (20:07) When does your afternoon start? (20:09) I know it's not afternoon, but you are in the office front facing, uh, eight, eight.(20:14) Okay. (20:15) So eight is when his afternoon starts, quote unquote, then your evening starts at six, something like that. (20:21) Okay.(20:22) Everyone has a morning, afternoon, evening, split your day into thirds and they should have sort of themes. (20:27) And then when you're traveling, try to hit those themes, but it's obviously more loose, but you should have no more than three musts in each one of those that you sustain. (20:37) And I, I have a BGU episode.(20:39) I'll put, put it in the show notes that breaks down your day into wake up time, bedtime, morning, afternoon, evening, three focuses under each. (20:49) So for me, it's dreamline exercise, mobility, 11 a.m. hits from 11 to eight. (20:57) It's coaching, training, podcasting, eight hits.(20:59) It's family are in our food. (21:08) And again, I I'm messing that up, but you can break down your day into thirds and then make those three things happen. (21:14) And then honestly, I just got off with some shout out to Justin.(21:21) I just got off with someone. (21:22) He had a hundred percent on his tracker for an entire 30 days. (21:26) Crushed it.(21:26) Okay. (21:27) Yeah, absolutely crushing it. (21:29) And he said, dude, like I'm going to bed sometimes at 4am because I need to get all these done before I go to bed.(21:36) And I said, that's not optimal. (21:40) He's like, well, I, I want to do them all. (21:42) And it's like, I totally understand, but we can't have 50 things.(21:45) You shouldn't have 50 things. (21:47) Some people have three things. (21:48) Some people have nine, some people have 18 at the end of the day, figure out what is most important.(21:56) And then you have to constantly change what's most important. (21:58) And one of the reasons why I'm so frustrated in this moment is this is not a podcast episode. (22:03) This is a coaching call.(22:07) How do you determine what not to drift on?

Kevin Palmieri

(22:11) You don't, you reflect on what you think worked in the past, but it's really hard to know. (22:16) You know how many things I probably forgot that I used to do? (22:20) Like, think about that.(22:21) I probably forgot a whole lot of shit that I used to do.

Alan Lazaros

(22:25) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(22:26) And I don't remember. (22:27) I don't remember. (22:29) Last night.(22:30) So I'm, I, nothing is here. (22:33) So I literally slept on an air mattress and Taryn's office. (22:36) And I listened to a sound machine on my phone because we have a sound machine at home.(22:40) The sound machines aren't here yet, dude. (22:42) I used to listen to positive affirmations when I slept.

Alan Lazaros

(22:46) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(22:47) I completely forgot about that until last night because I had my phone open on YouTube. (22:52) And I was like, Oh my goodness. (22:53) I used to sleep with these every night.(22:55) Yep. (22:56) Interesting. (22:57) I completely forgot about that.(22:58) Is that worth bringing back? (22:59) Maybe, probably not though. (23:01) Right?(23:01) Probably not.

Alan Lazaros

(23:02) This is the designing your life versus like working in it. (23:08) It's the work on your life instead of just working in your life. (23:11) That's really what this is.(23:13) You, for the listeners before we go, what is it that you can't drift on? (23:19) What are the musts that you just don't drift? (23:21) I have a few that I've never drifted for 11 years now.(23:25) And there's other ones that I was diehard and now I'm not at all. (23:33) Other ones that I still sort of do every other day, a couple times a week. (23:37) I have weekly systems.(23:38) I have daily systems. (23:39) I have monthly systems. (23:40) I have quarterly systems and I have annual systems.(23:42) I do. (23:43) I do a review every Sunday. (23:45) I have certain things that I track every Sunday.(23:47) I used to track every day. (23:48) Now I track, and I get so frustrated because I can't explain all this necessarily. (23:54) And here's the other thing that's a little bit hard.(23:58) You have a peak performance dashboard. (24:01) You have a peak performance dashboard. (24:03) How many sheets are on that thing?

Kevin Palmieri

(24:07) 15 probably.

Alan Lazaros

(24:08) Right. (24:08) I added you, me, and Christina, the chief officer's sheets. (24:13) It was like 50 sheets.(24:15) I have a promo. (24:16) I have communities. (24:17) I have WhatsApp groups.(24:18) I have all these different dashboards that optimize and align my life. (24:25) And everyone's dashboard rolls up to a master dashboard that we use every time we have a team huddle, which is going to be in 20 minutes, which is every other week. (24:33) And then we have a calendar.(24:34) We have systems on systems on systems and SOPs and checklists. (24:39) It is very well engineered. (24:41) And that's why I fucking struggle podcasting because I can't.(24:47) It's like my hands are tied behind my back. (24:50) Whereas when I'm coaching, I can dial you in. (24:54) We can optimize your existence underneath your goals and you will achieve them.(24:59) And it will be hard, but you will achieve them. (25:02) But otherwise you're going to drift. (25:04) Can you imagine, dude?(25:05) Think about take away my spreadsheet, take away the NLU dashboard, take away Christina's spreadsheet, take away your spreadsheet, take away all my clients' spreadsheets, take away all peak performance tracking, take away all the listener dashboard. (25:16) Kevin tracks the listens. (25:17) We have Next Level University, Podcast Growth University, Business Growth University, and the Conscious Couples Podcast.(25:22) I track those every week. (25:24) We've reached 1.4 million people almost. (25:28) Imagine if we were just winging it.

Kevin Palmieri

(25:32) I mean, I can because that was my life for the most part.

Alan Lazaros

(25:40) As an engineer, I'm always designing and redesigning my life and everyone else's life for success. (25:49) And I think the reason we haven't drifted is probably because we've engineered our life to avoid drifting.

Kevin Palmieri

(25:58) Well, that's what tracking is. (26:00) Yeah. (26:01) One of the weird, again, I like weird stuff.(26:03) For some reason, there's these channels I found where it's these people that are solo crossing large bodies of water, various oceans and seas. (26:12) And one of them I kept waking up in the middle of the night to make sure I wasn't drifting off course. (26:17) That sucks.(26:19) That probably sucks to wake up when you've just fallen asleep on a boat in the middle of nowhere by yourself. (26:24) Yes. (26:25) And they want to make sure they don't drift.(26:28) That is the point. (26:30) That is why you do it. (26:31) Last thing before we get out of here, I had this thought come to me when you were talking.(26:38) Imagine you're building a house and you're building it, you're putting up, you're doing the framing, you're doing everything. (26:44) If you only did one nail a day, it would feel like nothing was happening. (26:50) One nail, one nail.(26:51) And eventually, let's say it's a year later, you have the house. (26:56) Imagine if every single day a nail fell out. (26:59) You wouldn't notice anything.(27:00) You wouldn't notice anything for months probably. (27:03) One falls out here and then one falls on the other side of that. (27:06) And then one falls out in the basement.(27:07) One's in the attic. (27:08) You don't even see the attic so you don't know what's going on up there. (27:10) You wouldn't notice for a long, long period of time.(27:14) That is drifting.

Alan Lazaros

(27:15) I think that's a really good example of drifting. (27:17) I feel like that's why people get divorced. (27:18) I feel like nobody expects, nobody gets married and says, I'm going to get divorced.(27:23) No one starts out after high school and they were a three-sport athlete and they expect to get fat. (27:30) Nobody expects to go bankrupt. (27:32) It happens little by little by little by little.(27:35) All of a sudden, it's like, how did I get so fat? (27:37) How did I get divorced? (27:39) How did I go bankrupt?(27:41) Nobody starts a business to go out of business, but businesses go out of business all the time. (27:45) I am convinced it's because they are not tracking. (27:49) They're not on track.(27:50) I have one client, shout out to you if you're listening. (27:53) So you want to double your business this year, I need you here every time. (27:57) You could put it all on the court and not double your business anyway.(28:00) You can't miss. (28:01) You can't want a $5 million a year business and hanging out. (28:06) It's like, it breaks my brain why we believe that we should achieve great things and have it not require us to stay on track.(28:18) It will always break my brain.

Kevin Palmieri

(28:21) Because if we didn't believe that, we would never start the thing. (28:26) I think if we knew the truth from the very beginning, people would opt out immediately. (28:31) Certain people, not everybody.(28:33) Not everybody, but certain people. (28:36) That's why you shouldn't do a fitness show. (28:41) Whether you're watching or listening, you most likely shouldn't.(28:43) It's terrible. (28:44) It's terrible. (28:45) I mean, it will be most likely one of the hardest things you've ever done in your entire life.(28:50) But what do you see? (28:50) The photos. (28:51) Yeah, you see the photos.(28:52) You see the photos and the trophies. (28:54) And the 10 pound and 10 week thing. (28:55) It's like, it's not gonna be fun.(28:59) I'm not gonna enjoy it. (29:01) I'm not gonna enjoy that. (29:02) I will enjoy what I look like at the end, hopefully.(29:04) That's the goal. (29:05) I'm aiming for a very specific goal, but I think that's a piece of it. (29:09) If I knew how hard it was gonna be, again, I would probably do it differently.(29:15) I'd probably do it differently. (29:16) All right. (29:17) Masterclass tonight, if you're listening to this, 5 p.m. Eastern time. (29:21) Tell us.

Alan Lazaros

(29:22) Yeah, so it is how to become the most productive and effective version of yourself in 2026. (29:28) Come with an open mind. (29:30) Come expecting me to tell you what it is to design a life that is productive.(29:35) Productivity is wildly under-talked about. (29:38) We didn't take a productivity course in high school. (29:40) I didn't have it offered.(29:42) There was no productivity courses in high school or college for me. (29:45) So if you want to be successful, you're gonna have to produce more in the marketplace. (29:50) And I can teach you how to optimize and design and engineer your existence around how to be the most productive, which will get you results.(29:58) I have people making six figures that never thought they'd ever make six figures, like multi-millionaires. (30:03) But it all starts at the base of you producing something of value in the marketplace consistently and sustainably over time and that increasing in value, not decreasing. (30:12) Listen, robots and AI are coming for all of us, and we all know it.(30:16) Get productive now. (30:19) Develop skills now. (30:21) A lot of jobs are gonna be replaced in the next decade.(30:24) Don't let that be you. (30:25) Come get better now. (30:27) It's totally free.(30:28) The link will be in the show notes.

Kevin Palmieri

(30:29) And if you're trying to get better at fitness or you're trying to find people that every day are focused on improving a little bit, you want extra accountability, you want extra motivation, maybe you want some knowledge, there's people dropping knowledge in there as well, please join the Next Level Fitness Accountability Group. (30:41) Totally free. (30:42) It's a WhatsApp group.(30:43) Just reach out to Alan or myself and say, hey, I want to join. (30:45) We've had a lot of people do that recently. (30:47) Alan and I will be there in there every single day.(30:50) And you know you're gonna be held accountable to the right level, right? (30:56) Obviously, I don't know everybody's goals all the time, and I'm not gonna call you out of the blue and say, hey, why aren't you posting in the group? (31:03) No, no.(31:03) It's more the fact that you essentially know you have people that are there doing their thing, and they're ready for you to do your thing. (31:09) So reach out to us directly, and we will give you access. (31:13) All right, cool.(31:14) Yes? (31:15) We'll be in there every day. (31:16) Every day.(31:17) Every day. (31:18) Every day. (31:19) I have an exercise in a couple days.(31:20) I'm out here effing up, because I've been moving, but I've still been in there. (31:23) You've been in there still. (31:23) I'm rallying the troops.(31:25) You know it. (31:26) But I don't say, hey, I didn't say, hey, get your workout in. (31:30) I said, hey, crush it.(31:31) I didn't get my workout in, so I can't tell you to get your workout in. (31:34) But you know. (31:35) It's an interesting strategy, Cotton.(31:38) Let's see how it pans out. (31:39) Not exercising for the first week of the 10 pound in 10 week weight loss challenge. (31:44) So we'll see how that goes.

Alan Lazaros

(31:45) I can tell it's affecting you deeply. (31:47) I can see it all over you.

Kevin Palmieri

(31:48) It is affecting me. (31:49) Yeah, I do. (31:50) I do hate it.(31:50) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(31:51) But I respect that you hate it.

Kevin Palmieri

(31:53) I do. (31:54) I disrespect that I hate it, but I will do it, because that's what it takes. (31:59) That's what it takes.(31:59) All right. (32:00) As always, we love you. (32:00) We appreciate you.(32:01) Grateful for each and every one of you. (32:02) 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. (32:09) Keep leveling up to reach your full potential.(32:12) Next Level Nation. (32:13) Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level University. (32:17) We love connecting with the Next Level family.

Alan Lazaros

(32:20) We mean it when we say family. (32:22) If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly. (32:25) Everything you need to get a hold of us is in the show notes.(32:29) Thank you again, and we will talk to you tomorrow.