Feedback Keeps You Humble (2368)

In today’s episode of Next Level University, hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros confront a quiet truth about growth: if you are not intentionally getting better, you are slowly getting worse. Most people assume skill stays once it’s earned. It doesn’t. Without consistent reps, honest feedback, and real measurement, performance drifts, and standards quietly slip.

They break down why mile markers matter, why testing yourself keeps you grounded, and how long-term mastery is built through disciplined repetition, not motivation. If you want to stay sharp in life, business, and personal development, this episode may change the way you think about progress.

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Learn more about:
Join Next Level Live: Level up your life in 2026. Completely virtual, completely transformative (Saturday, April 11, 2026) - https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/next-level-live/

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NLU is not just a podcast; it’s a gateway to a wealth of resources designed to help you achieve your goals and dreams. From our Next Level Dreamliner to our Group Coaching, we offer a variety of tools and communities to support your personal development journey.

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

Website: http://www.nextleveluniverse.com

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

Facebook:
Alan: https://www.facebook.com/alan.lazaros
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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:
(1:32) Skills degrade without daily repetition
(3:17) Why growth requires mile markers
(6:59) When you change, everything changes
(11:03) The power of thousands of reps
(14:11) Why consistent check-ins prevent drift
(16:17) Mastery requires continuous practice
(18:36) 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) We just got off of a call where we are designing Next Level Live 2026 and the perspective from last year and the changes and the differences are absolutely crazy and I think there's a lesson in that for all of us.

Alan Lazaros

(0:15) It is humbling and wild to see how much Kevin, Amy, and I have evolved in a single year. (0:26) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:28) I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri. (0:30) And I'm your co-host, Alan Lazarus. (0:33) At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers.

Alan Lazaros

(0:40) Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life, love, health, and wealth.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:46) 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

(1:02) Self-improvement in your pocket, every day, from anywhere, completely free. (1:09) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Palmieri

(1:14) Next Level Nation today for episode number 2,368. (1:20) Yeah, what Alan just said, it's super humbling to realize how much can change in a year. (1:25) I went on, so this is a cool story, I went on a podcast today as a guest for the first time in like six months.(1:32) Nice. (1:33) And I was dog shit. (1:35) Really?(1:36) Compared to. (1:37) Yeah. (1:38) Yeah, I found my, I was really good at some things, but I had a moment of like, it just, it's not as, it doesn't connect as well as it used to.(1:47) Like I used to, it just used to go. (1:50) It was still really good, it was valuable, but in my opinion, from my perspective, it was dog shit. (1:55) A couple lessons from that.(1:57) One, when you do something every day and you stop doing it, your skills degrade fast. (2:03) Yeah, that whole, it's like riding a bike, bullshit. (2:06) I mean, yeah, but you're not going to win the Tour de France.(2:08) Like you can get on that thing and pedal it, but you're not going to win, you're not going to go from not riding to winning the Tour de France.

Alan Lazaros

(2:12) I don't think a lot of things are just like riding a bike. (2:15) I did a timed mile and it was, you know, I wasn't trying to win the Tour de France in this metaphor, but an eight minute mile, I was like, wow, that was like. (2:23) Humbling.(2:24) Pretty humbling.

Kevin Palmieri

(2:25) Well, I think time, you know, we've done, we've done this type of episode along many times, but I think it's super valuable. (2:33) You're either getting better or you're getting worse. (2:35) And the only true way to know is to have mile markers along the road, because you could say like, I had, okay, I am somehow like incredibly strong at the gym.(2:47) And again, incredibly strong I'm incline barbelling, like 205, 215, working up to 225. (2:57) I haven't done that in years, but I've been doing a lot of incline, heavy incline presses. (3:04) You don't really know you're getting stronger until you go do something that you used to do.(3:08) And it's way better. (3:09) And it's weird because you don't want to do the thing you're not strong at necessarily, but when you go do it, you realize how far you've come in time, time. (3:17) That's the, that's the episode time.

Alan Lazaros

(3:19) Well, I'm trying to think of how to frame this. (3:24) Amy, Kevin, and I just spent, I don't know, three hours plus in deep flow going through the curriculum that we've created over the last nine years at next level. (3:37) So we did go back and we looked at the dates.(3:39) We did two events in 2019. (3:41) We did an event every year. (3:42) So this will be our ninth event total.(3:44) And that is confirmed. (3:46) Nine years in business, nine events. (3:48) Awesome.(3:49) Every single year we have grown so freaking much. (3:54) And just to take everyone behind the scenes here, what we do is we basically look at all the frameworks that I teach in one-on-one coaching, all the frameworks we teach in group coaching, all the frameworks we've basically ever taught and or used and or doubled down on, tripled down on over the years. (4:09) So, and, and every single year I'm, I have this folder called my everything folder and it has everything in it that I need to coach effectively.(4:19) And I'll, my clients know this. (4:20) I'll pull up randomly a picture of this, a framework of that picture of this framework of that. (4:24) These concepts that I think are really powerful every single year.(4:30) I'm not even every year, probably every day, every week, every month, every quarter, every year, I'm constantly adding more to it and getting rid of shit that I don't think is super valuable. (4:41) I'm curating. (4:42) It's like a revolving door of content that I believe in deeply.(4:47) It's like, ah, okay, that I don't think is as valuable as I used to think. (4:51) I've evolved. (4:52) Let's get rid of that.(4:52) This is actually really something. (4:55) And we just went through the entire folder, us three. (4:58) We wrote out all the frameworks that we've ever taught, believed in, executed, practiced, taught, and we broke it into the event.(5:07) So it's going to be three separate speeches with a Q and A at the end. (5:11) There's going to be an opening with Kevin and I telling NLU's story. (5:14) It's going to be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you're interested, we're only doing 30 people. (5:18) So we talked and we're like, you know what? (5:21) I don't want to make it some big blowout. (5:23) I don't want to try to fill it.(5:24) I want it to be exclusive with our people. (5:27) And you'll notice NLU has gotten a little more exclusive and a little less inclusive over the last few years because I just, I don't think we're for everybody anymore. (5:37) I really don't.(5:38) I know I'm not for sure. (5:39) So it's going to be very exclusive. (5:42) It's $47.(5:44) The link will be in the show notes. (5:46) There's no promo codes. (5:47) There's no, no free tickets, nothing, no bogos.(5:51) Buy one. (5:51) It's literally like, if you want to come, 47 bucks from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. And it's going to be the very best that we've ever written, seen, heard, practiced, taught, coached on, you name it. (6:07) Success principles, six-hour day.(6:11) We are recording it and uploading it to a private Google Drive folder with only your email. (6:16) We'll have access to it. (6:18) But my point of this for this episode isn't just that.(6:20) It's, we did this in March of 2025. (6:25) And it felt to me like five years ago. (6:29) Like March of 2025 was one year ago.(6:33) And the version of us, me, you, and Amy that taught this, not this exact thing, but like curated year eight of curation for Next Level Live is so exponentially different than year nine of curation. (6:49) And not that, but we're different. (6:52) It's almost like, even last year it was health, wealth, and love.(6:57) This year it's success principles.

Kevin Palmieri

(6:59) When you change, everything changes. (7:01) That's the weird thing about growth. (7:03) And that's the weird thing about evolution and self-improvement.(7:05) When you change, when your perspective on one thing changes, essentially your perspective on everything changes to a degree. (7:11) So let's imagine you believe you live somewhere safe. (7:18) Okay.(7:19) Yep. (7:19) We live somewhere safe. (7:19) Awesome.(7:20) We don't have to lock our doors. (7:21) We don't need a security system. (7:22) Yeah.(7:22) Everything's good. (7:23) We leave the dogs outside, whatever. (7:25) The second you learn that you live in a place that's not as safe as you thought, everything changes.(7:30) Every, you lock your doors all the time. (7:31) Whatever. (7:32) The kids can't walk to school anymore.(7:33) You've got security systems, whatever, whatever it is. (7:36) One thing changed and then everything changed because of that. (7:39) But I, I just think as humans, we don't have enough.(7:44) There's not enough like mile markers. (7:47) There's we, I guess most of us have yearly ones because we have our birthday. (7:51) So you can check in.(7:52) Or if you, if you're married and you have an anniversary, you can check in. (7:54) You have a work anniversary. (7:56) Your kids have birthdays, whatever.(7:58) But what about your growth? (7:59) What about your understanding of finances? (8:02) What about your physical body?(8:03) What about your mental health? (8:04) Like, I don't think we check in on that stuff enough. (8:07) And then we wake up one day and we've drifted so far away and usually not in a positive.(8:12) The reason it's better than it was last year for us is because we've done thousands of reps. (8:17) I know.

Alan Lazaros

(8:18) Yeah. (8:19) I felt much better. (8:20) I didn't feel right.(8:21) I was still humbled by the process because it was like, wow, this is a whole thing. (8:24) But I felt like I'm so much more than I was last year. (8:30) I'm so much more aware, so much more capable, so much more fulfilled.

Kevin Palmieri

(8:34) Would you know that if we didn't do it? (8:36) At some point you would, but like when, when would you have found out?

Alan Lazaros

(8:38) Not to this extent. (8:39) That's my favorite part about Next Level Live is just going back and looking at a year ago because quarter over quarter and month over month, it's harder to notice. (8:48) But a year for us is a really long time.(8:50) Like I don't want this to come off pretentious, but I have to be me. (8:55) I do think so every now and then I'll hang out with people who don't do this for a living. (9:00) Understandable.(9:01) And when I leave, a lot of times it's like, oh, they just had a really deep, meaningful conversation with us about life and health and wealth and love and personal development, self-improvement, personal growth and goals and dreams and habits and metrics. (9:15) I do that every day. (9:17) I talk about that every single day.(9:20) And Emilia and I will talk and we'll go, it must be interesting. (9:23) Like our normal. (9:28) Sometimes I think we probably learn and grow and discuss and brainstorm more in a day than some people do all week, maybe even all year.(9:36) And while I don't want to be unkind to anyone else, I do think that sometimes I get slapped in the face with that reality. (9:44) Like if I run into someone, there was someone who wanted to talk about our car and came over and was like, it was a nice day. (9:51) When days are nice and the sun is out in New England, everybody wants to talk and connect.(9:56) Everyone's super happy. (9:57) It's like the best. (9:59) It's spring is awesome.(10:00) And I'm not interested. (10:01) I'm trying to get in the gym. (10:02) We're on time crunch.(10:03) We only have 40 minutes. (10:04) Like, I don't know who you are, like leave. (10:07) But I was polite.(10:09) But my point is, is I had a moment with this kid and I was like, oh, he is, um, extremely unaware and young and naive and is very clearly doesn't have anywhere to be. (10:27) And it's like, okay, that's a good moment for me to go. (10:30) Oh, all right.(10:31) So he has no clarity on like his goals and his dreams and what he's dialed in on metrics, habits, skills, identity. (10:36) Like he doesn't, he, you can tell he's just drifting around. (10:39) Right.(10:39) And he's just running it and talking to random people and that's fine. (10:42) You do you, he's young, but I think we do this for a living. (10:49) So one year for us is so much growth and learning because we're, we're studying, practicing and teaching every single day, basically.(11:01) Well, and it's a lot of reps, a lot of reps.

Kevin Palmieri

(11:03) It's a lot of reps. (11:04) I said, I said that on, so the person that had me on their podcast was a client of next level podcast solutions. (11:09) She said, I want to have you on so we can talk about it.(11:11) I was like, yeah, cool. (11:11) I love it. (11:12) Huge fan.(11:13) Great, great human. (11:14) And I was telling the story of how this all happened. (11:18) And I, and I said, well, it got to the point where when we were like 500 episodes in, people started asking for help on podcasting.(11:24) And she's like, I feel like you just like glazed over the fact that you were 500 episodes in. (11:28) And I was like, I probably did because I mean, now we're, it's just so normal. (11:32) We do an episode every day.(11:33) I don't even think about it anymore. (11:34) Like it doesn't even, and I don't mean that again, I don't mean that to sound like cocky or whatever, but if you, I don't know, you cook dinner every night, you don't think about it. (11:42) You just do it.(11:42) Like that's just something you do. (11:44) So that's, I think that's an easy way to lose perspective is since last time we've done 365 of these, however many shows you've been on, however many coaching calls you've been on, however many, you know, like it's, that just adds up. (12:00) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(12:01) So much more than I ever thought it would. (12:06) And it goes in both directions. (12:07) And I want to make this as clear as possible.(12:09) Like last time you and I talked about a time mile, I said, do you think you could do six? (12:13) You said, no, seven, no, eight, no. (12:17) The mile markers are really important.(12:19) This is why I like measurements so much because I'm decent at running. (12:24) I'm not a runner. (12:25) I don't run often, but I started doing a mile a day every day for the next 33 days to hit my 10 pound in 10 week challenge.(12:31) Cause I am behind and the first one I was like, I'm going to jog it jog it. (12:38) And I think I ended up at like eight 30 or something like that. (12:41) And then the next time I was like, I'm going to see, I'm going to crank.(12:45) And I got probably 0.75 through. (12:47) And I really slowed down. (12:49) There was hills.(12:49) It was cold, whatever. (12:50) The point is, is I, I, I wasn't like, let me get a PR. (12:56) I'm not going to go for a PR.(12:57) I'm just going to crank it up a notch, crank it up a notch, eight minutes. (13:00) I'm like, is this thing right? (13:01) Like I was kind of flying.(13:03) It's going fast, right? (13:05) Um, the, the point that I'm making here is I don't run miles often. (13:09) And I bet you, if I keep doing this, which I'm going to do, I'm going to get that down to seven for sure.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:17) Are you going to measure it every day and then make like a little graph?

Alan Lazaros

(13:20) Um, that'd be cool. (13:22) It would be cool.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:23) Here's my concern.

Alan Lazaros

(13:24) Do it for the gram. (13:25) Yeah. (13:25) Yeah.(13:26) You know, I'm not going to do it for the gram, but here's my concern, brother. (13:29) And I'm glad you mentioned this. (13:31) I'm afraid that that's going to take time and effort away from what I really care about, which is weight training, my weight training.(13:38) Like I do know my numbers. (13:39) I know what I'm benching. (13:40) I know what I'm squatting.(13:41) I know what I'm dead lifting. (13:43) I know. (13:43) I know my volume, my weight times reps, times exercises, times sets.(13:47) Like I know all of that. (13:49) I know my macros. (13:50) I know, like, I don't want to become a runner and I know myself, dude, I will run every day and like get that thing down to five minutes eventually if I don't stop now.(14:00) Like, so I have to like consciously decide not to do this because if I really want to max out, it's going to take away from other things. (14:09) So that's my concern. (14:09) Again, a little bit about me.(14:11) My point though, is you and I had a check-in with Amy right before this three hours, deep work. (14:18) Here's the curriculum. (14:19) Boom, boom, boom.(14:20) It's a little bit. (14:21) So much has changed in one year. (14:23) So much has changed in one year and that's awesome in this case because it's in the positive direction.(14:27) We've gotten way more clarity of who we are, who we serve, who we definitely don't, who our absolutely listeners are, who are absolutely not listeners are, why we do the things the way we do, website, everything. (14:38) It's marketing, branding, all of it's clear, much clearer, clearer. (14:42) Okay.(14:43) But on the opposite direction, I, last time I timed my mile, did a pretty easily. (14:49) So it's like, what the hell? (14:51) Now I also gained 20 pounds, some muscle, lots of fat.(14:54) The truth is you kind of have to check in. (14:58) Otherwise you will be, it's like you, when you were at the sort, um, the carnival brother in your identity, you're a baseball player, but you haven't thrown a fucking baseball. (15:07) First of all, that game is rigged.(15:10) I know. (15:10) First of all, you didn't even the thing. (15:12) I came close at the end, but no, you do, you, you do, you need, you need the checkpoints.(15:17) You need the mile markers. (15:19) You need the check-ins.

Kevin Palmieri

(15:20) Yeah, you do. (15:21) Because the weird thing is like, I don't remember, I don't know what the status it's high. (15:24) I think it's like 80 or 90%.(15:25) I think it's like 80 or 90% of people don't ever sprint after 40. (15:29) Like they never sprint after 40. (15:32) So what happens is you get drunk at a party and you're, you're BS in with somebody and they're like, let's race.(15:39) And you go and you blow your shit clean out because you haven't done it in so long. (15:42) You haven't got the feedback. (15:43) I know.(15:44) That is what happens to people. (15:47) Familiarity is a great thing because you get good at stuff and you feel comfortable, but I think you forget what it's like to either not feel comfortable or what it was like to start. (15:55) Like you get deluded into normalcy.(15:57) Talk to us about the not going on shows for a while and then going on. (16:02) I'm scared because I know, I mean going on shows every day is like a superpower for communication. (16:09) Again, I, I still do a show every day, but it's not the same.(16:12) This is different than being a guest and being asked questions and telling your story.

Alan Lazaros

(16:16) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:17) It's noticeable.

Alan Lazaros

(16:18) You really can't, you really can't. (16:21) My takeaway for the listeners is if it's something you want to be really good at and continue being really good at, you really can't stay off it that long. (16:33) I can't just show up on the basketball court and start draining threes just because I did that in high school.(16:38) Like I didn't play in high school, but I played pickup. (16:41) The point is you can't rest that long anymore. (16:47) No, it's not.(16:48) You don't just stay good at stuff. (16:49) You really don't. (16:50) You either do it consistently and get better each time or you kind of are going to suck.(16:55) I think you're still, you could still be above average. (16:57) Yeah. (16:58) Agreed.(16:58) But it's not going to be to your standard. (17:00) Is eight minute mile above average?

Kevin Palmieri

(17:01) I have to imagine. (17:03) I don't know. (17:04) I have to imagine.

Alan Lazaros

(17:05) I'm comparing to my old, my old best.

Kevin Palmieri

(17:07) Same. (17:08) And it's like, are you fucking kidding me? (17:09) Nobody else.(17:10) I don't think anybody else would listen to that episode and say, Kevin, that was terrible. (17:13) Like, I don't think so. (17:14) I don't think anybody else would.(17:15) Right, right. (17:16) But I, I would like, that's not, that's not up to my standard. (17:20) So I have to go back and do the, and that's something we're doing.(17:22) And again, things have been busy. (17:24) That's why I haven't been doing it. (17:25) But that's an important lesson.(17:26) I went on a show knowing it wasn't going to be great. (17:29) I already know I've done this before, right? (17:32) Left excited to get back to the process of mastery again.

Alan Lazaros

(17:36) Nice.

Kevin Palmieri

(17:36) But if I didn't do that and I wasn't aware of it, who knows what would happen? (17:40) I might've got a big opportunity, gone in cocky. (17:42) It's like, yeah, I've done this before.(17:43) This is fine. (17:44) And then blown it. (17:45) And then yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(17:46) It's almost like humility is created from feedback and mile markers and check-ins. (17:50) You get cocky if you don't test yourself consistently. (17:55) For sure.(17:55) And speaking of test yourself, we got to jump to group coaching, but for anyone who, who's out there, my takeaway main one is test yourself consistently so that you stay humble because just cause you were good in high school or like maybe snowboarding would be humbling for me. (18:10) I don't know. (18:10) I mean, I, I was great last time I did, but at the end of the day, you need to measure and check in and have these sort of check-ins in order to, um, stay humble and say.

Kevin Palmieri

(18:21) Test yourself daily. (18:21) Yeah. (18:22) Test yourself daily.(18:22) I think that's a good, that's a good thing. (18:24) All right. (18:24) April 11th is Next Level Live 2026.(18:26) Info will be in the show notes below. (18:28) Website is by the time you hear this, it should be up and good to go. (18:31) Good to go.(18:32) I believe. (18:35) Maybe. (18:35) Okay.(18:35) As always, we love you. (18:37) We appreciate you. (18:37) Grateful for each and every one of you.(18:39) 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.

Alan Lazaros

(18:44) Keep leveling up to reach your full potential. (18:47) Next Level Nation.

Kevin Palmieri

(18:49) Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level University. (18:52) We love connecting with the Next Level family.

Alan Lazaros

(18:55) We mean it when we say family. (18:57) If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly. (19:01) Everything you need to get ahold of us is in the show notes.(19:04) Thank you again, and we will talk to you tomorrow.