What Are Things That Feel Like Progress, But Aren’t? (2374)

In today’s episode of Next Level University, Kevin and Alan break down a subtle trap that keeps people stuck without realizing it. A quick win, a spike in results, or a moment that feels like momentum can create the illusion of progress when nothing meaningful is actually changing. They challenge how most people measure growth and offer a more accurate way to evaluate whether your actions are producing long-term results.

You will begin to see why short-term changes can mislead you, why consistency outperforms intensity, and how easy it is to mistake activity for real progress. If you have been putting in the effort but still questioning your direction, this episode will help you recalibrate what progress actually looks like.

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

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Show notes:
(2:09) What feels like progress but is not
(3:25) Trend line Vs. Short-term results
(6:38) The paradox of feeling like you are losing
(8:41) False progress in events and experiences
(11:14) Sustainability and repeatability matter most
(15:42) Why most people quit too early
(19:13) 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) Today we are going to take 7,000, nearly 7,000 coaching calls and turn it into one simple question that hopefully will help you actually make real progress in the real world. (0:12) When you coach that many people in that many industries from that many countries, that many backgrounds, there are certain patterns that become very clear. (0:21) Welcome to Next Level University.(0:23) I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri. (0:25) And I'm your co-host, Alan Lazarus. (0:28) At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers.(0:35) Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life, love, health, and wealth. (0:41) 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. (0:57) Self-improvement in your pocket, every day, from anywhere, completely free.(1:04) Welcome to Next Level University. (1:09) Next Level Nation today for episode number 2,374. (1:14) What are things that feel like progress but aren't?(1:17) So this goes somewhat hand-in-hand with what we talked about a couple episodes ago. (1:22) And there was a post in Next Level Nation that was, what's one thing that you see a lot of people do that feels like progress but actually isn't? (1:30) And Alan said, what's the one that you're going to bring?(1:32) And I said, I'm not going to bring one. (1:34) I'm going to ask you as somebody who has nearly 7,000 coaching calls. (1:39) So from your experience, from what you've seen, from all the people you've worked with, what do you think, I'll put you on the spot here, is the number one thing that people like to come to you excited about?(1:51) Like, hey, Alan, dude, I'm so excited to tell you this. (1:53) I'm so excited to tell you this. (1:55) And they tell you and you're like, oh my God, you are Jeffed.(1:59) Whoa, how dare you get me to say the goods. (2:04) Whatever version of that is sly. (2:05) Brother, I appreciate it.(2:07) I really do. (2:09) They come to me and then inside my head, I think that doesn't really matter that much. (2:15) It's not what you think it's going to be.(2:16) One of them, again, you're not expecting this one, but one of them is the scale jumped two or three pounds. (2:23) That's one of the most common is, oh, I lost two pounds yesterday. (2:28) No, you didn't.(2:30) So what's another example? (2:35) It can you, is there any way, I don't want to influence the answer. (2:40) Does that carry over to business money relationships?(2:44) What are the versions of that? (2:45) It's like a short-term volatility, short-term jumps in pay, short-term jumps in weight, short-term jumps in dates, uh, health, wealth, and love. (3:02) That's the three.(3:03) So anything short-term. (3:05) Yeah. (3:06) Any sort of anything that gets you overly excited.(3:10) How do you know it's not the beginning of a new trend though? (3:13) Exactly. (3:14) Sometimes it is.(3:16) And that's great. (3:18) And I'm trying to think of a good example to explain this. (3:23) Okay.(3:25) One guy, he has a big date, you know, this weekend. (3:30) Okay. (3:31) Awesome.(3:32) But to me, what I'm looking at is what is the system? (3:35) What, what is the process that's leading to that? (3:40) And then more importantly, your growth on the date.(3:46) It's not about getting the date. (3:47) Anyone can do that. (3:49) It's about, can you get a second date, third date, fourth date?(3:53) Can you, can you create a relationship that lasts? (3:56) And I think that all of it comes down to that is, yeah, you lost two pounds, but you didn't really. (4:03) The scale jumped down two pounds and it's going to be up again soon.(4:07) I care about, it all comes down to the trend line, the trend line, which we should explain. (4:12) Go ahead. (4:13) For anyone who's, you can, you can explain it way better than I am.(4:16) All right. (4:16) Let's say you have your weight over time graft. (4:22) You're, I'll use me 211.(4:25) And then you jump down to 209 and then you're 212 for whatever reason. (4:30) And then you're 208 and then you're 211 and then you're 209, 209, 210, 213 for whatever reason. (4:41) I'm joking about that last one.(4:43) And then all of a sudden you're 208, 207. (4:46) You're like, okay, okay, okay. (4:48) The trend line is down.(4:51) The daily fluctuations are not that important. (4:56) And here's my point. (4:57) When you said the question of what is the thing that alarms you that you think in your head doesn't really matter.(5:02) I don't want to take the wind out of people's sails when they get a W. (5:05) So I just got five clients. (5:07) Okay.(5:08) Awesome. (5:09) But are you going to sustain and have those five clients in three months? (5:13) I don't care that you got five clients or that you just made six grand.(5:17) I care that you're going to keep it. (5:22) And I care about what you're going to do with it. (5:24) And I care that you're going to still have these clients in three, six, nine months.(5:29) I care about scale and trend line and long-term over any quick hit. (5:34) Like you and I had our biggest day in business, almost a hundred thousand dollar day recently. (5:39) I haven't even mentioned it.(5:40) And the reason why is because I don't really care that much. (5:45) Why don't I care? (5:47) That sounds wrong.(5:48) Of course I care. (5:49) That's awesome. (5:49) Unbelievable.(5:50) Right? (5:50) That would be a dream at one point. (5:51) It doesn't influence the day.(5:53) But I can't let it influence. (5:58) That's a current PR in three months, six months, nine months, 12 months. (6:06) How long will it take us to hit that PR again?(6:09) That it will take us at least six months, if not nine months, maybe even 12 to get better than that. (6:16) And to me, I always care more about the next PR bettering my best. (6:24) And I think that that's what I would say to anyone to make this a value is any time you're overly excited about a blip on the graph versus the overall graph, I would say you're probably losing.(6:38) And this is the paradox. (6:42) Clients, those of you who are listening, I know there's a lot of you that are there right now. (6:46) When you feel like you're losing, you're probably winning.(6:49) I actually mean this. (6:51) Like right now I'm really freaking hungry. (6:53) I don't feel great.(6:54) I don't feel terrible, but I'm not great. (6:58) I'm probably winning because today blows. (7:02) So that means my future is probably better.(7:05) If I felt like really good, if I felt great and I felt like I was crushing it, most likely my future is not bright. (7:13) And that's the paradox that I think it always comes to is if you feel like you're losing on the day to day, your future is probably bright, assuming it's by choice and intentional and designed. (7:29) You're sacrificing today for a brighter tomorrow.(7:32) If you feel great, like you and I could have celebrated the hell out of that. (7:37) We could both get a new car. (7:39) We could get a new house.(7:40) We got dominoes. (7:42) Right. (7:42) Okay.(7:42) You got dominoes. (7:43) Nice. (7:43) Emily and I didn't do a thing.(7:46) We cheered. (7:47) We said, nice. (7:49) That was a nine month goal.(7:52) Kevin and I both completely out of all debt, personal debt. (7:55) That's awesome. (7:56) It's a huge W.(7:57) Don't care. (7:58) I do care enough to get it, but what I care about is how do we do now? (8:02) Okay.(8:03) What are we doing now? (8:03) And so let's kick it to you because you're on the end where you kind of need to celebrate the goal to lock it in. (8:12) I like to for sure.(8:13) Less than ever. (8:18) You want that or do you want my, what I think is progress that isn't? (8:24) Yeah, that.(8:25) Because I want to stay on. (8:25) Progress that isn't. (8:26) I want to stay on the, for me, it's going most likely, most likely, it's going to the same thing, like the same event every year.(8:41) I remember when we went to Brandon Rashard's events, I was like, there's just a lot of people that feel good here. (8:47) They don't have notebooks. (8:48) They're not taking notes.(8:49) They're not really learning. (8:51) Like they're on there. (8:51) They're just, every time there's an opportunity to like dance and take pictures, they do that, but they're not doing anything else that I think it's like the overly entertaining experiences that it feels like progress because it's a whole thing.(9:08) It's a whole week or it's three, whatever, whatever it is. (9:11) But I, so many people, myself included, I didn't take a ton from that. (9:17) I took a bunch of notes and then I never looked at them again.(9:19) Luckily you looked at the notes. (9:21) So that was helpful. (9:23) But that, it's like a, you can't cram a year's worth of personal development into three days.(9:32) You can't, it doesn't work that way. (9:34) So they don't, they cram an hour of personal development and 23 hours of dancing and feel good. (9:41) Not all of them, right?(9:42) But that, I think that's one for sure. (9:44) I think that's a big one. (9:45) That's why I like the metaphor of the Mario Kart booster.(9:48) Yeah. (9:49) Because these can be Mario Kart, an event can be a Mario Kart booster. (9:52) Next Level Live will be.(9:53) But it's not going to make up for you. (9:55) No. (9:56) The rest of the year you not.(9:58) And you've got to be on the, you already got to be driving the car though. (10:02) It's a Mario Kart booster. (10:03) The booster is somewhere on the track.(10:06) You've got to get to that. (10:06) And you have to be good at driving because once you get the boost, you have to steer. (10:10) Yeah.(10:10) Otherwise you just hammer into the wall. (10:12) I think that's a big one. (10:15) This is a good metaphor.(10:16) You remember in Mario Kart and 64 days? (10:20) Of course. (10:20) The island one.(10:22) Yeah. (10:22) I was not good at that one. (10:23) The water always jeffed me.

Alan Lazaros

(10:24) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:25) So, and the crabs. (10:27) So you remember how you could go through the island if you hit a Mario Kart booster at that jump? (10:33) Well, okay.(10:34) Here's a good metaphor for the personal development events or what you're talking about. (10:38) You get the Mario Kart booster or the mushroom and then you hammer it right before the ramp. (10:43) If you miss, you're actually worse off than if you didn't even go to the event.(10:48) Meaning, yeah. (10:49) And if you're a skilled driver, the mushroom helps you be more skilled. (10:55) But if you're a newbie and you keep trying to do that, you're going to hammer right into the wall and then everyone's going to pass you.(11:01) I think your example is probably the best though. (11:06) Because I was always that. (11:07) It was like, dude, this happened, this happened.(11:09) And you're like, dude, it doesn't matter. (11:11) It matters for right now. (11:12) Awesome.(11:14) But it doesn't. (11:14) That's why I do think sustainability and repeatability are like two of the most important things for success. (11:22) Well, let's talk about some tangible examples because I realize everything I said was meta other than weight.(11:29) And I gave the financial goal thing. (11:31) That was a big milestone, which is great. (11:34) Milestone.(11:36) Inch pebbles lead to milestones, lead to goals, lead to dreams. (11:39) Awesome. (11:40) But the mile marker, when you're in a marathon and you hit mile 22, you can be like, okay, I'm making really good time.(11:51) But you can't slow down. (11:53) And I think that's a really good metaphor for success. (11:57) Well, what are all the things that I came to you with that were dumb?(12:02) Then we start there. (12:03) Yeah. (12:04) Nice.(12:05) You used to think that a big guest mattered like more than it did. (12:09) It does matter, but it's one data point on the graph. (12:13) Yeah.(12:15) So that was one for sure.

Alan Lazaros

(12:16) That's one.

Kevin Palmieri

(12:17) It was like this, you know, if we call it Dean Graziosi, that's like the end. (12:21) No, it's not the end or the beginning. (12:23) This is your, this is your thing.(12:24) Nothing is the end of the beginning unless it's catastrophic.

Alan Lazaros

(12:29) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(12:29) And some people do destroy their careers with awful things that like, that's fair. (12:34) But for the most part, it's an accumulation. (12:37) And I think that's what this always comes back to.(12:38) Let's, let's do some others. (12:40) A photo shoot for you that went really well or a winning your bodybuilding show. (12:45) No, that's her.(12:46) That's like, brother, don't you want to be fit for life? (12:49) Like who can remember it was naturally fit for life. (12:52) I assumed I was going to be, that was just like, that was just a part of the journey.(12:57) What do you mean you assumed you were going to be? (12:58) I was going to be naturally fit for life. (13:00) Hey, look, when I hit 45, I might hop on TRT.

Alan Lazaros

(13:03) I don't know. (13:04) We're going to see.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:05) You used to say naturally fit for now. (13:07) We'll see. (13:08) I don't know.(13:08) But real quick. (13:09) So that's why I used to say hashtag naturally fit for life because I was never doing a fitness show to just be fit on stage. (13:19) I was doing a fitness show as one milestone on the marathon of life.(13:26) And when you stopped doing bodybuilding, you also let a lot of your standards go because your standards were created based on a goal. (13:35) And this is where I want to bring this to. (13:37) I know we got to jump.(13:39) If you're playing not to lose, it actually helps you to have short-term goals that you're like, you were afraid to be embarrassed on stage. (13:49) I obviously wasn't, which is why I got embarrassed on stage, but like I was playing for life. (13:55) You were playing to win that show, right?(13:58) If you are someone who plays not to lose, then you do need to create these incremental milestones that force the necessity to get you to do those things. (14:13) I want to make sure I explain this well. (14:15) When you did a bodybuilding show, you were way more dialed in fitness than ever before that, I'm assuming.(14:23) Okay. (14:23) And the reason why is you didn't want to get laughed off stage, right? (14:27) Okay, perfect.(14:28) Good. (14:28) See, that is constructive, but it also came with that negative undertone of you had all kinds of issues. (14:37) You got too lean, you dieted wrong, you hormones.(14:41) So let's flip this over to you. (14:44) I think any short-term W, that's like a win, is only a win if it's for a greater trend line over time. (14:59) So if one day is going to lead to the second day, is going to lead to the third day, is going to lead to your potential future partner, which you can't know for sure, but you can know whether or not you're winning or losing at that overall.(15:09) That's all it is. (15:10) Zoom out. (15:11) Are you winning or losing at the long-term?(15:13) Because you can easily feel like you're winning short-term. (15:16) Maybe the best example of this, I saw this recently, it was really fucking cold this year. (15:21) And people were like, oh, so much for global warming.(15:24) It's like, no, this is one, just one year. (15:26) And by the way, the trend line is essentially a series of averages, right? (15:33) Yeah.(15:33) So the average is technically- It averages out every data point. (15:36) So if the average is going up, the trend line is going up. (15:39) The average is going down, the trend line is going up.(15:40) I have a perfect example.

Alan Lazaros

(15:42) I'm sorry to interrupt you. (15:42) This is great.

Kevin Palmieri

(15:43) So my client wouldn't mind me sharing this, keep it anonymous anyway. (15:46) He has been taking this test and just grit, unbelievable. (15:50) I'm so proud of you, brother.(15:51) He has failed it several times. (15:53) I showed him the data. (15:54) I said, brother, you're going to pass on your ninth attempt, statistically.(15:58) Based on the trend line. (15:58) And no one will even know. (16:00) No one will even know.(16:01) You're going to be certified. (16:02) It's all good. (16:04) And he would have stopped if I didn't show him that data.

Alan Lazaros

(16:07) I understand.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:08) Because he feels like he's not going to win. (16:11) But I said, you are winning. (16:14) It was 42, 48, 52, 58.(16:18) The trend line's up. (16:19) You're two points off. (16:20) Pass, fail, 60 is passing.(16:23) And it's a financial certification. (16:24) My point is, how many people quit too early because they don't see the trend line? (16:32) That might be the best answer.(16:34) I think that's probably the best answer. (16:36) Because everything, if you're short term, you don't see the trend line. (16:41) And you don't do enough inputs to actually move the needle.(16:45) If you do it twice, and it's a little better or a little worse, that doesn't mean it would have stayed that way, or it wouldn't have sped up or slowed down or whatever. (16:53) That's a good answer.

Alan Lazaros

(16:54) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:55) That's a good answer. (16:55) It's good stuff, man. (16:56) And feelings are short term.(16:58) Brother, feelings are short term. (17:01) Self-worth and self-belief are long term. (17:04) But the way I feel right now is like a short term feeling.(17:09) Your current state is a short term feeling. (17:12) Don't make long term decisions based on short term feelings. (17:15) You said that on a podcast episode I saw you on.(17:18) Which, what was it? (17:19) Did I crush it? (17:20) A clip came through of that show you were on recently.(17:21) Ah, with Zoe, I believe.

Alan Lazaros

(17:23) Zoe.

Kevin Palmieri

(17:23) And you said, don't make long term decisions based on short term emotions. (17:28) Wisdom. (17:28) I have wisdom.(17:30) Super excited. (17:30) If you're a podcast host looking for a guest, obviously Alan's been hammering shows and going on a ton of amazing shows, adding value. (17:37) I'm coming back.(17:38) Your boy is coming back. (17:39) Coming out of retirement. (17:41) Super excited.(17:42) Super excited. (17:43) Six month retirement. (17:43) I feel like I've been out of the game for years.(17:45) Speaking of trend lines. (17:47) Speaking, yeah. (17:47) The trend line was up for a long time, and then it started going down.(17:50) All right. (17:51) We're not going to talk about Next Level Live, because we said we weren't going to talk about Next Level Live. (17:54) That is a live event that happens every year.(17:56) It's not designed to make you feel good. (17:58) You're not going to be walking on fire or anything. (18:00) You're going to be learning and growing and evolving.(18:02) I'll give it a gentle shout out. (18:05) Next Level Nation, our private Facebook group, we have the Next Level Dreamliner if you want to journal your way to success. (18:09) You aren't going to journal your way to success.(18:11) It's going to help you on your journey of success. (18:14) It won't be the one thing. (18:15) It'll be one of the many things.(18:17) Yeah. (18:18) If you're out there and you want someone who's going to show you the trend line, who's going to keep you on track, keep you tracking to make sure that you're winning long term. (18:31) I've spent my life trying to tie my self-esteem and self-worth and self-belief and self-confidence to the trend line.(18:40) We call it, one of my clients has a, his golden metric is trajectory over everything. (18:45) Trajectory matters more than present position, and I will help you get on a positive trajectory. (18:52) It's more affordable than you think.(18:53) You can start with once every four weeks. (18:56) I have one client who just started and she's already bumping to twice a month. (19:02) It starts out with once every four weeks, once every two weeks, once every week, and I have several that are twice a week, three times a week, four times a week.(19:10) Start small and we build. (19:13) As always, we love you. (19:14) We appreciate you.(19:15) Grateful for each and every one of you. (19:16) If you are as committed as you say you are to getting to the next level, make sure you tune in tomorrow, because we'll be here every single day to help you get there. (19:23) Keep leveling up to reach your full potential.(19:25) Next Level Nation. (19:27) Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level University. (19:31) We love connecting with the Next Level family.(19:34) We mean it when we say family. (19:36) If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly. (19:39) Everything you need to get ahold of us is in the show notes.(19:43) Thank you again, and we will talk to you tomorrow.