How To Get The Most Out Of Every Action You Take (2402)

The gap is what happens after. In this episode, Kevin and Alan break down why action alone is never enough and why the real difference is made in what you notice, measure, and correct once the moment is over. This conversation gets into self-awareness, accurate thinking, intentional growth, and the discipline required to stop living on autopilot. They unpack why most people either celebrate too early or move on too fast, and how that pattern quietly limits progress in business, relationships, and personal development.

If you want better results, better decisions, and a more honest relationship with your own growth, this episode will challenge how you think about every move you make. Press play before your next lesson shows up wearing the same outfit.

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Learn more about:
Book Alan’s Business Breakthrough Session. Your first 30-minute coaching call is FREE. Learn how to prioritize success and let your quality of life become the byproduct. - https://calendly.com/alanlazaros/30-minute-breakthrough-session

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

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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

Facebook:
Alan: https://www.facebook.com/alan.lazaros
Kevin: https://www.facebook.com/kevin.palmieri.90/

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:
(2:34) Why intention changes every action
(4:22) Autopilot blocks real growth
(7:31) Small shifts create bigger returns
(10:13) Accurate thinking drives improvement
(12:13) Why wins still need dissection
(17:29) Accuracy beats optimism and doubt
(20:11) 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 had Next Level Live 2026 and it went really, really, really well. (0:05) But I think for a lot of people, the event happens, the day of is finished, you wrap it up, and then you kind of move on to the next thing. (0:13) And I believe if you have an intention before the event and a reflection after the event, nothing is by accident.(0:20) Everything you're doing is on purpose, you're taking the lessons, you're learning, and you're bringing those things into the future. (0:25) And I think that you can really maximize every single action you take by doing that.

Alan Lazaros

(0:30) I've said this before, accurate thinking with yourself, others, and the world is how you get smarter and make more effective decisions and become successful.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:45) Welcome to Next Level University. (0:48) I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri. (0:50) And I'm your co-host, Alan Lazarus.(0:53) At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers.

Alan Lazaros

(0:59) Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life, love, health, and wealth.

Kevin Palmieri

(1:06) 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

(1:22) Self-improvement in your pocket every day from anywhere completely free.

Kevin Palmieri

(1:28) Welcome to Next Level University. (1:34) Next Level Nation today for episode number 2,402, how to get the most out of every action you take. (1:41) We used to do this all the time.(1:43) Before every single episode, especially with guests, you would say, hey, what's your intention? (1:48) I'd say, what's your intention? (1:49) And we would get our intentions out.(1:51) And then after we would always reflect. (1:54) What's your intention for this episode? (1:58) To make this land, it's very simple and it seems insignificant almost, but it is like one of the foundations that NLU has been built on.(2:09) What's yours?

Alan Lazaros

(2:12) I want every listener to walk away from this with an increased level of importance inside themselves for understanding themselves, others in the world more accurately.

Kevin Palmieri

(2:27) Okay.

Kevin Palmieri

(2:28) So the event happens. (2:30) I set my intention. (2:31) I want to hit flow.(2:33) During my speech, during my presentation, I just want to get to a place where I'm in flow and I'm not thinking about anything. (2:39) That's my goal. (2:41) And I did.(2:42) It was good. (2:42) I felt really good. (2:43) Awesome.(2:43) I hit flow. (2:44) What was your intention for the event?

Alan Lazaros

(2:48) Honestly, it was to make sure everyone who bought a with an increased chance of achieving real success in the real world.

Kevin Palmieri

(3:02) Okay.

Kevin Palmieri

(3:03) By having a deeper understanding of again, themself, others in the world. (3:06) Okay. (3:07) Amy's intention was to hit 80% on her speech, whatever her measurement for 80% is.(3:13) And that night when we were hanging out, I said, how'd it go? (3:16) What, how, how did you, what was the result versus the intention? (3:21) And I think, I don't know, you and I have just done this so many times where we do something, we predict what's going to happen.(3:27) And then we talk about whether or not our prediction was on. (3:30) And then from there, we learn something new and it helps us see that and everything in the past differently. (3:35) And it helps us set up the future for hopefully more accurate expectations.(3:40) But I don't know. (3:42) I feel like in the past, it was definitely easier for me to say, okay, that went well, feel good. (3:47) And then onto the next thing.(3:48) And I didn't dig. (3:49) You and I just spent an hour essentially together digging into the event and our takeaways and what we would do differently and what we would do the same and what surprised us. (3:58) And I don't know.(3:58) I just think this is a really good opportunity in general for people when anytime you do something you haven't done in a while you've never done before. (4:07) If you make a prediction and then you have a reflection, you are probably going to learn like five times as much than somebody who just went into it and said, oh, that was, that was a cool experience.

Alan Lazaros

(4:17) Yeah. (4:17) A hundred percent.

Kevin Palmieri

(4:18) Probably more than five times. (4:19) Thoughts on all that.

Alan Lazaros

(4:22) The, the idea here is that one person is taking action and they're on autopilot. (4:28) The other person is consciously deciding in advance and predicting things in advance and expectations and then preparing and proactive. (4:38) And then afterwards reflecting what one person is going to get stronger and wiser and smarter and more capable and better over time.(4:44) One of the reasons I always send you those Instagram videos.

Kevin Palmieri

(4:47) Got one today. (4:48) Got one today.

Alan Lazaros

(4:49) Which one was today?

Kevin Palmieri

(4:50) Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi.

Alan Lazaros

(4:51) Diet Coke. (4:53) Yeah. (4:53) From 1987 or something.(4:55) Yeah. (4:57) One calorie. (4:59) Diet Coke.(5:00) It's diet or something. (5:02) Yeah. (5:02) I've been sending Kev these old historical commercials and stuff.(5:06) One of them recently was N64. (5:09) Yes. (5:10) So the N64 came out in 1996, I believe.(5:14) Okay. (5:14) And it came out with only two or three games or something like that. (5:18) And it showed old Mario on the regular Nintendo and then the super Nintendo and then N64 and it's night and day.(5:25) And I remember when I was a kid and I first saw that, I have a point and I remember being, oh, my, my neighbor, Chris got an N64. (5:35) And when I saw it, I was like, oh, this, I need this. (5:41) I need this as soon as humanly possible.(5:43) I thought it was the coolest freaking thing ever. (5:45) And now looking back from 2026, it was the worst graphics ever. (5:49) Absolutely atrocious.

Kevin Palmieri

(5:50) No, it wasn't as bad as a Nintendo. (5:52) All right. (5:52) It was, it was an upgrade, but yeah.(5:54) Okay.

Alan Lazaros

(5:54) So what's my point of that is every time you set an intention and then execute and then reflect, you get a lot better. (6:05) And that's one of the reasons I send you all those old historical things is because I want to reiterate to myself and you constantly that everything we're doing right now is suboptimal in hindsight. (6:18) Yes.(6:19) So five years from now, we're going to look back on episodes like this and we're going to realize certain things. (6:24) We're going to say, I didn't realize you did one already. (6:28) You said during the opening, I'm going to look at you and not at the camera.(6:31) I ended up looking at the camera. (6:33) I don't know if you noticed. (6:33) I did notice.(6:34) Oh yeah, I did. (6:35) At the very end, I looked at the camera, but we're supposed to be talking to each other and we're supposed to be, we're trying to simulate as if we're in person on a virtual podcast. (6:44) Sometimes I'll turn and talk to the camera.(6:46) Sometimes I'm talking to Kev. (6:47) I'm looking at Kev right now. (6:48) My point is when you are intentional with your growth, with your improvement, you improve way more.(6:54) And then when you look back, you realize that N64 wasn't as good as you thought, because you're now looking from a place where you don't have 64 bit graphics card. (7:04) You have a terabyte, as you mentioned with GTA seven or whatever it is. (7:09) Six.(7:10) Question for you.

Kevin Palmieri

(7:13) I wanted to do an episode on this, but I don't, there are certain things that hop into my head where I'm like, that's not a full episode. (7:19) It's just, it's a good idea potentially, or it's a good question or whatever. (7:23) It would be valuable to bring in.(7:24) It's just not enough for a full episode. (7:26) Okay. (7:27) How do I ask this question?(7:31) Okay. (7:31) In the beginning of growth, I feel like you have the collective view, somebody on the growth journey, you have much bigger lessons in and much bigger shifts. (7:43) Yeah.(7:45) As you get quote unquote more next level and more next level, the shifts are much, much smaller, but much more impactful. (7:54) Why more impactful? (7:55) Because you have more leverage is my thought.

Alan Lazaros

(8:01) Okay. (8:01) And define leverage in this context. (8:07) Ooh, leverage might not even be the right word.(8:10) I said this recently. (8:11) I said, I have a, if I help one client go from 9 million a year to 12 million a year, million a year, that's a lot more leveraged than someone going from 40 to 75, even though I love both 40 K to 75.

Kevin Palmieri

(8:24) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(8:24) I love both. (8:25) And it's the same principles, but one of them is far more, it's a larger spread.

Kevin Palmieri

(8:35) It's a nine year into this version of Kev is already going to be more consistent. (8:41) And so if I learn a new idea, even if it's very small, I'm going to implement it more better, more consistently. (8:48) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(8:48) That's a good point. (8:49) But there's, there's a lot of diminishing returns on the other end of that. (8:52) And this is hard to explain, but let's see.(8:54) Okay. (8:55) If you go from drinking all the time to no alcohol, that's going to change your whole freaking life. (9:00) Fair.(9:01) The reason why it probably feels like new changes are more impactful is because they're compounding on old ones. (9:09) So you go from drinking alcohol to not drinking alcohol, and now you're not drinking alcohol. (9:14) So now you drink more water.(9:16) And now that you drink more water, you sleep better. (9:17) And now that you sleep better, you get better workouts. (9:20) It all compounds upward or downward.(9:22) And this is why bad habits are so detrimental. (9:24) But back to the point of this episode, the only wrong answer is not to be intentional with this. (9:31) People talk about mindset and being present and, uh, the power of now and mental mindfulness, mindfulness, cleaning up your mental mess by Dr. Caroline Leaf. (9:44) Highly recommend that book. (9:47) What I think they're trying to say is don't get off autopilot. (9:51) I think they're all just trying to say, get the fuck off autopilot, which is what the Hyperconscious podcast back in the day was all about.(9:57) That's why I loved it. (9:58) You thought I loved it because of some fucking name. (10:01) I loved it because change the way you think, change the way you act, change the way you live is exactly what I was doing.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:06) I mean, I came up with a fucking tagline. (10:09) So I don't know. (10:10) And the name.(10:11) So I don't know. (10:13) Best.

Alan Lazaros

(10:13) But my point is, you don't know, but this is important. (10:17) I said this to a client recently, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. (10:22) I'm with you.(10:23) Sound mind and body. (10:24) Awesome. (10:24) Mind thinking is the thing that humans are best on earth at.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:31) There's no arguing that there's no, there's no dolphins doing calculus. (10:35) Okay. (10:35) That was the number one you were choosing is mine.(10:37) That's the most important. (10:38) Yes, it is.

Alan Lazaros

(10:41) It is success for success for everything, for everything. (10:44) Okay. (10:45) Because let me explain why technically speaking, if you don't have the physical dialed in, you won't have a sound mind, which we've witnessed happen with some really brilliant minds.(10:56) Steve jobs is a good example of this. (10:58) His mind started to go when he had a physical ailment and he was one of the most brilliant minds, but he wasn't able to execute because of his body. (11:05) So just, you need all four physical, mental, emotional, spiritual.(11:07) You need all four. (11:08) My point though, is work on the brain the most. (11:13) I used to say, everyone says, follow your heart.(11:15) I said, don't forget to listen to your fucking brain. (11:18) You've got to listen to your brain. (11:19) Your brain is the, the, the human brain is the most powerful thing.(11:24) In my opinion, on planet earth, there are no dolphins doing calculus. (11:29) There are no primates taking literature tests. (11:31) Like human beings have the ability to think five, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50 years out.(11:37) No buildings, no, no phones, no cameras, no microphones, no podcast, no stream yard, no iPhone, all of it's gone. (11:44) If you take away thinking. (11:44) So I think thinking accurately about yourself, others in the world is the most important thing in the world.(11:50) And I think that having emotional intelligence and physical intelligence and spiritual connectedness is also important. (12:00) But I believe thinking is when, when I see someone unsuccessful or unhappy or unfulfilled, I usually think there's a flaw in their thinking. (12:07) There's errors in their thinking.

Kevin Palmieri

(12:09) I would say that's makes sense. (12:11) I would say that makes sense. (12:13) I also think an issue is we celebrate wins and we don't dissect wins.(12:21) You know, sports teams, I used to say this all the time. (12:25) When you, I guess there's two different ways you can go. (12:29) You win the championship and you say, we're just going to do the same shit next year.(12:33) Same shit. (12:35) Everything should be fine. (12:36) Or you go through and figure out like what made the biggest difference?(12:39) What can we do? (12:40) What do we do less of? (12:40) We do more of sure.(12:42) But I think the team that loses probably does more work than the team that wins typically. (12:49) Right? (12:49) Because when you lose, you try to change everything.(12:52) So you don't have that thing happen again. (12:54) But like, if you go out, I feel really good about the speech I gave. (12:58) I think this is probably the best speech I've ever given.(13:00) Amazing. (13:01) Awesome. (13:01) Cool.(13:01) And there's a million lessons I can take from this. (13:05) A million. (13:06) I wasn't nervous, nearly as nervous as I usually am.(13:12) Nearly. (13:12) And there was a little piece of me that was like, I think I'm over. (13:15) I think I'm, I think I'm a little arrogant here.(13:19) I feel like I, I'm going to get humbled drastically. (13:22) No, I think I'm just confident at this now. (13:25) And that's just a new, that's a new feeling for me.(13:27) Okay. (13:27) Is that what confidence feels like? (13:28) Don't know.(13:29) Am I going to carry that into another area of life and get humbled completely? (13:33) Maybe I do. (13:34) I don't know.(13:35) Those are all things. (13:36) And that's just one little branch of this. (13:39) So you were predicting that you were going to get humbled and you didn't.(13:44) I was predicting either I was going to get humbled or I was just ready.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:49) All the work.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:50) I think I ended up being ready. (13:52) All the work up to this point, for that moment, I think paid off.

Alan Lazaros

(13:57) Successes and failures, they call this bright spots and dark spots. (14:01) When you succeed, you celebrate. (14:05) When you fail, you contemplate.(14:07) I don't agree with that at all. (14:09) One of the things that you'll notice, and I know you've noticed over the years, is I don't care if we win or lose. (14:16) That was the best event I think we've ever done.(14:18) See, I don't care at all. (14:22) I do care from the sense of like, that was a great event. (14:26) That was a huge success, all things considered.(14:28) I said that to you, me, Amy. (14:29) That's great. (14:30) Wonderful.(14:30) I'm so grateful for everyone who came. (14:32) Thank you for coming. (14:33) Now that's in the past and now I want to watch the film, metaphorically, and I want to talk to you and Amy and everyone who was involved and I want to figure out, and I'm careful with who I talk to because I think a lot of people's perspectives, it's like, well, I think they should do a button route.(14:50) It's like, yo, you've never played football. (14:51) So like, I'm not interested. (14:53) But I talked to a very, I asked you immediately already.(14:56) I already picked your brain. (14:57) Like, I need to know everything I'm missing. (15:00) I want to see this from your perspective, Amy's perspective, Christina's perspectives, and Emilia's perspective.(15:04) And I want to know it from my perspective. (15:07) And I think that with those five perspectives, I can get closer and closer and closer to seeing it accurately to figure out what I'm going to shift. (15:14) And I already know one of the things that I'm going to shift, which is I'm going to dial down the swearing slightly.(15:19) I did ask everyone to put in headphones so I'm not swearing around their children, but I think I overdid it a little bit. (15:23) But the point is though, is win or loss, you always reflect.

Kevin Palmieri

(15:28) I have a question and then we'll get out of here. (15:30) I know we got to hop. (15:31) And this might be an impossible question to answer.(15:33) Give me your best. (15:34) Give me the best you can do. (15:37) Out of the things you and I have done together that I have been a part of, because there's a bunch that I haven't previously, previously 26, 27 years old.(15:47) What is the one thing? (15:50) I know that has created the most, that has revealed the most layers, whether it's a speech, whether it's a coaching call, whether it's an experience. (16:04) You can't say Emilia, it can't be a person.(16:06) That's like a singular experience.

Alan Lazaros

(16:11) Oh, the time when we spoke to all, all those different students. (16:15) And that was mine too. (16:16) Yeah.(16:17) Because that was so unique. (16:18) Yeah. (16:19) We spoke to seventh and eighth graders, the same speech to ninth and 10th, and then to 11th and 12th.(16:26) And back to back to back, you and I, I think performed better, but it was received worse. (16:30) That was a lesson I'll never forget. (16:32) Same.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:32) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(16:32) Because that was the ego and understanding all that. (16:35) But great question, by the way, great question.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:39) And I was going to ask you, but you already told me, same. (16:41) If I had to find another, if I could find another one, probably it would probably be this journey. (16:53) Some of the early stuff we did, like going to Arizona and going to California, that took way more of me than I thought I had to give.(17:01) So that wasn't, that was like, okay, you're, you're playing it safe. (17:04) Like, it's okay to play on the outer edges of what you think is possible for you. (17:08) It's okay.(17:08) Now, did I have panic attacks? (17:09) Yes. (17:10) But that was not necessarily indicative of, you know, that we're going to go into this in another episode soon.

Alan Lazaros

(17:17) I know we're going to jump, I got a coaching session, but let's do an episode at some point on this. (17:22) My A-L-E-X-A is about to go off because my timer is about to go off. (17:29) I think over, when I reflect on our past over the last nine years, I want the listener thinking of themselves.(17:35) I think that you jumped to reluctance first because you think you tend to doubt what can happen. (17:46) But I also was overly optimistic with what can happen or what will happen. (17:51) Optimism versus pessimism.(17:52) So, well, yeah. (17:53) And I think that we became accurate. (17:54) So I no longer, I do think, if you have to pick between pessimism and optimism, optimism does win if you execute.(18:01) However, I believe in accurate thinking more than ever. (18:03) I think that delusion is always a temporary W and you and I argued in the past about, is delusion ever good? (18:10) I would love to do a part two on that episode with you because I still believe that while it can be something that gets you onto the journey, it is a huge L.(18:23) Because what is learning? (18:25) Learning is, I thought it was going to go X, Y, Z, and it went A, B, C. (18:30) So now I know, so now I can be more effective in the future.(18:33) And I think that's a rabbit hole that will be very powerful for everybody. (18:37) Everyone is inaccurate about themselves, others, or the world in some ways. (18:43) I am very inaccurate.(18:44) I still have so much to learn. (18:47) And I want to find every distinction that I can. (18:51) I want to understand what my predictions are and why they're wrong.(18:55) Because if you really did know everything about how everything works and all the principles and all the fundamentals, you could predict what companies would win. (19:03) You could predict what human beings would win. (19:05) You can predict what human beings are going to do.(19:08) You can. (19:09) And there's always a percent error. (19:11) There's always a percent error.(19:12) I'm trying to find, what's that anomaly? (19:13) What's that percent error? (19:14) What did I think would happen versus what didn't, did happen?(19:17) And where am I off? (19:18) Where am I off? (19:18) That's why I always, people think I'm so mean to myself.(19:21) I'm always looking for where I'm wrong. (19:23) I don't give a fuck where I'm right. (19:24) I already was right.(19:26) The improvement is in where you were off. (19:30) Awesome. (19:30) Great.(19:30) We did a great job. (19:31) Great. (19:31) I want to know where we sucked.(19:33) I want to know where we were off. (19:34) I want to know what was suboptimal. (19:36) The only way to become optimal is to learn where you were suboptimal.

Kevin Palmieri

(19:39) Yeah. (19:39) But you have to give enough of a win to get over a gap in order to look at the bad stuff.

Kevin Palmieri

(19:44) That's all we should talk about. (19:45) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(19:45) We'll talk about that. (19:46) We just got three episodes in the span of a minute. (19:48) All right.(19:48) We got to go. (19:49) Yeah. (19:49) If you're looking for coaching, reach out to Alan.(19:51) Alan is the best coach on the planet. (19:53) I'm just going to say it. (19:54) And if you're looking for anything else, just DM us.(19:59) We've had so many people reach out recently. (20:01) We had people in Next Level Live that reached out to us, that joined the accountability group, the fitness accountability group that came to the event. (20:06) It's awesome.(20:07) It's amazing. (20:08) Reach out if you need something. (20:09) We probably have something for you at NLU.(20:11) As always, we love you. (20:12) We appreciate you. (20:13) Grateful for each and every one of you.(20:14) 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. (20:20) Keep leveling up to reach your full potential.

Alan Lazaros

(20:22) Next Level Nation.

Kevin Palmieri

(20:24) Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level University. (20:28) We love connecting with the Next Level family.

Alan Lazaros

(20:31) We mean it when we say family. (20:33) If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly. (20:36) Everything you need to get ahold of us is in the show notes.(20:40) Thank you again, and we will talk to you tomorrow.