The Most Reliable Strategy Is The Least Sexy (2450)

What if the strategy you keep ignoring is the exact one that would finally change your life? In this episode, Kevin and Alan talk about why the most reliable path to personal growth, financial stability, fitness, and long-term success is usually the least exciting one. Shortcuts are easy to chase because they promise speed, status, and certainty. Fundamentals require more discipline, patience, self-awareness, and the willingness to repeat what works long after it stops feeling impressive.

This episode challenges the desire for quick wins and brings the focus back to consistency, identity, and skill building. If you want better results, stop chasing the shiny thing and start respecting the boring thing. Listen now before your next shortcut starts charging interest.

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

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Show notes:
(2:24) Boring habits beat exciting shortcuts
(4:31) Time matters more than timing
(5:29) Why do results come late
(7:15) Building stability through discipline
(10:32) What keeps people from executing
(13:50) The code never cracks itself
(14:23) 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) One of the hardest things of this whole journey, the success journey, the accomplishment journey, the goal achievement journey, whatever you want to label it, is when you find out what works, you are usually disappointed because it's way more boring than you thought it would be. (0:15) And when you find out what works and you realize how, quote unquote, maybe simple that thing is, running that same system every single day is just not exciting. (0:24) It's not that sexy.(0:25) And there's a million examples of this that we could give you in this episode.

Alan Lazaros

(0:28) No fundamentals are exciting. (0:31) By definition, the fundamentals are unexciting. (0:34) Watching Jurassic Park is awesome.(0:38) Watching the making of Jurassic Park is long and fucking boring. (0:42) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:45) I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri. (0:47) And I'm your co-host, Alan Lazaros. (0:50) At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers.

Alan Lazaros

(0:57) Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life, love, health, and wealth.

Kevin Palmieri

(1:03) 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

(1:19) Self-improvement in your pocket every day, from anywhere, completely free. (1:26) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Palmieri

(1:31) Next Level Nation today for episode number 2,450. (1:35) The most reliable strategy is the least sexy. (1:38) I was doing some research before we did this episode because there are a ton of...(1:44) You follow people, they're day traders. (1:47) They're in their high-rise apartment. (1:50) They got their coffee, click on the screen, plus $4,000, done for the day.(1:53) $4,000 day, not bad, pretty good, strong, strong. (1:57) Or whatever it is, right? (1:58) Like, hey, have you ever heard of dropshipping?(2:00) I just started a business. (2:01) People get a bunch of orders. (2:02) People just dropship it.(2:03) I'm rich. (2:03) I have a Ferrari, blah, blah, blah. (2:06) We have the crypto boom.(2:08) We have the freaking... (2:10) What were the things? (2:12) NFT boom.(2:13) And everybody's like, if you want to be wealthy, you've got to have a fucking NFT. (2:16) If you don't have a monkey smoking a cigarette in 30 years, you're going to be a fucking loser. (2:20) Nobody's going to even like you.(2:21) That didn't work out very well. (2:24) All of those things seem incredibly sexy. (2:27) Fitness.(2:28) Fitness. (2:29) I remember the It Works company when we were like in high school. (2:34) You wrapped the belts, the warm belts around your belly.(2:38) It was supposed to burn fat. (2:39) They had their detox tea, all that shit. (2:41) Sexy.(2:43) You know what's not sexy? (2:46) Putting $500 a month into the stock market and then letting it sit there and doing that for the next 30 years. (2:56) Not sexy.(2:57) It's not sexy at all. (2:59) I think it's awesome. (3:00) I know.(3:01) I agree with that. (3:02) That is super exciting. (3:03) It's not sexy waking up, putting on a sweatshirt, putting on your sweatpants, walking into the gym, doing your 30 minutes of cardio, and then lifting weights.(3:12) It's not sexy. (3:13) It's not sexy going for a run when nobody sees you. (3:16) It's not sexy.(3:16) It's not sexy listening to Audible every day. (3:19) It's not sexy, but it's the most reliable. (3:24) I looked at the stats.(3:25) You know the stats way better than I do, so please correct me if I'm wrong. (3:28) I think there, I don't think there has ever been a time over a 20-year span where the S&P 500 has lost money.

Alan Lazaros

(3:37) No, of course not.

Kevin Palmieri

(3:38) Yeah. (3:39) That it's reliable. (3:40) Is it safe?(3:41) I don't know. (3:42) I don't know if I would use the word safe, but it depends on your time perspective. (3:46) Well, that's the thing is every year there was like every other year, it gains or dips by like 33% or something.(3:56) Hypothetically. (3:56) I don't know. (3:57) But, and over a 10-year span, you're, you have a way letter, a way better likelihood of making money over a 20-year span.(4:03) It's almost guaranteed over a 30-year span. (4:05) It's even higher. (4:06) It's not sexy.(4:07) None of that is sexy. (4:10) If you track your weight and you track your calories and you go exercise and you try to move more and you try to get X amount of steps and you try to get in the gym three to five days a week. (4:19) None of that is sexy, but that is the reliable way to do it.(4:22) Not to, Oh, I only eat carbs at a certain time. (4:27) I only eat protein at a certain time. (4:30) A quote that I saw, and then I'll kick it to you.(4:31) I promise a quote that I saw when I was researching the stock market was time matters way more than timing. (4:37) The amount of time you're in matters way more than the timing of what you do.

Alan Lazaros

(4:41) Yeah. (4:42) That's fine.

Kevin Palmieri

(4:42) And I think that's a really good example for a lot of this. (4:44) It's good stuff. (4:44) Of course.(4:46) And we fired up about finances.

Alan Lazaros

(4:49) Let's think about this. (4:51) Let's, I want you to pretend you're competing with you. (4:57) One.(4:57) And there's a bunch of you. (4:58) There's nine different versions of go. (5:00) Okay.(5:01) And they're all in a race. (5:02) Okay. (5:03) All right.(5:04) One of them stays in the game for nine years.

Kevin Palmieri

(5:08) Okay.

Alan Lazaros

(5:09) One of them, only eight, one of them, only seven. (5:12) Okay. (5:13) One of them, only six, all the way down to one, which one's the most successful nine.(5:19) Okay. (5:20) Now there are some rare occasions where if you had a really bad year nine, maybe eight would be more successful, but 10, 11. (5:29) So, we haven't done this in a while, but 20%, 80% of the results come in the last 20% of a journey.(5:38) This is a, it's like an extension on Pareto. (5:44) Vilfredo Pareto, 80-20 principle. (5:46) You can look it up.(5:47) 80-20 principle. (5:48) It's wildly researched. (5:50) It's great.(5:50) Okay. (5:51) And it's a fundamental. (5:53) You got to, that's critical.(5:55) So let's say you and I were in business for 10 years in March, it'll be 10 years. (6:05) Okay. (6:05) March of 2027.(6:07) So let's imagine that just to make the numbers easy. (6:12) The Pareto distribution says that we will earn 80% of our revenue across that 10 year period in the last two years. (6:25) That tracks, doesn't it?(6:27) For sure. (6:27) Yeah. (6:28) As a matter of fact, it's probably more than 80% because the first three years we made almost nothing.(6:34) Right. (6:35) I, I, I'm going to sound like such a dingus. (6:41) I always knew that.(6:43) I don't understand why anyone thinks otherwise. (6:46) It makes no sense to me. (6:48) Like I don't, no one achieves anything in two years.

Kevin Palmieri

(6:51) Yeah, but we're not, I don't think we really, I researched, why don't people, when I started, so when you and I paid off, we talked about this in the previous episode, we paid off our business debt and it was like, all right, I'm on my fucking own now. (7:03) No, I'm not. (7:04) I can always, you know, you'll help me.(7:05) Obviously I can text you. (7:06) Hey brother, what do I do with my money? (7:08) Like obviously I'm not completely on my own.(7:10) Thank goodness. (7:11) My consulting hours are every other Thursday.

Alan Lazaros

(7:12) Every other Thursday. (7:13) Yeah, I'm good.

Kevin Palmieri

(7:15) I was looking and it was like, so I just, so I just build up a nest egg. (7:20) Yes. (7:21) I make sure we're, we're out of debt as a family.(7:23) Cool. (7:23) Okay. (7:24) Then I just build up a nest egg of X amount of months and then I just invest everything else.(7:29) Yeah. (7:30) And then if I just do that and, but this is the part that got me 30, just do that for like 30 or 40 years, you know, 50 years for the rest of my life. (7:39) Yeah.(7:40) By the time I'm ready to retire, which I don't think I'll ever do, but by the time I'm when I'm 65, if I do it right, I will have a fair amount of money. (7:49) Oh yeah, absolutely. (7:51) And then I was like, why?(7:53) And again, sit with me through this. (7:55) Cause it's going to sound stupid. (7:56) Why doesn't everybody do that?(7:58) And then I was like, okay, you weren't going to do it either until today. (8:02) You stupid bastard.

Alan Lazaros

(8:06) So you answer it because I actually don't know why everyone doesn't do that. (8:11) I lack, I had a portfolio with 150 grand in it when I was 22.

Kevin Palmieri

(8:15) Yeah. (8:16) No, I also was invested slightly in, in Apple stocks. (8:19) I understand.

Alan Lazaros

(8:19) How much did you have?

Kevin Palmieri

(8:20) 500 less than that probably. (8:22) Okay.

Alan Lazaros

(8:23) No, no, I don't want to listen though is like we just weren't taught it. (8:25) That's what I thought. (8:26) Lack of financial literacy, but it's not just that.(8:30) I've taught a lot of people that and they don't do shit. (8:33) Right. (8:34) It's, it's not just, if that's the case, the knowledge is power, brother.

Kevin Palmieri

(8:37) Right. (8:37) Well, I think that's, I mean, it's a piece of it. (8:39) Anybody can Google that when I, dude, I'm telling you.(8:41) No, no. (8:42) Yeah. (8:42) But like you got to Google it and then you got to say, okay, well I'm going to put a thousand dollars a month in.(8:47) What does that look like? (8:48) Doing it is very difficult. (8:48) It takes a lot of self-discipline.(8:50) But you got to do the numbers. (8:54) Again, it's overly simplification and it makes it seem overly easy the way I'm saying it. (8:59) But I had that moment where I was like, so let's say if I have $3,000 a month to invest and then eventually that goes up to 4,000 and then maybe it's 5,000 and whatever.(9:08) Right. (9:09) I can retire with $4 million. (9:12) Of course.(9:13) That never seemed at all accessible to me. (9:16) Ever. (9:18) Real quick.(9:19) Sorry. (9:19) Sorry. (9:19) Real quick.

Alan Lazaros

(9:20) And I know we're going to have to do exactly the conversation we're supposed to have. (9:22) We're going to have to do a part two. (9:24) This is great.(9:24) Yeah. (9:24) We're going to have to do a part two. (9:25) Brother.(9:25) To me, it's like, did no one ever like tell you that? (9:29) One of your best friends is in finance. (9:32) Like it's not rocket science.

Kevin Palmieri

(9:33) If you're listening, I love you. (9:34) I love you. (9:35) My mother kept her money in the sock drawer.(9:38) Right. (9:38) Okay. (9:39) No credit card, no bank account.(9:42) Nobody was teaching me this shit.

Alan Lazaros

(9:43) But Matt is your friend. (9:46) He's in finance. (9:47) He knows this.(9:48) Yeah, but I never, that was just never talked to you about it. (9:51) This is one of the things that pisses me off. (9:53) And again, I'm not throwing shade at Matt, but if I was well, yeah, that would be no good.(10:00) That would not be a fun fight at all. (10:02) He's huge. (10:03) But the truth is, is like, why the fuck didn't he tell you that?(10:06) That's my truth. (10:06) And I would say that to his face too, by the way. (10:08) I don't know if I was coachable.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:09) I don't know if I, I didn't ask. (10:11) I'm sure I asked about, you can just pour it on. (10:14) I wasn't ready.(10:14) No, because I wasn't ready. (10:16) The same reason I asked myself, why doesn't everybody do this? (10:20) And I was like, oh, Kev again, you stupid bastard.(10:25) You didn't know. (10:25) And you didn't think about this. (10:27) You didn't think this was possible until today, five minutes ago.(10:30) But yeah, five minutes ago that dude, that's okay.

Alan Lazaros

(10:32) The root cause of that though, is what I want to learn. (10:35) What's the root cause of that? (10:37) Because ignorance is a by-product of something deeper, like lack of belief, right?

Kevin Palmieri

(10:44) Where, and again, we came from the same place, but where I come from, quote unquote in quotes, that's not, I don't know anybody that has that type of money in retirement. (10:54) The fuck are we talking about here? (10:56) I could name 50 people right now.

Alan Lazaros

(10:58) Well, I know, I understand, but I can't. (11:00) No, but they're not, they're people that you wouldn't expect. (11:02) These people are not that brilliant.(11:04) Yeah, but I didn't, I don't know them. (11:06) But you could, yes, you do. (11:07) You could name me 12 right now that have that.(11:10) Not that I grew up with. (11:12) No, no, that you know.

Kevin Palmieri

(11:13) That's what I'm saying.

Alan Lazaros

(11:13) Well, yeah, but I never would have known these people now if I didn't. (11:16) This is what we should, yeah, agreed. (11:18) We're going to have to do a part two.(11:19) This is why who you spend time with matters so much. (11:21) Like I'm coaching a financial firm in Florida. (11:23) They all know this.(11:25) Oh, of course. (11:26) Of course. (11:26) But, but I also know their families know it and their friends know it.(11:31) But I know calories in versus calories out.

Kevin Palmieri

(11:33) All my friends know calories in versus calories out.

Alan Lazaros

(11:36) It's really important. (11:37) Yeah. (11:37) I, we were talking earlier with the CEO of this company and he was talking about the global economy.(11:45) Of course. (11:46) Big time. (11:46) Yeah, exactly.(11:47) As we all do at some point in the day. (11:49) And he was, he was like, oh my God, how do you know Ray Dalio? (11:52) And I was like, oh, I read all his books.(11:53) And he's like, what? (11:55) It's like, of course, of course. (11:57) Like there's not going to be anything, you know, about the global economy that I have not studied.(12:02) You know, why do you think I'm your coach? (12:04) You think you just hired some young guy, right?

Kevin Palmieri

(12:08) Like, of course I'm your coach. (12:09) I'm supposed to know more than you. (12:10) All right.(12:10) We have three minutes. (12:11) You have a coaching call. (12:12) I want to make sure you're on time.(12:13) I promised you would be on time. (12:14) And I take that responsibility seriously. (12:16) Fair.(12:17) We should do, we're going to do part two on this because this went all over this, but in a good way.

Alan Lazaros

(12:23) Yeah. (12:23) I want to get to, I don't feel like we got to the core of it because the truth is, is like, you need to be the guy I'm going to be the guy because people say, oh, well, easy for you, Alan. (12:32) I'm so sick of that.(12:33) It's not even funny. (12:34) I grew up broke as a joke. (12:35) Okay.(12:36) Like, but you need to be the guy because I'm going to be the guy people will shut off to me because they think I'm different.

Kevin Palmieri

(12:43) This is what we'll do. (12:45) You come with some questions, interview me on my expertise. (12:51) Goddamn episode.(12:51) I'm trying to get you to tell the people. (12:53) I know, but we, this was a very collapsed timeline. (12:56) So I knew we weren't going to get as deep as we want.(12:58) But I do think you should teach this because I'm always afraid that you're going to judge what I say, honestly. (13:03) Cause you know, so much. (13:05) And I know what I'm saying is never fully accurate.(13:08) So I know there's always like little corrections you're making in your head of like L that's an L.

Alan Lazaros

(13:17) Damn. (13:17) And, but again, override that with courage. (13:20) I'm going to try to, well, we're going to do that.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:22) I'm going to do it for the man of the people.

Alan Lazaros

(13:24) I'm always a man of the people.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:25) I'm not going to unfairly judge you. (13:28) Well, I 20, you know, 20, 20 year run rate. (13:31) It's always up.(13:31) I was right about that. (13:32) Right. (13:33) For what?(13:34) S and P 500. (13:35) Oh yeah. (13:36) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(13:36) I came with some 10% year over year nominal return.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:39) Yep. (13:40) I even, I even searched nominal. (13:42) What's the difference?(13:42) I said, what nominal preinflation, pre-inflation, post-inflation. (13:46) Look at you. (13:47) Finance.

Alan Lazaros

(13:47) I'm going to come correct.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:48) I'm going to come correct. (13:49) All right. (13:49) We got to go.(13:49) I love it.

Alan Lazaros

(13:50) You loved money. (13:51) You didn't learn finance. (13:52) Makes no sense.

Kevin Palmieri

(13:53) It makes no sense. (13:54) People, people love, love it, dude. (13:56) I'm telling you.(13:56) I don't know. (13:57) I think eventually you just think you'll figure it out. (13:59) You'll just crack the code one day.(14:00) No, no, no. (14:01) Code never cracks itself. (14:02) Never.(14:03) No, it's designed intentionality. (14:05) It's designed not to. (14:06) You will crack like a walnut, but you will not crack the code for sure.(14:09) Okay. (14:09) If you're out there and you want better results in fitness, finance, or family, reach out to Alan. (14:13) Alan can help you with all those things.(14:15) If you're looking for fitness specifically, we have the next level fitness accountability group. (14:18) We talked about finance today. (14:20) We're going to talk about finance tomorrow.(14:21) We'll go deeper into it about what we talked about today. (14:24) As always, we love you. (14:25) Appreciate you.(14:25) Grateful for each and every one of you. (14:26) If you are as committed as you say you are to getting to the next level, tune in tomorrow because we will be here every single day to help you get there. (14:31) Keep leveling up to reach your full potential.(14:34) Next level nation. (14:36) Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level University. (14:40) We love connecting with the next level family.

Alan Lazaros

(14:42) We mean it when we say family. (14:44) If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly. (14:48) Everything you need to get ahold of us is in the show notes.

Kevin Palmieri

(14:51) Thank you again, and we will talk to you tomorrow.