Is The Constraint Internal Or External? (2466)

What if the thing holding you back is not the obstacle, but your inability to identify the real constraint? In this episode, Kevin and Alan walk through why people stay stuck when they solve the wrong problem. They discuss internal and external constraints, self-awareness, discipline, environment, goal alignment, and the level of execution required for meaningful progress.

After thousands of episodes and years of coaching, Kevin and Alan have seen the same pattern again and again. Most people either lack the awareness to see the real issue or the consistency to do what the goal requires. Better results start with better diagnosis. Stop guessing, find the constraint, and build your life around solving it.

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

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Show notes:
(3:44) Root cause thinking and learned helplessness
(6:53) Awareness, discipline, and execution
(8:30) When your environment limits consistency
(14:43) Why the biggest constraint keeps changing
(16:34) Level 10 goals require level 10 alignment
(18:41) The compound effect of daily choices
(22:20) Measuring progress against the real goal
(25:40) Giving up to grow up
(27:06) Becoming the person your goals require
(30:25) 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 Pamieri

(0:00) I think self-awareness, as you've heard me say a million times, is like the most important thing in the world. (0:05) And I think one of the reasons is almost all of our problems either start internally or at some point go through some internal filter. (0:14) And if you don't know yourself well enough to like look at who you are and what your patterns are, you're just going to run at the same wall over and over and over again.(0:24) And here's the thing. (0:25) The problem isn't the wall. (0:26) The problem is the strategy about how to get around the wall.

Alan Lazaros

(0:29) I have two clients later tonight and I told them both, my intention is to intensely target the constraint. (0:39) Now, is that constraint going to be external or is it going to be internal or both? (0:44) Welcome to Next Level University.(0:47) I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri.

Kevin Pamieri

(0:48) And I'm your co-host, Alan Lazaros. (0:52) At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers.

Alan Lazaros

(0:58) Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life, love, health, and wealth.

Kevin Pamieri

(1:05) 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

(1:20) Self-improvement in your pocket, every day, from anywhere, completely free. (1:27) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Pamieri

(1:32) Next Level Nation today for episode number 2,466 is the constraint internal or external. (1:39) All right, we said we were going to do a part two based on yesterday's episode. (1:43) And I don't know if we said this in the episode or we said this behind the scenes.(1:47) Usually, I don't know, give me a percentage. (1:49) What is the percentage internal versus external, obviously with nuance?

Alan Lazaros

(1:56) Oh man, I... (2:00) And then an example of each. (2:02) I think it's always both, but I think it's not always equal.(2:08) So, Kevin and I had a really ignorant argument before this about if people are falling into the Grand Canyon, you got to build a railing. (2:21) And I said, no, you got to teach people how to walk.

Kevin Pamieri

(2:23) No, no, you said, I want a good metaphor to explain the difference between cause and root cause. (2:29) Yeah. (2:29) And I said, cause...(2:33) Uh, wait, no, no. (2:36) Well, I guess that's not even really a cause, it was a result. (2:38) But I essentially said people are falling into...(2:41) The Grand Canyon. (2:42) The Grand Canyon. (2:43) The root cause is there's no fucking railing.(2:45) So you put up a railing and the problem is solved. (2:47) Nobody falls into the Grand Canyon. (2:47) No, that's a band-aid.(2:49) I know, but sometimes I think of... (2:50) I said the root cause is ignorance. (2:52) Yeah.(2:52) And then we went into like, okay, so you just have like a giant... (2:56) You must watch this movie. (2:58) Please come here.(2:59) Welcome to the Grand Canyon. (3:00) I'm your host, Alan Lazarus. (3:01) Take a seat here and watch this 15-minute biopic about how you should not...(3:05) Peek too far over into the Grand Canyon to see how deep it is, because then you might actually find out exactly how deep it is, unfortunately.

Alan Lazaros

(3:12) But if you just put up a railing, no one learns... (3:18) No one learns. (3:20) That is fair, right?(3:22) Yeah. (3:22) You never saw WALL-E? (3:24) No.(3:26) WALL-E is a Pixar film that is the drastic over-swing of what humanity is headed towards, which is people that just don't do anything for themselves and everything's automated. (3:37) They're like blobs in a chair and they get like fed and all this stuff. (3:41) And if you've ever seen WALL-E, you know exactly what I'm talking about.(3:44) That's a really famous movie for that reason, because learned helplessness is getting worse as we automate more things. (3:53) But anyway, so back to the root cause, internal and external. (3:59) I believe there's always an external constraint and an internal constraint at all times.(4:04) The size of the constraint is what determines the difference between cause and root cause. (4:11) It's like a tree. (4:11) There's a lot of roots, but there's one mother root.(4:16) Seriously, Emilia has a graphic, I kid you not, with a mother root. (4:22) You just thought it was funny the way I said that?

Kevin Pamieri

(4:24) Yeah, I wasn't expecting it.

Alan Lazaros

(4:25) Yeah.

Kevin Pamieri

(4:26) Yeah, yeah, mother root.

Alan Lazaros

(4:26) I don't know where I got it from, but mother root.

Kevin Pamieri

(4:29) Is it really? (4:29) Is that a thing though? (4:30) Yes.(4:31) And is it like the biggest, most connected, deepest?

Alan Lazaros

(4:34) Every tree, every plant, I think has one root that's bigger than all the others. (4:40) Yes. (4:41) I do believe that's true.(4:42) I do not know for sure, but you got to figure, right? (4:45) One of them has to be the largest unless they're all equal size. (4:48) So yeah, but anyway, she has a graphic that shows the mother root and it has an arrow that's pointing to its same mother root.(4:54) Here's my point. (4:55) There's a root cause and there's a bunch of root causes, but there are, there's a bunch of causes. (5:00) There's one biggest cause.(5:03) I used to say that the root cause of all human suffering is ignorance and apathy. (5:08) Either we don't know enough or we don't care enough. (5:11) And I think it's both.(5:12) It's like, where are we still putting leeches on our skin to cure illness? (5:16) Where are we still thinking the world is flat when it's not? (5:18) Where are we, where are we ignorant?(5:20) One of the ways that I, the way I coach, I would say, is figure out where the other person's ignorant, which is hard to do because they don't, nobody wants to like appear ignorant. (5:34) Some people don't mind it. (5:35) Like Amy Lennius, I know you're watching.(5:37) Amy, what's happening? (5:38) She doesn't mind looking ignorant to a fault. (5:42) And it's actually a superpower if you have the right coach because I'm not going to fault you for it and I'm going to teach you.(5:50) I had one client do their calories wrong yesterday. (5:54) And it's like, okay, you were never going to succeed. (5:57) If you kept doing this wrong, you, it's impossible.(6:00) It's mathematically impossible for you to consistently lose weight in this way while messing up this calorie calculation. (6:08) And so I called it out and now she's going to do it right. (6:13) And now she's going to get to where she's never gone before.(6:16) So, so that was a root cause inside of her, which is you didn't know how to do the math properly with calorie calculations. (6:23) And the simplest form of this is if you go under your calories today, you have to go over tomorrow. (6:30) And if you go over your calories today, you have to go under tomorrow to make sure you get an average caloric intake so that you can, so that you can consistently lose weight over time with energy output and energy input.(6:41) That's not the point of the episode. (6:42) The point of the episode is my job is to find the internal and external constraint and then come up with a solution.

Kevin Pamieri

(6:53) This is overly simplified, but is it, is it as simple as the, the main two constraints are lack of awareness and lack of discipline? (7:04) Very, very simplified, obviously. (7:06) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(7:06) Overly simplified. (7:08) You're either not aware. (7:10) You don't have, you don't have enough understanding.(7:13) Awareness and understanding are kind of the same thing. (7:15) You either don't understand something or you're not fucking doing something. (7:19) You either don't understand it well enough to do it well, or you understand it, but you're not doing it.

Kevin Pamieri

(7:25) Yes. (7:25) Is it really?

Alan Lazaros

(7:26) Everything comes down to those two. (7:27) Yeah. (7:27) What?(7:28) Is it that simple? (7:30) In yourself, others in the world. (7:31) Those are the three categories I put it in.

Kevin Pamieri

(7:33) But, okay, which, which one of those is, are they both internal?

Alan Lazaros

(7:39) Yourself, others in the world? (7:40) No, yourself is internal.

Kevin Pamieri

(7:41) Awareness and discipline, implementation, whatever, however you want to put it.

Alan Lazaros

(7:47) Well, so the, the, the problem is discipline is internal and external. (7:57) So for example, if, if discipline is doing what you don't feel like doing when you know you should do it towards your goal, well, sometimes it's not a discipline issue. (8:08) It's a, I don't have a foam roller.(8:13) I'm supposed to foam roll, but I don't have a foam roller. (8:15) So that's external. (8:16) So that's external.(8:17) Yeah. (8:18) And then once you have a foam roller and you're sitting there, now it's discipline.

Kevin Pamieri

(8:22) Is awareness, yeah, but okay, awareness can also be external to a degree.

Alan Lazaros

(8:26) Yeah. (8:27) Agreed.

Kevin Pamieri

(8:27) Yeah, it's all fucked up.

Alan Lazaros

(8:28) Well, no, it's, it's... (8:30) In a good way. (8:31) In a good way, not a bad way.(8:32) It always comes down to you don't understand enough about yourself, others of the world, or you don't execute consistently. (8:41) And you don't execute consistently either because you don't understand yourself enough or because the environment does not, is not conducive to execution. (8:48) When I travel, I get very humbled.(8:51) It's not hard for me to do back-to-backs eight times a day, every day when I'm here. (8:56) It's like really quite easy at this point. (8:58) And again, I say that with a grain of salt.(8:59) Sometimes I don't feel well. (9:01) Like it's not like I'm, it's not like I'm breezing through it. (9:04) There's every, every few hours there's like, fuck this for sure.(9:08) Okay. (9:08) But then I power through it, whatever. (9:10) And then when we travel, it's like, oh my, I can't do this.(9:15) This is insane. (9:16) Like, and one of the reasons why it's hard to have relationships in my life is because I, I'm not going to be like at a barbecue and then shift gears to a coaching call. (9:29) I always use a barbecue.(9:30) I don't know why. (9:32) I just think that's a good example of things that people do that have, that are so far in the opposite direction of anything peak performance related. (9:41) There's no peak performance at any barbecue ever.(9:45) Unless you're playing bags. (9:46) Well, yeah. (9:47) Or can't jam.(9:48) Or volleyball. (9:48) Probably not. (9:49) Probably not.(9:50) And even then, I mean, usually a barbecue is a hangout place. (9:54) Anyways, back to the point, the core. (9:57) You either don't understand yourself, others of the world enough, or you don't do enough of the right thing in the right amount, for the right reason, with the right people, toward the right goal.(10:13) But they feed each other. (10:15) When you do things, you learn. (10:17) And when you learn, you hopefully do more things.(10:20) Like you and I at 36 and 37, I'm really hoping we only have a crossover of a couple months. (10:26) It's like, I could just say we're both 37. (10:28) So annoying.(10:28) Yeah, but you could just say it. (10:29) Nah. (10:31) Can't.(10:31) Gotta be accurate. (10:32) Late 30s? (10:33) Later 30s?(10:34) Okay. (10:35) You and I in our late 30s. (10:38) Nah, 36 and 37.(10:40) Try it on. (10:42) We're running circles around past us. (10:44) In every area except fitness.(10:47) And even in fitness, we're running circles execution-wise. (10:50) We're just not in terms of weight and reps. (10:54) And like body composition.(10:56) And body composition, yeah. (10:57) But that's a result. (10:58) I meant doing.(11:02) Like we know way more and we do way more. (11:06) Yeah, yeah, yeah. (11:08) Yeah, but not the same.(11:09) But not this. (11:10) Not. (11:11) Yeah, not the same biochemically.

Kevin Pamieri

(11:17) I feel like for me, it was always internal. (11:22) Like that's why I'm so big on internal. (11:24) Because I think for me, it was always.(11:26) I had a moment. (11:28) Yes, again, I talked about this. (11:29) Yesterday I slept till 6 10 and it was like, fuck my whole day up.(11:32) Like 10 minutes, fuck my whole day up. (11:33) And today my alarm went off and I was like, just get out of bed. (11:37) What the fuck are you doing?(11:38) Like, just get out of bed. (11:39) Problem solved. (11:40) Like your whole day will be better if you just get out of bed.(11:43) And then I got out of bed and it was like, okay, cool. (11:44) I'm glad I did that. (11:45) Awesome.(11:46) Then I got to the gym early. (11:48) It was perfect. (11:48) It was great.(11:49) It was great. (11:50) That's not an internal thing. (11:52) That's not an external thing.(11:53) Like, yeah, it's cold. (11:54) But like, what am I going to do? (11:56) Make it warmer so I can get out of bed.(11:58) Well, that's going to affect my sleep. (12:00) You know, like.

Alan Lazaros

(12:02) I don't know the guy I told you about who is a project manager, Six Sigma, three defects per million transactions, optimization, time management, productivity, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. (12:11) And then he showed up to a beer. (12:13) Yeah.(12:14) Showed up to a call. (12:14) Peak performance coaching session. (12:15) Never brought it home.(12:16) Yeah. (12:17) Yeah. (12:17) And I was like, your wife is clearly miserable.(12:22) Your marriage isn't good. (12:23) Your kids don't even like you. (12:27) You got a beer in your hand on a peak performance call.(12:31) You are dialed in at work. (12:33) This dude was like six. (12:36) Like this dude was.(12:37) It's called Scrum. (12:39) You ever heard of Scrum?

Kevin Pamieri

(12:40) I went on a podcast that was all about Scrum. (12:42) So I had to learn about it before I went on it. (12:44) So yeah, it's nice.(12:45) Okay.

Alan Lazaros

(12:45) It's just you do a huddle every day. (12:49) Here's the obstacles we're going to face. (12:50) It's a modality of fucking performance.(12:54) And I honestly think it's sub par. (12:56) But the point is he obviously focused on external bottlenecks. (13:06) He didn't focus on internal bottlenecks.(13:09) Can you imagine? (13:10) And you say mine were always internal. (13:11) It's like, dude, if you went to an Amazon fulfillment center, I've been at them.(13:17) My company, Cognex, used to work with them. (13:20) It's insane, dude. (13:21) There's no internal issues.(13:23) It's like, let me give you an example. (13:26) An Amazon fulfillment center is set up so magnificently it would blow your mind. (13:32) It's unbelievable how to the microsecond everything is.(13:39) If you came in there and said, hey, everybody, your biggest bottleneck is internal. (13:43) They'd all be like, get the fuck out of here, man. (13:45) What the fuck are you even talking about?(13:48) And that's engineers. (13:49) Because engineers fix things outside themselves. (13:52) They don't usually.(13:54) I'm not going to, I don't want to pick on all engineers. (13:56) I know probably a hundred, if not a thousand engineers. (13:59) They don't usually look inward.(14:01) They usually fix everything external. (14:04) And they're working on Amazon fulfillment centers and that kind of thing. (14:07) So when you sit there and say, well, my problems are always internal.(14:11) It's like, dude, no. (14:14) Yeah, yours were, and they feel that way. (14:16) And you're focused on that, which I think is great.(14:18) However, if I look at you and Taren's home, there's a thousand things I could pick up that are not optimized for big performance. (14:26) Yeah, but that's a different conversation though. (14:28) But it's not if you're trying to hit your goals.(14:32) Like your goals, the constraint in your life is not internal, even though you think it is. (14:37) The constraint in your life is your fucking environment. (14:40) I think it's less internal.(14:42) I still, it's still internal for sure.

Kevin Pamieri

(14:43) I'm afraid of everything.

Alan Lazaros

(14:44) You know what I mean? (14:44) It's not the biggest one. (14:45) It's not the mother root.(14:47) Yeah. (14:47) Okay. (14:47) When does that switch though?(14:49) As soon as you, as soon as you were, like, if I could optimize your home, then it would immediately be internal again.

Kevin Pamieri

(14:56) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(14:56) Because then you'd be bored and you'd be like, uh, I don't like it here. (15:00) You know, and it's like, okay, well, now we got to go back to it.

Kevin Pamieri

(15:02) That's the hard part about it is it's always changing. (15:04) And like, if you change your goal, everything changes. (15:06) Agreed.(15:07) Right. (15:07) So, okay, uh, we're going to go from the 10 pound and 10 week weight loss challenge or whatever we do to whatever it is. (15:13) We're going to bulk and try to get strong.(15:14) Guess what? (15:15) The constraint is no longer having a caloric deficit. (15:19) It is now not having a caloric surplus.(15:21) And that's not, it's not going to be X amount of cardio anymore, even though you're still going to do it. (15:26) It's going to be X amount of weight training sessions.

Alan Lazaros

(15:28) And it's that's why it's so hard moment. (15:31) The goal changes. (15:32) Yeah.(15:33) And that's something we should talk about. (15:35) We have time, so we should do this. (15:41) Try to make this, I think for me, I, I don't like teaching this because I don't understand.(15:56) Okay. (15:57) From when I was a little kid, I would set a goal and then everything I do and don't do would immediately align with the goal. (16:06) Like everything.(16:11) You didn't understand that when we first met, like at all.

Kevin Pamieri

(16:16) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(16:16) You like would work and then like play Call of Duty.

Kevin Pamieri

(16:19) It's like, dude, that's not aligned with the goal. (16:22) If my goal is having friends though, it is. (16:24) Yeah.(16:24) Agreed. (16:25) Agreed. (16:25) That's the hard part about it.(16:27) But then you don't get your fucking goal, your other goals.

Alan Lazaros

(16:31) Not at the level that you want. (16:33) Yeah, exactly. (16:34) Okay.(16:34) So, so level 10 goal requires level 10 alignment. (16:38) Level eight goal requires level eight alignment, meaning 20% of the time you can play games or whatever. (16:43) And I have a client right now who plays games.(16:45) And I said, brother, I know you're listening. (16:48) Not, no, no more games in the morning. (16:51) Like play at night, dude.(16:53) Can you imagine? (16:54) Yeah. (16:54) Morning.

Kevin Pamieri

(16:55) Anyhow, morning stuff is dangerous. (16:57) Yeah, because it's 8am and you're cooked. (17:00) Well, and it's, I'm convinced.(17:02) It's like, I'm sure there's neuroscience behind this. (17:04) I just don't know it.

Alan Lazaros

(17:04) There is.

Kevin Pamieri

(17:06) There's something about starting momentum away from your goals that just makes it easier to be like, ah, fuck. (17:11) It's already, I've already, I've already invested two hours into this. (17:14) Might as well play Angry Birds for another six.(17:16) I'll get to it later.

Alan Lazaros

(17:17) One of my tires is slashed. (17:19) And that's a thing. (17:22) So, but here's the thing.(17:24) I said this to him. (17:26) If you don't want to hit your goals, you don't have to listen to a word I say. (17:29) If you do want to hit your goals and you actually mean it in real life, you can't wake up and play games, man.(17:37) Like you can't mathematically. (17:39) It's not a thing. (17:40) Because that's going to fuck up your whole day.(17:43) I know, I've done it. (17:45) I used to competitive game and I'm cooked by 8.30am going, how the hell am I going to do my homework? (17:50) Like that I didn't do the night before.(17:52) I, you have to set your life up in alignment with your goals. (17:56) Otherwise the goals will not happen. (17:58) And if you really looked at how many people set a goal and actually hit it, it's crazy low.

Kevin Pamieri

(18:05) I, we talked about this behind the scenes. (18:06) We did an episode on this, but like, I don't, God. (18:10) Yeah.(18:11) It's like the one thing for you. (18:12) It's that nothing else matters. (18:14) And again, like you still do stuff and you see family, but like it's the leading consciousness at all times.

Alan Lazaros

(18:24) So go. (18:25) That's why I want you to do. (18:27) Cause I, I don't think it can be for most people.(18:30) What is that? (18:31) Of course it can. (18:32) It's not going to be, but it can get closer.(18:34) It can get, yeah. (18:35) But like, I don't, I don't know.

Kevin Pamieri

(18:37) I think so many people that I think that's where the conversation about regret comes. (18:41) Now, again, I don't know whether or not Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres regret what they did. (18:46) I have no idea.(18:46) No clue. (18:47) But I think that's why you hear a lot of people that get successful and then like, oh, I would have done everything different. (18:52) It's like, well, number one, it's easy for you to say that now because you're like floating around in your lazy river on a Tuesday, you know, like to have to do anything.(18:59) So sounds terrible. (19:01) I know. (19:01) But I just, I wonder if they didn't understand how much it was going to take or they didn't understand what it would take would actually take away from like, I don't, I, yes, it has to be more right.(19:14) Like if, if you're, I don't know this client, I'm not saying this personally to you, just as an example. (19:20) If you're playing video games at eight o'clock and I'm building the business at eight o'clock, I will beat you.

Alan Lazaros

(19:27) Yeah. (19:28) That's compounded.

Kevin Pamieri

(19:29) Yeah. (19:29) And on the day to day, you might not notice.

Alan Lazaros

(19:32) You might not notice at all for the first year. (19:34) That's the problem. (19:35) But you won't even notice for the first year.(19:37) And I know you're starting to feel the compound effect now. (19:39) I am sure you and I have gotten more opportunity in the last fucking month than we did the entire first year. (19:45) Easily.(19:46) Probably probably 10x dude. (19:48) It's yeah. (19:49) And, and, but explain that to someone at the beginning, because this person, they're not at the beginning, but they're kind of at the beginning of starting their own company.(19:58) It's like, brother, you have to. (19:59) Yeah. (20:00) Now's the, now's the time.(20:01) Now's the time.

Kevin Pamieri

(20:02) Yeah. (20:03) Now's the time. (20:03) You can't, no, no.(20:06) If, if I could, if I could sit somebody down, I would say, okay, this is, this is Alan's thing. (20:10) You got to give level 10 effort for the rest of your life. (20:14) And level 10 effort, level 10 alignment, level 10 discipline, level 10 sacrifice, level 10 awareness, level 10 consciousness.(20:20) I'm with you so far. (20:22) That's Alan's give me level nine for the first five years. (20:29) Give me level nine on all those for the first five years.(20:31) Give me that. (20:32) And then let's revisit. (20:33) Maybe you dropped down to 8.9, but guess what?(20:36) That 8.9 is fucking harder though. (20:37) Somehow, somehow that 8.9 is actually harder because you have more opportunity that you wanted to fill up that 8.9 10 years in maybe go to 8.7, 8.7, but you're going to be, and you're going to have to be so good. (20:53) So good at that 8.7 that you're not maximizing anymore. (20:59) You're mitigating risk and you're going to feel that and you're not going to grow exponentially anymore. (21:05) And like, you're still going to grow, but it'll never be what you hoped. (21:09) If you want to be like the best at this, that is what I would say.(21:13) You could still be more successful than almost anybody. (21:15) You know, you can still be very successful. (21:17) You can be financially all that shit, but you will never be at the top of the mountain.(21:22) You will never, they're not going to write. (21:24) They're not going to make movies about you. (21:25) They don't write biographies about people who prioritize vacation over making it like they don't, that's not going to happen.(21:31) If that's what you want, you will have to give up everything else. (21:36) If you want like other stuff, like you want to have a relationship and you want to like go to the beach and you want to fish and stuff like you're just not going to be as successful. (21:47) And that's up to you.(21:49) So I don't know. (21:50) It's hard for me because I, you know, many people I've worked with that are like, yeah, I want to do, I'm going to do exactly what you guys did. (21:56) It's like, all right, cool.(21:58) I love it. (21:59) Why did you miss the last episode though? (22:02) Like you're not, you already did.(22:03) You already missed. (22:05) Yeah. (22:05) You can't do what we did because you missed.(22:06) You already missed. (22:07) You can't. (22:08) By definition, you can't.(22:09) That don't lie to yourself. (22:13) Don't lie to me. (22:14) I don't, it's not going to, it doesn't help me by you lying.(22:16) It doesn't, I don't care what you want to do. (22:17) You want to do what you want to do.

Alan Lazaros

(22:20) I have a client I was on with earlier who he's going for 525,000 this year and he's projected for 444 currently. (22:32) That's his current run rate in 2026. (22:35) And I said, we got to dial it up.(22:38) Not down. (22:40) If you're, if you want to only make 400 grand, you, you coast, you're good coast. (22:46) If you want to go, I think that the projection makes it tangible.(22:51) All we did, it's, it's a simple formula. (22:53) All we did was take how much money he made to date, divide it by the number of days, and then multiply that average daily by 365.

Kevin Pamieri

(23:01) I love how you fucking, I look at the thing in my spreadsheet all the time. (23:03) It's like, I could not replicate this. (23:05) I'm looking at parenthesis, PEMDAS, fucking, if I lose the, if I lose that.(23:13) I'm going to have to start over or you can give me a call.

Alan Lazaros

(23:16) Well, I'll give you a call for sure. (23:17) But well, so it's just your average daily times 365. (23:22) Okay.(23:23) Okay. (23:24) Average daily income times 365 gross income. (23:26) All right.(23:26) His goal is 525,000, which is 41% up from last year. (23:32) And I was like, we got to fucking dial this up. (23:35) And he's like, what do you mean?(23:37) I said, okay, you're today. (23:38) You've done 220. (23:39) Awesome.(23:41) We had dial it up. (23:42) We're off track. (23:43) Isn't it interesting how you've made, I said this to him, you're making, you've made more money in the last six months than you've ever made in your entire life.(23:52) And I'm telling you, you have to dial it up. (23:54) You're behind based on, based on the goal, based on the goal. (23:59) That's a good metaphor.(24:01) No one, like if your goal was 100, you're, you're good. (24:04) You're chill. (24:05) Barbecue it up.

Kevin Pamieri

(24:06) You're celebrating.

Alan Lazaros

(24:07) You're celebrating. (24:08) It's all good. (24:08) But the paradox here is that feeling behind is actually necessary to get ahead.(24:18) He set a goal for 525 and then did what it, he wouldn't be projected for 444 if he didn't set a goal that challenged him to step up. (24:29) Because most of the things we've done over the last six months were changes predicated on a goal. (24:36) Not one call was like, Hey man, how was your weekend?(24:39) Like, no, that's not relative to the goal. (24:44) I don't want to waste my time and yours talking about how your weekend was when you're miles behind your goal. (24:51) Now, why does that goal matter?(24:53) Because of his goals and dreams. (24:56) If he doesn't want that, that's fine. (24:58) And that's why this conversation gets so wonky because it's like, no one needs 525,000.(25:03) No one needs that. (25:04) They want that. (25:05) That's fine.(25:06) No one needs that. (25:07) And that's true. (25:08) Like you, food, water, shelter, you don't need it.(25:10) You, you've, some people convince themselves they do, but they don't need it. (25:14) They want it. (25:15) And that's fine.(25:16) And maybe they do need it to achieve other goals, right? (25:20) They need it to have a bigger home. (25:23) They need it to have a bigger team.(25:25) They need it to have a bigger impact. (25:27) They need it to reinvest. (25:28) But no one needs it for like their own survival.(25:31) That's way beyond survival. (25:33) So if you want to thrive, you have to set a goal beyond survival. (25:36) And if you set a goal beyond survival, it's going to require you to align with it.(25:40) And you have to give up to grow up. (25:42) And the more I do this work, the more I realize that that's the main issue is you set a goal that isn't aligned with the life you actually want to live. (25:51) That, that dude, that is the biggest issue in the world.(25:54) Not the biggest issue in the world. (25:55) Obviously that's when it comes to success. (25:56) That is the issue.(25:57) That is the issue. (25:58) A hundred percent. (25:59) What is required of you is outside of alignment with what you're willing to do.(26:03) But it's supposed to be a little bit.

Kevin Pamieri

(26:04) Or like they're supposed, there has to be a delta. (26:07) Because if it's exactly what you want to do, you're not going to grow. (26:10) Agreed.(26:10) Like if we were like, yeah, you know, we're just going to, we'll do an episode a week. (26:13) And then we'll kind of like, just see what happens. (26:14) Yeah, whatever.(26:15) Like that wouldn't be it. (26:17) I enjoy that. (26:18) That's not out of alignment with what I want to do.(26:21) It actually is because I want to do, I want to do it every day. (26:23) But like it has, it is going to be uncomfortable.

Alan Lazaros

(26:26) It's just like constructively uncomfortable. (26:30) Well, this is why I think you saying I do the goal to get the goal is silly because you need to do it for more than that. (26:35) I just want to be honest.

Kevin Pamieri

(26:37) I just want to be honest. (26:38) I don't want to say the same. (26:39) I used to just say the same shit you said.(26:41) I was like to met no skate, baby to met no skate. (26:44) Know thyself. (26:45) I don't know what that means.(26:46) I know what it means now. (26:47) It means what I said, but like self-awareness. (26:51) I I'm just being honest about it, man.(26:53) I want to be honest. (26:54) I just, yeah, I don't, I don't set the goal to, to become. (26:59) I set the goal to achieve because I'm not come.(27:03) What?

Alan Lazaros

(27:06) Like we have two minutes just to play. (27:08) If you took away all your goals, I use Taryn as an example. (27:11) And I, if she heard this, that'd be fine.(27:14) Kevin, the man you love is a by-product of the goals we've set. (27:19) Yeah. (27:20) And so if you take away the goals we've set, yeah, but I'm not saying you love goes.(27:24) I'm not saying take away the goals.

Kevin Pamieri

(27:25) I'm just saying, no, no, no.

Alan Lazaros

(27:26) I'm saying, I wonder if people understand that. (27:28) And I don't mean people like, I think Taryn probably understands that, but yeah.

Kevin Pamieri

(27:33) But it's like, that's a different layer of like, I'm going to set a goal. (27:37) Yeah. (27:37) Not only like, yeah, if I get it, that's cool.(27:39) But the man I will become in the process. (27:43) That drives me more than anything else.

Alan Lazaros

(27:45) It drives me now more than it ever has. (27:47) But that is not my natural tendency. (27:49) That's how you become your own hero.(27:51) I was thinking the other day, and we're not going to do this. (27:53) So don't get it in your fucking head. (27:54) I was like, what if Kevin and I did a fitness show?(27:57) Oh God. (28:00) And I had this next moment. (28:02) It was like, we could probably win our class.(28:04) It's like, seriously, Alan, that's how far you've fallen. (28:05) You're trying to win your class. (28:07) Right?(28:08) Look at how, like, come on. (28:10) You really not think you could win the whole thing? (28:12) No, listen, I could, but I can't do it without burning other things to the ground.

Kevin Pamieri

(28:16) I don't know, man. (28:17) These 23 year old kids, they got something like, they have something I don't. (28:20) Honestly, I don't know if I could win anything.

Alan Lazaros

(28:23) It's called steroids. (28:25) And it's time. (28:26) Also, yeah, of course.(28:28) The point that I'm making though, is like, that isn't aligned with the man I'm proud to become. (28:33) You know, I want to be a husband and a father. (28:35) I want to set my, my goals have become reckless to my goals, if that makes sense.(28:43) Okay, if you and I aren't careful, we're going to set goals that are not aligned with the men we're proud to be.

Kevin Pamieri

(28:51) Well, I think that's, that's a different, yeah, yeah, yeah. (28:54) That's a different car. (28:54) I think it's easier to not set a goal because, you know, you won't like who you become, than to set a goal because, you know, and go after it because, you know, you'll like who you become.(29:03) Those are the exact same thing. (29:05) To you, yes. (29:06) But one of the reasons we literally just said, one of the reasons most people don't accomplish their goal is because it's outside of what they actually want to do.(29:12) Slash outside who they actually are willing to become.

Alan Lazaros

(29:15) For sure. (29:16) I think it's outside of what they. (29:19) I'm telling you.(29:20) You're proud of who you've become more than what you thought. (29:23) Yeah, yeah, yeah. (29:24) But I didn't think I could become this.

Kevin Pamieri

(29:27) Yeah, but well, that's sucks. (29:29) I know people that wouldn't stop smoking weed to get a new job. (29:34) To get a new job.(29:36) Sorry. (29:36) To provide for their families. (29:37) They don't get a new job.(29:39) That's what I'm saying is, dude, they, they didn't even, they wouldn't even do it for the money. (29:43) Nevermind the type of person they would become if they made that decision. (29:46) Yeah, it's a fair assessment.

Alan Lazaros

(29:47) Yeah, I do think that's another. (29:50) That's it. (29:50) I know we got to go.(29:51) Yeah, we got it. (29:51) We got to go. (29:52) We got to go.(29:52) That's another motivator though. (29:54) That's another cylinder. (29:54) I'm not saying it's the whole thing, but I think you're starting to use that cylinder.

Kevin Pamieri

(29:58) I, when it comes, I say yes to things I don't want to do because it's like, ah, fuck, I'll, I'll become more because of this. (30:03) But that's. (30:04) Cool.(30:04) That's brand new. (30:05) But again, this is, this is a long time coming. (30:07) That is not my natural.(30:08) It's good stuff though. (30:09) It's not mine. (30:09) It's okay.(30:10) Sometimes it sucks. (30:11) Tremendously. (30:12) All right.(30:12) Reach out to Alan for coaching. (30:13) If you're looking to get to the next level and you're trying to figure out what your constraint is and if your constraint for fitness is accountability, next level fitness accountability group, Alan and I are going to be in there every single day and we're going to do some sort of weight loss challenge, 10 pounds, 10 weeks. (30:24) I don't know yet.(30:25) As always, we love you. (30:26) Appreciate you. (30:26) Grateful for each and every one of you.(30:28) If you are as committed as you say you are to getting to the next level, tune in tomorrow because we'll be here every single day to help you get there. (30:33) Keep leveling up to reach your full potential. (30:35) Next level nation.(30:37) Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level University. (30:41) We love connecting with the next level family.

Alan Lazaros

(30:44) We mean it when we say family. (30:46) If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly. (30:49) Everything you need to get ahold of us is in the show notes.(30:53) Thank you again and we will talk to you tomorrow.