Ambition Needs Direction (2533)

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A powerful drive without a clear path can take you farther from the life you want. In today’s episode, Kevin and Alan examine why ambition can be valuable but still leave you feeling stuck when it lacks direction. They discuss the difference between being busy and making meaningful progress, and why hard work alone does not guarantee results.

Kevin and Alan break down how to recognize useful patterns without forcing yourself into someone else’s blueprint. They talk about choosing guidance wisely, becoming more coachable, and building the self-awareness needed to make decisions that fit your strengths, values, and goals. The conversation also addresses mentorship, discipline, and long-term consistency. Ambition creates momentum, but direction gives that momentum somewhere worthwhile to go.

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Show notes:
(1:56) Kevin's early ambition and self-belief
(8:39) Why ambition alone is not enough
(10:26) Find patterns instead of copying people
(13:20) When it is time to graduate mentors
(18:49) Direct ambition toward long-term progress
(22:18) 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) While ambition is one of the foundational components to success, misguided or misdirected ambition is going to get you in circles and not very far.

Alan Lazaros

(0:15) Ambition without direction is very dangerous. (0:18) You might metaphorically drive right off a cliff. (0:21) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:24) I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri. (0:26) And I'm your co-host, Alan Lazaros. (0:29) At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers.

Alan Lazaros

(0:35) Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life, love, health, and wealth.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:42) 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

(0:57) Self-improvement in your pocket, every day, from anywhere, completely free. (1:04) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Palmieri

(1:10) Next Level Nation today for episode number 2,533, Ambition Needs Direction. (1:17) So we, as this journey has evolved, right? (1:21) We've always kind of had the, I've never said this word on the podcast before, juxtaposition of Alan and Kevin.(1:28) Alan was the intellectual, Kevin was who knows what Kevin was. (1:35) And I said to Alan today, I said, I think we have me pegged a little bit wrong when it comes to like the story. (1:40) I said, I've always been extremely ambitious.(1:42) I've always wanted to succeed. (1:44) I've always done things that other people didn't do.

Alan Lazaros

(1:47) Were you more ambitious than your peers?

Kevin Palmieri

(1:49) Yes. (1:50) In hindsight? (1:51) Yeah.(1:52) I don't even think, it just didn't look like it. (1:56) Because I think for most people, ambition was like, go to college. (1:59) I wanted to be the best fighter on the face of the earth.(2:04) That was my goal. (2:05) Then when I started training, I was like, that ain't it. (2:08) That ain't it.(2:09) That ain't going to happen. (2:11) That is not, I didn't have enough self-belief. (2:13) I didn't have enough self-belief, but I wanted to.(2:15) I remember people would come into the gas station. (2:17) They'd be like, what are you going to do after this? (2:19) Like, you can't do this forever.(2:20) Like, I'm going to fight in the UFC. (2:22) That's what I'm going to do. (2:23) No, no, you can't make a living doing that.(2:24) Chuck Liddell, who's the champion, makes $250,000 a fight. (2:27) How much money do you make, sir? (2:29) You make $250,000, you make $250,000 a year.(2:32) I fight four times a year, I make a million dollars. (2:34) I'll be a millionaire. (2:35) Now, again.

Alan Lazaros

(2:37) Some simple mathematics.

Kevin Palmieri

(2:39) Simple mathematics.

Alan Lazaros

(2:39) There's a couple of distinctions missing, but so far I'm with you. (2:42) From the gas station attendant.

Kevin Palmieri

(2:44) Simple mathematics from the gas station attendant. (2:45) Little did I know you were giving math seminars at the gas station. (2:49) I've been given math seminars.(2:50) You know it. (2:51) That was, I mean, I wanted that. (2:53) I trained.(2:55) I was trying to do something, right?

Alan Lazaros

(2:57) Why didn't you think you'd be good? (3:01) I don't know, I don't— You didn't understand the compound effect of improvement.

Kevin Palmieri

(3:04) I definitely didn't understand the compound effect, and I— You think you could have been good if you stuck with it? (3:08) For sure, yeah, yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(3:09) Yeah, nice.

Kevin Palmieri

(3:10) Yeah, yeah, yeah. (3:11) I mean, I was good— If only you had a mentor. (3:12) For sure.(3:13) I was good without—I was naturally good. (3:15) I was naturally good at that. (3:16) I was naturally athletic.(3:18) I understood things. (3:20) I just, I picked it up pretty quickly. (3:22) I picked it up pretty quickly.(3:23) And it was at a really good time where it wasn't popular yet.

Alan Lazaros

(3:25) Did you not have any mentors who told you about the compound effect? (3:29) No. (3:30) No.(3:30) Were you coachable? (3:32) Dumbest question you've asked ever. (3:33) Were you—no.(3:35) What I meant is like, in hindsight—all right, let me rephrase. (3:38) What do you think? (3:38) For F's sake.(3:39) What do you— Yeah, I'd say no. (3:43) Hold on, hold on. (3:44) Because in hindsight, I had some mentors that were trying to be helpful.(3:48) And I did listen, and I realized later that they didn't know what they were talking about quite as well as I thought, but they had some good ideas. (3:56) Okay. (3:56) For you, do you feel that way?(3:58) No. (3:59) Okay. (4:00) All right, real quick.(4:01) Yeah. (4:02) So, in hindsight, were you coachable? (4:05) Were you—like, were there mentors?(4:07) Because here—when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. (4:09) I think that quote is semi-true. (4:12) All right?(4:13) When the student is ready, and they have value to add as a mentee, and they show promise externally to the mentor who sees said promise, then the teacher will suddenly, quote-unquote, appear, and the student has to be curious and have work ethic and humility and an improvement orientation. (4:29) Okay? (4:29) So that's the real quote.(4:30) But the point is, dude, if you and I were friends—which we weren't, okay? (4:37) I would have been like, brother, for sure.

Kevin Palmieri

(4:39) That's your fault.

Alan Lazaros

(4:40) Of course, yeah. (4:41) Of course, everything is. (4:42) I don't know if you've been on my Facebook lately.(4:44) I'm kidding. (4:44) All right, so—whoa. (4:47) So, Kev, if we were friends, I would have said, dude, you absolutely can be successful long-term.(4:53) I don't think I would have believed it, though. (4:55) Dude, my coach— Even if I broke it down?

Kevin Palmieri

(4:58) No. (4:58) My coach had a lot of belief in me. (5:01) And what did he say?

Alan Lazaros

(5:02) Did he try to tell you?

Kevin Palmieri

(5:03) I don't know. (5:04) No, probably not.

Alan Lazaros

(5:05) Did he try to say, Kev, like, give me a decade?

Kevin Palmieri

(5:08) No, definitely not. (5:09) No. (5:10) What would you have said?(5:11) No. (5:12) I need to pay the bills now. (5:14) You want me to work at the gas station for the next decade?(5:16) No. (5:17) Do you know a fighter who did? (5:19) Oh, most of them.(5:21) Yeah, most of them. (5:22) Magic formula. (5:23) Yeah, no, I know that now.(5:24) It could have been one of those stories. (5:25) I didn't at the time.

Alan Lazaros

(5:26) I'm glad you didn't, because we wouldn't be doing this right now.

Kevin Palmieri

(5:29) Well, I'm glad for many reasons. (5:31) Brain health and— Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Alan Lazaros

(5:34) Fighters get CTE all the time? (5:36) Yes. (5:37) Constantly?(5:37) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(5:39) Yeah. (5:39) Almost every sport does. (5:40) They just don't talk about it.(5:42) Soccer? (5:42) Soccer has one of the highest incidences of concussions per injury.

Alan Lazaros

(5:47) Seriously?

Kevin Palmieri

(5:48) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(5:49) I didn't know that. (5:49) I've never studied soccer.

Kevin Palmieri

(5:53) I've always been interested in— There's two things I was very interested in. (5:57) I was very interested in steroids. (5:59) I did all my reports in high school on steroids.(6:01) Almost all of them. (6:02) Any time I could do a report on something, I would do it on steroids.

Alan Lazaros

(6:05) What'd you learn?

Kevin Palmieri

(6:05) For whatever reason. (6:06) Oh my god, I've known how bad they were since I was 10 years old. (6:10) And how— Yeah, the thing was always like, this has always got the laugh.(6:15) It shrinks your testes. (6:16) When you get that one out there, people are always like, oh, you can't say that. (6:21) I can say that.(6:22) That's part of this very scientific research that I've done. (6:27) But yeah, I've always wanted to— Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(6:30) I'm actually asking. (6:32) I mean, what do you want? (6:33) They're terrible for you?(6:34) Give me a little more than that.

Kevin Palmieri

(6:38) Uh, male pattern baldness, and it makes you grow hair in random spots.

Alan Lazaros

(6:41) Heart attacks, man.

Kevin Palmieri

(6:42) Well, yeah, but like, I'm just— All the stuff. (6:45) It's terrible. (6:45) Heart attacks.(6:46) It's terrible. (6:47) Heart's a muscle. (6:48) Not good.(6:48) Yeah, yeah. (6:49) All of that stuff. (6:50) Okay.(6:50) All of that stuff. (6:51) All right, continue. (6:51) I don't have my Canva presentation here, so I'm not— I feel a little bit ill-prepared.

Alan Lazaros

(6:55) Just trying to give the people some information here.

Kevin Palmieri

(6:58) Well, I feel like most people know now, right?

Alan Lazaros

(7:00) Okay.

Kevin Palmieri

(7:00) I mean, you don't know. (7:02) Absolutely not.

Alan Lazaros

(7:03) The worst. (7:04) Just the worst. (7:05) I meant like, dude, that's a projection.(7:07) Nobody knows shit about steroids.

Kevin Palmieri

(7:10) Well, that's a blind spot for sure.

Alan Lazaros

(7:10) A lot of people— Yeah, because you and I have been studying this. (7:13) Of course, it's a blind spot. (7:14) You've been studying it since you were a kid.(7:17) Half the people think the rock is natural.

Kevin Palmieri

(7:20) Allegedly, he's not. (7:21) Allegedly. (7:23) Almost nobody is.(7:23) I would put all my money, not a chance in hell, right? (7:26) My wife, she was like, hey— This was an interesting thing. (7:30) She's like, hey, you want to watch Jack Reacher with me on Amazon?(7:33) And I was like, yeah, I'll give it a watch. (7:34) And then we started watching it and I was like, I can't watch this. (7:37) This dude is fucking perfect.(7:40) He is like, he's six foot four. (7:44) He is fucking the most jacked you've ever seen. (7:48) He's a stud.(7:49) And like every scene, it's almost like, ah, he just throws people off of him. (7:55) There's no suspense. (7:56) Of course he's gonna win.(7:57) Look at him. (7:58) Of course he's gonna— He can't lose. (8:00) I can't watch this.(8:01) But dude is a stud. (8:03) Get back to this. (8:06) Gas station fighting.(8:08) I was ambitious. (8:09) Give me a decade. (8:10) I've always been ambitious.(8:12) I just never had direction.

Alan Lazaros

(8:14) And that coach tried to give you direction and you didn't listen.

Kevin Palmieri

(8:17) True or false? (8:17) No, false. (8:19) How dare you project what you would do if you were a fucking marshal?(8:22) This wasn't like Never Back Down or Warrior. (8:25) It wasn't like that.

Alan Lazaros

(8:27) Warrior is a great movie. (8:28) How dare you?

Kevin Palmieri

(8:29) Don't appreciate it, Warrior.

Alan Lazaros

(8:30) One of the best films of all time.

Kevin Palmieri

(8:32) You ever seen Never Back Down? (8:34) I don't think so. (8:35) Very cheesy.(8:37) Very, very 2007. (8:39) I had a lot of ambition. (8:40) I had very little direction.(8:42) Ambition is great. (8:43) It's great. (8:45) But it's not enough.(8:46) I know a lot of people that are extremely ambitious. (8:48) They just don't have the strategy.

Alan Lazaros

(8:49) Okay. (8:50) Well, sorry. (8:52) Don't be sorry.(8:53) All right. (8:53) So listeners, why are we doing this? (8:55) We decided to do this to add value to you.(8:57) Not to just talk about Kevin's mistakes. (8:59) I'm joking. (9:00) So ambition without direction.(9:03) Okay. (9:03) Why? (9:04) Why?(9:06) Why and how? (9:07) Why does someone not have direction? (9:10) And then how do they get it?

Kevin Palmieri

(9:12) They don't know anybody who has gone to the place that they want to go to. (9:18) That is a big piece, right? (9:19) Yeah.(9:20) Why?

Alan Lazaros

(9:21) And if they do go on social media, you're not getting the whole story. (9:24) Definitely not. (9:25) Definitely not.(9:25) Yeah. (9:26) Partially because people are not telling the whole story. (9:29) The other part is just what's called narrative bias.(9:31) You can't condense 11 years since my car accident into one episode.

Kevin Palmieri

(9:38) Facts. (9:40) How you ask people and you get around the right people that you trust. (9:44) But that's the thing.(9:46) I don't know. (9:47) We've had this conversation.

Alan Lazaros

(9:48) I love when you teach things and then right in the middle of teaching them, you don't believe in them.

Kevin Palmieri

(9:52) I don't believe in it.

Alan Lazaros

(9:53) You do that all the time. (9:54) You do that all the time. (9:55) You start saying, well, how?(9:56) And then you go down a thing and then you're like, no, that's not going to work.

Kevin Palmieri

(9:59) Well, because you've got to find the right person. (10:01) I don't know.

Alan Lazaros

(10:01) A lot of people don't know how they did it. (10:04) Well, then how do you do it now? (10:06) You obviously don't believe in that strategy.(10:08) Do you have one you might believe in?

Kevin Palmieri

(10:12) Is this a fucking interrogation? (10:14) No. (10:14) Why?(10:14) Does it feel that way? (10:15) Such. (10:16) Yeah.(10:16) Such. (10:16) I feel like there's a bright light over me. (10:19) Where were you the night of November 19th?(10:22) I don't know. (10:23) Podcasting, probably. (10:24) Who knows?(10:26) I used to think that was like 80% of it. (10:29) 80% of it is you find somebody who has accomplished what you want to accomplish, and then you just follow their lead. (10:33) Now, I think that's like 20%.(10:34) You take clues from what they did, and then you research other things to the best of your ability, and you try to see if you can find a pattern. (10:43) It's a pattern though. (10:45) It's not a paint by numbers.(10:47) It's like, okay, the five people I researched, hypothetically, they got up early, and they got a lot of work done before any distractions came to them. (10:57) Okay. (10:59) Interesting.(11:00) Now, you could take that too far. (11:01) Alan doesn't get up early. (11:02) Alan's super successful.(11:03) It doesn't mean you have to get up early. (11:05) Right. (11:07) Or...

Alan Lazaros

(11:07) Yeah. (11:08) So one exception to the rule doesn't break it.

Kevin Palmieri

(11:10) Yeah. (11:12) But there's many exceptions. (11:13) Then you have to figure out if that's right for you.(11:16) Kevin likes to get up early. (11:17) Alan does better when he works late.

Alan Lazaros

(11:19) But the problem underneath that is we both work a little bit every day. (11:23) Right? (11:23) A lot.(11:24) A lot. (11:24) Yeah, at least a little bit. (11:26) Yeah, I know.(11:27) Well, you don't work a lot every day. (11:30) I work a lot. (11:32) Six days a week.(11:33) Most of the days. (11:34) Most of the days. (11:35) Yeah, I work a lot every day.

Kevin Palmieri

(11:37) Yeah.

Alan Lazaros

(11:37) No, but... (11:37) Okay. (11:38) So here's another one.(11:39) I haven't taken a full day off in 11 years since my car accident. (11:43) Now, that doesn't mean it's 10-hour days. (11:46) Sometimes it's...(11:47) I think the minimum is probably 90 minutes. (11:49) The minimum I've worked in the last 11 years is probably 90 minutes. (11:52) And that doesn't mean it was super focused, but it was pretty focused.(11:55) Yeah, I moved the needle every day. (11:56) Okay, here's my point. (11:57) That doesn't mean you have to do that, but there's a clue in it.(12:01) It doesn't mean you have to work every day, but it doesn't mean you can build a company without work. (12:07) So everybody... (12:08) It's almost like every distinction, every distinction, every principle needs to be at five.(12:13) And you do. (12:14) You have to learn from people and then figure out the patterns and then apply the patterns to you and then create new patterns. (12:22) That's like the mastery.(12:25) I don't... (12:25) Dude, we had a mentor phase. (12:27) Like I...(12:27) From my 20s to 30, I had dozens of coaches and mentors. (12:32) Dude, I could name... (12:33) I have Jeff, Alex.(12:36) Who was the one at Sensata Technologies? (12:38) I forget his first name. (12:40) Damn.(12:40) I had a bunch, dude, a bunch. (12:42) iRobot. (12:43) Cognex, I had several.(12:44) Boss is boss and boss is boss is boss. (12:47) CEO and COO. (12:48) I was learning from everybody.(12:50) I was a sponge in my 20s. (12:52) And then in my 30s, it got to the point where it was like, oh, I need to like break away from this. (12:59) I'm actually gonna email David Meltzer back.(13:02) He emailed me saying, why did you fire us from... (13:05) Why did you fire me from our life? (13:07) And I never got back to him.(13:09) I'm gonna, I'm gonna. (13:11) But dude, I think back to those times and it's like, dude, we should have left earlier. (13:16) And the reason why is because we're doing something different than him.(13:20) You have to graduate. (13:22) You have to graduate from people that have lower standards than you do. (13:27) Now, I realize what I'm saying is gonna come off arrogant.(13:31) What I meant, he has very high standards for wealth. (13:34) I have higher standards for fitness. (13:36) It's not even remotely close.(13:39) And I've had many coaches and mentors. (13:41) I have a therapist. (13:42) I've gotten guidance from peers, the whole nine.(13:46) I've learned from everybody, even though sometimes it's what not to do. (13:51) And I think that's kind of my point of the how is like, you have to learn from everyone, but there has to be a point where you become the guide. (13:58) You become the person creating the new...(14:02) Like I taught you a flywheel earlier. (14:05) I think that flywheel is better than any that I've ever seen in any book. (14:09) And again, it's unique to me, but it's also a principle.(14:11) And I'm teaching it to my clients. (14:13) So you have to know when it's time to graduate from certain mentors and coaches. (14:18) And I think that's very difficult to know.(14:20) Some people don't have enough mentors and coaches. (14:21) I would say that was you. (14:22) Some people overcooked the turkey and they stayed too long like I did.(14:26) And you and I, you would have left too early. (14:28) I would have stayed too long. (14:29) And luckily we had each other in that.

Kevin Palmieri

(14:31) I wouldn't have even showed up to start. (14:33) I wouldn't have left early. (14:34) I wouldn't even shown up for sure.(14:36) Yeah, for sure. (14:36) A hundred percent. (14:37) Kind of not interested.

Alan Lazaros

(14:38) Should have been. (14:39) But you had a good coach in fitness, Justin.

Kevin Palmieri

(14:43) Yeah, but I knew he knew what he was talking about. (14:47) I knew. (14:47) Look at him.(14:49) Look at him. (14:50) He knows exactly what he's talking about.

Alan Lazaros

(14:52) But some people look like him that don't.

Kevin Palmieri

(14:55) I know.

Alan Lazaros

(14:57) So how do you know? (14:58) It wasn't that. (14:59) It wasn't look at him.(15:00) It was. (15:02) Well, then you got lucky.

Kevin Palmieri

(15:04) Well, it was look at him and then listen to the information he gives. (15:07) Well, I know, but how many people? (15:10) You got it, dude.(15:11) You don't hire a bodybuilding coach unless you have some level of understanding bodybuilding. (15:15) You know what I mean?

Alan Lazaros

(15:17) That's not true at all. (15:18) That's not true at all. (15:20) How many people have hired him that don't know a goddamn thing?(15:22) He works with competitive bodybuilders. (15:24) Not all of them. (15:25) Most of them.(15:26) One of them was a newbie that I saw him with. (15:29) Completely new. (15:30) Yeah, but I don't.(15:31) They just got lucky and got a good coach. (15:33) That's my point. (15:34) How do we, how do we help people get good mentors and coaches?

Kevin Palmieri

(15:37) We've never been able to fucking solve this.

Alan Lazaros

(15:39) I don't know. (15:41) I know, but I want to keep trying.

Kevin Palmieri

(15:42) Well, we're going to try forever. (15:44) I think we could do an entire, we could do a five hour episode on it. (15:46) What I, this is one thing I will say, and I was going to ask you this.(15:48) How many minutes do we have? (15:49) A couple of minutes left. (15:52) One of the things, you know how I love watching the rise and fall of Reebok, the rise and fall.(15:59) I love watching those videos. (16:00) One of the reasons I like watching those is the patterns of failure are usually more obvious than the patterns of success. (16:06) It's always arrogance.(16:08) Always. (16:08) It's always arrogance and entitlement, right? (16:11) That's always a piece of it.

Alan Lazaros

(16:13) Yeah. (16:14) Arrogance and hubris and entitlement, which are all very similar to the same.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:17) Very short-term thinking is always one.

Alan Lazaros

(16:18) Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:19) We're going to do this and...

Alan Lazaros

(16:21) Trend hopping is another one. (16:23) That's another one. (16:23) Yeah.(16:24) I would love to do an episode on that kind of stuff. (16:27) I want to bring this home, land the plane here. (16:30) I have a client that I coach.(16:31) I coach his company. (16:32) I'm very excited. (16:33) He's 69.(16:35) I'm asking him questions. (16:36) Half the damn time. (16:38) Now, I make sure that I'm still adding enough value to keep things going.(16:42) I'm coaching him and I'm coaching his team. (16:45) But the real reason he hired me is to coach his team. (16:47) And me and him are more like peers.(16:49) And he knows that. (16:50) So we're just having deep conversations about the global economy. (16:55) And I'm asking him a bunch.(16:56) I'm learning about the London Stock Exchange, all kinds of cool stuff. (17:00) That's why I know as much as I know is because I found the smartest people I could my entire life and I figured out what they know that I don't.

Kevin Palmieri

(17:07) But how did you know they were smart? (17:08) That's the fucking thing.

Alan Lazaros

(17:10) It turns out they weren't a lot of the time. (17:13) But you have to be extremely curious and you have to ask tons of questions. (17:17) You felt grilled in this.(17:18) That's because I'm asking you to see if you know anything I don't. (17:21) Yeah, but that's based on you knowing what you know. (17:25) But you can...(17:25) Yeah, I know. (17:26) You start off naive. (17:27) Everybody does.(17:28) You start off naive.

Kevin Palmieri

(17:29) I think that's probably the best answer.

Alan Lazaros

(17:31) Yeah, you start off naive and then you get less and less naive over time. (17:34) Here's a good question. (17:34) Then eventually when you are not naive, you become cynical.(17:38) That's brutal. (17:39) And then you say screw mentors for a short time and then you realize and then you get back to five. (17:44) I used to be naively optimistic.(17:46) Now I'm cynically optimistic. (17:48) Question.

Kevin Palmieri

(17:48) You had a fitness coach. (17:50) Would you hire him again?

Alan Lazaros

(17:52) Never.

Kevin Palmieri

(17:52) Not a chance. (17:53) That's a really good lesson. (17:54) I would hire Justin tomorrow.

Alan Lazaros

(17:57) I thought about it.

Kevin Palmieri

(17:58) I thought about reaching out and saying, hey...

Alan Lazaros

(18:00) If I look at all my mentors, there are very few I would hire again.

Kevin Palmieri

(18:06) I think that's a good question.

Alan Lazaros

(18:07) There's a couple. (18:08) But that's also because I'm ahead of them now in many ways.

Kevin Palmieri

(18:11) But I still think from a principal place, it's a good question to ask.

Alan Lazaros

(18:15) Yeah, it is. (18:15) It definitely is. (18:16) I think it's a good question.(18:17) You should ask that question about friends. (18:19) You should ask that question about business partners, intimate partners. (18:23) Hell no.(18:24) Or I have one past partner who I was with for many years. (18:28) She was a sweetheart. (18:30) Absolutely.(18:30) If anything, I wish that I had been better. (18:34) And Emilia in my relationship is a million times better. (18:36) But it doesn't mean it was bad, right?(18:38) But then there's other ones where it's like, that was just purely me being naive. (18:44) So let's wrap this in a bow.

Kevin Palmieri

(18:49) Ambition is great. (18:50) It is a requirement. (18:52) And it needs to be channeled and directed and pointed in the right direction.(18:56) Because if it's not, maybe you're just out there trying a bunch of different stuff and dipping your toe into stuff and not going all in. (19:03) Okay, maybe you're ambitious in the wrong direction. (19:06) There are a ton of people out there that are ambitious to their own fault.(19:09) And that takes advantage and hurts other people. (19:12) Ambition is great. (19:13) It is a foundational component of success for sure.(19:16) But you have to find a way to direct it, whether that's coaches, mentors, peak performance partners, books, podcast, whatever. (19:24) Without direction, it is just energy spinning. (19:26) And it's what I started with at the beginning.(19:28) You're not going to get anywhere with it.

Alan Lazaros

(19:29) If Kevin and I race from the east coast to the west coast of the United States, and I go due west, straight, and I'm only doing 50 the whole time, and you're doing 120, but you're going southwest.

Kevin Palmieri

(19:47) You're going to win.

Alan Lazaros

(19:48) I'm going to win.

Kevin Palmieri

(19:51) Just direction.

Alan Lazaros

(19:52) Even though you have a better car, or more ambition, or more drive, or more horsepower, whatever.

Kevin Palmieri

(19:59) That's it? (19:59) That's what you... (20:00) That's the wrap up?

Alan Lazaros

(20:01) That's the wrap up.

Kevin Palmieri

(20:02) Oh, okay.

Alan Lazaros

(20:02) Yeah, yeah, yeah. (20:03) AKA, you need updated terrain and maps for clear direction. (20:10) And you need a coach to update your maps.(20:13) Remember MapQuest? (20:15) Brutal. (20:15) Never got there.

Kevin Palmieri

(20:16) Yeah, I feel like there must have been so many more accidents.

Alan Lazaros

(20:19) Yeah, not great. (20:21) So if you want guidance, reach out. (20:26) Favorite work in the world.(20:27) Seriously. (20:28) I will get you to the west coast. (20:30) Metaphorically.

Kevin Palmieri

(20:31) Faster than me. (20:31) I'll be somewhere in Oklahoma. (20:34) Somewhere in the middle, right?

Alan Lazaros

(20:36) I said southwest.

Kevin Palmieri

(20:39) I, brother...

Alan Lazaros

(20:40) I'd be in Louisiana.

Kevin Palmieri

(20:42) Well, okay, fair. (20:43) That's probably further than I'd make it though. (20:46) I...(20:46) Real quick. (20:47) If you're out there and you have nightmares about geography... (20:51) Remember Mr. Silbor?

Alan Lazaros

(20:53) Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri

(20:54) It was like, all right, today we're going to name... (20:56) We're going to locate all the states and their capitals. (21:00) It's like, no, we're not.(21:01) Not today, we're not. (21:02) Were you good at that?

Alan Lazaros

(21:05) I didn't care much about it, but I would say, yeah, probably okay.

Kevin Palmieri

(21:10) It's the capital of Vermont.

Alan Lazaros

(21:16) You did this for me once with Kansas.

Kevin Palmieri

(21:21) Topeka.

Alan Lazaros

(21:22) Topeka, yeah. (21:23) I don't know.

Kevin Palmieri

(21:25) Montpelier, I think. (21:26) Yeah, okay. (21:27) I think.

Alan Lazaros

(21:27) Okay. (21:28) That's it though. (21:28) And then Nashville for Tennessee, right?

Kevin Palmieri

(21:34) I don't even know. (21:35) Yeah. (21:35) It's sometimes...(21:36) You know how some of the weird ones, like you know the place, but it's like a very famous city, but it's not the capital?

Alan Lazaros

(21:42) Yep. (21:43) Yeah, no, I was a math and science guy. (21:49) I actually believe in history deeply.(21:51) And I believe in geography more than I used to too, actually. (21:54) I think it's important to understand where everything is. (21:58) However, if you have to choose.(22:01) Math and science. (22:02) Definitely.

Kevin Palmieri

(22:03) Well, shout out to anybody from the capital of North Dakota, Bismarck. (22:06) We appreciate you. (22:08) We fucking appreciate you getting out there.(22:11) All right. (22:11) Next level fitness accountability group. (22:13) Allen's Coaching, as we already heard.(22:15) Book club, master classes, all the stuff. (22:17) Bunch of stuff at NLU. (22:19) As always, we love you, appreciate you, grateful for each and every one of you.(22:21) 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.

Alan Lazaros

(22:27) Keep leveling up to reach your full potential.

Kevin Palmieri

(22:29) Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level University. (22:33) We love connecting with the Next Level family.

Alan Lazaros

(22:36) We mean it when we say family. (22:38) If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly. (22:41) Everything you need to get a hold of us is in the show notes.(22:45) Thank you again, and we will talk to you tomorrow.