#1764 - The 2 Best Books We’ve Ever Read And WHY You Should Read Them…

Ever wonder how one book can change your life? In this episode, Kevin and Alan share the two books that have significantly impacted their lives. Kevin passionately recommends "Mindset" by Carol Dweck. This book transformed his outlook from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, revealing the power of believing in your ability to grow and change. Alan highlights "Rationality" by Steven Pinker, emphasizing the importance of making intelligent, logical decisions to achieve your goals. Whether you want to change your mindset or make more rational choices, these books offer valuable insights to guide your personal development journey.

Links mentioned:
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For more information, please check out our website at the link below. 👇

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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:
(2:11) Kevin introduces "Mindset" by Carol Dweck
(3:25) Personal experiences with fixed mindset vs. growth mindset
(4:59) Kevin sells the book to his former fixed-mindset self
(6:37) Alan introduces "Rationality" by Steven Pinker
(7:41) Alan sells the book to Kevin
(10:59) Meet like-minded people and jumpstart your journ

🎙️ 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

Speaker 1 0:00

Next Level Nation. Welcome back to another episode of Next Level University, where we help you level up your life, your love, your health and your wealth. Today, for episode number 1,764, the two best books we've ever read and why you should read them. I went on a Don't give it away yet. Well, most people can't see it, so it doesn't matter. I went on a don't give it away yet. Well, most people can't see it, so it doesn't matter. I went on a podcast recently, alan and I think it was I don't remember the name of it, but it was. The whole premise of the podcast was I want to talk about a book that you have read, that has impacted you and that has changed your life the most.

Speaker 1 0:42

And any time yeah, it was great. It was a really, really good podcast. Shout out to John John was the host. Anytime somebody asks me for book recommendations, I always recommend this book Because I don't know. I believe it's changed my life internally more than any other book. Maybe not externally with tactics and that type of stuff, but when we gave a book away for free.

Speaker 2 1:08

At Next Level Live, we do a raffle. Yes, and this was the Kevin and I picked our favorite books. And mine has since changed, yours?

Speaker 1 1:17

has stayed the same. Mine is the same. So the book that I would recommend to each and every person watching or listening, even if you've read it it book that I would recommend to each and every person watching or listening, even if you've read it, it's always worth a reread is Mindset, by Carol Dweck. And going to the point that you made about something philosophical that I said when you are wrong about one thing, you're wrong about everything. And is it that simple? No, but just let's go with it. If you're wrong about the fact that you can't grow, everything in life becomes less possible for you. And mindset is all about the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. And I had a very, very, very fixed mindset at the very beginning of this journey.

Kevin introduces "Mindset" by Carol Dweck

Speaker 1 1:59

Alan suggested a book to me one time and I said, dude, what's the point? I don't get it. And I wasn't being facetious, I wasn't, I was genuinely serious. I don't understand what is the point of reading this book. I didn't understand how malleable my brain was. I didn't realize how much I could change. I didn't realize how much I could shift. I didn't realize failure was. Failure isn't really failure if you keep going. I didn't understand how much I was being controlled by a fixed mindset and I didn't know what it was like to have a growth mindset. So again, we're not getting any money for sponsoring either of these. It's just one of the most valuable books I've ever read. It's simple, it's not super heavy, but it is a concept that if you have a fixed mindset, it can really help you become aware and then shift that.

Speaker 2 2:51

Challenge.

Speaker 1 2:52

Why are you smirking?

Speaker 2 2:53

Because I'm about to challenge you live. Oh, go ahead, please Live at Next Level University. The one and only Kevin Palmieri comes in Weighing in at 176 pounds. Thank you so much 176 pounds, coming in at 5'5" Depends on the day.

Speaker 1 3:12

I appreciate that very much and a half.

Personal experiences with fixed mindset vs. growth mindset

Speaker 2 3:15

He is going to sell this book. This was your idea, not mine. Sell this book to someone with a fixed mindset. Oh, man Sell this book to someone with a fixed mindset. Oh man, Sell this to old Kevin who was like what's the point, why would I read books?

Speaker 1 3:35

Goodness. If you really enjoy believing that you are not capable of anything and the way you are today is the way you're going to be stuck forever, you shouldn't read this book. You should probably skip this book and go find a book on how to accomplish all your goals in three easy steps. But if you're fed up with beating yourself up because you don't think you can grow and you don't think you can evolve and you think you're afraid to be stuck where you are today forever, I genuinely think this book will change your life.

Speaker 1 4:12

I think it's super easy to read. You're not going to feel like an idiot when you're reading it. There are so many good, simple examples of people that are super successful but not fulfilled, that had fixed mindsets, and you don't want that. You don't want to end up where they are, and there's a ton of examples of people who have growth mindsets, who are now living wonderful, wonderful lives, and that could be you. If you go through the book, take it seriously and then put the new knowledge that you learn into practice, and I'll also slip you a crisp hunji if you read the book.

Speaker 2 4:53

Nice work, crisp hunji $100 habit.

Kevin sells the book to his former fixed-mindset self

Speaker 1 4:58

Now I would like for you To talk about your book A little bit, a little bit, and then sell it.

Speaker 2 5:10

How much time do we have?

Speaker 1 5:14

About 15 minutes.

Speaker 2 5:15

One of my clients Shout out to Adina what's happening what's happening.

Speaker 1 5:19

She said that book sucks. The one you're gonna say, yeah, yeah, it does suck you've read it too the book you're suggesting, yeah, made me read it.

Speaker 2 5:27

Yeah, okay, good go.

Speaker 1 5:28

I didn't read the whole thing, I didn't make you read it and that's not exactly, I said you should uh, kind of we of Not in a bad way, I don't mean it like, held me down and read it to me. I'm not saying it in a bad way, but you, it was kind of like you imagine.

Speaker 2 5:45

No, that's my Tie you up in a chair and I do a dramatic reading.

Speaker 1 5:49

Of rationality. I've had enough of that.

Speaker 2 5:51

Alright.

Speaker 1 5:52

Tell us about the book this book's harder to sell.

Speaker 2 5:55

Just need a quick disclaimer. This book's harder to sell, All right so there's a book. Oh, this is going to be brutal for me. Who am I selling it to?

Speaker 1 6:05

You're selling it to someone who really needs it.

Speaker 2 6:09

Okay.

Speaker 1 6:12

You're selling it to me.

Speaker 2 6:13

Sell it to me Old Kevin, old Kevin. I'm selling this to Old Kevin. All right, you're selling it to me. Old Kevin, I'm selling this to old Kevin. Alright, old Kevin, you are you consider yourself really humble, right?

Speaker 1 6:26

Maybe the most, I might be the most humble person you've ever met. Thank you for noticing.

Speaker 2 6:37

This isn't going to work If you can't be real. I might be the most humble person you've ever met.

Speaker 1 6:40

Thank you for noticing. This isn't going to work. If you can't be real, All right.

Speaker 2 6:42

I'm going to be real. Yes, I like to consider myself humble.

Speaker 1 6:46

yes, okay so do you think that you make really good decisions? No, not always. No, I try to make the best decision I can, but I've definitely learned over time that I have some decisions I regret.

Speaker 2 7:01

Are you grateful for where you've ended up in life? Are you proud of the success you've achieved?

Speaker 1 7:06

I've definitely made it further in some regards than I expected, but the way that made me feel was also different than I expected. So yeah, I would say I'm proud, but it didn't necessarily get me the results that I wanted.

Speaker 2 7:20

Okay. What do you want in life? Do you want to live on the ocean one day? What's your dream?

Alan sells the book to Kevin

Speaker 1 7:28

I would love to have a beautiful home on a body of water lake, probably lake. I'm not going to the ocean Sharks. I've always been afraid of those things. Yeah, I would love a beautiful home on a on a body of water, with my wife and my kitties, and some land and abundance. How much land, man, I don't know. I want four wheelers and dirt bikes like 10, 10 acres 10 acres.

Speaker 2 7:56

I need 10 acres, and I didn't know that before this conversation either. I kind of didn't. You want a movie theater too, right? I mean, you got to, of course You're going to have an indoor movie theater. Home jam, of course, of course. Home jam. What do you think that'll run?

Speaker 1 8:06

you.

Speaker 2 8:19

I mean I. So here we go. Here's a transition to the sale.

Speaker 1 8:21

All right. So to teach everyone again this is fun sales I'm. I would have already left like dude. I'm shutting the door, get off my property. You're freaking weird. Like what are we doing the first?

Speaker 2 8:30

part of all positive influence. Now remember this is positive influence. I had a client yesterday text me about just someone trying to manipulate upon her yeah, terrible.

Speaker 2 8:40

So this is positive influence only okay. So when we say sales, we mean positive influence. The first step is gather information. What do you value? It's not about what I care about. How do I connect this book to what kevin cares about? Right, okay.

Speaker 2 8:53

So what if I told you, kevin, that I have a book for you that will help you achieve all your goals and dreams by making intelligent choices consistently over time. And you'll be able to if you take this book seriously and you're as humble as you say now. It's a hard book, so you're going to have to really read it a couple times. It's going to take some time. You're talking to me like I'm a child. I know I'm really screwing this up, but you're going to have to take notes and take it seriously. But if you're as humble as you say and you really want those things and you're not just saying it, this book will help you make incredibly positive, constructive choices towards your goals and dreams.

Speaker 2 9:39

And the last question I would have for you is do you know a lot of people who ended up really unhappy and didn't achieve their dreams? Of course, what percentage of people do you think do achieve their dreams? If you had to guess of the people that you know they really are living their best life and they really did everything they really wanted to achieve. They really did achieve one percent. Okay, do you want to be in that? One percent, 100? Okay. The way that I would sell this book to kevin is I would say listen, there's a lot of instagram quick fixes, three easy steps and you're a bodybuilder, you know that there's no quick way to Easy steps to a great physique, right? Some celebrities have access to supplements.

Speaker 1 10:21

Okay, that I'm, that I'm against.

Speaker 2 10:23

Okay, all right you know that there's no quick fix without yes, yes, yes uh, injecting drugs, okay well, and you still gotta work, you still gotta work and you still have to put in the work.

Meet like-minded people and jumpstart your journey to achieving your dreams while optimizing your life. Join Next Level Group Coaching.

Speaker 2 10:31

Okay, the same is true for achieving your dreams, and really, what it comes down to is work ethic and working smart and hard, and so this book is going to make you so much smarter. It's called rationality, by steven pinker. Steven pinker is a genius and he this book breaks down how to make effective decisions, how to make effective decisions in a way where your emotions won't get the best of you, and it really will help you stay on course, because, ultimately, that's what happens is we all drift, and this will weaknesses, and you have strengths, and this will help you stay on track towards your goals and dreams, like a gps that's guiding you all along the way.

Speaker 2 11:25

Okay, it's called rationality there you go and it's all based on mathematics and the principles of effective decision making.

Speaker 1 11:38

So this is the interesting thing Alan was always going to be more successful than me because he thinks more rationally than I do, would you say that's a fact, or at least a strong trend when it comes to achievement, yeah.

Speaker 2 11:55

If it comes to relationships, I would say no Well.

Speaker 1 11:58

I was going to say that's kind of a different thing and we've been able to really drive to five on that. But if I'm because I'm thinking I don't know, I don't know how many people would hear that and say like, yeah, that's a book for me, necessarily, just like I don't know how many people would hear that and say like, yeah, that's a book for me, necessarily just like I don't know how many people would hear what I said and say, yeah, that's a book for me? No, no more people would.

Speaker 2 12:17

You sold it very well, I realized when you did the thing, I was like, oh, he's better than me at that. I was gonna open with this guy's a genius.

Effective decision making

Speaker 1 12:23

No one cares I think this is the truth. One of the reasons a lot of us aren't more successful is because we make emotional decisions that are based on short-term feelings, not long, long-term logic. This book is going to help you think logically, which is going to help you be more successful. Nice, you're already probably good at relationships. You're probably already really strong at relationships. You're probably pretty intuitive. You probably have a very high emotional intelligence, and that's amazing for people. But when it comes to the physical world, if you're not logical, it's really really hard to get ahead, because this world is set up in a logical way, not necessarily an emotional way.

Speaker 1 13:03

Nice, I think that would have helped me because I was very emotional, even even going back to the detached from the outcome, that episode. A lot of that was about logic versus emotion in a way. Yeah, logically I did everything I possibly could and now it's it's off my plate. Emotionally, I'm ruminating over. Did I say the right thing? Did I? Should I follow up with that person? That that? Should I text the person good morning, even though I've texted them eight times and they never responded to me. I'm guilty of that in the past, for sure.

Speaker 2 13:38

This book will also give you more certainty and more self-belief. Because what is self-belief? It's certainty that'll work out for you. It's certainty in your own abilities. This will give you more certainty and self-belief. For sure, you know those people who believe in themselves and they seem like they win at everything. What if you could be one of those people? That's what this book will help you do yeah, dude, I had a moment right there that was humble pie for me.

Speaker 2 14:01

You, you can sell way better, but it makes sense. How easy would it be for you to sell to you? Dude, I could sell this thing to me in a heartbeat, of course yeah, they're just less of you.

Speaker 1 14:10

Yeah, well, I think it's important to read books you don't like same. I think it's very important because if you like the book, you're probably already trending in that thing. You're probably already good at it. If you love books that are about organization, maybe you're already more organized. I would hate a book about organization, but that's what I need. I need a book about organization, I, but that's what I need.

Speaker 2 14:33

I need a book about organization. I'm not super organized, so there's the end. We got to jump there. It is Everyone out there listening or watching this. If what you wanted was what you needed, you'd already have it. So if you resonated more with Kev's book, you got to read Rationality. You don't have to do anything. Obviously, right. We we believe in choice and freedom. Of course it is a good.

Speaker 1 14:53

It is a is a powerful book. I I haven't read the whole thing, but I very much understand the premises, premises, premise premises are a place, premise, I think, is an idea. They spell it the same or the same word. It's a powerful book thank you.

Speaker 2 15:08

So thank you as if I wrote it. Thank you so much for my book. No, if what you wanted was what you needed, you'd already have it. So if you resonated more with Kevin and Kevin's book, you should read Rationality. If you resonated more with me and my book, you should read Kevin's book. Yep, emilia and I do that all the time she always wants me to read these books that I don't want to read For anyone with kids in the room. I apologize in advance. My brain's like Eh, fuck that book.

Speaker 1 15:43

Yeah, yeah. Well, of course it's something your brain Doesn't know it needs yet, and then yeah, but it always ends up.

Speaker 2 15:49

Being something really valuable.

Reading outside comfort zones

Speaker 2 15:50

That's why the conscious couples has been so powerful for me Because I'm learning through her Right. She studied all and she's learning this stuff through me. So, yeah, constraint theory and chaos theory and game theory and rationality and org structure and all that kind of stuff. It's really powerful. But again, of course, you don't know what you don't know and there's a whole unlock waiting for all of us on some of the books we don't want to read. I got to power through some books every now and then too, and it's really helped me to learn some of I mean one through some books every now and then too, and and it's really helped me to learn some of. I mean one of the books we read in book club by lisa feldman barrett. It's how emotions are made and I hated it, but it's so valuable it changed my life. You can hate a book and still have it change your life that's a really good I read.

Speaker 1 16:37

I read, uh, seller be sold by grant cardone. And I hated that book. Yeah, and it didn't change my life.

Speaker 2 16:42

You can also read books. You hate that. Don't change your life.

Speaker 1 16:46

I'll save you all, however much it costs. One of the things was if somebody doesn't want to buy something, just tell them they should. That was a chapter. That was one of the things. It's like okay, yeah, I never really thought of that before. I'm glad we did this. This is a fun episode. Yeah, it was a little bit different, but a fun episode nonetheless. Two books worth purchasing for sure. There is uh, rationality by one and the one and only steven pinker, and mindset by the one and only carol dweck you think everyone would leave book club if I picked this book?

Speaker 1 17:22

Ooh, I think it would be a tough sell. Yeah, yeah, it's heavy. I mean it's heavy. It's a heavy book. It's written very intelligently. There's some words in there that I definitely was like, hmm, I kind of understand, maybe, where they're trying to go with this word, but I'm not sure I could use it in a sentence I aspire to.

Speaker 2 17:39

I'm gonna ask book club. I'm gonna see if they're game. You know, I'm curious like the, the people who come to book club regularly. I'm gonna, I'm gonna pull them and see if they're game, because I do, I think it's, I think it'll be a hard one.

Speaker 1 17:50

I really do, I think, I think under the right, under the right circumstances, if you say, look, this is gonna be a challenge and it's deep and it's heavy, but I think it's a really good opportunity for all of us. I mean, at least people know what to expect. Agreed, they got through the art of impossible. So it's not that heavy though. Yeah, rationality is the heaviest I don't Compared to that book.

Speaker 2 18:13

Algorithms to Live by and Rationality are probably two of the two of the toughest reads ever. It's worth it. Yeah, bianca was like rationality I didn't understand a word. I gotta buy it and take notes. Same.

Speaker 1 18:25

Yeah, she was like screw that book, but she's still reading it and screw Alan if you found value in today's episode and you want to hear Alan and I do weird stuff and put each other under pressure, which was fun. That was very fun. Make sure you are subscribed. Really, you get an opportunity to get a little bit better every day and we can be the ones in your pocket helping you do so. That's why we do an episode every single day, so please subscribe on your platform of choice, whether you're watching or listening.

Speaker 2 18:51

We appreciate it very much because it helps us help more amazing people like you and if you do not want to read either of those books and you want to get a coach who teaches you the stuff in the books and applies it directly to you, reach out. My link will be in the show notes.

Speaker 1 19:07

Strong work- as always, we love you, we appreciate you, grateful for each and every one of you and at NLU we don't have fans, we have family. We will talk to you all tomorrow.

Speaker 2 19:16

Keep on learning Next level nation learning next level nation, it's gonna work cool.

Speaker 1 19:23

I gotta tell you that plug you did at the end I'm not gonna.