Next Level University

#1766 - Would You Change Your Past If You Could?

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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Are you happy with how your life turned out? In this episode, Kevin and Alan dive deep into the intricate relationship between past decisions and present happiness. Inspired by a quantum physics-themed show, they explore the concept of alternate realities and how different life choices could lead to different outcomes. This thought-provoking discussion encourages listeners to reflect on their own life choices and consider the balance between being content with the past and aspiring for a better future.

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

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Show notes:
(1:51) What are you willing to give?
(5:39) Thinking in duality
(10:26) Regret and fulfillment
(14:36) Gratitude and perspective
(20:07) Meet like-minded people and jumpstart your journey to achieving your dreams while optimizing your life. Join Next Level Group Coaching. https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/group-coaching/
(22:46) Micro failure for macro su

Send a text to Kevin and Alan!

🎙️ 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.

Speaker 1

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 1,765, it's going to be a very hyper-conscious episode. Most likely, Alan and I will get into an argument and there may be a fist fight, so you're going to want to stick around. Would you change your past if you could? Would you change your past if you could? So Taryn and I are watching a show and now I cannot. I will look it up and make sure I give you the name. I cannot remember the name off the top of my head, but ultimately, the show is about a very, very intelligent physics professor, or something maybe, who creates this box. Quantum physics, yeah, quantum physics, yeah, quantum physics, something like that. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1

You haven't seen it, so keep your mouth closed no, but it makes sense that it's quantum physics.

Speaker 1

You let me tell the story and then I will give you time to rebuke towards kind of the middle portion here I'm just kidding. He creates a box and when you enter this box and you inject yourself with a drug, the box then dissolves and transforms into this hallway of infinite possibility. So in this hallway there are an infinite number of you in an infinite number of opportunities, in circumstances and situations. So, just as an example, one time he opens the door and the entire world is covered in snow. The next time it's a desert, the next time it's flooded, the next time there's dinosaurs, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. There's just infinite amount of possibilities.

What are you willing to give?

Speaker 1

But one of the questions he asks people before he puts them in the box with himself is are you happy with the way your life turned out? Yes or no? And many of these people say no and he says what would you give to change that? And one of the people said everything. I give everything to change that. And he ends up getting in the box with him and going back into wherever they end up.

Speaker 1

I don't remember what world they ended up in, but I told Alan, I said I think that would be a really hyper-conscious episode. It's going to be. It's a challenging episode. It's a potentially triggering episode, because if somebody came to me and said that, are you happy with the way your life turned out? I would say yes and I wouldn't want to change anything, based on the fact that if I change something, I wouldn't be where I am today.

Speaker 1

But this is really my thought and Alan doesn't know. I'm going to go in this direction. If you would give everything to change the way your life turned out, if you would give everything to change your past, what are you willing to give to change your future? That's my thought for this, because what I told alan and this is this is hard to share I said I feel like most people probably aren't super happy with the way their lives turned out. I said I think, statistically, you and I are on the very high end. We get to do what we love every day. We have a business that we we love, we have a podcast that we love. We're in amazing relationships.

Speaker 2

We work strong we enjoy.

Speaker 1

We work with people. We enjoy we have strong, capable bodies. We get to work on our brains every day. I mean, yeah, it's hard and it's challenging, but this was my dream seven years ago. I wanted to be my own boss and get to do my own thing In simplest form. That's what I get to do. I am happy with the way things turned out, but I understand that a lot of people aren't, because maybe they didn't understand the importance of taking life seriously. Maybe they made a single mistake that seemed to dictate their life. That's my ultimate thought and, hopefully, takeaway from this episode is, if you would do everything to change your past, you've got to be willing to do more to change your future, because if somebody asks you the same question in 20 years, well, now at least you have a perspective. So that's really where I wanted to go with this episode, not what you expected, and we can now probably not have a fistfight, which is good too.

Speaker 2

I told kev we'd have a healthy discord on this one, because there's a duality here. I realized this too, and not a lot of people talk in duality nobody more than you. So there's duality, triality, quadrality there's all of it. So layered thinking. What kind of laugh was that that was like a.

Speaker 1

When you laughed it was like a kind of serious laugh, but also, like I don't know, that guy was kind of an fu laugh. It seemed like it was a condescending laugh. Yeah, a little bit. I apologize. No, no, it's okay. If that's your truth, it's okay. I just don't. I'm not trying to make you wrong I.

Thinking in duality

Speaker 2

I went on a show last week with a man named travis oh my goodness, travis. Tom tony began with a t, I know that, and the woman's name was erin and they were both much older. They were wise. It was a great show. There are only 12 episodes. It was awesome. In that conversation he was asking me about it I said you know what's interesting? I don't think a lot of people think in duality, kevin and I, for anyone watching or listening. Maybe this is unconscious, I don't know. Maybe people know this, maybe they don't, I don't know. But when I listen to books and speeches and trainings and I've been studying a lot of constraint theory lately and the professor that kind of founded the idea of constraint theory, he's a. In my honest opinion he's a terrible speaker. He's bad but he's brilliant. But his speaking capabilities are not great, which is unfortunate because obviously that's a bottleneck, right?

Speaker 1

It doesn't help, it doesn't help.

Speaker 2

So if you listen to other content, you might notice a difference between Kevin and I and other content, and the difference is that we constantly are holding two seemingly opposing ideas in our consciousness simultaneously and talking about it. And when I was on this podcast with what I think is Tony and Erin, I always end up kind of devil's advocate a little bit, but not actually devil's advocate. I'm not trying to disprove what you're saying. I'm always and it's called the genius of the and so, kev, I wouldn't change anything and I'm happy with my life and how things turned out. And if I could go back and make sure that I still end up here or greater, with Emilia, with you, with NLU, then I would change a bunch because I made some terrible choices. Those are a lot of it's a it's a lot of duality thinking, and I realized that's not common. Thinking in duality is very rare. People say things that are very blanket statements and they don't understand the layers of thinking. So, again, that's a whole other conversation. But two things that came up for me when you were talking. Number one I wanted to say this on the last episode about principles. If you were to have the same principles back then as you do now. Everything would have been different and you would have ended up maybe even happier. One of the reasons why you saying I wouldn't change anything is so I'm going to play a little devil's advocate here is so unintelligent with love is because you could have ended up in an even better spot, even happier, even more fulfilled. So yeah, you're fulfilled, and you're more fulfilled statistically than most, and you're certainly more fulfilled than you were at 26. Same Zs, but you're not as fulfilled as you could be. This is an infinite game. This is a mountain that gets higher as you climb it, and so all your poor choices in the past that were unintelligent, based on low awareness, could have been better, and you could have been in a better spot at the 3.5 version of Kevin at year 35.

Speaker 2

And so you and I did an episode a long time ago, and I also wanted to say this the last episode was on principles. If you haven't listened to it, maybe now you won't. I'm kidding you should. It's really, really powerful, but it's hyperconscious. Change the way you think, change the way you act, change the way you live.

Speaker 2

I kind of asked you questions on the last episode about what were your principles back then and you basically said I don't know if I really had any, you did, they were just unconscious and the Hyperconscious podcast prior to Next Level University for the new listeners, we used to be called the Hyperconscious podcast. That was what we created, our business underneath that name, and we rebranded later to next level university. But hyperconscious was change the way you think, change the way you act, change the way you leave. You you leave, change the way you live, aka change your principles. That's what the hyperconscious podcast was all about. Half of half the episodes we did back then might as well have been hey, listeners, we're working on changing our principles, and so should you, it's fair. And so here we are with this existential question of are you happy? First of all terrible question what does that even mean?

Speaker 1

Satisfied. Are you satisfied with the way your life turned out?

Speaker 2

But even that, that brother, uh, yes, but that presupposes you have any understanding of better or worse that it could be what happens. If your answer is no, well, in that case, in that case I go to what you said, which is if you would trade in everything to change it now you have a chance to put everything in right now, because you're going to get out of life what you put into it. I do believe that to be true. You know those of us who take shortcuts. I really do believe long term, we pay for those and that's why I don't agree that me stealing at 17 the sunglasses from target was a good idea.

Speaker 2

Because you're going to pay for that in character. You're going to pay for that in fulfillment. You're going to pay for that in hating yourself. You're going to pay one way or another. It's just when, right, do you pay up front and do the right thing and pay for the sunglasses, or later on in life, do you pay with the regret and the shame and the realization that you've been not taking the high road and the shame and the realization that you've been not taking the high road.

Regret and fulfillment

Speaker 1

The whole thought makes me wonder does regret create the opportunity for positive change in perspective? So if you look back, I think one of the reasons when somebody passes away we have a ton of regret. We say I really wish I spent more time with that person, but how long before that you just forget about that and nothing changed. It's kind of a. It depends on the person, but I'm sure there's a lot of people out there I'm guilty of this for sure where you lose something and you say my goodness, I'm never, ever going to lose perspective of that again and then you do two weeks later.

Speaker 2

I don't know if it's necessarily two weeks. I think it depends right, it depends on the person.

Speaker 1

But when I hurt my ankle one time I thought to myself I can't believe I ever took walking for granted. And then now I don't think about it as much anymore At all. I don't think about it at all Until something comes up. Now am I way more grateful for stuff than I used to be. Of course there's so many things I'm grateful for that I never really practice gratitude for.

Speaker 1

But, how do you practice gratitude for everything? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is that even possible? Is that realistic? Are you going to spend all day? Ah, I'm grateful for that last breath I took.

Speaker 2

I'm grateful for that next last breath you know I'm not trying to be a funny personal development comedian. I appreciate it. I'm serious man. If there ever is such thing, that would be great well, there's again.

Speaker 1

There's a very, very, very, very, very, very, very small market. There might be one of them, and I might be the only one, and nobody wants, I would come to your show for sure.

Speaker 2

I appreciate it. That would be awesome. That's there's my next breath.

Speaker 1

I'm grateful that's, that's my thought. I I don't. I'm not trying to make that facetious, but if, if somebody was asked that question, the answer was yeah, I would change everything in my past. What are you doing today to change your future? Because it's going to happen again, if that's, if, if that's the way future, because it's going to happen again. If that's the way you're thinking about it, it might happen again when I change. Last year.

Speaker 2

Yes, yes 100%, okay, 100%. What would you change? This is exactly the conversation that changes your future.

Speaker 1

So if you think you wouldn't, change anything now, your future is going to be jeff. That's what I'm saying I should have sent you some edibles. Man, we should. I should have sent you some edibles. We could have each taken an edible. Gone super. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2

gone super deep but regret and fulfillment Two best teachers, I'm convinced. It's taken me a long time to figure a lot of stuff out and I feel like I'm starting to get it, but I also know. Two weeks from now, I think, I know nothing. Alright, do you have any regrets? We've talked about this. The answer is hell. Yes, you do, and you should, because otherwise you are not humble.

Speaker 1

But it's different because I'm not happy. I'm not necessarily happy where I turned out from last year. You said you are From last year. Oh, that's the difference. I think when you break it down to a smaller thing, are you happy where you are today from last year, are you asking me that question? I'm asking you that question. No, no, I'm asking you.

Speaker 2

Well, let me bring you into my mind for a second. So real quick, all right. I think of it like life is an exponential graph of maximizing your unique potential and greatest level of contribution and highest quality of life, and it's an infinite game and it's a bunch of finite games within an infinite game.

Speaker 2

So, for example, yes the real question that I think is intelligent is are you proud of how much you maximized your potential, your contribution and your quality of life last year? And that's like that's a you thing. That's an only irrelevant question, though. It's not a me thing. It's a human condition thing, but it is a me thing in terms of asking the question I feel like you value those things more than other people do. But I think they value them more than they think.

Speaker 1

I would say that's fair.

Speaker 2

I would say that's fair. It's just a frame that hasn't necessarily been Like a lot of the things. And this goes back to the principles episode. Fulfillment's a principle, whether you're aware of it or not. So if you've never thought about fulfillment before, you are optimizing your life for something that is not fulfillment. Obviously Right. And ever since you learned about fulfillment, you've started optimizing your life for fulfillment.

Gratitude and perspective

Speaker 2

I asked you earlier what do you care more about, success or fulfillment? You said, dude, I don't know fulfillment because I said success. And you said I don't know, man, not if I'm deeply unfulfilled. It's like, oh, that's different. The old Kev would have been like money's the answer. Lessons have been learned. Lessons have been learned.

Speaker 2

I think everyone's optimizing for fulfillment. They just don't know it and they're doing it poorly because they don't know it. And, by the way, I did it poorly too. I'm not. I did it really poorly for most of my life and that's why in the past I was so unhappy or unfulfilled, I should say Unfulfilled. In my mid-twenties I was deeply unfulfilled, even though I had all the success Quote, unquote, right. So this is the whole hyperconscious existential question. So when you ask me, am I happy with last year? It's only relevant in the context of my life as a whole, which this is the problem. We none of us really know how how much time we have.

Speaker 2

You can maximize it. You can take care of your health. You can make sure you live in a country with good health care. You can not take risks that you don't need to take. You can not drink. Drink and drive like there's a lot of things you can do to minimize the probability. You can not hike at night with bears like there's a lot of things you can do to minimize the probability. You can not hike at night with bears Like there's a lot of things that you can do to minimize the probability that your life ends lower than the statistical norm. But this is why life is so difficult.

Speaker 2

Kev is because, if you think about it over the last hundred years, the average life expectancy right now is 78 for women. Globally. It's a little lower for men. Our brains are not optimized for a life like that. Most older people I have two people in their 60s that I coach with and I know them very well. They're amazing and I learn a lot from them. There's a lot of things that they went through that they regret that they had no clue were not optimal. For example, we didn't know cigarettes were dangerous until like way later People are now learning breast implants are really dangerous, right? So by the time you learn that putting leeches on your skin to cure illness doesn't work, you kind of already have made all the mistakes. And so that's why this conversation I knew would be hard, because there's this weird thing where, well, I wouldn't change anything. It's well, your future is going to be jaffed then, because you need to look at the past and learn from all the poor choices. That's how humans became capable of 78 years. The. The average life expectancy has increased because of our ability to learn from history's mistakes, right. So now we know the earth isn't flat. Now we know that leeches don't cure illness. Now we know the earth isn't flat. Now we know that leeches don't cure illness. Now we know that carbon monoxide kills people. Like, we didn't know. We just didn't know.

Speaker 2

And when it comes to this existential question of your life, yes, I'm happy, but I'm not, as I can't sit here and say I'm as happy as I could have been if I had made better choices. Dude, if I had made better choices and you had made better choices. I bet you we'd be way more fulfilled than we are right now and we'd be way more successful. I can guarantee you that, and that's just the truth. Now, does that mean I think we made horrible choices and we're the worst and that we should shame ourselves? Definitely not.

Speaker 2

I think, statistically speaking, we've done a great job and I think that we were immature compared to us now, and I think we were more mature than most men, and I think that we did all we could with all we had for the most part, and I think we're doing a way better job now. And I think we need to look at our past and look at every single mistake we've ever made and every good thing, double down on the good, rectify the unintelligent stuff, and I think life's a constant experiment. So this is that's why these things are hard for me, because I think a lot of people fall victim for the well. I wouldn't change anything if I'm fulfilled. If you would change everything, I would argue you're probably not looking at some of the wonderful things that you've done maybe as much as you should.

Speaker 1

It's hard to look at anything in a moment of time and connect everything that's happened leading up to it. It's really challenging. Are you satisfied with the last year?

Speaker 2

I know this doesn't work in your brain, but if you had to try for me, okay, duality, I would say yes and no, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 1

You only get one answer. You can't say yes and no, then no, okay Same.

Speaker 2

Okay.

Speaker 1

I'm using that to avoid the same answer next year.

Speaker 2

Nice.

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah, I think that's good.

Speaker 2

Agreed, but are you satisfied with where you ended up?

Speaker 1

No, not one year later. No, no, overall, yeah, but that's like saying did you have a really really good workout today? Yes, are you happy with the way your diet is going? No, I am not doing well. Different to me to me, okay, fair I think a better metaphor would be.

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Speaker 2

A better metaphor would be did you have a really good workout? Hell yes, that was 10 out of 10. That was great, based on my current perception of what a good workout is. Right, right, right and my current. But are you happy with your overall physique?

Speaker 1

at 35?

Speaker 2

And the answer is like no, okay, you're the opposite though. I'm sitting here saying, did you have a good year last year? You're like no, but are you happy with your overall physique?

Speaker 1

You're like yes, in this matter, no, no, it's no and no, but you opened with I'm super pumped about where I've ended up In the grand scheme of things, but if I was to break it down to a year, I'm very, very happy with the 35 years of results I have.

Speaker 2

Oh, so you're happy with how the macro has turned out, but you're not super proud of the micro.

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah, the last 12 months have been good, but I'm not satisfied. I'm unsatisfied with the results that I have garnered in my life in the last 12 months.

Speaker 2

But yeah, you are satisfied. Macro, with 35 years on this earth, that is micro failure for macro success. That's exactly the paradigm that I think wins, based on my current understanding of the human condition I asked the kid a yes or no question.

Speaker 1

He says yes and no. You know, it's like what are? We doing. But I understand, obviously I understand, don't you?

Speaker 2

used to live the opposite way back. If I asked you that on 20 at 26, prior to Hyperconscious Podcast, you would have said I'm pumped with the day-to-day but I'm not happy at all with where my life turned up.

Speaker 1

Not at 20. At 26, I probably would have said I was happy with the way my life turned out.

Speaker 2

At 27,.

Speaker 1

I wouldn't Well a lot of it was circumstantial, but that's what I'm Okay, cool, this is good. This is a good jumping off point. I'm not saying I'm happy with the way my life turned out because of my circumstances and results. I'm saying because of the day-to-day, because I get to do something fulfilling every day. I told Taryn last night after we finished cleaning the office. I said I am so excited for Monday, I can't wait for Monday. I love Monday. Nice, I never said that before I started this. I hated Monday. Monday sucks, screw Monday. But now it's not. So, yeah, the micro the day-to-day. That's why, yeah, right, I can understand. Okay, the micro the day-to-day is awesome, but the micro of the micro, the hour-to-hour sucks, yeah, that's the wonky thing.

Speaker 1

But yet the macro is great, If we have lost you because we, Alan and I, are just bro-ing out on hyper-conscious conversation.

Micro failure for macro success

Speaker 2

Honestly, the one takeaway this is right here, why we had no listeners in the beginning.

Speaker 1

Right right here this makes sense, I mean if this is your cup of tea, that you came in the right place. Yeah, this if. If you take nothing else I'm I'm starting to do this on podcast growth you or I say tldt too long, sorry, tldl too long, didn't listen. I give a little recap at the end of Kev. I lost you a while ago, but here these are the main three points. You should take away TL, whatever. Whatever it is, too long, didn't listen. Whatever that is, it's if you are regretful and you have a. You had a moment where I said are you happy? Are you satisfied? Are you okay? Are you satisfied? Are you okay? Are you fulfilled? Are you excited with the way things turned out? And you said no, how do we make sure you don't have the same answer in five years? That's the takeaway, if you don't like the jumping back and forth through space-time continuum. What is the thing from Dude? Where's my Car? The continuum transfunctioner.

Speaker 2

If you don't want the continuum transfunctioner.

Speaker 1

What a stupid movie. That's a great movie and then, and then that is a. You want to talk about my childhood. But how do we use that? How do we use the pain of regret to actually facilitate change into the future? Because I know it's very convenient when it's happening. I'll be very honest when Tara and I were getting ready to go on vacation last year I think, I don't know, time is weird and my grandmother fell and broke her hip and I said that was a whole thing for me. It highlighted the fact that I didn't see my family that often and I said I'm going to see my family way more. That hasn't been the case, hasn't been the case, it just hasn't been the case. Will I regret that? Maybe, maybe, very possibly, I don't know. I think about it often and I, I don't know.

Speaker 2

I don't know if I'm going to regret it. What do you think that's the right question, I think.

Speaker 1

I think it's easy to say that I would, but I'm not really someone that values. It's just not a value of mine, like it is for most people well, here's the thing.

Speaker 2

There's a thing called a cost value analysis that I learned in college and I remember I did it. With everything so cool there's, I mean you can do this with anything when you go buy a house okay, skylights, okay. Good, wi-fi, all right, needs to be close to a gym, needs cathedral ceilings, needs a two-car garage, needs a back deck that has a nice view, needs. So you have all these categories that you value. Then you have to weight the category. Okay, so skylights are a 10 out of 10 for Emilia. For me, wi-fi is a 10 out of 10. Near a gym, 10 out of 10.

Cost-value analysis

Speaker 2

We created a cost-value analysis to try to figure out what house is optimal for us to live in and it needs to be congruent with her values and mine. But those are weighted based on what we care about most. So landscapers, I. So for me I'll give you a tiny example. So our next house, I said it needs to be built within this century. I cannot do one of those old needs a reno thing, because I'm not project man. I'm not good at stuff like that. I don't, nor do I value it. Quite frankly, rhvac went out. She figured it out. I am not going to be project man. I know that I build computers. I don't build houses. Okay, I'll tell you what computer to get. I'll tell you exactly how it works. I got you. I don't know anything about anything with houses, all right, and that's fine. I just own it. I don't value it either. Now, the next house I said I want it to be built within 2010,. A new build it needs to be 2010 or newer. And the reason underneath that is I want to focus on growing our businesses. I don't want to focus on home improvement projects that things are breaking. That's just a value.

Speaker 2

Why do you lease a car versus buy one? Because the lease takes it, it's automatically. You just make monthly payment and it it just. They'll fix everything and it's brand new, so it will never break down. Yeah, it costs more, okay, but that's a core value for you. If you know how to fix cars, why would you ever lease a car? What a terrible idea if you know how to fix them and you like fixing them right. So everything is a cost value analysis.

Speaker 2

The problem is we don't do this in life enough, and so with you, with your grandmother, you value your grandmother, but you also have a lot of other values in life that are really important to you, and people are projecting their values onto you saying, hey, you should X, y, z and I've matured enough now to know that I also used to do that. Well, you should be more consistent, you should care about your health, should, should, should, should, should. I try really hard these days to help other people uncover their values so that they can make their decisions that are best for them, and I hope that there's value in that for everybody listening, because everyone who ever says you should X, y, z, it's based on their cost value analysis and, by the way, they're not aware of what it is. It's not like they have a spreadsheet saying, hey, family matters more than fitness, matters more than blah, blah, blah, because that's something that that's why life, I think so hard is because everyone has a different perspective, everyone has different beliefs and everyone thinks they're right, when everyone who thinks they're right is automatically wrong, because there is no right.

Speaker 2

There's only what's optimal for each unique individual, but there are principles that apply to all of us. Right? All cats are cats, but some of them are different, like Ace and Fudge are totally different. Fudge is more introverted. Ace is a nutbag With love.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 2

Ace is all over the place, right, he's getting hurt and he's wild.

Speaker 1

No, he doesn't get hurt. Fudge is the one getting hurt. Well, he's wild. Fudge gets hurt. You have no idea about what's going on in my life and it shows. Alright, I'm sorry.

Speaker 2

Ace is jumping all over stuff, breaking cords and all that. Right, ace has been a wild child, true or false?

Speaker 1

You're just pulling at strings. Now I'm gonna let you. You're pulling your own.

Speaker 2

You're hanging yourself here, didn't he like unplug your TV once.

Speaker 1

The lights. He jumps on top of the TV.

Speaker 2

Oh, no, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1

He fell behind the TV. He likes to we have the TV on the wall. He likes to jump up. He's a. Yeah, he's a he's something.

Speaker 2

That's what I meant. Not bad, I take it back, all right, yeah please do. He's a wild child. He's a wild child.

Speaker 1

Is that fair?

Speaker 2

Yeah, okay, the point is humans, but, just like cats, we all have different values and we try to treat each other identical.

Speaker 1

It's wild. I'm going to F you up with the truth real quick, you mind Never. I think awareness, awareness and regret are connected way more than I think we want to give credit to. I am. I've always been aware of the fact that most many of the people that I love will leave the earth before I do. I've always been conscious of that. Just a weird thing. I always think about that, always. I think about that all the time. Probably an unhealthy amount.

Speaker 1

I don't know Fudge and Ace. I told this story before Fudge jumps up on the desk every morning and I used to shoo him away Fudge, I'm busy, I'm in flow, blah, blah, blah. And then I had a moment where I realized he's most likely going to die before I do and I'm going to be so sad that I didn't spend more time with him in the morning, when he just wanted to love on me, changed my behavior. I never, never, shoo him off my desk. I told him, like he knows, knows, that if he ever lays down and asks for bellies, I will give him bellies, no matter what I'm doing. I've never not given him bellies, never, doesn't matter. I give him bellies doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what I'm doing. I give him bellies. That's based on the fact that I think I'd regret it if I didn't. Yeah, I'm always.

Speaker 2

That's called future pacing Go into the future. I try Reverse engineer regret and then try to make the best choice you can with the most probable choice you can, but that's I try Well, you and I have had conversations.

Speaker 1

You're like Kev. Do you think One of Alan's fears is that I'm gonna regret this journey at some point? Yeah, because I'd say you like working more than I do. Probably you force yourself to do a lot of stuff you don't like, and I said I'll know. When I know, I'll let you know. I don't know, will it happen in 15 years? I'll be like dude. I'm 50 years old. Are we still working six days? Am I still working six days a week, 14-hour days? Depends on your goals, man. Well, I know, I know, but I think that's that's the thing is I, I don't. I won't know until I'm aware of it, and then, when I'm aware of it, I'll know.

Speaker 2

You and I have a our own cost value analysis and our own consciousness, and then we have to combine them in business. This is why it's so hard to work with other people and intimate relationships. This is why relationships are so hard. You value people say, oh well, it's fourth of july, I don't care, I have to go it. That doesn't register for me. It's well. Why can't you take the day off? I? I have a completely different core value system of decision making than you do.

Speaker 1

The truth is I can take the day off, I just don't want to.

Speaker 2

Exactly, but people don't understand that. Well, what do you mean? It's 4th of July or whatever. It is right, just insert. And that's why I've had so much pain in social relationships, because I don't value things the same way other people do and I have a much longer time perspective, and that's been really, really hard. But that's another episode. So at the end of the day, I appreciate it. I think this is philosophical, I think it's great. I think it illuminated a lot regarding why life feels so damn hard. Because you have to interact with at least hundreds, if not thousands, of people in your lifetime and all of them have different values and different goals and different beliefs and you have to work together toward a common purpose. It's very difficult. That's the hardest part of business.

Speaker 1

In my opinion Time perspective too.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 1

I think. Last thing, and and we'll go because I know we're running along here I I've told this story before, where I was hanging out with friends and I said, isn't it? We were looking up at the sky, sharing a, sharing a joint on the dock. This was probably like 2016, maybe and I said, isn't it weird that if gravity decided to take a day off, we'd all float out into space and die? And everybody was like that's the, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. And I was like that's like, I mean, it's accurate. I know gravity's not going to decide to take a day off, but you know we're on like a rock spinning through the universe, right, like, do you think about that?

Speaker 1

The fact that all of this somebody has you ever driven on? You've driven on a road before somebody paved that. I know every road you've ever been on was paved by a human. If it's paved, and even more, after they paved it, they put lines on that. Son of a, b. Yeah, isn't that wild. Every house you've ever seen has been built by a human, most likely, unless it's like a robot 3d printing. I think about weird stuff like that all the time.

Speaker 2

Yeah, it's pretty cool. It's wild. Human beings are capable of amazing things. Unfortunately, we're also capable of terrible things too. That is also true.

Speaker 1

But we'll save that for another podcast.

Individual values and time perspective

Speaker 2

Well, that's the hyper-conscious philosophical part of you that is very unique to you.

Speaker 1

And I have it too, and I'm very grateful.

Speaker 2

I think you gotta contemplate stuff like that.

Speaker 1

I think it makes you focus more on what matters and what doesn't it's like oh the waiter screwed up my order.

Speaker 1

Okay, yeah, doesn't really matter that much. Yeah, aren't you grateful to have food? We, when we were in the london airport london airport, I don't know, it was either london, the London Airport, london Airport, I don't know, it was either London Airport or the Scotland Airport. They, you sit down at a table, you seat yourself. You sit down at a table, they give you a menu. You scan the menu, you choose what you want. It gets sent to the kitchen and then somebody brings it out. There's no, nobody even helps you and you leave your stuff and you go.

Speaker 2

And they clean it up. That's awesome and I was like how wild is this.

Speaker 1

That's awesome. You don't even have to talk to someone if you don't want to get your food. I'm going to tell you about the time.

Speaker 2

I swear this happened when I was at Cognex I forget where I had conveyor belt McDonald's come to me at the drive-thru. It came. I swear it came on like a conveyor belt came out in massachusetts I thought so or connecticut, or something interesting. I'm telling you I either I dreamt it or that happened. But I remember thinking, oh, I could see a lot of people, it's very possible. But dude, I think it happened well, that is.

Speaker 1

That's where we're headed right.

Speaker 2

That is the trend that's the trend, that's where we're headed, and I remember thinking to myself we need to help people retool because those jobs are going. Those jobs are going right. People villainize fast food, but how many jobs does that create?

Speaker 1

right and I, and I think it's delicious as well, so same one of the saddest things of dieting is I haven't been having a lot of fast food. Same I look.

Speaker 2

I usually like one a week you know, max, max, max, max, one a week, but every couple weeks I need a little something.

Speaker 1

I had Domino's this weekend.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I had Domino's.

Speaker 1

I had Domino's this weekend too 210 cals per slice, times eight, 16, 60.

Speaker 2

I had 260 times eight.

Speaker 1

Of course, you did you probably got 2,080 calories for the whole thing. Well, I'm going to diet.

Speaker 2

You probably get 2,080 calories for the whole thing.

Speaker 1

Well, I'm going to diet. One of us is actually dieting, and that would be me.

Speaker 2

It was delicious I wish, couldn't, couldn't. Couldn't do it. What'd you get for? What's your total pizza? You have a whole pizza.

Speaker 1

Large or medium.

Speaker 2

Medium Okay, Whole medium pizza for how many pounds? 210 times eight, 1660. 1660. What kind you get chicken Pepperoni?

Speaker 1

No, of course not. Pepperoni and banana pepper. There's no protein. Man Stingy as F. They were stingy as F with the banana peppers. They gave me like three of them. What are we doing here? Load them up you. They gave me like three of them. What are?

Speaker 2

we doing here. Load them up. You gotta throw extra on that.

Speaker 1

Yeah, there's no cows, there's no protein in that Kev. Don't worry about that, don't let that bother you. It's not about that. For me, it's about the flavor.

Speaker 2

Flavor, you gotta get premium chicken, extra chicken.

Speaker 1

Why do I have to do that? You don't have to do anything, I'm We'll see. Hey, we're going to see In however many days we're going to see who comes in at the right weight with the right leanness.

Speaker 2

How many more days have we got?

Speaker 1

26 or something. Not enough, though, is what I'm certain of.

Speaker 2

I don't know the number, but I know it's not enough. Shout out to everyone who's in the 10-pound-in-10-week challenge it's crunch time. It is crunch time.

Speaker 1

Whatever your goal, we're approaching the peak month, so things are going to get serious. Alright, we're going to go, because I don't know why we're talking about most of the things we're talking about. We're 40 minutes into another episode. We, alan and I, are off. We're just off to out to lunch just enjoying the process of podcasting. You know, I feel very fulfilled in what we get to do every day. If you are looking to improve every single day, you're already listening to the right podcast to help you do so. But make sure you are subscribed so you never miss an opportunity to get to the next level. You can subscribe on whatever podcast platform you are listening on. I think on Spotify, it's not subscribe, it's follow, and then on YouTube, it's follow. So wherever you're watching or listening, give us a sub and it'll help you stay a little bit more consistent.

Speaker 2

If you want more accountability in your life, email me, alan at nextleveluniversecom. Spelled just like it sounds. It'll be in the show notes. The 10-pound in 10-week challenge is really just a group of people who are trying to help each other stay accountable and motivated in fitness and we can bring you in there and it'll help you stay consistent. Kevin and I share a photo every now and then. Other people are sending progress pics and they're doing all kinds of cool stuff and they're talking about their weight and their challenges and bottlenecks and all kinds of stuff. So if you want in on that, I want to make sure that you can get in. Email me, Just say, hey, I want in on this 10-pound and 10-week challenge. Like Kevin said, we're doing 10 pounds in 10 weeks but at the end of the day, if you want more motivation and fitness and more accountability, that's really the purpose underneath it. I don't care if you want to lose two pounds. I don't care if you want to just make sure you exercise more consistently. The group is there for you. Reach out.

Speaker 1

And Alan is sharing photos way more frequently than I am. Just FYI you share. I think I've only shared a couple, but I can. I can start doing it more. I'll be committed to that.

Speaker 2

Amy's been in there pretty much every day.

Speaker 1

Yes.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and everyone's. I mean. It's very engaged, it's been engaged, it's been good. Shout out to everybody who's in there Keep it up.

Speaker 1

It motivates me for sure it helps. I'm more motivated by and again, I mean this with love I'm more motivated by missing an episode than anything else.

Speaker 2

Same, but it helps too. Every little bit helps yeah.

Speaker 1

I just think of that. It's not an option, not an option Not going to miss. It's not an option, not even an option.

Speaker 2

I'm going to dehydrate at least two pounds.

Speaker 1

You know, they say failure is not an option. Failure is always an option, and that's why success is so impressive. Yeah, yeah that's a bumper sticker.

Speaker 1

Failure is no, it is, it is. It's quite literally like one of the most readily available options at all time. It's actually the most probable option. So that's why I shout out to you if you're succeeding, all right, we're gonna go, 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 keep it fulfilling next nomination.

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Alan Lazaros

Host
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Kevin Palmieri

Host