#1671 - The Difference Between A Habit And A Task…

In this episode, Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros share practical tips on handling your daily tasks without feeling stressed. They delve into the art of personal growth amidst life’s everyday routines. Their actionable advice, designed to empower you, will help you feel less overwhelmed and more fulfilled. It’s all about mastering your day-to-day tasks while nurturing yourself.

Links mentioned:
Next Level Dreamliner - https://a.co/d/f1FWAQA
Next Level Group Coaching - https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/group-coaching/
Group 14 starts on (Tuesday) April 16th, 2024. Discount Code for NLGC (30% off): NLULISTENER

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

Website 💻  http://www.nextleveluniverse.com

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LinkedIn ✍
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Show notes:
(2:32) An aftereffect
(3:37) Daily Habits VS Task
(6:27) Self-awareness time
(9:28) Aligned overwhelm
(12:49) Next Level Dreamliner: the planner, agenda, journal, and habit tracker to rule them all. Get a copy: https://a.co/d/f1FWAQA
(14:08) Be who you are
(16:46) Understanding habits and tasks
(18:17) Growing with your true self
(20:15) Do your MIT’s
(22:36) Master tricks
(24:43) 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

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. We hope you enjoyed yesterday's episode, episode number 1,670, getting Through Stuck Freestyle Friday. Today for episode number 1,671, the difference between a habit and a task had a conversation recently with Taryn.

Speaker 1 0:26

Taryn and I were talking about something and she said, hey, have you done this yet it was. Have you looked for a therapist yet? And I said no, and I said I don't want this to come off as negative, I don't want this to come off as hardcore, but honestly, it just hasn't been a priority because it's a task, not a habit. That's all it's on my to-do list. There's a bunch of stuff on my to-do list that's very important for me, for sure, but it's not the stuff that I do every day that I'm focused on as much as I am my habits. Now, this is a really good example of a different week where I'm not back to back with meetings all day, so I'm going through, I'm getting my habits done and then I'm going and checking to get as many tasks done as possible. That's what kind of what we're talking about today. We did the episode last week or the week before about procrastinating.

Speaker 2 1:22

Edip Eliminate automate. Delegate procrastinate yes.

Speaker 1 1:26

Alan and I were talking today and we said, well, we probably didn't make it as clear as we could have that you don't really ever want to procrastinate a habit, but you do want to procrastinate tasks. Your habits are the thing that you have determined. If you do every day are going to create successful weeks, successful months and successful years. The tasks oftentimes are a byproduct of the success of the habits or the maintenance of the habits or whatever. So we just wanted to make sure we touched on that and that's what we're going to do today.

Speaker 2 1:57

The challenge here is that all of us are really good at one of the two. I know some people that are better than I am genuinely wholeheartedly better than I am at getting tasks done. When Emilia and I first met and we first started to combine everything household finances, all kinds of stuff she was way better at knocking off tasks from her to-do list and I was way better at daily habits. It's very, very difficult to be good at both, because it's which one's the priority. So, for example, I've been talking a lot about my big five to thrive writing, whatsapp, sales, mobility, exercise. I haven't missed any of those five things any day in all of 2024. To explain how challenging that is, on top of everything else I'm doing is, I would be scared to even share how hard that is. Without sounding arrogant. I was up at midnight. Blah, blah, blah Doesn't matter. Here's my point. I chose to do that. Why? Because I looked into our future and I know that those are the 20% of efforts, 20% of habits, that are going to make 80% of the difference.

Speaker 2 3:17

It's called Pareto's Principle. We teach it in group coaching. Will Fredo Pareto? Yeah, I used to say Alfredo Pareto. Yeah, I used to say Alfredo. We found out, it's Wilfredo Pareto. We looked it up before Group 13, the last group that graduated in. That was really funny. My man, wilfredo Pareto. You can look that up. It's a whole thing, but anyways. So I'm good at habits. Daily habits are my jammy jam. I don't know why I say jammy jam. I've been saying that all the time now.

Speaker 2 3:44

I've also been saying wickedy-whacked. Okay, no idea why.

Speaker 1 3:48

Maybe you're reverting to childhood.

Speaker 2 3:50

That's probably true. I love that.

Speaker 1 3:52

I love that though I love that though.

Speaker 2 4:01

So staying consistent with daily habits on my habit tracker is a huge strength, but getting tasks done. Some of the NLU team is so frustrated with me. I was talking to Jerrianne yesterday. I said I know I didn't send you the thing I said I'd send you, and I got to be completely honest with you. I just don't know when that's going to get done.

Speaker 2 4:18

You and I have an introduction and an outro to a new free course we're going to be launching. It's called the Seven Simple Steps to a Next Level Life. We're going to be launching. It's called the seven simple steps to a next level life. It is such a good course, this is such a good course. And Jerry, and yesterday she said don't you think that course is like super important for our community? I said, yep, a hundred percent. I just don't know when Kevin and I are going to do it because we still have to record episodes and and the podcast. Staying consistent on the podcast is more important than the intro to this course. And so here's here's what it is.

Speaker 2 4:51

I want everyone out there to think to themselves self-awareness time. Am I better at daily consistent habits or am I better at knocking down to-do lists when I'm up against the deadline. One of the reasons why event season is so hard for Kevin and I is because, all of a sudden, there's all these tasks that take over our habits that need to get done before a deadline, and for me that's so hard because how am I supposed to do my big five to thrive? And my daily habits? I'm tracking I think 17 right now, I think you're around 17 as well but I like to be very, very consistent with my daily habits. I'm tracking I think 17 right now, I think you're around 17 as well but I like to be very, very consistent with my daily habits daily exercise, daily writing, daily WhatsApp, daily sales.

Speaker 2 5:40

I do not like to miss. I haven't missed mobility all year. I'm very proud of that and that's a superpower. That's great, that's awesome. Kevin and I are consistent people, but when we're up against the deadline, we are in trouble Because we have a bunch of tasks we have to do and we don't have time to do both. So for everyone out there, are you better at hammering a to-do list or are you better at daily habits? And what I've noticed is that at the beginning of this journey, you were way better at hammering a to-do list because you used to be a foreman. You used to go into work and say, okay, we have this much to get done by this amount of time.

Speaker 1 6:12

Not even just the beginning, I would say, for at least half of this that was kind of my specialty.

Speaker 2 6:22

Which is good, because you balanced me out.

Speaker 1 6:24

I know You'd go off and do your habits and you journal and you do your flashcards before we were tracking with Google Sheets and I would go make 75 thumbnails and I would go send 20 messages and I would. That's, that's what I was doing at the time, but to your point, there was a time where I think I had 27 habits or something that I was tracking. When that was, I wasn't doing enough tasks. I know I couldn't. It takes me all day to get through these habits and then I'm on meetings and it's just not realistic. Now, 17 habits to me.

Speaker 2 7:03

I did 100% yesterday, it seems so easy, but you're not going on 20 podcasts a week.

Speaker 1 7:09

I know.

Speaker 2 7:10

I know, and that's the thing that's so fascinating.

Speaker 1 7:12

I'm so grateful.

Speaker 2 7:12

I just got another referral. So I now have 23 clients and one of our Relationship Talks clients just upped to a new hybrid program we're doing, where Emilia and I have one coaching session with all four of us two couples and I'm coaching the male individually and she's coaching the female individually. So it's sort of this cool hybrid model which I'm pumped about. But I did have that moment of okay. So that's 23 clients and an additional one-on-one session per month. And on top of that I still have my big five to thrive. I still have my 17 habits, I still have the team, I still have department meetings, I still have going on other shows, I still have my own fitness journey and it does get very, very overwhelming. And I was on a coaching session earlier today with Laura. She's on the team and she said how are you doing?

Speaker 2 8:00

You okay, I'm great, but is that my truth? I'm super overwhelmed, but like in the most aligned way ever, and this is exactly what I want.

Speaker 2 8:18

I want more clients, I want more mastery, I want more potential, I want more habits. I want I don't want to to do less, but I want to figure out how to balance these two and I want to make this very, very clear to all of our listeners. Want to figure out how to balance these two and I want to make this very, very clear to all of our listeners. Kevin's better than me at getting tasks knocked down. Emilia is better than me at getting tax tasks knocked down, like we have a hole in one of our closet doors. We were, uh, bringing a couch upstairs and our housekeeper, cleoji, is super strong. She helped us with it and it was this huge conscious couples couch. So if you've ever seen the conscious couples podcast in on youtube, that huge couch, that is basically the least flattering angle of all time, because you sink into this thing. We had to lift that up our stair, have you been?

Speaker 1 9:01

in my place.

Speaker 2 9:02

It's not an easy. It was actually really challenging. So we hammered that couch right into our closet door and big, big, freaking hole and it's still there now. Here's the truth.

Speaker 1 9:11

I don't care it's not a priority. It's not a priority but if you were?

Speaker 2 9:15

selling it tomorrow, it would be a priority exactly, and when I told you, I said, when we sell this home, we're gonna get all this stuff taken care of. But right now and so here's we're already a lefty. We always do this and that's the problem with the human condition. We all have to get good with our opposite hand. So some of you out there, you have to work on daily, consistent habits. You just can't get a streak going and, trust me, once you get a streak going, you will not miss. We've all had that Snapchat streak going or whatever it is, and you never want to miss that streak. Yeah, and so that's what you got to work on.

Speaker 2 9:51

For other people like myself, I have a rolling to-do list that has 50 plus items on it, and most of them get eliminated, automated, delegated or procrastinated, and, unfortunately, some of the people in my life feel unseen or undervalued because I just don't have the time. I need R&R too, and so a lot of people are like, well, why do you put yourself through that? I get that all the time, especially from family. Why do you put yourself through that? I am called to put myself through this. This is what I want my life to look like, and I know that your life looks different and that's okay.

Speaker 2 10:26

But last part of this Kev is when Emilia and I first got together. She used to write a huge list every Sunday of all the things we need to get done around the house. And I eventually came clean and I said sweetheart, I don't want to do this every Sunday, I just worked all week. So did you? I want some R&R and I don't like projects Like let's hire someone for some of that stuff. And so now we've driven to five and now I'm better at getting tasks done and she's better at habits. But in the beginning she was way better at knocking down to-do lists and I was way better at consistency. And now she's very consistent and I'm very consistent and we both do nine tasks per Sunday. Sounds terrible, it is. I don't think it's terrible.

Speaker 1 11:15

I think it's very, very. We build a lot. We're builders, we build well, we build we. You should see we got. We have cat stuff all over the walls. We got cat ramps and cat hammocks.

Speaker 2 11:21

Yeah, man, you're over here building desks and stuff.

Speaker 1 11:24

Don't act like I. Well, I love it for me that's like, yeah, yeah, I, I.

Speaker 1 11:28

There is a part of me that misses working with tools and drilling, so I had like the longest. Oh, the day after the event, the day after Next Level Live, when I got home, taryn was super excited because we got a bunch of stuff to put on the walls for the cats and she's like, will you do it with me today? And I was like, just give me a minute, let me sit for an hour. And then we probably spent five hours building yeah, and I was happy, happy as a clam.

Speaker 1 11:58

Even though I was, I didn't know how I was gonna do it well, sometimes projects are cup filling for people.

Speaker 2 12:03

It depends on the person. That's very cup filling for some people. I, I, for me, I it never has been cup filling. For me cup filling is uh, I took a productivity training earlier this morning. Oh, I mean, just in my element, right, I'm eating my cereal like a four-year-old taking a productivity training. It's my, it's my favorite, yeah, but like that's, that's what I'm meant to be, and so I guess the the lesson in that is be who you are, if you like projects man I don't.

Speaker 1 12:30

I mean I they're okay. Okay, I mean, it's not a 10. It's probably like a 6 out of 10 for me. For somebody else it might be an 8. For somebody else it might be a 2. For me it's like I'm with Taryn. We always have fun when we do stuff like that. We're always laughing cats. So obviously, you know I'm all, I'm all about the cats.

Speaker 1 12:50

But so, yeah, I think Alan's point is and to speak to it, which one are you really good at? Are you really good at getting a list of things on a Saturday and saying, all right, this weekend I'm going to get all 15 of these things done and you do that every weekend? Or are you someone who's really good at saying all right, monday through Sunday? This is what I do. I do this, I do this. I do my morning routine. I read whatever it is, but your to-do list starts to pile up. My to-do list is here. You can't see it because of the brightness, but I don't know Right now.

Speaker 1 13:25

I've been far better with my to-do list. I might only have 10 things on there right now, but I've had a lot more time because we simplified our systems and I'm doing less habits and I'm doing more tasks. Yeah, that's kind of the season we're in. We're not. That's the thing for you out there. We're not just podcasters anymore. The podcast is something we do and we do it a lot, and it's the thing that we care about very, very deeply. But we also have a business and a team and families and fitness and other goals and and all that other stuff.

Speaker 2 13:56

so you're the same you're probably the same two, three hours in the gym yeah, get a couple pizzas, play some five, five habits yeah, yeah, it was, it was, it was wonderful.

Speaker 1 14:08

But you and I tend tend to be on opposite ends of the spectrum, like right now. For me, this is my only meeting of the day, which I cannot tell you how happy I am. I need it and I'm ready. I'm ready to get back into more mayhem, but for me it's like okay, look, I can get a bunch of this stuff done. I feel like I'm making so much progress on that front which here's what I haven't in the past.

Speaker 2 14:33

I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I actually think this is powerful for anyone out there that is on teams, if you're doing the tasks and I'm doing the like runway, for lack of better phrasing let's picture the runway is.

Speaker 2 14:47

I think habits are like the runway. Habits are bi-weekly department meetings, meetings and weekly coaching sessions and daily morning routine and writing every day, exercising, daily foam rolling, whatever it is. So the runway is the stuff. That's consistent, it's the system. The tasks are like hey, there's a boulder in the runway and the plane is going to crash if we don't move this thing. I'm in the plane trying to. I'm actually paving the runway right now and Kev is moving the boulders and fixing the potholes and that kind of thing.

Speaker 2 15:23

And so if you're out there and you have a team or you're running a business, or even if you're at work as a team member a business or even if you're at work as a team member, you can set it up so that one person's doing more tasks and the other person's doing more runway. Emilia and I same deal, we divide and conquer. So I have her doing much more tasks for the we and for the Conscious Couples podcast, while you and I focus on growing the business and the divide and conquer thing. Maybe that's another episode, but that's so powerful because you can, if you like, knocking down tasks and having less meetings and I love having back to back to back to back to back to back coaching. You can design a business around that where nothing gets neglected, yeah, and, and every one of us is doing more of what's fulfilling and cup filling, and then that gives you even more, you know, and again, that's more of like a team business training type of thing.

Speaker 1 16:18

Well, I'm starting to feel more fulfilled than I have in the past. Same it's. I went through the season where I literally did I think one week I did 27 podcasts, I think I think it was 20 other shows and seven including ours, or eight including ours, yeah, so almost 30 podcasts in one week, on top of exercise and on top of everything else.

Speaker 1 16:44

And as cool as it is to say that and as awesome as it is to have that opportunity to do that, if I was doing that every week I would not get anything done.

Speaker 2 16:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 16:55

Nothing would ever get done other than, oh, I'm on another interview and that's awesome, but it's not super sustainable.

Speaker 2 17:02

But that was a season, that was a season and so that's the other piece too is some seasons are more habits than tasks 100% and then other seasons are more tasks than habits. That's why events are so hard. In the beginning it was just habits because there were no tasks.

Speaker 1 17:16

And then Alan and I went to Florida and we lived in Florida for a month with one of our mentors at the time and I spent I think I spent 14 days straight building our website and a course and a course, but it was there. Weren't really the only habit I was doing is I was tracking my calories and you and I were exercising. Those were a course, but it was there weren't really the only habit I was doing is I was tracking my calories and you and I were exercising.

Speaker 1 17:38

Those were the two, but other than that it was. This is the massive task I have All your. If you think about it, if you have a really large task, all you're really doing is breaking it down into segments of time that become a habit, like, okay, today for eight hours, my habit, my eight-hour habit, is going to be building this website. And then, when that's done so, last thing, this would be my next level nugget, how dare you Watch your mouth? Watch your mouth when you're talking to me.

Speaker 2 18:06

You always can tell by the way I'm breathing into the mic whether or not I'm going to talk.

Speaker 1 18:09

You get super excited. One one of your habits can be most important tasks, or most. Just do one MIT, one most important task. Alan has me set up on that and it's very helpful because even on a day where I'm back to back, up to back, I can look and say all right, what do I have on here? Oh, alan recommended I watch the Matt Damon speech. Let me do that, I got 20 minutes. Let me do that, I got 20 minutes. Let me do that right. So you can habituate tasks simplistically.

Speaker 2 18:42

Did you watch it yet?

Speaker 1 18:45

No, that's why it's still on my GD list, son.

Speaker 2 18:47

So if you, we have something called the Dreamliner and you've probably heard, because I think we have a mid-tro about the Dreamliner and there's the timer.

Speaker 1 18:55

There's the timer.

Speaker 2 18:56

There's the timer, so there's a section for top three MITs. I like how it rhymes Top three MIT. So my top three most important tasks for the day. I went to my first meeting and it was with Laura and I said Laura, I got to stop you because she said hey, do you know?

Speaker 2 19:21

you have a calendar conflict, appreciate it, appreciate it, uh. And I said I need to write this down. So I'm gonna. I feel disempowered, I need to go get my dreamliner. Whenever I have the dreamliner on me, I feel in control of my own life, because everything I need to know is like here I've got my big five to thrive on here, checked off. I did my writing, my whats thrive on here, checked off. I did my writing, my WhatsApp, my sales, my mobility. Today I still have an exercise. Yet I've got my. I've just got my dreamliner. The dreamliner is set up to make your complex life feel less overwhelming, and it really, really is helpful, so much, in fact, that it's become a crutch where, without it, I feel off. So one thing that I wanted to share with everybody very last thing Kev tasks are things that aren't recurring.

Speaker 1 20:07

Yes.

Speaker 2 20:08

Habits are things that are recurring. That's as simple as it can get Daily, but you can make your tasks daily a habit daily, though, because laundry is recurring, but it's a task and it's not daily.

Speaker 1 20:22

That's why it's so freaking hard to do. That's a great point, because it piles up for seven days and you do it every or whatever whenever it is, and that's what makes it so hard.

Speaker 2 20:29

Then there's a concept called batching, where you do it once a week or right, bi-weekly batching is a whole other thing that we should do, an episode on yeah, for sure yeah, the productivity secrets, secrets, tips that's what master says master tricks, master tricks, productive productivity tips I geek out about, and so I think I'm super nerdy about that, but they will change your whole world. Definitely. They'll change your whole world. One Definitely They'll change your whole world.

Speaker 1 20:56

One of those unsexy things.

Speaker 2 20:57

Yeah, when you and I first started working together, I just slowly kind of gave you these little productivity tricks that now you're probably one of the most productive people. I mean you're one of the most productive people I've ever met. You're the second most productive human I've ever met in my entire life.

Speaker 1 21:14

I'll take it.

Speaker 2 21:15

It's wild Like you weren't productive at all when I first met you. No, With love.

Speaker 1 21:19

Well.

Speaker 2 21:20

I had no direction either.

Speaker 1 21:21

I had no clarity, no direction, none of that, none of that, little by little, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 21:26

I always say that.

Speaker 1 21:27

Little by little. I'm good at putting my headache down and grinding, but other than that I don't know if I had many other qualities. I would have been like the if I was in a video game. I'd be the character that you like throw through the wall, so like get into the next room and then you would just pick me up and then throw me through the next wall. That was kind of me in the beginning.

Speaker 1 21:47

All right, we got to go If you haven't. If, If you're interested in group coaching, we still have a few spots available. Link will be in the show notes. Use NLU listener for a 30% discount. And to Alan's point, if you have not gotten a Dreamliner yet, we are on Amazon. We will also have the link in the show notes for that.

Speaker 2 22:11

A great way to get crystal clear on the next 90 days and make sure that you're staying consistent with your habits and tasks. Go ahead Real quick. If I was in that video game I'd be the guy with the notebook calculating the velocity, who to throw against the wall and the velocity at which we need to throw Kevin at the wall in order to get the hole big enough for us to all get through and so Kevin doesn't die.

Speaker 1 22:28

It would be me. All. Right, tomorrow for episode number 1,672. Alright, tomorrow for episode number 1672. Sometimes you do want to be a big fish in a small pond. You've heard us talk about this concept many, many a time, but we're going to talk about it in a different way tomorrow. 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 stay amb.