Next Level University

#1687 - 1 Word To Help You Level Up Your Life

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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In today's episode, Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros profoundly explored a quality that often goes unnoticed but is pivotal to achieving success. This intangible yet powerful trait is the silent engine behind every success story, and the discussion explores its multifaceted role in driving individuals toward their ambitions.

Links mentioned:
Join us on Next Level Monthly Meet-up #29 on May 2nd, 2024,  at 06:00 pm Eastern Time: "How To Level-Up Your Money"
https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/monthly-meetups/
Next Level Nation - https://www.facebook.com/groups/459320958216700

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NLU is not just a podcast; it's a gateway to a wealth of resources designed to help you achieve your goals and dreams. From our Next Level Dreamliner to our Group Coaching, we offer a variety of tools and communities to support your personal development journey.

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

Website đź’»  http://www.nextleveluniverse.com

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Any of these communities or resources are FREE to join and consume
Next Level Nation - https://www.facebook.com/groups/459320958216700
Next Level 5 To Thrive (free course) - ​​https://bit.ly/3xffver
Next Level U Book Club - https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/next-level-book-club/
Next Level Monthly Meet-up:  https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/monthly-meetups/

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We love connecting with you guys! Reach out on Instagram, Facebook, or via email. We're here to support you in your personal and professional development journey.

Instagram đź“·
Kevin: https://www.instagram.com/neverquitkid/
Alan: https://www.instagram.com/alazaros88/

Facebook ✍
Alan: https://www.facebook.com/alan.lazaros
Kevin: https://www.facebook.com/kevin.palmieri.90/

Email đź’¬
Kevin@nextleveluniverse.com
Alan@nextleveluniverse.com

LinkedIn ✍
Kevin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-palmieri-5b7736160/
Alan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanlazarosllc/

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Show notes:
(2:05) The unseen struggle
(5:30) Do hard stuff
(7:34) The power of grit
(11:35) Next Level Dreamliner: the planner, agenda, journal, and habit tracker to rule them all. Get a copy: https://a.co/d/f1FWAQA
(12:18) Purposeful pain
(16:15) The role of discomfort
(19:05) Grit tank
(22:35) Outro

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. We hope you enjoyed yesterday's episode, episode number 1,686, past, present, future. Where Is your Focus Today? For episode number 1,687, one word to help you level up your life.

Speaker 1

The year was 2019, I believe, and Alan and I are podcasting. We're on YouTube, we're doing audio, we're doing video, we're trying to level up our social media game. We're trying to figure out all this stuff. And I went to Alan one day and I said, hey, man, I saw a clip from Joe Rogan's podcast on YouTube and it had subtitles and it had cut scenes and it was. We got to figure out how to do that. That's something we need. We need that for our podcast, for sure. And he said alright, man, well, I know someone. He's a director. This is the program he uses, called Adobe Premiere. There's a bunch of YouTube videos. Give it a shot. All right, cool, let me see what I can do. So I watch some YouTube videos, I download Adobe Premiere on my old, crappy laptop and I proceed to start the process. All right, I'm going to find a really good clip from our podcast. I am going to put it into Adobe Premiere. I'm going to make a nice title. I'm going to do the subtitles. That's going to be awesome.

Speaker 2

Get some b-roll kev, can we put a link, because it's still on your instagram, isn't it?

Speaker 1

I have to find the show notes. Yeah, I can, let me. Let me make a note of it.

Speaker 2

All right, we're going to put a link to this clip in the show notes. Check it out.

Speaker 1

Yes, it is actually really funny I don't remember exactly what the clip was on, but I guess we'll find out. Wasn't it the one with the deer? No, no, no, I'm dogging it, pat. No, no, that was oh yeah, no, I was an elevated content creator at that time. That was like oh okay, this was.

Speaker 2

I'm sorry, I thought that, no, no this was way earlier.

Speaker 1

Okay, yeah, we were like 80 episodes in or something at that point. This is like Will you be able to find it, you think?

Speaker 1

Yeah yeah, yeah, I'll find it. So I sit down at my makeshift office at the time and I start the process and I definitely stuttered through and limped through and figured out this works. This doesn't Okay, cool. So my first session it was eight hours. I spent eight hours on this clip and this clip is one minute long. Okay so, eight hours. I spent eight hours on this clip and this clip is one minute long. Okay, so, eight hours for one minute.

Speaker 1

And I think I was exporting it. And if you've ever used Adobe Premiere, you understand. But think of it like if you've ever used Canva and you click save, it does the little thing where the progress bar starts and it says we're working on it. We'll let you know when it's done. Adobe Premiere is the same thing, except it's way more serious. So I was waiting for it to export and then my computer crashed and I lost all of it. I lost the whole thing. It didn't save because I didn't know how to save it. I lost the whole thing. So I said, all right, not ideal, let me try this again. Let me try it again, let me give it a shot. So I do the same process again, the whole thing, and I think this time I saved it and then I went to export it and I was like all right, saved, we're good Cool. Computer crashed again and then I think my computer died. It like dead dead, not the battery died, it ceased to live.

Speaker 1

So I had to get a new laptop. So the first teaser clip. I spent 16 hours making for one minute and I had to buy a new laptop in order to get it done.

Speaker 2

Really put, yourself in Kev's shoes on this. It was brutal. Nothing to show for it. It was brutal.

Speaker 1

Now moral of the story. Fast forward to Wednesday. It was brutal. Now moral of the story. Fast forward to Wednesday. As of Wednesday, we crossed the 1 million listen mark and $1 million earned in our business since the inception of our business. One of the ways we've made a good amount of money in our business is by helping other podcasters. One of the things we do for other podcasters is we produce their podcasts, which means audio editing, video editing, making teaser clips, all that stuff.

Speaker 1

That 16 hours has turned my life around in many, many ways and given me many, many opportunities that I never would have had because I wouldn't have even known how to do that. I wouldn't have even known that was a thing you do for podcasts. That 16 hours has changed my life in many ways. That 16 hours is a really good example of grit. Grit is one word to help us all level up our life. Going back to what Alan and I said in the previous episode, you know how easy it would have been for me just to say, ah, this ain't, it's not meant to be. Ah, it's not that big of a deal. It would have been so. It would have been amazing. It would have been awesome to say I'm not going to work. I've already spent eight hours. I'm not going to do it again. I don't want to do it again. Luckily I pushed through because that's been super. It's just been super important for us and we would not be here today without grit One billion percent.

Speaker 1

I'm traveling. In a couple of weeks, tara and I are going to Scotland, and I know Alan and Emilia are going to South Carolina, north Carolina, whatever. It's called Beaufort, beaufort, we're going to have to record 14 episodes, at least 14 episodes in a day. At least it might have to be more. We're going to have to look at the exact schedule. That's going to suck. That is going to be terrible. We've done it once before. We've done it once before and again we signed up for this.

Speaker 2

It was brutal.

Speaker 1

It's privilege, pressure and I'm grateful we get to do it, but that is going to require a level of grit that is four months of podcasts for most podcasters.

Speaker 2

My assumption is the first nine or so will be decent no the first four will be good. We'll see how it goes Then five to 9 will be decent, and then 10 to 14 will be mush.

Speaker 1

We shall see. But moral of the story, most of what we have, most of the opportunities we have, most of the things that we've created, most of the quote unquote success is because of grit, and I think it's one of those things that maybe you think you have or you don't, but it's definitely something you can work on little by little, by little.

Speaker 2

How do you develop it? Do hard stuff, do hard things.

Speaker 1

Yeah.

Speaker 2

It's grit skills. I'm reading the Art of Impossible by Stephen Kotler right now and I was actually listening to it earlier today and he's talking about creativity and grit and all of the, all the character traits that can be developed over time, that are necessary to do the impossible, to do anything noteworthy. And again, noteworthy is relative to your own life, so but? But if you think about anything that you've accomplished in your life, it requires a level of grit I talked about on Sunday it's 9.30 at night Conscious Couples podcast. Emilia and I are cooked and it's not like we hung out all Sunday. It was a long day, even longer week, and I forgot to hit record on the audio. So she's in charge of the video camera, I'm in charge of the audio and normally Kevin does that, and I screwed up. I didn't hit record and we got to the end of the episode and I was like and the video camera audio is awful in comparison, so it's unusable. What are you going to watch us on video with no sound or it'll sound like we're 100 feet away, can't do it. So it was like all right, and that was a moment for emily and I. We sat there sunday night 9 30. We launch every monday. We haven't missed 115 episodes. We're not gonna miss now. All right, let's do it again and dude the cool part about this, and you and I have had those moments too, where the second one ends up better. The second one always ends up better, just like the teaser clip ended up better, most likely.

Speaker 2

I've had a lot of those moments back in high school, college, when your whole computer crashes. You lose all your work. I used to design web pages and we also had this ui that we did for this. It's called the ieee money machine. It was a project that we did, but if I had a nickel for every time, I lost all my work after hours of grinding. It was just awful. It is awful, and the thing that really sucks about that is it's just gonna keep happening. There's really no. What are you going to do? I'm never going to make a mistake again. If you go for things, when you shoot for goals, expect it to go wrong, no matter what, no matter what. I could give a thousand other things. I'll tell this story, kev, because I don't think you'd ever tell it. We were in Toronto and I'll never forget this because I do have this on my radar.

Speaker 2

So if anyone's ever hanging out with me, I am gauging and observing character traits Virtue, grit. I'm always trying to help people achieve their goals and dreams. So I'm always assessing what they need help with. That's who I am now. I used to try to help everybody. I don't do that anymore. I don't project on anyone anymore. I just kind of observe and I study human beings 24-7, 365. So grit is one of those that you need. I mean, if you don't have grit, you will not achieve great things. There's no way, unless you're extremely unethical, in which case you're probably not listening to this show.

Speaker 2

So, anyways, we're in Torontoonto and we're trying to get burgers at five guys and we had just gone to the gym and it's freezing cold. It's really really cold. The wind chill was high and for for the canadians listening, you're probably like you're a wimp, alan, but it was really cold. And we were in this wind tunnel in toronto that the, the wind was whipping and I was really really cold and I had gloves and a hat on and kev didn't. And we were in this wind tunnel in toronto that the, the wind was whipping and I was really really cold and I had gloves and a hat on and kev didn't, and we were looking for five guys and he was on his phone and I don't know what the temp was, but it was definitely really cold and we were right outside the lobby of the of the gym that we just left and I was like, dude, I'm freezing. Do you want to go in the lobby right there while we do this trying to figure out google maps to get to this five guys restaurant? And you're like, no, we're fine.

Speaker 2

For me, that was a moment. I want to share this with the listeners and, again, whether whether anyone cares or not, I think it's awesome. I had a moment where I was like this dude is in pain for literally no reason. There's. You just don't avoid pain. That's what all it comes down to is. You just aren't someone who has to avoid pain. I'm always witnessing people around me and I want to preface this with something. My childhood was really, really, really painful. So I think that we all have a pain tolerance that we develop over time, and all of our pain tolerance is very different. One of the reasons why we've been able to get to where we are, kev, all of our pain tolerance is very different. One of the reasons why we've been able to get to where we are. Kev is is your pain tolerance, and I would never be able to work with someone as closely as I do with with you if you didn't have that, because very rarely do I ever think someone has higher pain tolerance than I do, and that was a moment where I was like I want to go inside.

Speaker 2

This seems masochistic to me. Now, at the end of the day, it's a tiny little example, but you can tell. And so what's the point for the listeners not talking about Kevin and I? You need to assess, you need to Let me not project. I encourage everyone strongly to assess the goals and dreams that you have and then reevaluate the level of grit that you're willing to tolerate. Because the truth is, unless you're a podcaster, you don't really know what it's like to try to do seven episodes a week for not just one week, for like forever. And when you tell a podcaster that and they don't assume it's like a two-minute clip or whatever micro content it's actual episodes, full-length episodes they are. They can't even it's breaks their brain because they're still at a stage understandable because we were there too where two a week is feels impossible. And so grit is a skill that you can develop over time, but it's not going to naturally develop if you're constantly seeking comfort.

Speaker 2

Now, I'm not saying to be masochistic pain for the sake of pain is dumb. But what I will say is that purposeful pain for an intentional, meaningful reason that you chose in advance is not only necessary but it's going to help you grow. And so the people that I surround myself with tend to have a lot of grit. And the clients I have 23 clients and I assess them all and I'm helping them all achieve their goals and dreams. And if I had to bet money on who was going to win, grit would be one of the things I look for.

Speaker 2

The two most underrated character traits in human beings, in my opinion, is humility, and if you have humility and grit, you will win eventually. I would bet on you. If you have humility and grit, I would bet on you. Now we can do episodes on those. Humility is a whole thing. I actually didn't understand humility at all until I was 30, but grit and humility, in my opinion and self-belief, those are like the three three that are 100 necessary for you to achieve anything of of significance.

Speaker 2

Because if you think about someone who has no humility, who has no grit and who has no self-belief. What are they going to do? There's not a lot of option and I I'm not trying to be unkind, that's just the way it works. I didn't design that, that's just fact and we all need to face the hard facts of life if we're going to achieve our goals and dreams. And I hope everyone does achieve their goals and dreams. And I don't think you should do painful stuff for the sake of painful stuff. I think that's kind of silly. But if you need to do some sales and you got to check the boxes and you don't want to send the messages, you still got to do it. I respect it. I do. I respect people that show up even when they're losing, and that's what we did long before we were winning, I think you should intentionally put yourself in a little bit of pain, a little bit Discomfort, pain, whatever it is.

Speaker 1

I think that's one of the reasons the ice bath thing is so good. You getting up and going into the ice bath is not going to make you super successful and it's not going to make you a millionaire and all that happy jazz, but it will help you build grit for sure. I think you can choose your discomfort. I was thinking I think one of the reasons I have a fairly high discomfort tolerance is because I wanted to fight for a living. I wanted to be a stuntman. I always wanted to do stuff that required you taking pain. I wanted to be a professional wrestler. When I was young and I had people hit me over the face with metal folding chairs and like the heavy ones, not light, I was thrown into thorn bushes. I was beat with wiffle ball bats, like for me that that was all kind of fun. So I'm weird. I'm weird with stuff like this. I love going to jujitsu and getting choked out, not all the way out, but pretty close. I enjoy it. It's very real.

Speaker 2

It's very I know it's building something in me that can't be built somewhere else when you say enjoy it, because you and I had a disagreement one time in the gym and we were working really, really hard and this is back when we were really in shape compared to now and I said the gym is painful. If you can't do painful things, you're in trouble and you're like dude, this isn't painful, this feels great. And I was like what are you talking about? I almost just watched you die after a set on the hack squad. I like it, yeah, but that's weird. I like that, I don't like it. It feels terrible. I just do it anyway. I don't know. There's a part of me that likes it because it is building me right. Is that what you're referring to? There's got to be a part of you that absolutely hates it. Not really. No, not really. You think it actually feels good. Are you talking about flow, brain chemistry, endorphins?

Speaker 2

There's no way running in the hot sun.

Speaker 1

No running's terrible, but I'm not really that great at running I think maybe I'm good at. I think jujitsu's a really good example, because when I get done rolling with someone who's so much better than me, I am on the mat like thinking I'm gonna die and I have that moment of like this really sucks, but it's not painful. I guess it's uncomfortable. But ten seconds later when someone stands up and says are you good, I'm going to go slap hands.

Speaker 2

What is painful, because maybe this is I might be weird with the pain label. I know we got to jump Physically. I I people don't agree with me when I say you have to do like no pain, no gain. I believe in that so deeply, so deep. I think it's just anything without pain, the label of pain versus. Yeah, I think people think what do you think of when you think of pain? A little, bit of a selfish question here for a second.

Speaker 1

Physical, like if I have a zit on my back and Taryn is popping it. That's pain I go to, like I close my eyes and go to another place. That's like our running joke. It's like, alright, let me go somewhere else. And it's not like that. Jiu-jitsu is more suffering than pain.

Speaker 1

It's an elongated process of over what would you define grit as Pursuing something regardless of the resistance, the pursuit of something regardless of the amount of resistance presented. I would say that's for me, that's it's not stopping because it's hard. Now, obviously, if I'm let's say I went and tried to run a marathon right now, I'd probably I wouldn't be able to do it. I'd stop at some point. But when I first got that initial, I don't know if I can do this. How much longer do you push for it? That's great. I'm not saying you have to do the whole thing Because I could. There's no way I could run a whole marathon. But there's that place where you say I can't do this anymore and then you still have however much percentage you have left. I think that's kind of like your grit tank.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 1

Is the best way to put it for me.

Speaker 2

Okay Well, I talk often about doing the marathon to do the 10-pound and and 10 week challenge that Kevin and I did. That was just pure grit by the end. At the beginning it was talent, skill, whatever. It's not like. It's my first time running or working out right. When people say, what do you mean? You're going to just do a marathon? I train consistently for the last nine years. I'm healthy, I'm athletic, I'm going to do a marathon and I did the half marathon and there's a video of me in the middle of it. That was cocky, if anything. I was running backward being playful. Emilia got there halfway through and she actually ran the second half with me and run is a loose term because we were walking by the end, crawling yeah, almost crawling, although I did run the last lap I did. I looked like a 90-year-old man.

Speaker 1

Hey, whatever, I have a video of it.

Speaker 2

But I was running, I was jogging, yogging as they call it. But that whole tail last quarter of it it's like the first half. I did the first half in a shorter time than the entire last quarter. The entire last quarter took me the longest. It was awful. I call it the walking dead. It was so bad. It was so bad.

Speaker 2

It was also 95 degrees, but it was all grit at that point. It was all mental at that point. I could have. It was on the border of dehydration to death. It was on the line when, if Emilia didn't go get me water, I probably would have died. I know I say that, but I'm dead serious. I think that was actually reckless. I would say so, but I couldn't not do it though, and I knew I wasn't going to die. I was calculating it. I know I won't die. I'm close, but this is I don't know how to explain it it's like I can't not do it. I'm going to crawl past this finish line if I have to. Well, you're also a sicko in that I'm not going to not do it.

Speaker 1

That's a sicko thing. All right, we got to go because we got calls. Last thing a really good example of grit is if you go to a job you hate every single day and you have to work up the inspiration, motivation, to get in the car or get out of the car. When you get to that, I think that's grit. I think it's a really good example of grit that maybe nobody else would ever see, and you and I have had those experiences as well. So shout out to anybody who's going through that, because that is grit. And it's not necessarily chosen grit, right, maybe it's. It feels like it's all you can do. That's that's legit grit.

Speaker 1

Okay, next level nation private Facebook group. We have a meetup on the second how to level up your wealth. Uh, tomorrow for episode number 1,681. What are you not willing to do to succeed? We talk often about what you need to do or what our perspectives of what we need to do to increase our next levelness, but what are you not willing to do? I think that's an important question to ask, because you're going to get presented with many options that might be misaligned. 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

Keep it gritty Next time on Nation.

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Alan Lazaros

Host
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Kevin Palmieri

Host