Self-improvement Starts with Self: Kevin Palmieri

Show Notes

Episode 116 (Kevin is based in New Hampshire)

In this conversation with Kevin Palmieri, we explore:

• The power of both positive and negative habits


• Recognize the value and purpose of pain


• Leading your team by enhancing their value


• The importance of seeking the next level of development


• When mistakes can be valuable


• Why it's powerful to do something for the first time


• How you can escape self-imposed traps & limits

About Kevin Palmieri

Kevin is the CFO, Founder & Co-Host of Next Level University, a Global Top 100 Self-Improvement podcast with more than 1000 episodes reaching over 600 thousand people in more than 125 countries.

After overcoming depression and suicidal ideation, Kevin became passionate about self-improvement and entrepreneurship. Through his podcasting and speaking, he made it his life's purpose to make a positive impact on as many people as possible.

Kevin believes in a heart-driven, no BS approach to holistic self-improvement while teaching people to get to the next level of their lives.

https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/next-level-5-to-thrive-registration/

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Excerpts from this conversation with Kevin Palmieri:

03:10

So next level suggests that we are a continuous work in progress.

03:18

Yes, yeah. 100%. When you build a house, you don't just build a house and then leave it.

You have to clean the house, you have to maintain the house, you have to keep up with the times, maybe you have to change your wiring, when the electrical codes change, there's always something going on.

So by definition, Nothing ever stays the same. If something is quote, unquote, in maintenance mode, it's probably getting worse. And I'm not saying that as a human intrinsically, you're getting worse.

But if you're not creating new skills, if you're not becoming a better communicator, if you're not honing your leadership skills, you're probably losing ground and you're losing momentum, and you're not going to get the opportunities and the impact that you want out of life. It's a never ending game.

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05:07

And Kevin, I, I think I heard a powerful insight there, you mentioned about when you improve, when you get better, you feel better, you feel good about yourself. And it perhaps to me that, that feeling good about yourself is those little accomplishments that you you make every day, every week, every year,

05:30

I grew up with very low self worth, George. And I always wondered why.

And I think a lot of the reason behind that was I wasn't willing to try new things. And I wasn't willing to prove to myself that I actually was more capable than I gave myself credit for.

And by doing that, I actually kept lowering my worth, lowering my worth, lowering my worth.

So when you do things that maybe you didn't believe, were possible, when you learn something that helps you understand yourself at a deeper level, I think you can start to value yourself internally at the appropriate level. And I think it takes self awareness, which is going to take learning, ultimately, yeah.

06:09

Hmm. And you, you said you lowered yourself, your self worth your self esteem.

And it sounds like at one point, you lowered it so much that you even thought, well, what's the point of living anymore? I'm not worth anything.

How did you escape from that? That prison?

06:31

I think that for me, I had found quote, unquote, success. So I was a six figure earner at 26. And I remember when I opened my final pay stub, I said,

Why aren't I happier than I am, this is exactly what I wanted. I have everything I could ever want, what's going on here?

So I think I got all this awareness at once about what true happiness quote unquote, and success was.

Now, luckily, I had a very supportive group of people around me.

So the day that I felt the worst, the day that I was having these suicidal thoughts, I texted somebody close to me. And I said, Hey, I'm having these thoughts. I'm having these feelings, I'm having these emotions. I don't know what's going on. I don't know what to do.

And I think two things happened. One, I was in enough pain to reach out to somebody to the person I reached out to gave me permission to make a different choice that day.

He said, Well, so much has changed for you, but your environment.

So they're saying, Of course you don't feel valued, you're hanging out in places where you're not valued.

And if you were hanging out where you should be hanging out, you would be valued, and you'd feel more valuable, and your self worth would be higher.

But if I reached out to somebody, George, and I said, Hey, I'm feeling a certain way, I don't know what to do. And they said, Well, Kevin, nobody likes their job. Everybody hates their job that's par for the course, then what are the odds, I would have felt safe enough, courageous enough and supported enough to actually leave?

So in a weird way, Alan is the person I reached out to, his intended message was you should really do what's going to make you the most happy and fulfilled.

And he gave me the permission to do that, which I know a lot of people wouldn't necessarily have in that situation.

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Your Intended Message is the podcast about how you can boost your career and business success by improving your communication skills. We’ll examine the aspects of how we communicate one-to-one, one to few and one to many – plus that important conversation, one to self.

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