Brandon Held - Life is Crazy

Episode 65: From Rock Bottom to Next Level with Alan Lazaros

• Brandon Held • Season 3 • Episode 65

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Developed by a team of Practitioners, men's health scientists, neuroscientists and peak performers. MNLY harnesses the power of blood analysis, machine learning, and AI to evaluate data from four essential components: Biological, Environmental, Nutritional, and Clinical analysis. By leveraging this advanced technology, we develop precise, evidence-based solutions that are tailored uniquely to each individual.

https://www.getmnly.com/ 

Alan Lazarus shares his remarkable journey from childhood trauma to founding Next Level University, a coaching platform helping people reach their unique potential. His story demonstrates how adversity can become a catalyst for personal growth, as he transformed from an achievement-focused corporate success to a purpose-driven coach dedicated to teaching others what they never learned in school but desperately need to know.

• Lost his father at age 2 in a car accident, followed by a complicated relationship with his stepfather
• Experienced significant financial upheaval at 14 when his stepfather left, taking 90% of the family income
• Channeled trauma into academic excellence, maintaining straight A's throughout high school
• Paid off $84,000 in college debt within one year after achieving corporate success
• Survived a head-on collision at 26 that became his transformative wake-up call
• Shifted from "achievement first" to "growth first, contribution second, achievement third"
• Achieved six years of sobriety after recognizing alcohol's negative impact on his goals
• Founded Next Level University to help others with fitness, food, finance, and relationships
• Believes fulfillment comes from helping others grow rather than personal achievements
• Seeks to work with people demonstrating humility, strong work ethic, and desire to reach potential

Connect with Alan on Instagram @alazarus88 or email alan@nextleveluniversity.com. Support Brandon's podcast at brandonheld.com by clicking "subscribe to podcast" or follow him on Instagram @bh_lifeiscrazy.

Developed by a team of Practitioners, men's health scientists, neuroscientists and peak performers. MNLY harnesses the power of blood analysis, machine learning, and AI to evaluate data from four essential components: Biological, Environmental, Nutritional, and Clinical analysis. By leveraging this advanced technology, we develop precise, evidence-based solutions that are tailored uniquely to each individual.

https://www.getmnly.com/ 

If you found value in this episode, please consider subscribing to the podcast for just $10/month at brandonheld.com for additional episodes and to support our mission of helping people through their darkest moments.

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Their supplements have been developed by a team of Practitioners, men's health scientists, neuroscientists and peak performers. MNLY harnesses the power of blood analysis, machine learning, and AI to evaluate data from four essential components: Biological, Environmental, Nutritional, and Clinical analysis. By leveraging this advanced technology, they develop precise, evidence-based solutions that are tailored uniquely to each individual.

https://www.getmnly.com/ 

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Speaker 2:

Welcome. Welcome back to Brandon Held. Life is Crazy, and today I have a guest that I'm excited to talk to for multiple reasons, and I'm excited to hear him tell his story and how he has become who he is through this story. So I'm going to welcome in Alan Lazarus.

Speaker 1:

It's Lazarus, but do not stress man the world does not revolve around my last name, no stress.

Speaker 2:

No, no worries. How are you doing, Alan?

Speaker 1:

I'm good, brother, I appreciate it. It's been a day I'm definitely cranking, so you got me right in the middle of my day. So if I'm a little intense everyone you know I tend to be pretty intense and Kev says sometimes I'm a little too much for people. But at the end of the day I'm grateful to be here. I appreciate it and it's an honor.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and no worries, man, you have to be who you are, period. You know, I literally just read a quote that said I'm going to be judged no matter what I do, so I may as well do what makes me happy. I'm definitely a big believer in that. You know, I've lived life a little bit. I'm 52 and I used to tap dance around people's feelings and, and you know, walk the fine line of oh, I don't want to make anyone mad, but now it's just like you got. You know, I got to stand for something, so I stand for some things. Some people care for it, Some people don't. That's life, right.

Speaker 1:

Yep, and you do have to stand for something. And I think that when you generalize and you don't Zig.

Speaker 1:

Ziglar, way back, a personal development speaker. He had a saying where he said you can be and you don't. Zig Ziglar, way back, a personal development speaker. He had a saying where he said you can be a wandering generality or you can be a meaningful specific. And if you're a meaningful specific, you know who you are, you know why you're here and you stand in that. And it takes tremendous courage to do that because the higher that you, the more you stand in who you are, the more you stand out, the more you get chopped down and it's really unfortunate. But I eventually to your point. I'm younger than you, I'm 36, but I reached a point in my public figure sort of journey and podcasting, coaching, training where I was like you know what, Whenever I try to be liked by others, I end up not liking myself, yeah, and I lose self-respect, and so I'm like you know what, Okay, If I'm going to be hated. And here's the thing, even when I was trying to be liked I was still shit on.

Speaker 1:

So if I'm going to be shit on, I might as well be shit on for who I am. And, by the way, if I'm not allowed to swear, I apologize.

Speaker 2:

No, you can't, no worries.

Speaker 1:

All right, cool. So I'll keep it respectful. But at the end of the day I tell Kevin this too. I know you've interviewed him. I say Kev, if I'm ever entitled, toxic or disrespectful, please call me out. Otherwise, keep it to yourself, because at the end of the day, everyone's got an opinion about who you should be and what you should be, and a lot of times you would never trade lives with those people because they're sort of wandering around aimlessly and romanticizing it.

Speaker 2:

I couldn't agree with you more and all the things you just said for Kevin to call you out on. I mean, that's all relative, right, it's all someone's point of view. As you know, I recently put a post on my Instagram that would probably be considered pretty controversial and I was taught, you know, as a veteran who served in the air force and the army, I keep coming across people that that are saying I hate America. I hate America and it's driving me nuts, Like I can't stand it Right and I'm supposed to just sit back and let people disrespect the country that I love and proudly served. And so, yeah, I put a post up that said if you don't like America, leave, get out. I lost some followers off of that post and I don't really care. I just don't because that's who I am, that's what I believe, and I need to make that clear. I'm not going to stand for people telling me how much they hate America.

Speaker 1:

Good for you for posting what you believe in, because at the end of the day, I do think that little start we had there.

Speaker 2:

But hey, I always love a good conversation, so let's get into what we do here on. Life is Crazy, which is your life story, right? You know I'll preface it. You lost your father at two and then I will let you take it from there. Tell us about your childhood and how you developed in your childhood based off of what happened yeah, so tough start for sure.

Speaker 1:

It's an interesting thing for me now. A lot of people meet me now and they see sort of the, the background and and I look a little bit like I was born on third base type of thing it couldn't have been.

Speaker 1:

I joke, I say I couldn't even see the ballpark. But so tough start, lots of adversity, and I'll give you the short version because I know we want to have a dialogue here. So the short version is three main sort of things that shaped me in hindsight Again, at the time I didn't know this. The first one is my father passed away in 1991 in a car accident when he was 28 years old.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I had a mom who was 31. Everything's numbers for me, so my mom was 31. I had an older sister who was six and I was almost three, and so that was very sudden and unexpected and very tragic 28.

Speaker 2:

I mean, that's not a full life.

Speaker 1:

So in some ways I still that's not a full life. So in some ways I still deal with that. But in the future of this story I'll share why that changed my life. So that's the start. Had a stepfather from age three to 14. That's actually why my last name is Lazarus. So my real, my birth father's last name is John McCorkle, that's his name. Last name is Lazarus, so my real, my birth father's last name is John McCorkle, that's his name. So it was Jim, Joe, John, Jane, Joan, Jeanette, big Irish Catholic family born and raised in Massachusetts, and he was John McCorkle. And when he passed away my stepfather, Steve Lazarus, came into the picture. So from three to 14, Steve Lazarus was in my life from 1992, basically to the early 2000s.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

When I was 14, this is the second inflection point in my life, so we weren't really associating much with the McCorkles anymore. I took his last name, I think around age seven and I playfully refer to this part of my life as boats and BS. He worked for a company called Agfa A-G-F-A. They did hospital computers during the dot-com era in Massachusetts. I mean, we crushed it. So we had snowmobiles and a Ducati motorcycle, my mom drove a BMW, we had a yacht, we had apartment buildings, we had rich friends. The 90s were wild, I know. You know that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Particularly in the US, but globally right. So he left at 14, and he took 90% of the income with him. So I went from boats and ski trips so he got the yacht and the apartment building, we got the house and the dog. And the shortest version of my mom and stepdad's relationship that I can give on a public medium is they loved to have fun. They have what I refer to as a pleasure centered paradigm. They believed life was about having as much fun as possible.

Speaker 1:

Now imagine that in the nineties and some emotional immaturity, they did not get along.

Speaker 2:

That's a polite way to put it.

Speaker 1:

From the outside in. I looked like the rich kid From the inside out. It was pretty tough Fast forward. I'm 14 years old. You think I look young. Now Imagine me at 14.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Pre-pubescent, just miserable human being, and I had people saying these are the best years of your life. My stepdad had just left and I'm thinking. God, I hope not.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, I would have never said that to someone at 14, but that's what I'm saying. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and maybe their life was best back then. But anyways, so I'm 14 years old and I go from. I hope I get into college. My dream was to go to WPI, worcester Polytechnic Institute. It's kind of like a mini MIT in Massachusetts and it was $50,000 a year. And this is back then and so I went from. I hope I get in to. Even if I do get in, I can't go.

Speaker 2:

How can I pay for it?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we can't, I can't do it. So same year, 14, my mom gets in a fight with my aunt sandy, her sister, and we get ostracized from her side of the family. So to this day, I kid you not, I've not seen or spoken to a single person on my stepfather's side, including him. I've never seen or spoken to anyone on my mother's side, except for two individuals, and we didn't associate with the mccorkles much anymore because we were the lazaruses and we've since reconnected. But it was kind of a ghost of Christmas past type of thing, because I looked just like my dad and so I kind of lost three families by the time I was 14. Yeah, that's the second inflection point.

Speaker 2:

That's not fun, yeah, okay.

Speaker 1:

A lot of abandonment, that kind of thing. Sister moved out that same year too.

Speaker 2:

So whoa.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, out that same year too. So whoa, yeah, understandable. So that was my second inflection point. So I reacted in two ways. Number one I became this sort of social coward. We talked about not standing in what I really believe in, because I wanted to fit in, fit in, fit in.

Speaker 2:

I dealt with a lot of loss and abandonment.

Speaker 1:

So I just didn't want to get abandoned. So I hung on to all my friends and family. I became this sort of chameleon that would be whatever other people need me to be, but behind the scenes, when no one was watching, it was work harder, aim higher, get smarter. Work harder, aim higher, get smarter. I became this super achiever. Prove myself, guy. Straight A's through all of high school. I got the president's award behind me, signed by George W Bush.

Speaker 2:

Nice.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, thank you, brother. And you basically have to get a 95 or above GPA for all four years. All four report cards, 16 report cards straight. I got all the scholarships and financial aid that I could. I got into WPI and I went. I got my computer engineering degree, master's in business, and then it was off to the races, crushed it in corporate, did very, very well, and I was used to being broke in high school and college. So I just invested all my money. I paid off 84 grand worth of college debt in a single year.

Speaker 2:

I put the rest of my.

Speaker 1:

Vanguard account and I made $150,000 worth of net worth in my early twenties in a Vanguard account. I just picked stocks that I knew would win. I always kind of been a science and tech guy so I kind of knew, knew and I just crushed it and I didn't need much because I was used to being broke when my stepdad left. Then I got in my car accident. I'm 26, my fault crossed the double yellows, lift kitted pickup truck head-on collision, not a fender bender.

Speaker 2:

I mean this was just bad bad news for you, for sure bad news.

Speaker 1:

So fortunately I I was driving a 2004 Volkswagen Passat that I bought in five grand cash because I was so frugal, and that thing I used to call the tank German engineered steel trap of a car. Thank you, volkswagen, because that totally saved my life and that was the second chance my dad never got. So no one was killed, I wasn't physically injured. But that was my turning point of I got to turn this all around because I was achieving and I was an achiever. I brought my high school friends to college, college friends to corporate. But what I wasn't focused on is personal development. And that's when I found personal development, personal growth, self-improvement. And that's when I found mental health and I know you talk about suicide prevention, all kinds of stuff, and so that was 10 years ago. And now I started my own. So I started a company 10 years ago called Alan Lazarus LLC. What you'll never learn in school but desperately need to know Good luck getting in high schools and colleges with that tagline.

Speaker 1:

But, now it's Next Level University 18 person team, 2100 episodes, 180 countries, all kinds of stuff. So it's it's become a really cool thing, and I think that same through line is still in me, which is what you'll never learn in school but desperately need to know.

Speaker 2:

So there it is. Well, we've unpacked it all, so time to go. No, I'm just kidding.

Speaker 1:

So I told you I'd give you the short version. That's my bad 36 years in three minutes.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, that's a super short version, but so let's go through some phases in this. So you've kind of laid the groundwork, let's. Let's chunk it out, if you will. So obviously you're two when your father passes and you don't know what that means when you're two years old and, by the way, when he passed I was. That was the year I graduated high school, so I was not quite his age yet, but I was. I was up there a little bit, I was 18. So, and then your stepdad comes into your life and he assumes the role of fatherhood and you say him and your mom were all about have fun, you know, have a good time, which can obviously masks a lot of other issues that could be going on. As you said, they didn't get along very well. How did he influence your life? How did he make a difference to you?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I appreciate the question and this is something that I actually never really talked about in the past. But I actually think in some ways I never really got along great with him and he was very much the hunter-fisher. He built our house, he fixed engines. He was very the the typical man's man, for lack of better phrasing and again you got it and I was never that.

Speaker 1:

I was, you know, I built my first computer when I was 12. I was the semi-pro gamer, nerd, science geek and and he was more work with your hands, blue collar, and I was projected to be very white collar, for lack of a better phrasing, and so I think in some ways he actually my I don't know if dislike is the right word.

Speaker 1:

Yeah my dislike for him actually propelled me more into academics. So one thing I was too cowardly to share in the past is I actually had two trajectories. I had a bunch of dreams when I was a kid, obviously, as all kids do, but mine were very reverse engineered and I realized this in hindsight, because now I coach people. I have 20 clients right now that I coach. I have two more later today and you realize, oh, I was a freaking weirdo. You don't know how weird you are until you get older and go oh, I was really weird.

Speaker 1:

So I had two trajectories that I actually had planned out in my head. It was going to be lawyer, politician, president, or it was going to be engineer, mba CEO, like my hero at the time, steve Jobs. And so I was 12 years old, my buddy Kiki, and I would argue who's smarter, bill Gates or Steve Jobs we built our first computer together. We were going to start a company called LazCore. His last name was Corton, mine was Lazarus and we were just these really interesting super achiever weirdos who built computers together, played chess and that kind of thing. And so, to answer your question, I think that because he was so hands-on, project based I remember my mom used to have me watching him build engines and shit. I always hated that. I was more of the computer nerd and so I leaned into computer engineering and being a nerd because I didn't really get along with him.

Speaker 2:

So that those are. That's a good explanation. I and so I leaned into computer engineering and being a nerd because I didn't really get along with him. So that's a good explanation. I think you were a nerd before. It was cool to be a nerd, you know, now it's cool to be a nerd, right?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, I don't mean that in a mean, negative way.

Speaker 2:

You know, the term nerd, it had negative connotation back in the day. Now I think it's more looked upon as just an identity without the negative connotation back in the day. Now I think it's more looked upon as just an identity without the negative connotation. That's how I see it, anyway, in today's current times.

Speaker 2:

But you're also very lucky. I don't know if lucky is the right word, but you still had goals and purpose and you wanted to do something great with your life and you and you had paths that you wanted alcoholism, you know. Survival, environment, right, where I would get one meal a day sometimes, you know. So life was, life was tough for me, and just how am I going to get out of this situation and survive? So, to have the thoughts that you had, you know I'm good. Good on you, good for you. I'm glad that you know you were able to to look at thoughts that you had. You know I'm good. Good on you, good for you. I'm glad that you know you were able to to look at life that way. You know life led me down my path.

Speaker 2:

I do have an MBA as well, but at the time and as a teenager, I didn't even think I would ever go to college period in my life, so that's that's where I feel like you're. I want to keep saying the word lucky, but I don't know if lucky is the right word. I don't know what term to use for that situation. By the way, my wife is getting her jurist doctorate. She's going to be a lawyer, so she's looking at the other path that you were talking about. So that that's cool that you were. You know, you still had no matter what turmoil was going on around you, you still were able to hone in your focus and do what you needed to do.

Speaker 1:

I think it was my trauma response in hindsight because you've researched ACE score, adverse childhood experiences. You and I obviously have very high ACE scores based on what you've just told me and you can research this an ACE score. The higher your ACE score, the more likely you face early mortality. Yeah, and drugs, alcohol, the whole nine mostly alcohol for me, but it was. It was a lot of bad, not not so good, but public medium it wasn't good.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so it was terrible, but at the end of the day, I actually think my trauma response was escape into the future.

Speaker 2:

Sure.

Speaker 1:

So when the past is painful and the present is painful and you have a lot of what in psychology they call self-efficacy, self-belief, you go into the future.

Speaker 1:

And so I think mathematics and science me going into the future was my escape. That was my way of getting solace from my present, because my present was very, very, very adverse, and a lot of people I now realize they put people on fMRI machines and some people can only envision a stranger in the future. And I've been very blessed to always have this powerful mind where I can think 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years out. And I've now come to understand that very few people actually can do that. And that's actually what I do now for my career and that's what I do for my clients. It's reverse engineering your goals and dreams and it's based on math modalities of thinking and that's actually really uncommon. But for me, I actually think it started out as a trauma response and my hyper prefrontal cortex was the only way to get out of pain and suffering and unfortunately, a lot of people escape into much worse things than their future career.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I would say I had the same reaction to my trauma response as a teenager. But my whole focus was I was going to get in the military and that was going to be my life. I was going to be identified as whatever I became in the military because I didn't do well in school. Well, first of all, um, you know, growing up in that environment that I grew up in, just getting a good night's sleep was tough, a lot of nights, right.

Speaker 2:

So my mom and my stepdad, they were partiers, they were drinkers, they were up all night, you know all that kind of stuff fighting, arguing, yelling, you know whatever, it didn't matter. And I would go to school with bloodshot eyes, like barely awake. There's no way you can focus on school and and even care, really, when that's your life. I even had one high school teacher call my mom and say that he thought I was on drugs because I show up to school with bloodshot eyes every morning and so, fun fact about me I've never had a drop of alcohol or a drug or smoked anything in my entire life, and I'm 52. And that will be true until the day I die, whoa.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So so yeah, when you grow up around it and you see the addiction and you see what it does to people, and I know I'm susceptible, I'm no different than anyone else. I just made a decision at a young age, just never touched the stuff and I've stuck with that Good for you, man, Good for you.

Speaker 1:

I'm six years sober now too.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I was going to let you get into that next.

Speaker 1:

Thank, you, brother, best decision I ever made, and I wish I had made it younger like you. So go through that part of your life for me. Talk about how that evolved and what it did to you. I, we had the party house in high school, I partied in college and then I worked in corporate and there's a tech company called Cognex and Cognex is a great company, so I'm not crapping on Cognex. Cognex they sell machine vision equipment the eyes of robotics and automation all across the world and I was a inside sales engineer there and then I did an outside sales. I did Vermont, connecticut, western Massachusetts, big companies like General Electric, frito-lay, all these different companies and work hard, play hard was their motto, and I used to say work hard, play harder.

Speaker 1:

So I was very much this achiever, who. It was achievement first. It was achievement first, friends second and fun third.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

And after my car accident it became growth first, contribution second, probably achievement third. And that's my paradigm. Paradigm is a fancy word for your belief about the purpose of life. Sure, and the alcohol piece I mean. Partied in high school, brought my high school friends to college. 12 fraternities on campus, five sororities I knew all of them, I was in a fraternity and then college friends brought them to Cognex. Actually, they had a referral program there and I brought five people to the company and there was really big bonuses for that, which you know, because you don't have to pay headhunters. And these are really big bonuses for that which you know, because you don't have to pay headhunters. And these are really intelligent engineers. I mean, these are hard people to find and I just happened to go to one of the best technical colleges in the world.

Speaker 2:

Sure.

Speaker 1:

And after that car accident I just realized, oh I have become. I was 160 pound, skinny, fat, drank too much and too often. I wasn't I don't want to say I was addicted, because to me I feel like I could have quit anytime. And I'm not just saying that, everyone says that.

Speaker 1:

I really actually felt like I could. I would calculate the exact amount to drink in order to get drunk by the certain amount when the certain time for the least hangover. So I was a chemist in that sense, and scientist, but it was definitely detrimental to my fitness goals. It was definitely detrimental to my brain and the neuroscience shows functional, chemical and structural changes in the brain. It shows that it destroys your sleep, testosterone levels, everything.

Speaker 1:

So to me, alcohol is one of the dumbest fucking things you can do it's poison, it is, it's legitimate poison, it's the one of the dumbest things you can do and I'm not trying to be unkind, because, trust me, I did it for a long time too but it's just wildly unintelligent. The father that actually gave me a lot of trauma in life because he was physically abusive to my mother.

Speaker 2:

He would beat my mother in front of me when I was a child and he went down. He followed the path of the family, right, he became an alcoholic. Alcoholic. He got into drugs, he smokes. He's 40. What am I? 51? I'll be 52 in a couple weeks.

Speaker 2:

He's 41, uh, and he looks older than me, he feels older than me. He, everything about him says, you know, unless some freak accident happens, just as we go through life, he's going to die before I do. And it's sad what that has done to him. And you know, now that he's 41, he's wishing he would have done some things differently in life. And as a brother, I keep telling, telling him it's not too late, you know, you can still do the best for yourself. You know, between now and whenever the end comes, uh, because he still smokes.

Speaker 2:

Um, he's always gonna struggle with the addiction to both drugs and alcohol. He. He has lapses still where he. He goes through a stressful time and he just gives in, he gives up and he gives into his addictions. But he's still fighting the fight and as long as he does, I'm going to support him. So I say all that why? Because all of that stuff is toxic, all of that stuff is hurting you, especially for your later years in life. I've watched my uncles and other family members die horrible, tragic deaths from their alcoholism and their smoking. I mean, I'm talking like go from walking like you and I are one day to flip the switch. They're gray and they just die. It's crazy how bad it is.

Speaker 1:

My Uncle Joe. When my birth father passed away, my Uncle Joe had a drinking challenge and we went to his funeral two years ago and it was one of the saddest things ever because for me it was very transformative, because it was sort of like being at my birth father's funeral. My aunt did the eulogy and she opened it with. I can't believe I'm here again giving another eulogy because she gave my father's eulogy. I was two so I don't remember, but I do remember that church and I remember thinking is this the bell, like what? The? I used to grab it when I was a little kid and now it's this, because I'm 6'2 now and just a larger man. But to the point about the alcohol thing thing, I mean, here's the deal right. Fuck that. I'm so sick and tired of not being able to call it out.

Speaker 1:

I drank too, and some people try to tell me sometimes I wouldn't listen, but I wasn't drinking myself to death. Right, I was an achiever who partied too much, and so I'm guilty of that too. But let's call a spade a spade. If you have an alcohol problem or a drug problem, get help and be humble, because what in the fuck you know?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I think I think my brother just has a mental health problem. There isn't anything about that. He knows he does, I know he does, and that's to me what he has to get right first. But he's poor, you know. He doesn't hold down a job or or keep any type of living. He lives in the trailer that my grandma owned for 60 years and she passed away two years ago and he lives in that trailer. So I do my best to support him, but I think it has to start with his mental health, and that's probably what helped you. Right Is getting your mental health squared away, would you say? That's fair.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, after the car accident I had some PTSD. I double yellow lines freaked me out. I getting back in a car was hard. I kept getting pulled over cause I was too far on the right side of the road, cause I had crossed the double yellow, so I was scared. I, uh, I had some claustrophobia. I have to puff my chest up and walk in and out of doorways and so it took the crowds being around crowds, you know, and I don't know what you've dealt, messed with my head that had on collision, messed with my head a lot.

Speaker 1:

But the post-traumatic growth side was I found personal growth, personal development, self-improvement and mental health, and so I just every book, every course, you know the Tony Robbins, the Zig Ziglar's, the Jim Rohn, everybody I could just seven habits of highly effective people, all the books, and now it's probably been hundreds, if not thousands at this point. But 10 years ago I just decided to change everything because I just wasn't fulfilled. Man, I wasn't fulfilled, I was successful as hell. I was a global 1% earner in my early twenties. You know I had $150,000 in a Vanguard account in all tech companies and they were growing year over year and I was very successful, but I wasn't fulfilled yet.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, fulfillment definitely comes from within. Yeah, you know, changing what that looks like for you and understanding what's important in life and what matters for you is where you reach fulfillment. Yeah, I was not someone who ever thought but I had a dream and a goal when I was a teenager that I was going to make 100K a year. And you know, I did that, started doing that years ago and when I first got there, it was like this is it Like I've been working my ass off and, you know, not living and enjoying life for this, and it just didn't feel worth it. It's like, oh, so I needed new goals, I needed new things to do, because just making a six figure salary wasn't it? It didn't have all the answers that I thought it was going to have. So, yeah, so that definitely comes from within. So let everyone know how. We don't have a whole lot of time left. Unfortunately, I feel like I could talk to you for a long time. So tell everyone about your life coaching and what you're doing present day.

Speaker 1:

So Next Level University is a place where you go to reach your own unique potential. Next level you pun intended.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's a good one.

Speaker 1:

It's built on, thank you. It's built on the premise I mentioned in the beginning of Alan Lazarus LLC 10 years ago what you'll never learn in school but desperately need to know. I was a straight, a student graduated with high distinction from one of the top colleges. Blah, blah, blah. The reason I'm saying that is there's a lot of stuff.

Speaker 1:

I didn't learn I didn't take my first finance course until I was in graduate school. We use money every day, we use our bodies every day, we eat food every day, we're in relationships every day, and yet we don't learn anything about fitness, food, finance, relationships, and so I have several podcasts now that are all built on this idea of what you'll never learn in school but desperately need to know, and I think the three things everyone wants in life is to be healthy, wealthy and in love, and so if anyone's out there and they want help with that and you're humble enough to actually go, get help from someone who has dedicated his entire life to it, and even if it's not me, it's someone else. We have a community of great people all over the world. Reach out, and this is what I usually say, and I think we all need to find our absolutely people and our absolutely not people.

Speaker 1:

My absolutely people are people with high inward humility, high work ethic, and they have a sincere interest to reach their potential. I think it was in my 32, 33, I started realizing the amount I will get along with someone is entirely predicated on how much they want to reach their potential. Like if you don't want to reach your potential and you and I are hanging out. I'm going to be just a pain in your ass. Yeah, cause I'm going to be always trying to push always trying to strive.

Speaker 1:

I had an ex who said dating he was like dating a fucking stair master, um, and the truth is is it is. I'm never going to stop, man, let's rock and roll, right, and this is me dialed down, not up. So my, absolutely not. People are people who want big rewards for minimal effort. If that's you don't reach out under any circumstance, it's going to be a waste of your time and mine.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's good stuff, man, I agree. You know, one of the. I've been divorced three times. I'm on my fourth marriage and one of the key things I asked my wife before those were things I didn't learn before and that's where I was outgrowing my relationships, because I was continuing to grow and be, try to be a better man and be more educated and and live a better life. And you know, my wives were just staying stagnant. They were staying who they were. I mean my, my third wife. We were married 12 years. I met her when she was 19, I can genuinely say when she was 31 and we got divorced. She was the same person yeah that same person.

Speaker 2:

She didn't grow in any way, and so, yeah, I totally identify with what you're saying.

Speaker 1:

You for being so candid about that. That. That's not an easy thing to say on a public media. Good for you, brother. Between you and I, if you're not into personal growth, you're in some trouble, right? Technology's improving, ai's coming, robotics, self-driving cars it's all. Here I have a self-driving car.

Speaker 1:

It's supervisor mode so don't freak out but if you aren't retooling yourself and you're not into personal growth, you're not listening to this, that's for sure. But at the end of the day, I hope personal growth and personal development can spread like COVID did and I know that's a challenging thing to hear as an engineer. Covid the reason why it was so scary is because it spread exponentially across the whole globe and to me, I'm hoping personal growth, personal development and self-improvement can spread across the globe.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. I mean, a lot of people focus on their career, for example, and they think growing in their career is making them a better person. It's not making you a better person.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes it's making it worse. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2:

It might be making you more arrogant and cocky and a worse person for sure. So, yeah, you definitely need to look within and self development and for me personally, what I have found is what makes me feel the best in life better than anything else I have ever accomplished for myself is what I've helped other people accomplish. That's better than anything I can do for myself. People can get that. If people can understand that and see how them helping someone else grow and become a better version of themselves it does so much for you, we'll live in a much better world.

Speaker 1:

Yeah for sure, brandon. I respect you, I appreciate this and I really respect the fact that you've never touched drugs or alcohol, because you are in the 1% of 1% of 1% of 1% of people who can say that. So, where you started and where you've ended up, man, good for you and respect.

Speaker 2:

I appreciate that and the same respect I mean. Just because you went through it doesn't mean I can't respect you for identifying, stopping and growing, because I do respect that, because plenty of people just keep going, you know, and and and, dealing with that struggle, and so good for you. I respect that. You were able to do that as well and all you've done in your life. You didn't have the greatest, easiest path in life either, but you definitely made the most of it, so I respect that as well.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no problem. And so where would be the best place for people to reach out to you?

Speaker 1:

If you want to connect with me personally, it's going to be me, not an AI bot or an executive admin. It would be Instagram alazarus88. You and I have talked on there as well.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

Facebook Instagram is the best bet. You can also email me, alan at nextleveluniversecom. Just if you do reach out, please provide context. Obviously, we all get a lot of spam, so just reference this episode, so I know where you came from and we'll connect.

Speaker 2:

All right, awesome Sounds good, and so I want to thank you for being on my podcast. Great conversation. Like I said, if we weren't short on time, I feel like we could keep going and talk forever, so appreciate you being here For me. Go to my website, brandonheldcom, and click on subscribe to podcast. That is, you know, where I ask people to support the podcast and help me with just the fees. Ask people to support the podcast and help me with just the fees.

Speaker 2:

I'm not looking to make money, a bunch of money or anything, just the fees of keeping even on this podcast is really all I care about, because I have a purpose with this podcast and making money is not that. And secondly, if you want to follow me on Instagram, I'm bh underscore life is crazy. So go on there and follow me. And, as always, I want to thank the listeners for giving us their most precious resource, which is their time, and I respect you and I appreciate you for giving that to us. And this has been Brandon Held Life is Crazy and I'll talk to you next time.

People on this episode

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Brandon Held

Host
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Alan Lazaros

Guest