In this powerful and reflective episode, we explore loss, achievement, identity, and the courage it takes to stop measuring life from the outside in.

In this episode of Broken Beautiful Me, Kelly sits down with Alan Lazaros, CEO and co-founder of Next Level University, a globally ranked Top 100 podcast with over 2,300 episodes listened to in more than 180 countries.

Alan's story begins with profound loss. His father died when Alan was just two years old. Years later, his stepfather left, taking with him an entire extended family and financial stability. What followed was a childhood shaped by abandonment, pressure, and an unspoken belief that achievement could replace safety.

Driven to prove his worth, Alan became a high achiever. He excelled academically, rose quickly in corporate America, and achieved financial success at a young age. From the outside, his life looked like the definition of success. Inside, something was missing.

A near-fatal car accident at age 26 became a turning point. It forced Alan to confront a question many avoid: If this were the end, would I be proud of the life I lived? That moment cracked open a deeper journey, one focused not on external validation, but on meaning, alignment, and internal fulfillment.

In this deeply honest conversation, Alan shares how achievement without purpose can become another form of avoidance, and how personal growth, self-awareness, and meaning must come before lasting success.

In this episode, Alan shares:

• 🌱 How early loss shaped his drive, ambition, and fear of abandonment

• 💔 Why achievement can become a survival strategy rather than a source of fulfillment

• 🧠 The difference between external success and internal alignment

• 🔄 The Four Buckets of Life and why most people get stuck in the wrong one

• ⚖️ How to balance health, wealth, love, and purpose without burning out

• 🧩 Why inaccurate self-perception keeps people stuck, even when they work hard

• 🎯 The "glass and rubber balls" metaphor for focus, boundaries, and leadership

• ✨ Why meaning, not status, is the true driver of long-term fulfillment

Alan also speaks candidly about coaching, humility, and the uncomfortable truth that growth requires seeing ourselves clearly. He challenges listeners to rethink what they chase, why they chase it, and whether their success actually reflects who they are.

This episode is a reminder that healing doesn't always look like slowing down. Sometimes it looks like realigning. Letting go of who you thought you had to be. And choosing a life built from meaning, not expectation.

A grounded, insightful, and deeply human conversation about loss, ambition, self-awareness, and the courage it takes to build a life that feels true.

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Follow Alan Lazaros

Website: https://www.nextleveluniverse.com

Podcast – Next Level University:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/next-level-university/id1227858278

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alanlazarosllc

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanlazarosllc