From Burnout to Peak Performance: How Aligned Leaders Scale Smarter
In today’s fast-paced world, success is no longer just about working harder — it’s about working with intention. On a recent episode of the Scale Smart Grow Fast podcast, Harley Green sat down with Alan Lazaros, founder of Next Level University, to unpack what it really takes to build a business that thrives — without sacrificing your health, relationships, or sanity.
Preferred listening on the go? Catch the full podcast episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Alan’s story is raw, real, and transformational. After a near-fatal car accident at 26, he shifted from chasing external achievements to aligning his life and business with internal fulfillment. Today, he leads a global coaching business and hosts a top-ranked podcast — but it’s the systems behind his success that every ambitious leader needs to hear.
🔹 The Four Life Buckets
Alan broke down what he calls the “four buckets of life”:
- Unfulfilled and unsuccessful
- Externally successful but internally empty
- Fulfilled but broke
- Fulfilled and successful — the rarest and most powerful place to be
Most people get stuck in the middle two. Alan’s mission? Help them reach that fourth, transformational stage.
🔹 The P3 Target System: Simplify Without Slowing Down
For founders and CEOs constantly juggling priorities, Alan’s “P3 Target” system is gold. He teaches his clients to identify their top three glass ball priorities — the areas they must protect at all costs — and design their days around them. It’s time management, energy management, and values alignment all rolled into one.
🔹 Fear of Failure and Fear of Success
While most of us are aware of our fear of failure, Alan reveals an often overlooked truth: many high performers are equally afraid of success. Why? Because success can mean outgrowing your circle, facing new expectations, and dealing with discomfort. Understanding which fear is holding you back is step one to overcoming it.
🔹 Peak Performance, Not Just Productivity
Alan redefines peak performance through the lens of optimal decisions — not just doing more, but doing what matters most, at the right time, for the right reasons. His engineering background shines through as he challenges leaders to design their life and business like a world-class product.
🚀 Want to Lead with More Clarity—and Burn Out Less?
You don’t have to carry it all. At Workergenix, our AI-enhanced executive assistants help you optimize your habits, track your goals, and free up your time so you can focus on what truly matters: aligned growth.
👉 Schedule a discovery call to design a life and business that scales with your values — not your stress.
Like what you read? Get weekly insights on scaling, efficiency, and profitability—straight to your inbox. Click here to subscribe.Transcript:
Harley Green:
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Scale Smart Grow Fast podcast. Success without alignment leads to burnout. But when you build consistent habits rooted in purpose, everything changes. In this episode, Alan Lazaros, founder and CEO of Next Level University and host of a global top 100 self-improvement podcast, shares how he went from a near fatal accident and personal low point to leading a global team and helping others unlock peak performance. With a heart-driven but no BS approach, Alan’s going to reveal how tracking habits, staying consistent, and aligning with your true values can transform both your business and your life. Alan, welcome to the podcast.
Alan Lazaros:
Thank you so much for having me. I don’t take it lightly. In the 21st century, there’s a lot of noise. What you pay attention to matters tremendously. I appreciate it, and I also will not waste a second of your time.
Harley Green:
Thank you for that, Alan. For our audience out there, can you elaborate a little more on your background? What brought you to what you’re doing today?
Alan Lazaros:
Absolutely. I’m 36. I often joke that I’m about to hit puberty at 37 because I look young, which doesn’t help in business. It started off tough. My birth father passed away when I was very young, in a car accident. I was two, he was 28. I had an older sister and my mom was 31. A stepfather came into my life named Steve Lazaros. My real last name is McCorkle. I took his last name around age seven. From age three to 14, he was in my life. At age 14, he left and took his entire extended family with him. I’ve never seen or spoken to any of them since. That same year, my mom had a falling out with my aunt, and we were ostracized from her side too. So by 14, I had lost three families. My sister moved out that same year.
I developed two trauma responses. One was fawning—appeasing everyone around me. I hung on to friends, from high school through college and into corporate. The second was fight—behind the scenes, I was aiming higher, working harder, and getting smarter. Achievers are often rooted in pain or trauma. I had no dad, no generational wealth, no trust fund. I knew I was in trouble if I didn’t do something. I got straight A’s, earned a bachelor’s in computer engineering, then a master’s in business. I worked in tech and eventually landed at Cognex, where I became a global 1% earner in my early twenties. I paid off $84k in debt in a year, invested the rest, and rode the post-2008 recovery.
Then came the turning point: a car accident at 26. That’s when I shifted from external achievement to internal fulfillment. I liquidated my assets, went broke, and started focusing on self-improvement. Now in my thirties, I’m both externally successful and internally fulfilled. That’s what I help clients with today. I currently coach 20 individuals with various levels of frequency.
What I’ve found is that few people reach the fourth bucket of life. The first is unfulfilled and unsuccessful. The second is externally successful but unfulfilled. The third is fulfilled but broke. The fourth, which few reach, is both externally successful and internally fulfilled.
Harley Green:
You take a holistic approach to helping people and teams. Why is that multidimensional strategy so essential, especially for business owners?
Alan Lazaros:
I’ve always been contemplative and a bit existential. I grew up around people who seemed to be escaping their lives rather than designing them. I worked at a golf course at 14 and was told, “These are the best years of your life.” I remember thinking, “God, I hope not,” because I was bullied in high school. I was surrounded by people who lived for Fridays, and that scared me.
As an engineer, I asked: Why not engineer a future you love? I studied at WPI, a top engineering school. I noticed brilliant people weren’t applying engineering principles to their own lives. So I created a model: health, wealth, and love. Health includes physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Wealth is how you earn, how profitable it is, if it’s sustainable, and where you invest. Love includes relationships with your partner, family, team, clients, and mentors. If you’re top 1% in each of those, you’re one in a million.
Harley Green:
What other patterns have you noticed in individuals and teams that limit growth?
Alan Lazaros:
I’ve crossed 10,000 hours of coaching, training, and podcasting. I’ve worked with people across the world and noticed most people are afraid of one of two things—or both: failure and success. Everyone knows fear of failure. But fear of success is more subtle and just as powerful.
Some people are great at success but struggle with relationships. Others are great at relationships but avoid systems and discipline. My business partner Kevin is the people person; I’m the engineer. He once rated my intimidation score a 9.5 out of 10. Direct communication, high standards, and deep knowledge can be intimidating.
Success often means you outgrow your circle. Compliments go down, rocks go up. You’re either afraid of failure or success, and both keep you stuck.
Harley Green:
What advice would you give to someone trying to build consistency?
Alan Lazaros:
Start by checking your self-belief. You need to believe it’s possible, that it’s possible for you, and that it will be worth it. Our podcast has over 2,000 episodes. That takes massive belief.
Kevin struggled with self-belief but had humility. I had belief but had to develop humility. You need both to succeed long term.
Harley Green:
How do you define peak performance, and why is it so important for leaders?
Alan Lazaros:
Peak performance is about finding the optimal point—like an upside-down horseshoe on a graph. Too little or too much effort both reduce performance. Life is about making the optimal decision at the right time.
In business, that means being in a peak state when it matters. Everything in life is built on statistical probabilities. Most leaders fail because they don’t understand themselves, others, or how to make optimal decisions.
Harley Green:
You teach people to stay optimized without overcomplicating things. What are some practical systems they can use?
Alan Lazaros:
I use something called the P3 Target. Everyone on my team has one. It’s a target with three levels: P1, P2, P3. For me: coaching, training, and podcasting. These are my “glass balls.” If I drop anything, it won’t be those.
We also track time in four columns: date, time in minutes, what you accomplished, and which priority it maps to. This helps align effort with values.
Harley Green:
With everything people are managing—business, family, health—how do you stay aligned and avoid overwhelm? And where does executive support come in?
Alan Lazaros:
I have an executive admin named Laura. Her #1 priority is saving me time. Our leadership team all has clear top priorities and defined roles.
We use the DRI (Directly Responsible Individual) system from Apple. Everyone owns outcomes. Leadership is the hardest thing in business. I once had a 24-person team; now it’s 18. That cut wasn’t fun but necessary.
Ultimately, you need a team. But more importantly, you need to be the most aware, skilled, and resourceful person in the room to lead effectively.
Harley Green:
Alan, you’ve shared incredible insights. How can people connect with you?
Alan Lazaros:
Thank you. If you have humility, work ethic, and a love for personal development, you’ll love Next Level University. Google us or search the podcast on any platform. I’m also on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. If you’re seeking big rewards for minimal effort, don’t reach out. We work with strivers, not arrivers.
Harley Green:
Perfect. For those watching or listening, if you got value from this episode, hit like and subscribe so you don’t miss future strategies to help you scale smarter. And if you know a business owner who could use this, share it with them.
Thanks for tuning in. See you next time.