Life-Changing Lessons: A Journey of Transformation with Think Unbroken Guests

Discovering the Healing Powers of CBD with William Branum

Michael: One of the things that people don't understand that you have the benefit probably of recognizing as well in the sales and the Boy Scouts like it's kind of right there in front of you. And then when you're in real life, excuse me, I want to use it that way when you're a civilian life or if you've never been in the military and you're out here in the world, it feels like you're on your own, but the truth is, you're not but you're going to have to invest time, effort, energy, or money to build a team around you, to help you move forward into what it is that you want in life.

Now, part of what I think is really important in that is having clarity and understanding what it is that you want to accomplish. And you said, one of the reasons why people will come out of the military and just kind of be stuck rudderless without in a boat, is not having a mission any longer. Let's talk about this. This mindset about the seal mindset and this naked acronym, that I know is a big part of your life and discovering this mission. Talk us through this journey of how you kind of went from that transition of, okay, life's a little chaotic to, ah, I'm going to be the one to create the mission now.

William: Right. So that's a great segue. So, you know, kind of like what I talked about before, I went out and found coaches, business coaches, I decided after someone calling me out saying, why don't you start your own, CB company, you know, all the business coaching out there are the sort of high-end, they're like, you know, you need a mission, you need a why, what is your why? And I've talked to some other people about this. And so I looked at my own journey from like joining the military to transitioning out of the military and then I'm like, well, I'm a veteran. I have some disabilities here and there and so let's see if what I'm starting to CBD company naked warrior recovery can help other people and maybe other veterans and I look, just look to see like how many Veterans kind of suffer as they get out of the military and when I was doing that research, I found it 22 veterans take their lives every single day. We've lost more veterans to suicide, then we have to 20 years of sustained combat, and this is the 20th anniversary of 9/11. So we've lost more veterans to suicide than 20 years of sustained combat. And I was kind of looking at this, you know, very recently and I was like, oh my God, my dad killed himself, my dad is one of those 22 a day. So, our mission at naked warrior recovery is, you know, 20 to 200 and like I said before, CBD is a modality that helps me get there and helps me every single day, you helps with pain and other things that I have going on with my body, but it also helped turn off the noise in my head and get me from that hundred that two ten down to like, maybe I'm like a 110 now, but, you know, the other part of it is, is mindset.

And so I came up with the get naked mindset and what get make it is and I love wearing shirts out there or hat and people like what is get naked and I'm like, it's really kind of about mental health in about thinking, like, changing your mindset. And so part of getting naked is is taking your ego off and being, you know, not being afraid to ask for, help taking your ego off and finding that healing and being a little bit vulnerable.

The other part of get naked, NAKED as an acronym.

So the “N” is for never quit. I mean, if I can point to that on my shirt, so the N is for never quit. And I don't mean, like, never quit, smoking or drinking or doing drugs or pornography or whatever your vice is. I mean if you start something then you should it's never quit on yourself. You should follow that thing all the way to the end, and I know it's hard and it could be unattainable and many people think that SEAL training is unattainable. But you know, how we do it in Seal training is we go from one evolution to the next and so, hell week.

I'll just use hell week as an example. Hell week is five and a half days, it's you get no sleep at actually we slept for about two and a half hours during hell week but they feed you four times a day because you're burning a lot of calories, you're around your cold and wet and miserable, and you carry this boat on your head and your boat team but all you have to do is like it doesn't matter how bad it gets.

They're always going to feed you, so all you got to do is make it to the next meal or you just have to make it to the next evolution that they're going to only keep you in that Pacific Ocean, which the water is really cold but those of you who don't know, Southern California, the water is cold, except for about two months out of the year. And you're shivering jackhammering completely, you know, lose total bodily function and then at some point, they're going to get you up and they're going to start running you around and warming your body core temperature up again. So all you got to do is make it past that one thing. You just got to make it past the next evolution. You just got to make it to the next meal to get through that. And that is all buds is just like small victories and this is something we also learned in like POW school, like when I was a prisoner of war.

If the interrogators were told you not to do something if they said don't look left, you know when they're not looking at you, you totally look left and maybe you want another little small victory there and you totally look right. And what when you achieve those small victories in your mind, you win every single day. So you just start stacking those wins and that is such a huge win for your mindset.

Like when you like, dude, I'm a winner. Like, I'm not losing at everything in my life, it doesn't matter how bad it is, it doesn't matter that I haven't eaten for a bunch of days of this matter that they don't let us sleep, it doesn't matter I'm cold and wet and miserable. I won again and I beat you again, and I won and I won for myself and you stack those small wins those victories. People say that Rome wasn't built in a day, but it was built every single day, so, you just have to go out there and achieve those small victories every single day, doesn't matter what you're trying to achieve, just never quit, the N is for never quit.

The A is accept failure. And we talked about failure a little bit earlier. And if you think about some of the biggest successes in history, you know, let's just say, I always forget his name, Thomas Edison. He that guy, he discovered 10,000 ways to not create the incandescent light bulb. Elon Musk fired as a CEO from the first first company he started. Steve Jobs, same thing fired from Apple, he started Apple fired and then, failed, created another company, then came back to Apple and made Apple, one of the biggest companies in the world. Michael Jordan, arguably, the best basketball player of all time, he is missed more than 9000 shots in his career, I think he's missed more than 29 game-winning shots, he's lost more than 380 games in his career but still, you know what he would do after he failed, if he missed his shot, games over, maybe he won, maybe they lost, he didn't go celebrate, he went back and he practiced that shot that he missed every single hours, just like go back to that spot, play it again, shoot, go back to that spot, played, getting until he never missed that shot again, and so he took that failure as a learning process.

And so, you know what, I what I like to tell people. This failure is the foundation of success. So, you know, you have this like obstacle in front of you. Maybe you fail and you fail and you fail and then pretty soon you create this giant foundation of failure. All you have to do is hop over that obstacle and you're going to be successful. So accept failure.

The K is kill mediocrity. You know, we're surrounded by mediocrity every day and I think mediocrity is kind of quitting on yourself a lot of times and I'm certainly guilty of it. I've certainly had moments of like quitting on myself, the first time I took the seal screening test, I quit during the test because I was like, oh, I'm so tired doing these push-ups. Now, when I look at it, I'm like really, how did I quit during that but I did and so my mind was it strong enough. I wasn't ready for that at the time, and so I have some regrets for that but I also I'm grateful for that.

But we're surrounded by mediocrity everyday, we can push a button on our phone and a car shows up, which is awesome, but I can also push a button on our phone and Amazon Prime delivers ice cream to our house in like 30 minutes or less. And so we're used to like scrolling and getting sucking into our phone and just becoming mediocre and finding excuses to not do things that we need to do. Like work out or get that project done or hit the snooze button and the morning and not getting up and getting after it.

So we have to kill mediocrity kind of in our own life and then we will achieve success, we will get our mind, right? Will have purpose, will have mission.

The E is exposure fear, and I don't mean like, you know, the things that go bump in the night. I mean, the things that are living in the deep back in the back parts of your brain, in those dark places fear. I like to say, fear is kind of like a vampire. Fear that it lives in the darkness and it sucks the life out of you.

You know, really expose your fear when I became brave enough to expose my fear to other people might be your failure, might fear of like what other people might think of me, all these other fears of looking weak and you know, not successful in whatever.

Once I learned how to, like, reach back there, in the deepest darkest, recesses of my mind and pull that fear out and expose it to the light. You know, those that fear turn into ash, but it didn't happen, right away. It like, maybe I could only pull one out.

So a friend of mine who's also a business coach, his name is Sharon Srivasa. He has a really cool technique for this and he says, fear does not exist on paper, so what he does is he will, maybe he's driving, he's started and sold many companies for billions of dollars, and but he still has stress and anxiety and like fear of things, and he says that he'll like pullover, like things will start bugging him, he'll pull over at a Starbucks, go order a coffee, sit down with a pen, and a piece of paper and he will write down the things that are bothering him. And when he looks at and reads those fears, those things that are bugging him. He's like really, that's what's bugging me because the Fear does not exist on paper, it only exists in the back of your mind and that deep dark place. So if you can expose the fear, you can control the fear and the fear no longer controls you.

The D of get naked is do the work because it all requires work. We can be lazy, we can be mediocre, we're not going to be successful, we're not going to move the ball forward, we're not going to improve where we are. It doesn't matter if you're working out and you put one more pound on the bar, if you're losing one pound or a half a pound or ounce, it doesn't matter, as long as you're making progress, and moving forward, that all requires work but as you can't be successful, you can't get your mind, right? You can't change who you are for it to be better if you're not willing to do the work. So it the D is, do the work.

So it's Never quit, Accept failure, Kill mediocrity, Exposure fears and Do the work.

 The mindset of a Navy SEAL, it's kind of five secrets to think like a Navy SEAL.

Unleashing the Power of Visualization and Mentoring with Tim Storey: Insights from the World's #1 Celebrity Coach

Michael: I think that's everything but how do you do that? And what I wanna do is approach this from a practical way because so many people are stuck, right? And they're like, I can't, I shouldn't, I don't know if I can. What is Tim bringing to the table to help create that reframing for people?

Tim: What I bring to the table is what I learned from my therapist to start with Doctor Helen Mendez who taught at USC, she's now deceased but she literally changed my life. First time I saw her I was thirty years of age and she really took me to a process that me and her ended up creating together. The number one you have to become awake and the hog is sometimes we sleep walk through life and you have to become awake and then secondly you have to take inventory. But this is like, this is from one of the top psychologists in the world saying, this it's not just some motivator saying like, gotta take inventory but you know she had some depth to what she was saying. So, you have to become awake second, take inventory of like where are you really. So, you like to go by Michael is that when you go by?

Michael: Yes, please.

Tim: Okay. So, Michael with your life when you were going to what you're were going to you had to go like, whoa that was pretty whack like she injured me, that was pretty whack look what she did to me, look what she said to me. So, that's like taking inventory being realistic about where we're where at, right? So, become awake, take inventory.

Number three and this is what you're doing on Unbroken you have to partner with the right people and this is where people miss it. You have to partner with somebody who's stronger than you, more knowledgeable than you in this particular area that you're trying to turn your setback and you'll come back, makes sense? So, a lot of people in the past they didn't have the right people to partner with. In today's world man, we can go to a Ted Talk, we can get somebody's book, when get somebody's book on tape, we can listen to the Unbroken Podcast, we can listen to Tim Storey10X, so our lives can be changed in a different way is all like attainable much more than it was let's say in the sixty seventies and even eighties.

Michael: Yeah, I think that's very true. I think about my life in my trajectory going and hitting this massive rock bottom at twenty-five years old without personal development, I cannot imagine I would be where I am right now. And so, I have so much gratitude for people like you and Oprah and Tom Bilyeu and John Lee Dumas who have put together of these this knowledge, this wealth of information for us but something came to mind as you were speaking that I recall that you've mentioned before that I wanna dive into because I believe that (A) you're spot on and I totally agree with you but I think that people felt to nourish that. And you said something that has held true in my life for a very long time he who works his land shall have abundance. Can you talk about the parlay in that experience and that growth?

Tim: Yeah, and it really goes with these points. So, you have to become awake to give inventory partner with like people. But your land is what's in front of you, okay? So, like with Michael's land as a twenty-five-year-old who found out you were in a setback, in order to get out you had to become awake take inventory and partner with people. So, let's say people then gave you advice okay you're struggling with addiction, this is what you need to do. You're struggling with self-esteem, self-worth this is what you need to do, so, your land is what's in front of you. Now little than I know did this Proverb that I got for the bible would echo all over the world through the voice of Tim Storey because this is what I'm really known for and now I’ve been the seventy-six countries of the world and soon it'll be seventy-nine within the next four months. And he works his land is Proverbs 12:11 ‘Shall have abundant but whoever chase his fantasies lacks wisdom that's problem.’ To work land means you gotta plow the ground, you gotta a plant the right seed, you got a water the seed, then you'll get the harvest. Michael everybody wants a harvest without the plow, plow, plow, plant, plant, plant, water, water, water then you get the harvest. How powerful is that you gotta a plow your plant your water then you harvest.

Michael: What would you say to those who hear this and they look out their door and they say well, my land is barren and burned?

Tim: Well, I would say number one that I understand that because it could be they were abused, it could be they lost everything because of a setback, it could be they have cancer, it could be they're struggling with anxiety, mental illness. So, I'm not giving quick solutions here, I mean I'm the guy that gets in the trenches with the biggest celebrities in the world and when I'm with these people male and female, I'm not always trying to give fancy answers. I'm just like, sitting in the crap with people that's my strength but when they're ready to hear then I do believe this, I believe that life will make way whether it seems there is no way. And you look at where Oprah Winfrey started abuse, early pregnancy by her, losing a child, feeling an orthodox, trying to find a way and she is one of the most well-known persons on the planet from Mississippi; she was hurting in Mississippi now one of the most well-known people in the planet. So, you never know what's gonna happen if you're willing to cooperate and plow the ground, plant the seed, water the seed and reap the harvest. Sometimes you gotta see things that are not there yet by faith.

Overcoming Adversity and Embracing Authenticity with Michael Caprio: A Story of Triumph and Resilience

Michael: What kind of role has been transparent played in your life because I'm obviously getting that tremendously here in this conversation but how does that play over into the other aspects of your life?

Michael Caprio: Yes. So, definitely being transparency is a big one for me and the most personal example like, dear to my heart for me I got a million examples but the one that's definitely most relevant in my life and that kinda painful circle for me is in my family, my grandma was very open about our condition, she always did kind of like not experimental optional procedures that's the better word optional procedures, to develop research for our condition and she always reached out to support groups that was her thing and she wrote that because when she used to take care of me that resonated me and she really liked that. And then you know, her sister had it she was kind of the opposite and in my family, we said like, my mom was more of an aunt, my grandma sister who was a little quieter about it and you know it's tough things to talk about I definitely understand that. But for me it was like, this thing that was kind of half talked about and my family, wasn't really fully talked about especially not on the other side of my family that wasn't affected by it, they always knew we had something and they respected but as was never really talked about. And so, from while specifically she was always kind of the type never to like talk about it or be more open with it, that she was little more pleased with her with our condition. Then as I started to be more open and acceptance of it, she become more opens and accept of it as the years went on. So, then I eventually you know, I think it was a two or three years ago or 2019 is when grandmother about sick and she had a terminal cancer. I was on unrelated topic which was her wish that would have been pretty devastating for her. But I remember towards the end we were having heart to hearts and whatever, and my grandma told my mom that you know she needs to get tested for get scope test to make sure that she's okay, and she basically said you need to do this for Michael because Michael didn't give up on you; you can't give up on him, and that's my grandma said to my mom. And then so my mom went eventually she had her stroke test my mom as a very complicated medical history, so to not go into details especially really hundred percent sure we're still not all under percent sure but they found something that they had to remove and they had to do a reversal to what she had done to her to what I have which five years ago we were told wasn't possible, right? So, they find something and this test was obviously done, so we find out the momentum to have like two to three operations over the course of like the next year and that you're just so happened to be the pandemic. So, actually my mom's last operation team in March of 2020, she still in the hospital and had to get west out with all that craziness going on in New York City, so that was a very, very dramatic time. But the point being of this story is my mom got that test done because my grandma told her too because of how I chose to be transparent and open with everything because my grandmothers always told her you know he can't give up on my because that's the route I chose. So, my mom would have been running and not gotten her test on but she did test on and they found it and she was able to be safe of it.

And I remember during the pandemic when I was taking care of mom now because I had to center came early because of all of the crazy issues other tubes in had to care whoever like, the operations went well and I just had to play for a little bit. So, when I was playing holders whatever we know to kinda had a conversation and we were saying like, if I hadn't been so open what would have happened and my mom's like honestly, I’m not sure, I don't think we would be in this position right now, that she would be here and we would all be here in this position and that's just one example where my mom's life was impacted by and I don't know if you could say saved but she at least went to that that test was which is something that she swore she never did you never do, she swore that she would never get operated on and she went through three surgeries again. And you know in a way it was a full circle moment in my life to because I remember when I was at school this was happening and I remember on the day for six hours surgery, I was a nervous wreck, I was checking the clock and a friend come up from school to hang out me, need to keep my mind busy that day, but for the first time I was kind of in her shoes when I was under like I was clock watching and really scared and concerned and I know my mom so, I knew that she always said in the past that she would never to operating on then, you know more religious family she said one my time comes, my time comes and she was at peace with it and she said, I got you know forty good years after my surgery; that was her of her view. And you know, now she went through and all the things that she said she was never do and she went through it going under the table again that operated on, she lived a couple months when a has bag which was temporary but in between surgeries and then another she's would never do. So, I was trying to worry, I said okay, now the surgery is good, my dad probably stay went well it's like, okay, now I know the recovery coming, so, I just I was worried if she was gonna be up for the task mentally, right? Because that's what she was worried about me and then in way I was like worrying about her well-being, when she was worried about mine but then I kind saw her, kinda handle it like a chance, she didn't me no reason to where she took care of it, she really did I tripped up on there and called it's she was in good spirits and she gave me a reason to be concerned so that's kind of how I would imagine she felt when I started doing what I was doing, right? Because that took a huge weight off my shoulders because I was like, okay, she's gonna be good like, I seen that she's handling on it well, I see that she's gonna be okay and that I was able exhale and then a moment it was kinda of full circle for me because I was like this must be on my parents felt when I was under you know and just to trying to see that the paths I took all those years ago, when all these things happen you know I had a bunch of paths I could take, that could keep the silent the route and that's talk about this and do the thing that my family had been doing or I could take a different rate than be open about it. You know, that was like the mystery rep, I never really nowhere where that's gonna lead and the other one you do but it's a little more predictable in bad ways. So, I just kind of, I made the choice and getting fully transparent because it added more into my life, it deepened my relationships so then my family number one and that's obvious with just my parents and like maybe a group around me and the story I just shared. But also, for me, I think it's just helped me live a much happier authentic life. Like I remember back when I was like 2021 and 2022 those are like the years were like how it tells some people but not tell other people and I was like in and out you know like, I was in like that halfway where I was like, do I wanna be fully open about this and really go with it or do I just wanna only let certain people on it. But then I learned through a series of like events and my job that I read about in the book at different jobs I had were like, I didn't tell people then they got a about me, one of my jobs because I was in the bathroom lot I've being pain whatever standing on my feet serving and all that, I had people who accused me went to the owner of the place I was working at the time and said, I was doing drugs, they thought I was doing drugs. So, that's I was given by not being transparent about what it happened me talking about something that I literally had no control over right, it's not chose to have any of this happen to me it's not like this has no impact on who I am as a person, so why is it a big deal. And I kinda to realize that the million like was giving these people power to say, I was doing drugs, to say I was doing this and to lie about me and make me little fool and I realized when you're more transparent and open you take that power back from people, you take control they can't do that to you.

So, that was the catalyst; those two things were catalysts and let me know you know what? Let's just be transparent because there's pros and cons to everything in this life but the pros definitely a way to times as far as being transparent as opposed to being negative.