A Navy Seal's Guide to Personal Growth and Authentic Living with William Branum

What does it take to develop a resilient mindset and push beyond your limits? Join me in an incredible conversation with William Branum, a highly decorated Navy Seal veteran who has spent over two decades honing his leadership skills and cultivating a strong mental fortitude. Learn from his invaluable experiences and practical advice on embracing suffering, pushing past our comfort zones, and staying true to our authentic selves.

Timestamps to help you navigate this episode:
(0:00) Intro
(0:20) FREE Self Love & Sweat MONTHLY Calendar
(1:52) Resilience in Today's World
(5:54) Embracing Suffering and Removing Ego
(19:22) Parenting, CBD, and Manifestation
(29:52) Sponsor: Snap Supplements 25% OFF using code LUNDEN25
(31:47) Getting Naked
(40:26) Refocusing on Health and Accountability
(43:22) Authenticity and Impact
(53:44) Self-Love and Sweat Podcast Promotion

In this episode, we dive deep into the power of shared suffering and how it can strengthen bonds and foster personal growth. William shares a moving story about a recent 54-mile excursion that not only tested his physical and mental limits, but also brought a group of men closer together through their shared struggle. We also discuss the concept of accountability and how it can help us stay grounded and focused on our goals.

Finally, we explore the importance of taking risks and stepping out of our comfort zones in order to become better versions of ourselves. Through stories of parenting, CBD, and manifestation, William's wisdom and experiences serve as an inspiration for us all to embrace resilience and live life to its fullest. So don't miss this powerful episode, and let's get ready to transform our lives together!

Connect with William:
IG: @william.r.branum

Voice of Impact 2024 Aug 23-26 in Salt Lake City

Transcript

Lunden Souza: 1:49

Welcome to Self Love and Sweat the podcast, the place where you'll get inspired to live your life unapologetically, embrace your perfect imperfections, break down barriers and do what sets your soul on fire. I'm your host, Lunden Souza. Hey, have you grabbed your free Self Love and Sweat monthly calendar? yet This calendar is so amazing. It comes right in your inbox every single month to help you have a little nugget of wisdom, a sweaty workout, a mindset activity, just a little something, something to help keep you focused and motivated and keep that momentum towards your goals. So every day, when you get this calendar, you'll see a link that you can click that will lead to a podcast episode or a workout or something that will be very powerful and quick to read. and then you'll also see, on the top left corner of every single day, there's a little checkbox in the calendar And what that is is that's for your one thing. You can choose one thing every month, or it can be the same, something that you want to implement and make this something that you can easily implement, like daily meditation or getting a certain amount of steps or water, for example, and staying hydrated and even taking your supplements. This can be something if you want to get more regular doing a particular habit and routine. you can choose what that checkbox means. So if you want your self-love and sweat free monthly calendar delivered right to your inbox every month on the first of the month, go to lifelikelunden. com/calendar. Fill out the form really quickly and you will have your calendar in your inbox within a few short minutes. That's lifelikelunden. com/calendar. Go, get yours for free and enjoy this episode. Welcome back to self love and sweat the podcast.

Lunden Souza: 4:01

Today we have William Brannum as our guest. He is a highly decorated Navy Seal veteran who served in the United States military for 26 years. During his extensive military career, he honed his leadership skills, cultivated a strong mindset and gained invaluable experience in high pressure situations as a sniper instructor, leading teams on operations ranging from protecting the interim Iraqi elected officials to direct action missions in Baghdad and Afghanistan, as well as undersea missions that were required to be approved by the president of the United States. After retiring from the military, william has made it his mission to share the lessons he learned with others as a speaker, author and business and leadership advisor.

Lunden Souza: 4:45

William's expertise in leadership and mindset has been sought after by organizations ranging from small universities to Fortune 500 companies. He draws on his experience to provide practical advice on how to cultivate a leadership style that inspires and motivates others, and how to develop the resilience needed to succeed in challenging environments. William's commitment to serving others drove him to launch a naked warrior recovery, through which he supports several philanthropic causes, including the Navy Seal Foundation, centurion Military Alliance and 220. Through his work, william continues to inspire individuals and organizations to embrace the qualities that have made him a successful leader discipline, dedication and willingness to push beyond one's limits. Welcome to the show, william. Hey, good to have you.

William Branum: 5:36

Thanks for having me on here. That was quite the bio you made up on the spot.

Lunden Souza: 5:40

Yeah, i made it up. No, i was. I always like to ask my guests to provide a bio because of course I know a bit about you. But I think it's nice to be like tell me what you want to say, what you want me to say about you, and I like to get the bios because they're so cool, like of course I have. Well, i shouldn't say, of course, but for those listening, i've met William once in person. We had a chance to hang out at a cool content retreat. I got to know him kind of well and whatever you can in the course of a weekend, kind of collaborating. But when I read those bios it's like damn dude, you're badass. You know what I mean And I don't say that just because you're a Navy SEAL. But sometimes I read people's bios and they've gone through so much where it's like I'm so grateful that you're here, thank you for going through all that so you could share it with us today.

William Branum: 6:26

I appreciate it. Again, thanks for having me. I'm stoked to be here.

Lunden Souza: 6:30

So when I love what you in your bio, i read the word resilience, i love that word, that R word, so yeah, it just really resonates with me, the word resilience. What does that mean to you, do you feel like? I guess what I want to ask first, especially, is do you feel like we still have resilience? Do you feel like, as a collective, we're going in a resilient direction? What does resilience mean to you and how do you see it playing out now?

William Branum: 7:03

That's an awesome question. I think that the world today is, at least in the world that we live in sort of first world problems. Our first world problems are not real problems And we can order food from an Uber app, we can do anything we want and we can be as absolutely mediocre as we want to be And we're kind of rewarded for it, and so I don't think we're as resilient as what we should be. And I was talking we were talking right before the podcast a little bit about an event that I just did last week. It was what day? yesterday, tuesday? Yeah, we started a week ago at 10 pm and hiked the Grand Canyon. It was a 54-mile excursion and it was one of the top five things that I've ever done in my life And I've done a fair number of hard things And we called it the masogi. So masogi is a Japanese word for basically kind of cleansing the soul to start the new year, and it was a Japanese tradition And this was just kind of a cleansing of the soul.

William Branum: 8:28

We had 13 men came together and we went out and we did something very, very, very hard, and when I talk about very hard, i had guys in the group that had done multiple Iron Man triathlons. They were extreme athletes Myself, as a Navy Seal Army Ranger was there. Other individuals that were just super high caliber, high performing individuals that we don't accept mediocrity in our life as much as we possibly can, and we went out and we suffered together And I think we, as a collective, we shy away from suffering, and I think that's a mistake. I think that we need to do more suffering, oftentimes first world problems, and it's like, oh my God, my food showed up from the restaurant not hot enough or you know, it wasn't cooked. We have food.

William Branum: 9:24

I remember the first time I went to Afghanistan in 2002. And I came back and I was just kind of disgusted with how we were living in the United States. I'm like we have so much opulence and we're not happy with what we have. Those people I was like this is a fourth world country, it's not even a third world country. They have nothing and they're happy about it. And so you know, i think there's something to be said about going out and doing hard things and suffering and finding out where your edges are and then push beyond those edges and embrace that suffering And then you just become a better person on the backside of it.

Lunden Souza: 10:04

We don't suffer enough together. Do you think we suffer in silence?

William Branum: 10:09

Oh, 100%. I think we certainly suffer in the wrong way. I'm 100% guilty of that suffering and silence not asking for help. And you know, we went out and we did this very hard event and we came back and you had like 12, 13 grown men crying in a room where we went out and we sort of we tore down our ego, like there was no ego in finishing this event. You know there was ego of like I have to finish it, but I don't ever want to do something like that hard again. So when you go out and you do hard things, you actually find another level of yourself. You get to.

William Branum: 10:46

You know, especially men, we are the worst for not sharing emotions. I may or may not have been told that I have a piece of stone somewhere in the middle of my chest, but for sure I, you know I was crying alongside those other, like you know, men of men. And you know, because we went through and we suffered and we we suffered together and it's probably the closest thing, i think, to combat there. You know, in combat we we bond in a different way because we go through some very hard things together. We basically went into combat in that canyon and came out different people with a, with a much tighter bond. We went in there as strangers and we came out brothers And again we, we cried together for two days following that, really kind of pouring into one another.

William Branum: 11:38

I wish I could find a better word, like a cooler word to say. But, you know, and I and I asked the group, i was like, hey man, what do you think about? like what, what language should I use? And they're like you know what you just say, like, trust me, you'll find out. And but you have to go and you have to experience the suffering together And and through suffering you build resiliency. And the next thing is not quite as, not quite as difficult, you know, through suffering. I let me just try to kind of change the subject a little bit. I have a friend. She was a judge for a beauty pageant a few weekends ago And she said you know most of those girls they're like suffering from like stress and anxiety and their life is so hard and things like that, and it's, you know, it's because their life is so good. I think sometimes we just have to go and do the hard things, experience true adversity, build that resilience and your life will just be so much better.

Lunden Souza: 12:41

Mm-hmm. Yeah, i'm just thinking about that collective energy that you just mentioned, like coming together, doing something really hard, feeling emotional in it, bonding over it, being able to choose the language to describe it Like that. Just yeah, it sounds really really wonderful And very, to use your word, like naked if you will. And for those of you watching the video, you can see that William's wearing a hat that says get naked if you can't. He's wearing a hat that says get naked, and that's really his theme is get naked. How do you get naked, right? So how do you get naked in your sense of the word, of what getting naked really means to you and your brand?

William Branum: 13:25

You know, i think that's really what happened is originally, when I started talking about getting naked, it was about taking my ego off, taking that armor that I'm hiding behind off, so that I can expose myself, become vulnerable, so I can find the healing that I needed. You know, i spent 26 years in the military, most of that time in the SEAL teams, and we don't show emotion, we don't show weakness, we don't show a lot of empathy or anything else. You know, when you go into combat you put on this armor and you go into harm's way and sometimes that armor saves your life. But we come back from that mission and we take that armor off and we, you know, we rest, we recover, we hit the showers, we get ready for the next mission.

William Branum: 14:09

But in life, most people never take that armor off. We feel like we're under attack, whether it's from social media, it's from some not so awesome relationship that we've been a part of, whatever it is. And so we end up wearing this armor, this ego, this baggage, around most of our life and we never take it off. We never become brave enough to ask for help. We never become brave enough to take that ego off, to take that mask that we're hiding behind off and really become our authentic self.

William Branum: 14:40

And I'll tell you from personal experience it's terrifying to really show people your authentic self, to not have this sort of bravado out there that you know is your, who you are. It's not actually who you are. If you were to take that ego off and that armor off and become your authentic self, you can achieve so much more. These are self-limiting beliefs that we're hiding behind, and when you get away from those and you just become your authentic self, you will truly become unstoppable. And that's been a lesson that I've had to continue to tell myself over and over and over. And when I listen to myself, it works. And then when I go back to old bad habits, i become self-limiting. But when I get rid of that ego, that armor or that baggage that I'm carrying around, i just propel forward in life so much faster.

Lunden Souza: 15:37

And do you I think that you know, like what you described in terms of physical yeah, like putting yourself through something physically challenging. I think that can really help you like do the hard thing, break down the barrier, like move through some of, yeah, those layers or that armor or whatever that blockage there. What other tools Do you think that, like physically hiking the Grand Canyon and that physical stuff? I know that's powerful and I know it's, let's say, a must if you will. But what are other ways or tools that you've used yourself or with people that you work with, to pick away a little bit of at that armor or at that facade, if you will? And then also, like, do you think people know that they have all that on until they're ready to take it off? Like, do you think people know they have it all on and they're like walking, or do you think it's like a lack of awareness? I know that was a lot of questions.

William Branum: 16:35

Yeah, i think it is a lack of awareness. Quite honestly, i think I certainly wasn't aware of it. I wasn't aware of it until I was. You know, i was kind of aware of it, but not really, because, you know, in my line of work you never show weakness, you don't wanna be that guy. And it wasn't until a leader in the SEAL teams that I looked up to tremendously came out and said all right, fellows, here's the deal. I need some help, i'm struggling with some stuff and I need to go take care of business and fix myself. And I was like, oh my God, they're going to eat him alive. And you know, he went away and he came back and people had more respect for him because he was vulnerable, because he did say, yeah, i need help. He was brave enough to ask for help, which it took me a long time to ask for help.

William Branum: 17:28

You know, when I retired I was pretty much just drinking myself to sleep at night. You know, glasses and glasses and glasses of vodka. Then I discovered CBD. Cbd was a modality It's not a cure, i don't think, for anything, but it was a modality that helped turn down the noise in my head And it helped me have more positive self-talk And I thought, well, maybe the other thing about getting out of the military is, when I left the military, when I retired air quotes retired, i don't think I'll ever retire I felt like I'd lost my purpose, i'd lost my mission and I'd lost my team And I thought, okay, maybe CBD was my new purpose, mission and team. And so I started you know, naked warrior recovery, where our mission is 22 to zero. You know, 22 veterans take their lives every single day.

William Branum: 18:16

I actually got word that a very good friend of mine took his life yesterday And I mean this was a guy that was shot 24 times in Iraq. He's gone through all kinds of suffering and recovery and all sorts of stuff, but you know, he was also. He also made bad decisions. He thought he could fix everyone And then he surrounded himself with the wrong people. I mean he dated two girls that, two different women that killed themselves in front of him. That's heavy, that's a heavy weight, and so he turned away from all sorts of people and I reached out to him many times. He never replied. And then I just got the word yesterday And that's just absolutely heartbreaking.

Lunden Souza: 19:02

Yeah, and that's really like the mission behind what you're doing. I love that 22 to zero. I didn't know that fact. I have course or I shouldn't say of course I have friends who are in the military or who are married to military veterans and things like that. So I know that the challenge of returning back to like normal civilian life or whatever can be so intense And I didn't know those statistics So that really like I don't think I'll ever forget that, that 22 to zero mission, and I can see how passionate you are about helping people, especially in your line of work, like get naked and ask for help and break down some of those barriers or armor stone, whatever we've kind of put ourselves in, because, to your point, like you were saying, ok, yeah, he was shot at.

Lunden Souza: 19:50

All these times These patterns of women showed up. But when we're so in our pain and suffering, we can't see the patterns, we're not like. And until we can have that moment, whether it's connecting with you, or that moment in our life where it's like, oh, like that get naked moment, i think is, yeah, i can really. You really painted that picture for me And regarding CBD, and I know your company creates products that have helped you tremendously And I remember you posted recently-ish on social media that you had a correct me if I'm wrong.

Lunden Souza: 20:27

I just kind of insta-stalk you a little bit, but you had said something like you had a partnership, potential collaboration, that was going to work. And they found out it was CBD And all cards were off the table or something, and you were just kind of like, ok, well, i feel like that was kind of a get naked moment where you were like, ok, well, this is me And this is what works for me And I'm not going to not be true to me because someone might see this in a different type of way. Will you elaborate on that story a little bit? And I'm sure there's other moments where you choose to be like, ok, if you're not cool with that, i'm cool with me And I'm going to keep going. So how would that story kind of pan out? And yeah, tell us more about that.

William Branum: 21:07

Yeah, So that's a little bit of an interesting story. So I was doing some government contract work And I've always been very open to letting people know that I take CBD. I have a top secret security clearance. I get drug tested, all these other things, and every time a new contract happens I'm like, just by the way, i just want you to know before the drug test, i take CBD. It's not a big deal, but I just I'm completely open about it. And then this last time I let the hiring manager know. I'm like, hey, just so you know I take CBD.

William Branum: 21:45

And they started like what, oh my God? And then the guy was like I thought about doing it. I've got all this pain and all these other things And but I just I'm afraid to like lose my job or something like that. And you know, for me the government contract gig was it was good income, but it's not. But I, you know, i said I said more than a year ago that I wouldn't be doing it again, i wouldn't be doing it in 12 months. And here I was still kind of doing it in. You know, 12 months later, 13 months later, 14 months later, the contract renewed to a new company And I'm like, and they offered me more money, like a good amount of money, and I was like, okay, it's sort of that, it's a mindset thing, it's like talk, you know, scarcity, abundance, whatever, and I'm like, okay, well, maybe I'll just do it.

William Branum: 22:34

You know, six more months just kicking the can down the road, not really committing to myself, committing to the mission that I'm on, and you know the things that I want to do, which are, you know, speaking and coaching people or advisory I don't know the right word and not do that job anymore, because that, you know, it wasn't a hard job, but it would certainly. It was really sucking the life out of me And for, you know, some money. And so it was almost. I manifested it And I couldn't be more grateful that I did, even though it's a 60% cut in income. I can make that up somewhere else. It'll take me a while, but that's fine.

William Branum: 23:13

But that was sort of the. It was a mindset thing, I manifested it. But I also didn't do the work to prepare myself really truly like income-wise, to replace that income habit, replaced before I left the job. So let's just leave the job, burn the ships, basically. And you know, cbd was the answer for both, you know, fixing myself, becoming my authentic self, and also solving the problem of, like, not doing this thing that I didn't actually want to do anymore. So it was kind of interesting how it all panned out.

Lunden Souza: 23:49

I know it's interesting kind of how it all works its way out. Do you believe that? Like, do you have a little for lack of better words like a little woo-woo to you? Like that you're like, oh, maybe I wasn't supposed to do that And this is delivering it to me in a new way. Like, does an AVC? all think that way?

William Branum: 24:06

I'm the most non-woo-woo person I've ever met. However, in this new journey of life that I've been on, i've been surrounded by a tremendous amount of woo-woo people, and so there's definitely something to it.

Lunden Souza: 24:22

Got it Nice. One of the things I remember specifically about hanging out with you, which I thought was so fun and memorable, was you showed me a video of your daughter and you reciting the speech from Theodore Roosevelt about going the man in the arena, or so I forget the exact title of it.

Lunden Souza: 24:42

And you showed me this video. William showed me this video of him and his daughter kind of going back and forth And this is a long, it's not the and William told me this is not the short Cliff Notes version, this is the full version of this thing And they go back and forth just in tandem, like picking up where each other lefts, that leaves off or left off, and it was such a cool video to watch and to see that memorization. I grew up with a teacher as a dad And so when I look back at my upbringing, he raised me like a teacher right. Like, do you, being a seal, is there like a seal way of parenting? Do you take some of the seal qualities and use it to help your daughter? And then like, how do you teach this seal get naked principle to young minds, because I think it's so important?

William Branum: 25:31

You know, she actually just learned that on her own. She learned it, I guess, apparently listening to me, And I swear I didn't say it in the house more than maybe five times because even though I'm, you know, I have my background, I still feel like I'm being judged, even by my family, And so I do my best to not be as vulnerable in the house Or I'm like so I practice it, like while I was on the road or while driving or things like that, And apparently I practiced it in the house enough times and she heard me and she just learned it. And of course it wasn't like you don't just learn that accidentally. She was like listening and paying attention.

Lunden Souza: 26:12

It doesn't even rhyme Like. there's not an easy way to memorize this. This is like Shakespeare, Like it's. you just know it, You don't. it's not easy. Yes, totally.

William Branum: 26:23

And she would mess up the same places. I would mess up. I'm like, how long has she been? Because one night at dinner she just broke it out and started saying it, and so now she just says it all the time. Actually, one day she said you know, when I would drive her to school, i would, she would have, she would be required to say it since she learned it. Well, let's just keep practicing, because it helps me practice and all this other stuff. And then one day she said, dad, i don't want to do it anymore. And I said, emily, that's not an option. And she was like, and I said, because this is my goal, one day, you and I, i will be on stage like 2000 people crowd and I will be giving my secret, my presentation, my five secrets that think like a Navy SEAL, and the secret is get naked. And in the part where I say the man in the arena, i'm going to bring you up on stage and we're going to say it together.

Lunden Souza: 27:15

Yeah, i think that's. No, it's cool, i got you, i got you Right. It's emotional topics. This is huge. This is so major because they are listening and they are paying attention.

Lunden Souza: 27:27

And I can remember like my dad would do different poems or quotes or songs and he would teach them to me a couple of times and then I'd be you know, it'd be like our thing and we would just kind of like say it and do it together. And it's really cool to see the spongeness, if you will, of children and also like the awareness and the willingness of them to like, yeah, oh, look at my dad, he's saying, okay, i want to listen, like I want to be like him and I want to say that too. And I think that's so powerful because it goes to show like you don't have to teach kids like twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are, and it needs to rhyme and be like cute and frilly, like you can actually teach them things of like substance and wisdom and ingrain that like she'll never forget that for the rest of her life. And I love what you said about reminds me of my dad too, because you're like Emily, that's not an option. You know, like no quitters.

Lunden Souza: 28:18

And I remember wanting to like quit track one time in high school and my dad was like absolutely not, like you can finish out the season And then, if you decide next year tracks not for you, but you don't just like stop or not do it. And so that's why I asked, because, i don't know, maybe growing up, yeah, like from some people might have thought, or like I had a strict upbringing, whatever, but I really respect it because it came from a place of like structure and integrity and like the importance of you know being your authentic self and truth. And so when I watched that video of you and your daughter, it reminded me of that. I was like, oh yeah, you don't have to be like you should do this, this is how you do it. You can just like do it and say it and just kind of it being what you think might have been her periphery, but really it was like right in her main focus because she memorized the whole thing.

Lunden Souza: 29:05

So I just thought that was so cool, so cool And yeah, like do you make her make her bed every morning, like does she do rituals like that? Like do you?

William Branum: 29:16

know she doesn't know she's she's, she's, she's, she's, she's her own. You know special breed of a person for sure. I tried it like okay, how about brush your teeth? Let's do that. Or try to keep some like, just like some, i take it where I can get it. And so you know, going back to kind of the man in the arena, now she wants to do it. Now she's like, dad, let's, let's go. Hey, dad, let's make another video of man in the arena. Okay, and then I could do it better.

William Branum: 29:47

I could say that better this time, Yeah yeah, exactly, and it is very cool to have that kind of that bonding where we, where she, can pick it up wherever I leave off, and there's one, there's that kind of sort of a transition where we, we both kind of struggle a little bit But as long as and it's funny she's caught me like messing it up And she's like no, dad, it's this, i'm like okay, awesome, thank you. And then we also talk about some lessons learned and, and you know, if she's struggling, i'll say you know, remember, you know you're. You're the man or the woman in the arena right now. You're in there making it happen And so that you know, having learned that quote, she's able to kind of lean back on it. Okay, i'm not going to be mediocre, i'm not going to live a life of what. I'm going to stay in the arena and I'm going to do hard things, even even though I don't feel like it.

Lunden Souza: 30:39

Yeah, and I think even just that one sentence of like I'm going to stay in the arena really captures, like, the essence. And if, for those of you listening, if you haven't read the man in the arena by Theodore Roosevelt, all all post a link that you guys can have it so you can read it, because, yeah, it's cool to be able to be able to say one sentence or kind of one phrase and have it bring you back to that and for her to, she'll have that forever, she'll have that forever, which is so cool. I want to talk a little bit about the so 26 years in the military. Like that's so much. And I know that CBD has been really helpful. But I guess the question I have is, like, does CBD or is there a modality that really like, do you get a mute button? Is there some things that are just background noise that you'll forever live with? Like, how do you turn off the noise, turn down the noise after so many years in that space? Is it really like CBD helps a lot? Are there other modalities that have helped you?

Lunden Souza: 31:41

Hey, really quick, i want to interrupt the podcast for just a minute to tell you about one of my favorite supplements for hair, skin, nails, digestive and gut health, and that is snap supplements super greens with collagen. Now, if you're following me on social media, you've probably seen me post about this a bunch because, honestly, this product tastes amazing and it's jam packed with nutrients, like I said, to support healthy hair, skin and nails. It helps support detoxification, a healthy immune system And there's even probiotics in there for a healthy gut. It's non GMO, no sugar added, soy free, grass fed collagen, and every scoop is going to give you seven grams of protein, and this is why I love it, because it's not like a protein shake, it's just a scoop of powder. It tastes amazing. I put it in water or, if I want more hydration, i'll put it in coconut water and mix it up, and it's like having a nice refreshing beverage that's packed with a bunch of super greens and protein. So what I'm super excited about is that for listening to the podcast, you'll get this discount here.

Lunden Souza: 32:43

Nowhere else, but for listening to the podcast, you can save 25% off on all your snap supplement purchases, including the super greens with collagen, and you do that by using code LUNDEN25 at checkout. That's LUNDEN25 to get 25% off at checkout. You can shop on snapsupplements. com or you can shop lifelikelunden. com/ on my website, supplements And you'll see there there's already an additional 10% taken off. But you, because you're a podcast listener, you're going to get 25% off when you use LUNDEN25 code at checkout L U N D E N 25 at checkout to get your snap supplements, super greens and collagen and all your snap supplements for 25% off. Now let's get back to the show.

William Branum: 33:39

You know CBD is was a big one.

Lunden Souza: 33:42

I've heard that a lot from a lot of veterans that I've talked to.

William Branum: 33:46

It was a big one And really kind of what I was talking about earlier just going out and doing hard things. We fall into this trap of taking the path of least resistance And if you go back to was it for us to said, take the path less traveled, right now, you know, going out and doing hard things is really the path less traveled. We should go out and do hard things because, i mean, if you, if you go back in sort of in history, long in history, prehistoric man or man, post historic man, i guess, post Neanderthal man, hunters, gatherers, things like that, they would have to go out and find food. But if they came across, you know, like a beehive, they would break that thing open and they would eat all the honey and they would sit around and just be lazy because they didn't have to hunt, they had all the calories they needed to survive for a little while And then pretty soon you have to go and hunt again. And so, unfortunately, we, you know, we we have this idea of entitlement, and entitlement, i think, is one of the worst things that we could possibly have, because we feel like we deserve so many things but we didn't work for it, we didn't go out and hunt.

William Branum: 35:02

I'm partnered with a company called Few Will Hunt. They're an apparel brand And you know their slogan is everyone wants to eat but few will hunt. And so I love, you know, being partnered with those guys. Like, when I found them on social media, i was like, hey, man, let's connect. I love your messaging. They're like, hey, i love your messaging too.

William Branum: 35:20

So that was, you know, it's kind of a natural collaboration that we have, you know, because we believe the same things, like go out and do hard things. Go out and like find, do the work that is required and and don't accept mediocrity in your life. And I think that's that or entitlement. And you know, when I, when I hear people say I'm entitled to this, i'm entitled to that, i'm like you're entitled to nothing. You were born and therefore you're, you get to live whatever life you make of yourself. And then death happens at some point. But, you know, make the best life that you can. Stop asking other people, don't stop being entitled, go out and do hard work, go out and run, go out and work out, go out and compete. I like to talk about, you know, when I talk about killing mediocrity, so I didn't even go over like the whole naked acronym.

Lunden Souza: 36:10

Let's do it.

William Branum: 36:11

So naked is an acronym, so it stands for. The N stands for never quit, the A is accept failure, the K is kill mediocrity, the E is expose your fears and B is do the work. And when I talk about killing mediocrity, i'm referring to the mediocrity that we have in our life, because our ego, it's very powerful. It knows exactly what to tell us to make us not work out, to not do the things we need to do, to not attack our goals for the day. So how do you, how do you kill that mediocrity? How do you compete against the ego? Well, i say you have to start small.

William Branum: 36:46

Compete in kindness. Can you be the kindest person you know? Can you compete in kindness? That's Hard sometimes. Can you compete in generosity? Can you compete in gratitude? When I started competing in gratitude, i found gratitude to be a superpower. My life became so much better when I started competing in gratitude. Can I be more grateful than you? Can I be more grateful than the next person When I started writing down at least five things every day that I'm grateful for writing them down, not even thinking about it, writing them down with a pen and a piece of paper, writing them down it makes a huge impact in your life. And then, once you learn to compete in those small things kindness, giving, gratitude then start competing against your ego And once you win that war that you fight every day against your ego, you're unstoppable.

Lunden Souza: 37:43

I love that. Competing in kindness, competing in generosity. I love that My boyfriend will often say like a kindness PR or a generosity PR When he's done something that, like he knows, is kind and knows is generous. But maybe it was a little bit of a reach. So, instead of it being something naked, whatever he's like, no, that was a kindness PR. For me That was a generosity PR And I think that's so helpful because going yeah, i feel like doing I don't know doing this work. I feel like I found a dance and some fun in it, if you will. But maybe getting naked doesn't mean exposing your egos ways right off the bat. It might just be like stepping into a bit more kindness and a bit more gratitude, and I like that a lot.

Lunden Souza: 38:28

And you talked a lot about doing the hard thing, getting out of your comfort zone, and that could totally be it, like giving someone a compliment or being a little bit more generous at when you tip or when you're at the coffee, whatever. That could be very uncomfortable for some people. I will often say get out of your comfort zone. You're never truly living unless you're out of your comfort zone. And for me, for the longest time, it really was fitness, because I was fitness coaching And it was like, yeah, do you know, do one more pushup out of your comfort zone, one run one extra mile out of your comfort zone.

Lunden Souza: 39:00

But there's so much that we can do that's out of our comfort zone. That doesn't require us to be like fit or be able to do a push up or be able to run any amount of distance And really can be expanding our comfort zone with other things. And so I'm glad that you shared that, because I think people listening you know out of your comfort zone might be you know work and hard and time and whatever, but it actually might just be like getting uncomfortable, being present in the present moment and noticing an opportunity for kindness And then being able to be like I did that today. Like you know, i checked that box off. You know you have to be these gigantic, you know things to actually make a dent. It can just be like those those little wins. What are some other ways we can get out of our comfort zone? or do something hard? Like what are some things you push yourself to do or maybe your friends and your clients or whatever, like what some things maybe we can do to get out of our comfort zone.

William Branum: 40:00

I think you mentioned some of them. It's just be present. You know, we have this device that is stuck to our hand and to our face all the time And we continue to pick it up when we should be just being present with the people that we're with, with our family And, you know, at the dinner table. Easy, oh, i got a notification. Maybe I need to scroll up. Maybe I'm a little bit bored. Stop being bored and start focusing on the people that matter. Focus on the people that are in your life. Yeah, like those things right there, i don't.

William Branum: 40:33

I do a fair amount of coaching. Sometimes I don't specifically do relationship or fitness or anything like that, but it's all related. I do much more like leadership, team building, business coaching, but oftentimes I probably should have a degree in psychology because that's generally the direction that it goes And it's not even fixing. Sometimes it's you know tools for leadership, but oftentimes it's tools that you know they need to work on for themselves, the tools that they have in their life. That will, you know the people in their life, focusing on the relationships that they have in their life and putting effort into those. Like, because when you fix those relationships, everything else will start to work. It's all related. You know I was, it was, it was. It was interesting.

William Branum: 41:24

I have a client he's you know, he does very, very well for himself And he wanted me to help him with some losing weight and things like that. And I'm like that's not really what I do, but we'll, we'll go down that road. And he was on family vacation. But he also gave me permission to call him out on his, on his bullshit, and and I was like so. So I was training for this, this Grand Canyon thing, and I was out doing I don't know I hate running, i hate running. But you know I was doing like a seven or eight mile run, you know, building up to to do this Grand Canyon thing, and over my AirPods I heard the text come in saying, hey, why don't we push our coaching call off to the right You know a week or two, and what. And I said, okay, check, let's first. I was like F, you dude. We're like I could have gone either way. I could have been like, okay, just push it off and me be lazy, or I could do my job and hold him accountable. I'm like, okay, i got back home and I texted him. I'm like, okay, check, i'll make you a deal. You send me a selfie with your shirt off and those washboard abs and we will push the call, you know, to the right. And uh, he was like check, i'll be on the call tomorrow.

William Branum: 42:41

And one of the things that we talked about, because I'm like do the workouts and log them, fill out the food log and write down your proteins, your carbs and your fats And, by the way, i want your carbs to be no more than 200 grams of carbs a day. And he was like why do I need calories and this and that and whatever? And I'm like I don't care about the number of calories you eat, i care about how many carbs you put in your body. And because he's a businessman, i was like so let forget about carbs and fats and proteins, let's talk about your P&L. Do you measure your P&L? Do you measure your profits and losses and things that you spend money on? and blah, blah, blah. He was like yes, okay, so why aren't you doing that for what you're putting in your body? He was like check, i just had to like change it and like reframe what I was telling him to do. And he was like let's go, i'm fucking ready. And it's made a huge impact in his life.

Lunden Souza: 43:37

Yeah, because you just did like a lateral jump over to something he was already doing would never not think of doing, and then you brought it over to an area where it just totally made sense, where he's like oh, yeah, of course, if I'm not checking the balances over here, it's no wonder. And I think too, with business and leadership, when it comes to fitness and nutrition, probably the way that you feel now too, it's like when you do it better, you just feel way better. So, as a leader and as a business owner, it's like your mental clarity, your energy, your stamina, your endurance, your just ability to handle whatever your nervous system might throw at you, is just so different than when you're not taking care of that. And so I love the ability just to like yeah, like you said, when you're in conversation, you build that rapport like permission to call you out on your shit. Yes, okay, and we're gonna do that and kind of create that dance. I think, yeah, showing up for that work is so important And, like you said, you could have, you know, went one way or another.

Lunden Souza: 44:34

You had a pretty hard feet ahead of you, but it's nice to be able to like tap into the language of people and know when it really resonates, or know how to kind of speak that way to clients. I think it's helpful, it like completes the circle and it's like, oh yeah, i just had like a little shift, a little change in that Super cool, super cool. I wanna ask, i wanna talk about something that you brought to my attention that I think was really, yeah, important and powerful in my life, in a way that you helped me, yeah, kind of kill mediocrity, if you will, or helped me kind of get naked, if you will. So William and I met in, i think it was. I don't remember, was it October, november? I don't even know what month it was.

William Branum: 45:17

When was it, i think it was January.

Lunden Souza: 45:19

January. Okay, january, well, what month was it? Anyways, we met in Oceanside. We did this cool content retreat. We all came together, we did like photo shoot for a magazine We all contribute to and just content and collaboration and whatever.

Lunden Souza: 45:34

And William said to me he was like I feel like the person that you are on social media, like the person I met, is just like different. It's way better, it's like cooler to hang out with you, whatever, and kind of in those words, and I'm just thank you, thank you. I wanna tell you thank you. I didn't get a chance to talk to you much after that, but it's not that I didn't feel congruent, but it was helpful to see somebody in their congruence, as you say something like that to me, because I really took it to heart And I was like, okay, i don't feel like there's any part or planning to how I do my process on social media versus real life, whatever.

Lunden Souza: 46:18

But there's someone that I see in their authentic truth, that I admire, who's seeing something in me that I wanna like take a look at, you know. And so I've had a lot of really awesome conversations with myself about what authenticity to me looks like, even with my close friends, like, hey, william shared this with me. What do you think about it? Do you agree, do you disagree? And for whatever? yeah, i don't know how I wanna, but it's helped.

Lunden Souza: 46:45

I feel like whatever seed you planted. When you said that to me, it wasn't like, oh, william, it was not rude, it was from a place of love and just desire to see someone else shine in the way that you might see it, and so, yeah, i wanted to say thank you for that And also that I just yeah, i really feel I think about that a lot. I feel like my conversations with people within my teams that I work with or collaborate with have become more vulnerable and more real in whatever kind of was able to unlock after that conversation. So, thank you And, yeah, like maybe we could talk a little bit about that. Do you feel like you're fully living your authentic self? Do you feel like you're starting to notice ways to be more authentic? Do you often point that out in others, like you did in me, and like that was really cool, i appreciated it.

William Branum: 47:35

You know it was a little bit scary. I'm like, i'm for sure not really a part of your life, and why? who the hell am I to like give you that sort of feedback? But it was. I just felt so strongly about it, like meeting you in person. You have so much energy, you have so much, you give so much. You're such a bright, brilliant, like a beacon of light to be around. It was awesome to be around you. And then I looked at your social media and I'm like meh, kind of like holding back there. You're kind of like dude, put your shit out there, man, be your fucking awesome self, because you're fucking awesome And there's not like a politically correct way to say that. And it's also a little scary. I'm like I'm just some random guy. She met, you know whatever at you know a thing, got a house somewhere on the beach And I'm telling her she needs to get her shit together. Not my place to do that, and you certainly didn't give me permission to do that, but I'm like I feel obligated to do that. But also when I, you know, often times like when I'm talking to my clients, i'm a lot of times talking to myself And so it's very easy for me to just like slip back into the shadows, and you know, i spent my entire adult life.

William Branum: 48:56

My entire life I've just been like. You know, as a kid I was told, you know, you're to be seen and not heard. I'm an incredible introvert And I have been. You know, because I'm in the business world now I have to be more out there. It is extremely uncomfortable for me. I like being in the shadows and just get shit done. I mean, i like going out and doing stuff and getting shit done. But I, you know, anytime I got like an award or anything in the military, it didn't matter what it was, i would be like yo, can you just like hand that to me? I don't need recognition in front of people And you know, one of the things that I've had to learn is like you have to be out there in the world, you have to be like in front of people, you have to be. You know, someone said once upon a time the most effective business model is fame, and so there's nothing famous about me. I didn't do anything special ever, but you know I have. But I also have a lot of value to bring to the world And if I don't elevate myself, you know, sort of in the public eye. No one's going to hear it, and I have a lot to give And it's very uncomfortable for me to even say that I have a lot to give, but I was.

William Branum: 50:10

I was going hunting with a friend of mine. He's very successful businessman, very successful Like I can't even talk the numbers And he said he told me about, you know, when he was a kid, his dad like walked him through a cemetery And he was like okay, you see the those dates right there. You see that dash, that person has an incredible amount of knowledge to share And the chances that they shared that knowledge is very minimal. So your job as you go through life is to learn as much as you can and then share it with everyone that you possibly can, because you can't take that knowledge with you. You learn it and you pass it along as to as many people as you possibly can And I think the value of that right there that's that you know conversation that we had was like, it was so impact. I'm like I have to like, i have to spread the word, i have to like share my knowledge with people And you know my, and I don't want to like.

William Branum: 51:04

I'm also very like. I don't want to sound I don't know the right word. I don't want to sound like cocky or anything like that. I'm like oh, i'm so great, i'm not, i'm just a regular dude. I did some cool stuff once upon a time. I'm still trying to do cool stuff, but I'm also trying to impact people's lives, and to do that, i have to get out in front of as many people as possible. So so, yeah, i think you bring so much value to the world just from your presence. Like I want to be surrounded by you, i want to be like near you all the time. You're so fucking badass and like you bring so much positivity to the world. So, and so my message to you was just like I don't know how to like get that you be more authentic on social media. I've seen you like a little uptick in it, so it is getting better, but I think you just you just need to be in front of more people. You need to do more live events. You need to do live stuff all the time.

Lunden Souza: 51:57

I love that. No, and I really really appreciate it.

William Branum: 52:01

Hopefully that scares you and you might do some live stuff like have some like big retreats and like put on some big events. I think you should do that because you're that you have that much to give.

Lunden Souza: 52:11

I love that, thank you, thank you, and I really appreciate it because, yeah, i'm working on some stuff in the moment in terms of, like, live events or getting myself out in front of more people. That because now that in my timeline, if you will, that's here. I'm so grateful for what you said when January, because I feel like that helped me a lot, really be able to create something even better, even more authentic, even more true to me with what I'm creating right now. I can't say too much, but I just like, yeah, i'm grateful for that And I think, for anyone listening. You know, we have a choice. We, someone can give us feedback, like William did. I never fucking knew him, like I just knew him from the weekend, i don't, i only knew what he told me about him, right, and he came up to me and gave me some feedback on like not just like, hey, your hair or something on your teeth, like some real ass feedback, right, and I could have had a choice to like complain and blame and be annoyed and maybe like have side conversations with friends. Can you believe this guy, what he said, you know? but I really was like, hey, this guy met, said this, and I have had some great conversations with my partner, my parents, my friends surrounding this topic because of what you said.

Lunden Souza: 53:16

So it's like in that moment, when people give us feedback, we have a choice. We have a choice to take it. Now we don't have to take it all and I didn't have to believe every single thing, but it's nice to take it and look at it and be like, okay, yeah, i can see that I get that I and I so, yeah, maybe someone listening right now. I just felt called to say that because maybe they've you've received some feedback from someone and you're complaining and blaming or deflecting or making it about them, but really like, maybe you can make it a little bit about you and you can just turn it in and make it mean something just for growth or make it just mean something a little bit more for wisdom and connection.

Lunden Souza: 53:49

And so I wanted to bring that up because I don't know, you know, people have sometimes come up to me in person and social meat from social media and like, oh, i feel like I already know you because so I've gotten the duality right.

Lunden Souza: 54:01

So I'm like Okay, i'll take what William said into consideration and I know I'm already like you know I've been doing this for a while, but there was also a part of me that believed you, because there was a part of me that I knew wanted to shine, that, like I didn't know, was looking for a way out, and so I don't know if she's fully like expressed yet, but she's doing her best and it was a very powerful seed that you planted in my life. So I wanted to make sure I took that time to say thank you And, for anyone listening, if someone gave you feedback, go tell them thank you, because for one reason or another it's going to help you grow in a new way, whether you realize they're tripping or you realize. No, actually there was some truth to that, you know, and I think it's helpful to dig in there. And, william, thank you so much for your time.

Lunden Souza: 54:42

I appreciate you, i appreciate what you're doing in the world to help others get naked and live their true, authentic selves. Where can we connect with you more If we want to learn from you? have you come speak at our work or work together or whatever like? how can we learn more from?

William Branum: 54:59

you, if you go to the website five seal secrets calm, the number five. Five seal secrets, calm, that will. I will just fill out the information. I will send you a copy of what, what, what it means to get naked.

Lunden Souza: 55:13

Cool.

William Branum: 55:15

And you can follow me on social media William dot r dot random on Instagram, excuse me. And if you want CBD, it's in W dash recovery calm stand. You know, in W is for naked warrior. You can type in naked where the recovery. But I thought, you know, maybe people had an issue, or maybe not cool, with typing naked in their search engine. I'm not sure why. It just wasn't epiphany I had after I created the URL so you can type naked where you recovery or in W dash recovery, calm.

Lunden Souza: 55:44

Perfect, perfect. Thank you so much. I'll include all of that in the show notes. Thanks again for you being you in the world.

Lunden Souza: 55:52

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of self love and sweat the podcast. Hey, do me a favor Wherever you're listening to this podcast, give us a review. This really helps a lot And share this with a friend. I'm only one person and with your help, we can really spread the message of self love and sweat and change more lives all around the world. I'm London Suza, reminding you that you deserve a life full of passion, presence and purpose, fueled by self love and sweat. This podcast is a hit spot. Austria production.