The Navy SEAL Mindset for Navigating Big Transitions with William Branum

Today I’m talking with William Branum, Founder and CEO of Naked Warrior Recovery, a CBD company focused on the recovery of veterans and first responders about the Navy SEAL mindset for navigating big transitions. William spent 26 years serving as a Navy SEAL, leading major combat operations and missions, and began suffering from physical and psychological symptoms that negatively impacted his well-being and quality of life. Like so many others, he used alcohol and prescription drugs to mask the symptoms until he discovered the powerful healing properties of CBD. In this episode, he’s sharing the journey that led him to found his company without any entrepreneurial or industry experience, develop his GET NAKED! Mindset, changing the lives of veterans (along with individuals from all walks of life).

What to listen for:

• His background as a Navy SEAL
• How the transition from military to civilian life was his most arduous mission
• Growing up in a small town and how he discovered the SEALs
• Not feeling ready or prepared for boot camp right out of high school
• Taking a stand and asking for the assignment he wanted

“He turns to my commanding officer and says, ‘Hey, is William a good guy?’ And my commanding officer says, ‘yes, he was the sailor of the quarter of this quarter,’ which is kinda like employee of the month. And so he turns back to me, and he is like, you’ll be in the first class after your or time on the ship is up. Six weeks later, I’m off to California to go to seal training.”

• The transition to SEAL training and how it took 13 months
• Teaching sniper school, the 9/11 attacks, and deploying overseas
• Having an “I can do anything” mentality

“I just have never been a quitter. I’ve never really quit on anything. I know that I came from humble beginnings, and I knew that I never wanted to be like that. And so I wanted to be a better me.”

• Getting diagnosed with ADHD at the end of his career
• Limiting beliefs from his struggles in school
• Having to work harder than everyone else

“In SEAL training, people made it look easy. They could run effortlessly and swim and fly around the obstacle course and do all these things. And they were natural leaders. I struggled at everything, but I always knew that it was a struggle, and I just had to work harder than everyone else. I was okay with that. I just try to work harder than everyone else because I know that’s what I have to do.”

• The expectation to perform better than the day before
• How it felt to be in real combat situations
• Developing noise in his head and how that affected him
• Drinking to sleep and cope with his symptoms
• Feeling lost after leaving his work as a Navy SEAL

“I had a badass mission. I had a purpose. When I went to bed at night, I still knew what I was gonna do the next day. I knew why I was gonna do it, how I was gonna do it. And so the day that I retired, it was like, I lost everything in my life. I still had family, but I lost my mission. I lost my purpose. I lost my team.”

• Discovering CBD and how it changed his life
• The meeting at a conference that changed his life
• How his dad’s suicide ties into his work
• Getting vulnerable and exposing yourself to heal
• The work he did before he founded Naked Warrior Recovery
• Navigating failure and how his SEAL training supported him

“Never quit on yourself. Never quit trying to improve your life. If you started a project or a program or something that was hard and kind of stressful, it’s gonna be a challenge. If it was important enough to start, then it’s probably important enough to take it all the way to the end, whatever that looks like.”

• Finding the courage to get help and support
• Starting from nothing and no experience and building his CBD business
• Sharing his story to help others heal
• Advice he’d give to anyone still struggling to heal

About William Branum:

William Branum is the Founder and CEO of Naked Warrior Recovery, a CBD company focused on the recovery of veterans and first responders. He is a retired Navy SEAL with 26 years of service. He has served on both traditional SEAL Teams, taught as a SEAL Sniper Instructor, and served on Teams that specialized in undersea operations, whose missions must be approved by the President of the United States. He led major combat operations ranging from protecting the interim Iraqi elected officials to Direct Action missions in Baghdad and across Ambar province.

After retiring from the military in 2018, he realized that