Navigating Life's Transitions: Insights from a Navy SEAL's TED Talk Experience

Welcome to the Navy SEAL Mindset. In this episode, I dive into my recent experience preparing for and delivering a TED Talk. I explore the critical importance of clear and concise communication in leadership and the discipline involved in crafting a compelling message within the TED Talk format.

Key Takeaways

1. My Journey to the TED Stage: I share the personal and professional journey that led me to deliver a TED Talk, emphasizing the rigorous preparation and focus on audience engagement.
2. Leadership Through Communication: I discuss the essential role of effective communication in leadership, reflecting on how to convey powerful messages succinctly and impactfully.
3. Crafting a TED Talk: I delve into my process of writing, editing, and refining the TED Talk content, underscoring the discipline and meticulous attention to detail required.
4. Insights from Delivering the TED Talk: I describe my unique experience on the TED stage, including the dynamic of two-way communication with the audience and the lessons learned.
5. Navigating Life's Transitions with SEAL Precision: I connect the themes of my TED Talk to broader life lessons, focusing on how to navigate life's transitions with the same precision and preparedness as a Navy SEAL.

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Transcript

William Branum: 0:00

This is episode 018 of the Navy SEAL Mindset. I am your host, William Branham, retired Navy SEAL, this episode of the Navy SEAL Mindset is going to be a little bit different. about a month and a half ago, I delivered a TED talk in Houston, Texas. And so I just kind of want to talk to you about how to. Deliver a TED Talk. All the things that are required. And I'm super curious if you guys listening, if you've ever delivered a TED Talk, if you would go over to my YouTube page The Navy Seal Mindset, drop a comment in there, for this episode, and if there's a link to a TED Talk that you have done, please put that link in the description or in the comments, so I can go and check out your TED Talk. And other people can check out your TED Talk as well. but anyway, if you've ever thought about doing a TED Talk, it's a super interesting experience. And one of the lessons I learned doing this TED Talk was leadership is communication. When I talk about communicating as a leader, your communication needs to be clear and concise. Can you deliver your message in as few words as possible? And that was the lesson I learned during this TED Talk. Where I only had 10 minutes to deliver my message. So I wrote the script, I actually got some editors to edit the script. They gave me feedback, so I moved some things around where I told stories, where I didn't tell stories, where I delivered actionable items in the TED Talk. I went through three different editors, plus my own additional editing, chopping information out that was not relevant, to deliver a 10 minute TED Talk. So when I wrote the script, it was about 20 minutes long, and the way that we measure that is, when you're speaking on stage or delivering your message, you deliver approximately 135 words a minute. So, my TED Talk needed to be 10 minutes long, and when I read my script, or just did a word count of my script, it was well into the 20 minute range. 18 to 20 minutes, depending on how long my pauses were, or things like that. I sent my script to, another couple of, editors. They cut some more stuff out, they moved some stuff around, they changed some of the verbiage, so that I could, deliver my message more concisely. However, when it was all said and done, I still had about 14 minutes of information and I needed to cut out at least another four minutes. So it was a super valuable experience that I had where I had to Take 20 minutes worth of information and chop it down to 10 minutes. it was a great experience, a great, reinforcement of the lessons of leadership when it comes to communicating. Communicating clearly and effectively. Now, when I deliver a TED Talk, from the stage, I am getting two way communication. All communication to be communication, it has to be two way. And when I'm delivering that message, I'm getting feedback from the audience. So I knew that my TED talk was resonating with people as I was giving the message, podcasts are a little bit differently. YouTube videos are a little bit differently. but actually what I say is a billboard can be effective communication as long as people are responding. So in this kind of setting, whether it's a YouTube video or an audio podcast, it can be Two way communication. If you reply, put a comment or review, on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you, listen to your podcast, or if you go over to YouTube and check out the Navy SEAL Mindset, subscribe to it, I know that you got the message, I know that you're receiving the message, so that now becomes two way So again, if you have a TED Talk, I would love it if you dropped a comment in, in the comment saying, Hey, I have a TED Talk and here's a link to it so I can check it out. So other people who are looking at this page can also go and check it out. But again, communication, incredibly valuable. As long as it's two way and it's clear and concise. So that was the first lessons I learned. One of the first lessons I learned when I was accepted to deliver my TED Talk. And then I'm gonna go over all the other things that is required to give a TED Talk. So number one, I actually hired a coach to get me on a TED stage. And the coach I hired, his name is Cesar Cervantes. he's delivered I think three TED Talks. He gives classes on how to do TED Talks. I actually paid for his most expensive, package so that He and his team would go and apply for a lot of different stages for me, but I had to have all of my stuff together before I could deliver that. And so, working with Cesar was super valuable. So our first call, actually first, second call, first or second call, we got on a call, we got on a Zoom call, and he and I talked through ideas of what the TED Talk should be about. So, I had a handful of things that I was talking about. Maybe it could be my main keynote presentation, which generally takes me about 45 minutes to deliver, so that's not a good TED Talk. I can deliver it in 15 minutes. Still, that doesn't meet the 10 minute requirement for that particular stage. But, we just started talking. What other things do you, are you an expert in? Can you talk about? And the thing that I came up with, or he actually helped me Zero in on life transitions, transition through life like a Navy SEAL. And in this episode, I'm actually going to give you, I'm going to deliver my whole TED talk. I'm not going to deliver it exactly the way I delivered it on stage. it's still out there in the TED world. I know that everyone that was on the stage that I was on our our talks have been edited and they're now being presented up to TED, so TED has not given the full, TED proper, has not given the full thumbs up and they have not uploaded our videos or our talks to their main stage, but And I'd love for you guys to check it out and give me feedback. But in this episode, I'm gonna deliver the talk. I'm gonna read the script because I haven't practiced it since I gave it. And speaking on a TED stage is very different from any other stage that I've spoken on. Mostly because you get one shot. You can't really mess up. You gotta deliver it almost perfectly the first time. There are some caveats to that. You do get another chance if you screw up royally to start over or maybe just go back to where you messed up and then start over. And As I was creating a TED Talk and I started studying other people on a TED stage, I actually watched people with index cards in their hands so they wouldn't forget what they were doing or what they were talking about. I've talked to other people who have delivered TED Talks and they said that they had a teleprompter down in front of them where they, if they forgot their next line, they could look down at the teleprompter, see their line, and then look back up and start delivering to the audience. I delivered to a live audience, but it was a small TED stage and everyone that was delivering, the audience were the people, other people delivering and their friends and family who came and watched them deliver. So again, a very small TED stage, an awesome experience, so if you want to deliver a TED Talk, I would encourage you to go hire Cesar. Join his group. And I think his group is called, I got an email from him today. I think it's TEDx membership, something like that. If you reach out to me, you hit me up, I can connect you with Cesar and he'll get you pointed in the right direction. You have the opportunity to practice. You have, other people giving you feedback on your TED talk so that you can refine your script and deliver the most powerful message that you possibly can. With as few words as possible. So here's the steps to go through and apply and get on a TED stage. So, step number one is you have to have a big idea. What's your big idea? Then you have to create a script, a two minute script, a 90 second script, and a 60 second script, that delivers your big idea, via video, that you basically, you record and you post it on YouTube. In sort of a private setting, a private link, so that only people with that link can see your, your TED Talk. And, you go on there and you deliver your big idea. And it has to be exactly two minutes. Plus or minus a second or two. I remember the first time I did it, I think I went back and I cut, I edited out like five seconds worth of pauses. And Caesar came back to me and said, Nope, you have to redo it because we can't have any editing in your TED Talk application process. Okay, check. So I had to go back, practice delivering that 2 minutes, get it down, I think it was like 2 seconds. then you have to rewrite your script, deliver it in 90 seconds, rewrite your script and deliver it in 60 seconds. Big idea. What people are going to get out of it and why people should listen to your TED Talk. So that was step number one. step number two, there's a whole application process that you have to fill out. What's your favorite TED Talk? Or maybe your top three TED Talks. What's your first TED Talk? I remember the first TED Talk I ever heard was, by a gentleman by the name of Dave Kalama is his name. He lives over in Maui, I believe. Grew up in California. he is, slash, was, Laird Hamilton's surf partner. And he delivered a TED Talk about surfing. Some of the biggest waves in the world, actually out in Maui, where he and Laird pretty much Run the place and Laird was out of town so he was the man. And it was maybe like a 30 foot wave and he wiped out big time. And I'm listening to his TED talk and I'm just getting Excited and scared and because I've been in some big waves where I've just had my ass handed to me. And that was not awesome. I've been to combat. Seven combat deployments and some other deployments. The first time I wiped out big time, I wasn't sure I was going to go home that day. So as I was listening to Dave Kalama's TED Talk, I was like, dude, I'm still getting that sort of visceral experience from it. Another one of my more favorite TED Talks is one about procrastination. I forgot the gentleman who delivers it. He does it in about 15 minutes from stage. He has slides and things like that. Because it described me pretty much to a T as I got my bachelor's and my master's degree online. Anyway, I, maybe I will put a link in the description below. So you can see that it was the freak out monster. If you do Ted talk freak out monster, you'll probably find monkey brain freak out monster, whatever. You'll probably find that Ted talk as well. so anyway, delivering the Ted talk, you go through this whole application process. You apply, then you maybe have to do some interviews. And you get, downselected, downselected, downselected. So once you're finally downselected, then you have to give them your script. Your 10 minute, 15 minute, whatever, however long the time frame is. So they can review it, and it's their prerogative whether they want to change things in your script. I didn't have to change anything in my script. Actually, tweaks, not a big deal. Then I had to make a video delivering my TED Talk. I could read it. That was about a month out, I think, six weeks out from delivering it. Two weeks out, I had to do another video where I showed that I knew my TED Talk verbatim. I'm going to be honest with you, I did not. I was close. I knew it well enough to maybe have to look down a couple of times to figure out where I was in my storytelling or in my talk, and then sit up and, look back up and deliver. And then the day of, you get one shot. You get up, you get on stage, hopefully you practice a lot. I did not practice my TED Talk in front of anyone until the day of. Mistake. I knew it was a mistake, but I had sort of this imposter syndrome thing going. I was embarrassed a little bit about saying it because I just didn't know it that well. I said it lots of times out loud with no one else around, but then you know, game day, well that's not the time that you wanna just Pull it out of your butt. So anyway, we're about 15 minutes in right now. So I'm going to go ahead and deliver my TED talk. It's about 10 minutes. It could be 12 minutes depending on my pauses and things like that. But this is the third time I've recorded this episode. Hopefully I get it right this time and and we'll go from there. So anyway, here's my TED talk. Life transitions. We all go through them. Whether you're getting hired or fired, going through a divorce or heading into retirement. Transitions stress us out because they take away our sense of security and often our own identity. But I'm going to give you the secret to get through your next life transition. And to do that, I want you to channel your inner Navy SEAL and go on a dive with me. But not just any dive. I want you to, I want to take you on a combat mission. And it looks something like this. It's around 1230 AM. It's 55 degrees outside and it's raining. We're swimming underwater wearing a wetsuit underneath our camouflage uniform. We're using an experimental scuba dive system that allows us to recycle our breath for up to four hours and it leaves no bubbles for the enemy to track us. We're connected by a six foot lanyard with a loop around each one of our wrists so that we don't lose one another. In the cold, dark ocean. Our mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find a very specific ship in an enemy harbor full of other ships and deliver a package and get out without anyone ever knowing we were there. We're approximately 15 feet underwater, navigating using nothing more than a compass, a depth gauge, and a watch. And because we meticulously planned this mission, we know our environment will soon be changing. We continue to follow our compass bearing, and we begin the transition from the quiet darkness of the ocean to the bright lights and loud noises of the enemy harbor. It's during these transition points where we are the most vulnerable, because we're moving from the known to the unknown. And these are the moments that we need to be the most prepared. The lights from the piers and docks are almost too much for our eyes to adjust, even though we're still 15 feet underwater. We continue to swim deep into the enemy harbor, and at the appropriate time, turn 90 degrees and swim for another 15 to 20 minutes. We know we're getting closer to the ship. Because our compass starts to spin even though we haven't changed directions. Seconds later, we're, we are at another transition point where we find ourselves entering the deepest, darkest depths of hell. A darkness that we never knew could exist. The darkness starts to consume our soul. The rumble of the shipboard machinery. is now shaking us violently and uncontrollably. Those next 30 to 60 seconds feel like an eternity. Fear starts to take over. Fear of the unknown. Fear of getting lost or stuck under this ship. The fear that these could be the last moments of our life, and it's almost too much for us to handle. We are in the belly of the beast and we don't know if we'll ever get back home. This is a mission we conduct in the SEAL teams called Combat Swimmer or Combat Diver. This mission, as with all missions in the SEAL teams, start with something that we call the Dirt Dive. The Dirt Dive is a physical and mental rehearsal of an upcoming mission. We do a Dirt Dive before every mission. It doesn't matter if it takes place in the sea, from the air, or on the land. And the most important thing that we focus on during the dirt dive are the transition points, the points of vulnerability, the points where there is a high probability of failure. And the truth is we all go through life transitions that leave us feeling stressed out, vulnerable, and oftentimes with a loss of identity. I was a Navy SEAL for 26 years, and when I retired from the SEAL teams, I felt like that Avengers movie where Thanos snapped his fingers and half the world's population vanished all at once. I felt fear, doubt, and completely inadequate, because I'd lost my sense of mission, my team, and my purpose overnight. I often say that my transition from the SEAL teams to civilian life was and still is the hardest military mission that I have ever been on. And I'm still on that mission today. But then I realized that everything I needed to get through, that everything I needed to know to get through this life transition, I had learned from planning thousands of missions in the SEAL teams. You see, I believe that everything that we do in life is a mission. And every mission has transition points. These are the times that we're moving from one medium to the next, where we're moving from the known to the unknown. And these are times where our guard may be down, just like transitioning from the quiet darkness of the ocean to the bright lights and loud noises of that enemy harbor. But sometimes our life transitions feel like that darkness under the ship, that darkness that's consuming our soul. how can we navigate through these life transitions? Step number one is to keep moving. In special operations, we talk about that moment where we get ambushed by the enemy. We call that ambush point the X. The X is the most dangerous place to be. If you stay on the X during an ambush, you're not gonna last very long. And sometimes our life transitions feel like we're stuck on that X. Like we're stuck under that ship in the darkness. Have you ever felt like that? Stuck? Yeah, me too. But you have to keep moving so that you can take back control. And to do that you need to do four things. Step number one is make a plan. It doesn't have to be a perfect plan. Just write down, think about what you want to do, what do you want to become, or where do you want to go. And then write down the steps that it's going to take you to go from where you are now to the thing that you want to do. Then you have to brief the plan. Now you don't need to be a PowerPoint warrior to brief your plan. You don't have to do anything super sexy. Just find friends or family that you trust. Share your plan with them. Talk to them about the details, the steps that it's going to take you to get there. And ask them for feedback. The people that I like to ask for feedback for my plans are skeptics, people who do not believe in me, people who want to maybe want to see me fail because they're going to look at my plan and they're going to find a bunch of holes. They're going to punch a bunch of holes in it because I like asking them because they have a different perspective. They're going to think about things that I did not think about. But no matter who you ask for feedback for your plan, Remember, this is your plan. It is not theirs. So that's step number two. Step number three is the most important step in your life transition, and that is to conduct a dirt dive. This is where the magic happens. But before I explain the full power of a dirt dive, I want to share with you where the idea came from. The one mission that sets the SEAL teams apart from every other Special Operations Group is our ability to do what we call Combat Swimmer or Combat Diver, the dive that we went on earlier today. Now you've probably heard the saying to plan your dive and dive your plan, but the Dirt Dive is where you practice your plan, like a rehearsal, but in greater detail. The Dirt Dive is not merely a physical rehearsal. But a mindset shift, a mindset shift where you visualize every step of the mission. For example, in the SEAL teams, when we finish planning a mission, we write down all of our bearings and how long we're going to be on those bearings. And we walk outside. You and your swim buddy walk outside. You take your compass and you follow the bearings, talking back and forth with your swim buddy, how long you're going to be on these bearings, what the bearings are. To make sure you both know what they are. You visualize it. You practice your hand and arm signals. So you practice the way you're going to communicate underwater. And then once you've finished that, then you discuss contingencies. What should go right, what could go wrong, and what you're going to do in the event that it does. For example, What if my mask floods out and I can't see? What if I lose a fin and I can't swim that well? What if we missed the entrance to the enemy harbor? What if we missed the drop dead time for each phase of the operation? What if your compass stops working under the ship, and you get struck with panic and get lost in the abyss of darkness, weightlessness, and deafening noise? What do you do? You go back to the plan. The plan you practiced. The plan you rehearsed, the plan you visualized over and over again. You go back to the dirt dive. It's this deliberate and immersive preparation that allows you to confront the unknown with confidence and resilience. Just like in the SEAL teams, we study BAPs, tactics, and contingency plans. You too can apply the same principle to navigate your life transitions. Ask yourself, what if, during every step of your plan. Then you'll be more prepared for when things go sideways, because believe me, they will. Just because you made a plan, doesn't mean that everything is going to go perfectly. It rarely does. There will be times, there will be unknowns, that you can't see coming. And we always like to say that the enemy always gets a vote. But it's this deep level of visualization and contingency planning that will ensure that you're ready for anything that life throws at you. The next step is the fun part. Go execute your plan. Go execute your new mission in life. You know that not everything will go according to plan. That's okay. Do it anyway. Roll with the punches and have fun while you're at it. Most people see life transitions coming at them, but they rarely make a plan, and they never do a dirt dive. I use this saying with many of my clients, that if you want to change your behavior, you have to change your identity. while you're going through your next life transition, I want you to channel your inner Navy SEAL and start doing dirt dives. Whether you're on a mission in the SEAL teams, Switching jobs, heading into retirement, or any other major life change, you need to understand the transitions that you're going to face and what they're going to ask of you before you arrive. And that is how you transition through life like a Navy SEAL. Thank you very much. So again, that was my TED talk. Approximately 15, 17 minutes. Hope you guys enjoyed it. a couple lessons from that TED Talk. Number one, I was super nervous when I gave it. And, I am generally show emotion when I'm on stage. A lot of times that's nerves kicking in, or if I'm trying to be very passionate about what, delivering my message. Sometimes that passion can Pull out other emotions. So I was definitely way more emotional when I delivered the TED talk, you know after I delivered it I wanted to deliver it again this time. I would still have emotion, but I would just be less emotional But again, you only get one shot for a first impression and so when you guys see my TED talk come out you're gonna see that Maybe I was a little more emotional than what I would like to have been but it was interesting I knew who I could look at and who not to look at because they were, like, grown men. starting to, well up and get emotional and teary eyed as well. And women as well. So I was like, I would see them kind of in my peripheral and I would look away. Like, don't look at that guy. Look at the other guy. Look at someone else. Like, scan the crowd. And, and continue delivering my TED Talk. Now, there was a guy that, I guess, the first guy that went, I was outside practicing when he delivered. And he delivers, he's a, professional public speaker. And I get, the word I got was, he, when he started delivering his TED Talk, he became super emotional, and he just started crying, where he had to start over all the way from the beginning, and that's okay. I think it's awesome that he was emotional. I think it's awesome that I was emotional. I wanted to be less emotional, but that's just part of life. you gotta let it out. so anyway, some lessons learned there. You only get one chance to make a first impression. You need to be able to communicate your message as clearly and concisely as easily as possible And that's it. Hope you guys enjoyed this episode of the Navy SEAL mindset I am your host William Branham retired Navy SEAL sniper instructor and a whole bunch of other stuff Go check out my TED talk You guys don't forget to get naked My TED talk when it comes out if you guys have TED talks remember go to Anyway, you guys stay awesome, don't forget to get naked, and I'll talk to you soon.