In this episode, Brock speaks with Justin Mikolay. Justin is a former submariner and was a speechwriter for several notable figures, including General Petraeus, General Mattis and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. You'll hear what he learned about leadership from each of them. You'll also hear an in depth discussion on the creative process and how he works through the work of some of the world's smartest people. You're going to learn a lesson in nuclear fission, and how it applies to our creative process, why it's essential to put your words out into the world, and how to use those as a lighthouse to draw like minded people to you. We get into several other subtopics what he regrets about his time in the military, working at Palantir, and heuristics on habit forming. 

Episode Resources:

Justin on Twitter

Substack

'The Meaning of Their Service' by Mattis

Notes:

(02:08) - Justin's Rate My Professor score
(05:02) - Why most people have never tried to write and parallels with running/staying in shape
(15:07) - Systematizing creative and life processes
(19:20) - The art of 'Active Consumption' and K Effective
(23:37) - ChatGPT and Generative AI
(27:12) - Speechwriting and takeaways from the world's most powerful figures
(36:06) - Why leadership is inspiration to action
(43:37) - Finding meaning in service and what we're truly serving
(50:51) - How Nuclear school played out in Justin's career
(56:03) - Assimilating back into civilian lifestyle
(59:17) - Regrets about service
(01:08:25) - Spend your energy on a worthy cause
(01:12:38) - Putting your thoughts, energy, and time into the world through the scale of the internet
(01:29:15) - Finding what you have that's valuable
(01:37:27) - What we can learn that we can implement today

The Scuttlebutt Podcast - The podcast for service members and veterans building a life outside the military.

The Scuttlebutt Podcast features discussions on lifestyle, careers, business, and resources for service members. Show host, Brock Briggs, talks with a special guest from the community committed to helping military members build a successful life, inside and outside the service.

Get a weekly episode breakdown, a sneak peek of the next episode and other resources in your inbox for free at https://scuttlebutt.substack.com/.

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• Brock: @BrockHBriggs        
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• Send me an email: scuttlebuttpod1@gmail.com
• Episodes & transcripts: Scuttlebuttpodcast.co