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: https://twitter.com/jmikolay
Substack: https://letter.substack.com/
'The Meaning of Their Service' by Mattis: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-meaning-of-their-service-1429310859
Show Notes:
00:00 Episode Introduction
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
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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.
Follow along:
• Episode & transcript: https://www.scuttlebuttpodcast.co/68-unlocking-the-power-of-the-creative-process-with-justin-mikolay/
• Brock: https://www.brockbriggs.com/