Having the right mentality is key to success. Sometimes however the situations you are in don't help you have the right or positive mentality nor are the resources available to correct that mentality. Navy veteran Moussa Mikhail had to overcome many struggles in his early life to find himself stationed on a submarine. Surrounded by the same people, nowhere to go, and no mental health professionals on board Moussa had to find ways to keep himself in the right mental state. Those lessons learned led him to create his podcast "The Conqueror Approach" discussing mental health and positive mentality!

Guest Links:

Https://the-conqueror-Approach.captivate.fm/listen

https://moussamikhail.com/

Transcript from Episode 16 with Moussa Mikhail:

Keith McKeever 0:02

Welcome to the battle buddy podcast with Keith McKeever. Welcome to the show Musa Glad to have you here to talk about, you know, kind of clarity of purpose and mindset and some things like that. So go ahead and introduce yourself and tell us what your what your background story is in your in your military story.

Moussa Mikhail 0:24

Absolutely, thank you, Keith, it's a privilege to be on your podcast and connecting with another Vet always means a lot to me, especially talking about this topic. My name is Musa mackell. I'm a Las Vegas native, and Navy submarine veteran. Prior to my military service, I was living in New Jersey, that's where I ended up going to high school and realize I did not want to do what everyone else is doing in my my peer group was just going to college. And then being in the mundane lifestyle, I wanted to be an FBI. So I decided to join the military to give myself sort of an edge with a top secret clearance and education military background. And I ended up going into the Navy, doing the one thing I didn't really want to do is with which was being on a submarine. And I remember telling the recruit as the one thing I didn't want to do. And somehow I attracted that. And then at a certain point, I just surrendered to it. And I knew I was talking myself out of it because of fear. That's really what it was, I didn't want to be in a tube for months and months, isolated from sunlight in life. So I ended up doing my tour. Four years on the USS Columbia, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which was very successful as a in the Navy's void point of view, and to western Pacific deployments. And during those deployments is where I really started to pay attention to the mindset of individuals who were having success, the individuals who were having a terrible experience, and suffering, including myself, and those who were just making the most of it. And I that's when I started really studying the mindset and using those deployments as opportunity for growth. And then that led to a very bad experience with one of my sailors. Right before I got out the military way before I separated, that really pushed me to want to do something to support that and support people in general and their journeys towards self improvement, which I guess we could talk about that story because it's a pretty deep story. But that that's pretty much my background. Now, that has led to me being an entrepreneurial field, doing a podcast, which I'm very passionate about, about self mastery, and writing and speaking. So that's really the path that I'm taking into doing my my part in supporting people on their journeys.

Keith McKeever 2:55

Yeah, I know, we've talked previously, and, you know, the story of what happened is just one of those. One of those things that, unfortunately, more and more people tend to be finding themselves kind of hanging around. I know we're not old. But I mean, I mean, I can look back on my life. And remember a point in time where, you know, acts of violence like that, active shooters and stuff like that was just not not that common, you know, in between, you know, international terrorism, things and domestic terrorism, and, you know, just people just go postal, and there's a lot more of it these days, you know, we see a lot more of it. And, you know, yeah, I know that that'd be a tough, tough thing and would probably shape anybody to, to kind of examine mentality a little bit closer, and wonder what exactly happened. And if you want to, if you want to talk about it, I will stop because I have no problem going really deep on my show. Whatever, whatever you're comfortable sharing.

Moussa Mikhail 4:01

Yeah, no, absolutely love to share, just because the whole purpose I went on my journey of self mastery to help people on their journeys is because of insistence like that. No, I agree with you, Keith, it is more common than I feel like it was 10 years ago. And it's just like kind of a reoccurring thing where people are committing suicide or taking other people's lives. And then we we look at the situation as Oh, they're crazy. People lost their mind. All right. I don't believe people wake up one day just wanting to do stuff like that. It's definitely

Keith McKeever 4:37

yeah. It's not like a flip of a switch. Unless it's a crime in the heat of passion or whatever the the criminal justice term is for it. But yeah, most time it's not.

Moussa Mikhail 4:46

Yeah, and I definitely noticed it. So the story behind it if your guests are wondering what happened. So on the USS Columbia at the end of 2019, I think it was maybe in December or a month. So before Christmas, and that was about the same time I was heading out of the military. So I was separating, to go on my venture to do serve in a different way. And one of the guys on that submarine that I served with, on the Columbia, I noticed his mental health was not in great shape. I believe there's a lot of red flags throughout the process, his behavior, his personality, and then just inability to really catch on to the program, right, we on submarine everyone has to be submarine qualified. Usually within the year that they report to the submarine. It was taking him a lot longer. And he was getting disciplinary issues and, and just a lot of behavioral things that should be addressed. Outside of the submarine area, right? We're professionals, things like that. So eventually, one day, it became a really bad disciplinary issue. And they did a review board. And then I don't know what the result was. That was I wasn't a part of the review board disciplinary review board for him. However, that same day, he ended up going on armed watch on a submarine we're at shipyard at this point shipyard is when they take the submarine or any ship in the Navy out of the water and refurbish it, and fix it up and all that stuff. So we're there, we still need to armed watches on men protecting the submarine at all times. And he was one of them this day, he was armed with a and m 16. And an a pistol. And then in the middle of the day, he shot two Hawaiian shipyard workers and he took his own life on watch with the Navy issue weapon. I was not present at that moment. Because I was doing my paperwork to separate. And then that's when I started getting calls of people who I knew who are working on military base and bro Harbor, asking me like, what's going on what's going on? They said active shooter on the USS Columbia. And I was just like, what, and I asked our corpsman, our doc, our medical guy, cuz I was close, I'm close friends with him. And I still am to this day, I was just texting, I was like, what's going on. And then he said his name. And then that's it. That's when I understood, and that that moment was just uncertain, because I didn't know who was hurt. I didn't know like, I didn't know the extent of what was going on. So just like, knowing the guys that I just served with for years, were in danger, potentially, really put me on this path of anxiety and not knowing what was happening. So I was very concerned. And then found out it was to Hawaiian shipyard workers and taking and him taking his own life. And that just hurt to see, right, these, these Hawaiians are very close, they're very family oriented. So to see that happen to the community and Pearl Harbor, and to the community on the submarine, it was just it was just really dark times. And the problem for it, what that problem that I saw was the response to it. And you know, I'm not gonna bash the Navy. However, I really don't believe it was addressed properly, or the problems were addressed properly. And it was kind of looked at as like one of the isolated incidents. And like we said, those things don't just happen, he didn't wake up one day was like, Okay, this is the day, right? If there was a progression, and at leadership, the entire community, the entire submarine.

We all play a part in that we all play a part in the culture, we all play a part any one person could stepped in and say like, Hey, man, what's going on and then and work, they could have prevented that situation from happening. And that was what I saw lacked was that nobody, from my position to the top of the chain of command, wanted to take any sort of ownership for what happened. They don't want to take any ownership, which is what we need, right? We need the leadership to take ownership and make a stand for those types of issues. And that wasn't the first issue. There's there were several suicides in the submarine community alone that year, the same year, and I didn't even know who they were like, they'd even give us the names of those people who committed suicide and it was just like, they're really good at hiding these things. They really want to protect their image because if people knew how many people committed suicide on a submarine, they would not want to do submarine duty. Like why are these people killing themselves on the duty and that might be similar to other fields in the Navy and the navy or in other branches? And it just like they do they want to to protect their image, and they just they don't really report on it. Yeah, I

Keith McKeever 10:03

think every field in every branch is probably that way. Like there's, there's this image that you want to uphold. And from their perspective, they're trying to uphold an image. And then all of us, individually service members kind of put up this brick wall, like, No, we're fine, we're good, even though the red flags could be there. And they can present themselves, it's, in some ways, it's like, nobody's fault. In other ways. It's everybody's fault. Like, somebody should have noticed this, somebody should have said something. And I'm not going to try and say that, that they're, they're equal, because what the guy did was terrible, but it's just like suicide. You know, my second deployment, I didn't know the guy, but I was working at at the entry control point, to join base blod. And we got relief for the night. And I, you know, I was a Humvee driver and Humvee with the 50 caliber on it. So it's just me and the driver out there. We got relief for the night. Kind of the same guys that would relieve us, like, you know, almost every night. And so, you know, as changeovers go, it was like, yep, you know, on these, their ammo is their weapons there, it's all fueled up, you good? Yep, we're good. You know, I was drinking the cooler, you know, high five, like, there's nothing to do, you know, as long as vehicle runs, lights, work and weapons, they're like, that's all it really matters. So it was kind of a high five, and we're out of there. And we got on the bus to leave to go go back to the armory, you know, go back home, shower, sleep, all that stuff. And the bus basically turned around and made it about, you know, a quarter of a mile down the road for somebody whose radio went off. We didn't even hear the gunshot, but I don't, I don't remember the guy, you know, nothing ever really stood out. But he was one of the guys who were leaving that night. And whatever was going on somebody on his shift, you know, heck, even me, you know, maybe maybe there's something that I missed, you know, when the guy came out there, like, you know, did he? Did I not take it, I should have taken more time to like, look at him as it was or something wrong, you know, raise raise a raise a flag somewhere, say, I don't know, if this guy should be out here. You know, whatever the case is, I don't know the guy's specifics. But I think there's a lot of instances like that where somebody should have seen something, somebody probably did see something. But it was never said because of Manning because of image. Who knows what, but we got to do a better job. I think the same thing is happening in the veteran community now. Yeah. You know, you said like, what happened in the submarine field. I think last year in the Air Force, security forces career field. And I didn't, I didn't know any of them personally. But I knew people who served with pretty much every one of them or knew of each one of them. But it goes in Facebook circles, you see it when you're in those career field type groups. We lost like 12 1314 members, something like that last year to suicide, active and veteran, and it's just like not, that's just too damn much. Somebody should know something. Somebody wasn't checking on their battle buddies, whatever. So that's got a it's got to change.

Moussa Mikhail 13:10

Yeah, and I definitely, I'm not trying to say that anyone on the submarine should have took guilt, and been like, Oh, this is my fault or anything. It's it's a, it's a bigger picture, though. Like, why did one of our guys feel that was the only way? That was the only solution? You know, and that kind of thought process just made me even look at it like wow, like, what can I do now? To help people or to just ask the questions or to ensure people can actually get help? Or whatever I can do to say that it is okay to go see mental health is why is there a stigma to help people process their own traumas and issues that they're dealing with? And that was the big issue. And it's not something that I'm I make myself guilty for. I use it to drive me to help more people. Right. And that's that's sort of the core of my podcast is if someone can hear message that might help them in some way. I'm doing justice for them and just helping and being of service and and that that's really what it is, man and it's just hard to see and you say 1314 people and that's just a number for a lot of statistics. And you guys see how many people that that affect how many friends how many family members but communities the Air Force, right because like that entire that? Yeah, three people died that day on that submarine. However, that affected an entire base and an entire island of people because there was not one Hawaiian nose like okay with that. No one was right. No one was like no one. Like no one was like, Oh, someone, like, killed somebody on our base yesterday and like affected an entire amount of people, and then affected the entire navy that are the amount of people in the Navy actually knew about it. Because there's suicides that happen on the surface fleets that I never heard of. They don't report it to us. It doesn't come up in the news. And like the guy you talking about? No, that didn't show up in American news either. Like it's not talked about enough. And that's just my, I'm just trying to bring it to more awareness. So people can actually see like, what can I do what, what's possible for me like, it took one conversation, and that person changed their mind, or one resource, you know, whether it's a suicide hotline, whether it's really seeing therapy, whether it's just people caring, because a lot of times, it can only really takes one person to really care and really show that they care to make someone realize that their life has way more value than whatever they're going through. And that it's temporary.

Keith McKeever 16:06

Yeah, I think shedding a lot of light on things is huge, and we all have to do it. And I think it's veterans, like we should all we should all learn more about this. And so we can spot the red flags. And we can consciously know it's a red flag. Because there can be things that you could be seeing from your battle buddies, or people that are still serving, you can see from your teammates, that are red flags, and you have no idea. Because you're not consciously looking for it like, well, you know, that's just kind of the weird guy, or, you know, he's just kind of always like that, well, was he always like that? Or was he liked it? From day one when he got to your ship or to your unit? Because he was already pissed off and in that, or angry, whatever emotion in that state when he got there, and you're just seeing what is what is normal and what is festered. You're not seeing what is really truly like their core being their core personality, like who they really should be if they're getting help. You can consciously recognize that stuff. And you can be like, Okay, there's, there's a problem here.

Moussa Mikhail 17:10

Yeah, and I was, I'm reading an excellent, excellent book that I recommend, haven't finished it yet. But it's with Oprah Winfrey, and a neuroscientist psychiatrist, I can't remember his name is called What happened to you? And it's about changing the narrative from being what's wrong with that person, or what's wrong with you, to what happened to you. Because there's, there's a deep root, when someone comes shows up to a unit and are already disgruntled, or if they have problems adapting, or if they have problems with their communication or their expression, which is really not that hard to notice. And then when I look think back, I was like, This guy had so many red flags with emotional intelligence and, and his personality and the way he comprehended and just the behavior, that there there should have been some deeper analysis. And then they're just asking that question. It's not, it's not coming from a place of judgment, but a place from understanding that someone's acting in such a way, if someone is really disgruntled if someone is really in depression, or dealing with PTSD, what happened to you? Right, and that's the conversation, we're trying to get to the solution by getting to the root, not not just, oh, that person's crazy, because he went to war, or that person was on submarine. So he's just disgruntled like every other submarine or whatever the case is, it's what happened that's deeper than that. Right? Because there's always so much that builds up.

Keith McKeever 18:49

There's always there's always a cause there somewhere. You just got to kind of dig it, pry it and uncover it. And we do need to do a better job as community of just asking the question and realize that it's not coming from a bad place. Like if I asked you, are you okay, today? It's not coming from a bad place. Like it's coming from a good place like, Hey, are you okay? And, you know, do you need anything? Are you fine, like, you know, we shouldn't be, we should be a lot more open with each other there and share information, share the stories, so that you can figure out what's going on. And I think that there's some I think there's there's some great places that that is happening, like clubhouse, you know, I've been in a lot of chats on clubhouse for somebody struggling, and we just kind of gather around, people get pinged in the room, and we just kind of, we're just there and let the person talk, let them vent. It just kind of be there for them. And so they kind of calm down and give them the help they need. And I've seen it a lot

Moussa Mikhail 19:47

and promoting that, promoting that kind of behavior. And that kind of courage and vulnerability. Right not not putting some negative label on someone because they wanted to share something that they're going through, or if they want to go mental health, there are some, you know, they're just being, you know, a wuss or whatever, and different version of that word. And, you know, it's promoting that, like, wow, you you opened up, like that takes courage that takes, you know, you're trusting enough to say what you've been through, or what you're going through. And that allows people to want to support and that allows you to receive support. So that's a huge part of just getting clear, is trusting yourself, and being open to receive support from people, which you know, it just promoting that type of culture, where if you say something that you're really feeling, you're really thinking about, that you don't get in trouble for it. You don't get bashed for it, you don't get bullied for it. You can get hazed. You just have some people that understand, like, what, regardless of how bad it is, and that I feel like that was the trend a lot. It was people had a lot of these negative thoughts, and they're very in bad places. And they just felt like they couldn't tell anybody about it.

Keith McKeever 21:09

Well, you know, it's hard to when there's a stigma on different things. Like when I got back from my first deployment, I wouldn't I mean, I was flat out told by some people, like, you know, if you go to mental health, and you talk, they're going to take your weapon. And if you're copying Air Force, and they take your weapon, you're you're you're nothing, you've lost your career. It's embarrassing. It's degrading, to be to have all that that power and authority by the by your, you know, by your position as a law enforcement officer not not carry gun. Like there's, there's like no other low so it was like, Okay, well, I'm not gonna go talk to anybody that

Moussa Mikhail 21:49

suck it. Yeah. And that same thing that happens in on regular law enforcement, you know, it's, Oh, you went to see mental health your something wrong you? What's wrong with you? Rather than like, what happened? Like what's going on?

Keith McKeever 22:02

Yeah, you know, a lot of conversation this morning in clubhouse, and I kind of brought it up to somebody and put it in perspective, like this, if you have a dental problem, you go to a dentist, right? If you have an eye problem, go to, you know, your eye doctor, your eye specialist, whatever, whatever the problem is, you have a brain problem, go to a neurologist, right. So like, if you have PTSD, or depression, anxiety, you know, any any of those kinds of things, or you just have feelings that you need to get out, you should a mental health professional is no different. They're, they're licensed, they're qualified, that's their area of specialty, you see specialists for other things. So you should go to a specialist for that. And then since we're on the topic of clarity, I mean, I have a lot of clarity last year, when I realized that, you know, and I've been pro people getting mental health for a long time. But you know, it's not that, you know, you're not crazy. What happened, the event? Whatever happened to you, that was crazy. That was something weird, because as I reflected on my own story, and as I had, you know, conversations. You know, my wife has heard most of my stories. But, you know, as I was having conversations with my stepfather, who was a Vietnam veteran, and him and I were just having conversations, and he was actually kind of opened it up a little bit more about his so his stuff. And my mother would kind of come in the room and listen, and she knows so much stories, but she was kind of hearing it from a new perspective that was a little deeper, a little bit more raw. And I realized, I was like, wow, some of these stories, some of these things are, they're crazy if you're civilian, but we lived through it, it was a real experience, you know, the sights, the sounds of smells, all those things. So that was the crazy part. What happened in your brain is the reaction to it,

Moussa Mikhail 23:43

right? And you know, what, what's really crazy is it's kind of how this the science behind PTSD is when when people go through serious trauma like that, it really starts affecting the way the brain really starts to work. Right and there's the even in that book, they talk about it and it just like some things can trigger a PTSD reaction. And in your in your like conscious your reasoning mind, you're just like, Why did I react that way? Because like deeper than that, on the like, the subconscious level, the brain connects that type of experience to that reaction, which serves you in war, or you know, something that's traumatic. However, it doesn't serve you when you're at lunch, in a coffee shop, and you hear a motorcycle, you know, bang or something, you know, so it's the brain really makes its own connections on a subconscious level. And that's something that people have to understand because they might look at someone who has PTSD and like, oh, you know, he's going crazy because he just freaked out over a firework versus that that's a real thing. And even though he's conscious of it, some part of it that's deeper, needs to start being worked on and desensitize with a profession. which was psychologists and psychiatrists who understand how to start gating desensitizing those reactions. So it really does affect people on a really a physiological level as well.

Keith McKeever 25:13

Yeah. And it's and it's weird how different things can you know, manifest because, you know, I, I kind of lived in, in denial that I had any PTSD type type issues. Because, you know, unfortunately, TV and movies just kind of portrayed as, you know, violence against your spouse, you know, and I hate to be kind of graphic with it, but you know, pushing down the stairs, smacking them pushing them around, you know, like, that's kind of how they portray it. But, you know, there's other things like, you know, extreme isolation, you know, depression, you know, just avoiding people avoiding crowds, like, there's all kinds of different ways right now, I'm not, I'm not a professional in that arena. But like, there's all kinds of different ways you start reading, if you read it on some of the symptoms, and it's like, wow, okay, there's a lot more to it than angry outbursts. You know, it can, it can manifest in so many different ways. So, you know, that's, and that's where it gets hard to get clarity, you know, and that not everybody, you know, has PTSD and needs clarity, there's a lot of people that don't, but just find themselves kind of in a funk, for lack of a better term of like, Hey, I'm kind of stuck in my ways, I'm stuck in my mindset, and I just need to just, you know, tear down that wall and, like, change it. So

Moussa Mikhail 26:23

yeah, and that's something that definitely showed up for people during this pandemic, was when they were left to, you know, if unfortunate people lost their jobs, you know, that's not easy. Over it shows up, how many people were unhappy, discontent, or just not, not in a place where they can actually enjoy life despite what was happening around them. Right, because, unfortunately, the pandemic was happening. And that's a real thing, people got sick and died. However, it's still something that's for a large scale out of our control. Right. So I feel like it was a good time for people to reflect on what do they want? You know, because let's say if you're in a field that maybe you lost your job, that insecurity, of not making an income definitely affected you or may affect someone you know, so it's really thinking about getting clear on is this what I really want to do? Or is this is this the type of life I want, and getting clear on what, what really drives somebody. And that's something that I was struggling through the pandemic as well, because I was in, I was doing real estate. And I was realizing I was not being fulfilled, you know, and I started getting the same feelings I was getting when I was in the Navy of just unfulfillment. Now, there's a lot of potential for success. And a lot of fields, there's a lot of ways to make money. However, it's, am I being fulfilled? Like, what is my heart, calling me to do? Like, how can I show up the better version of myself to help more people? And, you know, where, where am I limiting myself? That's the questions I was asking, like, where am I holding back on who I really am. And, you know, that started coming up for me, and I always wanted to have a podcast and I was talking myself out of it for a long time. And it was just like it was, it was still deep down. And it's I feel like until you get in alignment with what you really want, on a subconscious level, what would really bring you happiness, there's always going to be a lot of friction there. And if that friction is really palpable,

Keith McKeever 28:50

man, it's hard for me to even have a response to that, because we're, you know, we're so similar in a lot of ways, you know, both in real estate, both podcasts kind of talking about, you know, to the military veteran audience, but you know, I know years experience to, to non military veteran as well, but that's a lot of the reason I started this podcast, I do a lot of volunteering with the otter flight program, absolutely love it. They're like another family to me. And then when COVID hit, and all of a sudden, we weren't, weren't making flights happen, we weren't even getting together and doing really much of anything, you know, struggling to find ways to get together. It like pulled the rug out from underneath me, like that was so healing to me for years to give back to be around fellow vets, you know, do different things. And so, I was kind of the same way like I was like, Oh, welcome to the podcast thing. I love listening to podcasts. And here we are, you know, this is your, your guest number 16 on the show. And, you know, the journey has been amazing. I absolutely freakin love it. Every conversation is unique and special and awesome. It broadens my horizon gives me a little bit more clarity that like my purpose You know, like, I love real estate, it's something I'm passionate about, I always tell people, I'm passionate about two things, real estate and veterans issues. You know, you get me talking about either one of those I'm gonna keep talking forever. Passionate about Yeah, so like, it really kind of showed me like, Okay, I, you know, I have to do something in both arenas. Because I have that deep of a passion, I have a connection to it. And so he showed me a lot of clarity. And personally,

Moussa Mikhail 30:28

that's really what I believe it starts coming from is the awareness of the passion that you have when you're doing something. And, you know, if someone doesn't have passion for something, it's noticeable. And you might not even notice how much you don't like it. And you probably do, because there's a lot of people who I saw in the military who just, you know, clock in, clock out, and they're just doing it for the paycheck, even in the civilian sector that was helping the military, they just do it for the paycheck, because they know they get decent money. And they live in this mundane stage, where they don't feel like they're fulfilling their purpose, or they don't feel like they're really making a difference, or they don't feel significant in whatever way. And that takes a toll. And you start noticing it because you start your energy's low. That's the first thing that you notice. If you're not doing something that brings you passion, your energy is gonna just be low all the time. And then that's, that just brings me back to a question that came from a stoic philosopher that I never forgot. And it was really, it was a simple question. It was like, How much longer are you willing to wait to demand the very best of your life? And that was just like, you know, what is the best? What's possible for me to create? What's possible? And that's really where things start to shift. When you start moving from, oh, I can't do that. I can't make a podcast, I can't write a book. I can't start real estate business like and start thinking what's possible, like, what can I create? Right? Because now look, even you, Keith, you're making a podcast, and you're supporting veterans, all across the country in the world, whatever issues they have, and your scale, and that's, you know, that will grow and grow and grow, however you're doing the most you can, right, and then more opportunities, more possibilities will start opening up right, more connections, this person knows somebody who can help you reach more veterans, this person knows somebody that can help you get more real estate deals, and start opening up more possibilities. However, that wouldn't be possible if you were stuck. And you didn't even start the podcast, if you're using go for what you were passionate for. And that translates to almost every area of your life when you when you live centered on your passion. And you're in that realm of what's possible, what's possible for me to create what's possible, and that's, that shifts the dialogue in your brain.

Keith McKeever 32:54

Yeah, you know, it's something weird happens when you when you shift from those, like, going through the motions to looking for the opportunities, you know, taking those purposeful steps. And, you know, I, I did a pre show interview for my podcast yesterday with an awesome military spouse, and her and I, you know, I immediately knew I was like, Okay, I got to have her on my show. You know, try not to tip the hat is what we're going to talk about. But there were some other things that were you know, in motion as we were talking, we're like, okay, alright, we got to collaborate on on a, b, and c here. Like, we there's no doubt about it, we're gonna put our heads together, and we're gonna figure figure something out and try and bring some extra resources and information to the military spouse community, I'll leave it at that. But keeping your mind open and looking for that opportunity, her and I were both in that, in that in that space, where we're like, hey, let's do this. Like, you know, the podcast episode is one thing, but we can take a step further, we can collaborate and we can do something that really impacts some other people beyond just an hour long episode. You know, when you can shift your mindset to that? That's huge.

Moussa Mikhail 34:04

Right? And that, that is just an a possibility of you just stepping into your greatness, right? Because if you talk yourself out of it, like, Oh, I'm not good enough to make a podcast, you might not have met her or whatever, oh, and that opportunity to help more people wouldn't have been available to you. So it's, it's really, it's really being becoming clear on your capability as a man or woman, to affect other people. And that really starts from the belief in yourself, your self worthiness, right? Because once you believe you're worthy, to create great things, and have greatness and have great relationships. You start to see those opportunities very clearly. If you don't believe that you're capable, or worthy of having Great business, a great relationship, whatever it is, your your mind's not going to see that it's going to block those opportunities out and you're going to be stuck on what you're focused on right now. Yeah,

Keith McKeever 35:14

I think if you if you study successful people, and I'll just throw some random names out there, but the Gary Vaynerchuk Tony Robbins, Bill Gates, right. Like, they all have that mentality of what's possible. And they match it with action. This, to me, like the two biggest indicators, you look at anybody successful, they did something. And they had the they had the right mentality was pointing them in the right direction, may not have been perfect. It probably adapted over time. But like, that was a huge factor in their success. It's, I think, I fundamentally think that's a factor in everybody's success, you're not going to be useful if you don't have the right right mentality. Yeah, you kind of define it really good. I was gonna ask you to kind of define clarity. But I think that was a really, really kind of awesome way to kind of define it.

Moussa Mikhail 36:02

Yeah. And you mentioned something great, because like, I'm a huge Tony Robbins fan. And I know, he talks about having absolute certainty and clarity and what you want, like the outcome to know, your outcome is what he would say. And that that's absolutely true. You want to know, your outcome. And that the intention you have, if that's set, like absolutely, this is I'm going to do this, then the how the mechanisms take you there, you figure out on the way and sometimes you might try, something won't work. And you understand that, and then you try something else, and you continue to shift, and move and shift and move. And, and a part of that is becoming okay with failure. And that failure failing is just the event. And you it's an opportunity to learn. Right and, and that's really what it is. Because any anything great think of anything great that's ever been invented, any great organization, it didn't just like happen without any failure in the making. And it was just a lot of shifting and moving. This didn't work. Who can I who can help me here, who do I need to talk to, and you start getting this relationship with failure, and this relationship with fear that it's going to be present. And, and you know, it's it's a possibility, however, it doesn't need to stop me from talking to this person. It doesn't need to stop me from asking for what I want. And that's really what starts making those slow progressions is that relationship and that's huge man relationship with fear was big for me. And it was because a lot of times people say fear stop me from you know, my fear of rejection, stop me from asking this girl out, whatever. And it's not fear of rejection that stopped you it was the your relationship to fear. The fact that fear controlled you. You didn't have fear fear had you in that moment. And that's something that I am still practicing to not have not let fear have me, but to have fear, and still choose what action is going to serve me moving forward.

Keith McKeever 38:15

Yeah. You know, pushing through that fear, like makes us stronger. I'm going to assume, because we're both podcasters, you probably had a little bit of fear before doing your very first episode. I know I did. Like I was nervous, like, Okay, what could go wrong? What is this going to look like? You know, what does Episode One look like? What does episode 15 look like? What does 20 look like? 25. Right. Like, here's a little bit of fear. But here we are handful of episodes in. And I've gone from that fearful place of what does this look like to I know, I know, it's going to be awesome. Because I've already interviewed most of my guests, if not all of them beforehand. I know what we're going to talk about is going to be awesome. Like it's going to exceed my expectations. Because you know, you just put it out there and so you know, you shift from that fear of like, oh my gosh, what's gonna happen to like, No, I know it's gonna be awesome. It's going to be amazing. Contents gonna be out there.

Moussa Mikhail 39:12

Absolutely, man. I absolutely agree. And it was that same thing. He was like my Episode One is where I'm at right now. And then when I'm when I look back at it, I'll see the growth. And it just about starting, just starting. And in some interesting that some people usually don't know that what kind of blew my mind is like some a list. Celebrity actors, for example, still get fearful and nervous when they play a part in a movie. And it's like really, like they still have those emotions. However, you never know that because they're their excellence in what they do. However, it's it's that just shows that fear doesn't just go away. No one's fearless. It's just Oh, there's fear here. I acknowledge it. I understand it. I'm not going to let it stop me because Then my service is more important than me talking to myself saying, I'm stupid, or I'm not smart enough, or I'm not good enough, or I'm not gonna, people are not gonna like me or people are not going to listen, or whatever the case was. And you know that you had that conversation, I feel like everyone does when they're starting something new, that's a risk for them. Anytime someone starts a business, they're gonna have some of that fear show up. And the ones that create great businesses and, you know, have some success, they didn't just not have fear, they had fear, also, they just chose to move past that, and act in spite of it.

Keith McKeever 40:39

Yeah, just know that it's kind of kind of natural to just be there, to some degree to some varying level, it's going to be there. And you just got to kind of push back through it. So. But I did want to circle back to your time in the Navy. Because we've talked about clarity. Well, let's, you know, kind of bring it back to like, fighting the mental struggles and finding that clarity. So what kind of tools do you guys use? When you're on a submarine? You're under the water? There's nobody around. There's just, you know, however many of you guys down there in a in a floating tin, can you how, what did you guys develop, to deal with though, with things?

Moussa Mikhail 41:19

Yeah, a lot of it? Well, I say for me, I had this mindset of anytime I'm underwater, I'm going to make make it as productive as possible, whether it's me in my furthering my Navy career, and certain qualifications, or me reading books, listening to podcasts, and just learning and getting other perspectives that I would have never had, or never allowed myself to sit down and listen to or whatnot, when I'm too busy. Or say, I'm too busy. And when I'm in port, or whatever. And a lot of it was just that, that's when I really started to take this growth mindset, to where I'm going to learn as much as I can to deal with these emotions, to deal with this type of environment. A lot of it that I know, most Submariners, I'll say on their behalf for the most part, you have to surrender. That's, you know, that shows up in life in so many different ways. When you're underwater, you have to surrender to the fact that the crew that Anwar, that the crew that's on watch right now. It's taking care of us. Right, because you're underwater, like, yeah, it's that's a threat of itself, right? Absolutely. We want to make sure we can come back up. And if we fill up with water, so it's, it's, I learned that and that didn't really register it in the beginning. However, I knew that was the only way I'll have peace, when I go to sleep at night, is just surrendering, that it's all going to be okay that these guys are trained. And there's a on my submarine, there's about 140 to 150 men. And they're our sole purpose is to achieve the mission and get home. And that was a big part of my job was navigation. Right? My job was to make sure we didn't mudhar anywhere, and that we execute our plan safely. So I'm getting

Keith McKeever 43:20

ahead of mudhar. I've never heard that term before. But I am getting

Moussa Mikhail 43:26

Yeah, we use it as something that it's like the worst thing we can ever do. Gladly, it doesn't really it doesn't happen. However, it's always a threat. Right? Because you you don't have these like, windshield underwater, right? It's, you know, we use sound to navigate. So it's gonna be the weirdest thing feeling. No windows? Yeah.

Keith McKeever 43:47

No, it's like driving blind, I guess. I mean, it's just don't just be weird. It is very interested in mental struggles of getting over just just that, just that struggle of, I can't see where I'm going. And so now I'm going to rely on a different sense. Ensure that we get where we go.

Moussa Mikhail 44:05

Yeah, there's a lot of things, a lot of screens and gauges and a lot of things that people work together. But we all work together to make sure that happens. And I started realizing there was so many mechanisms involved that help us do our job safely, that I just had to trust that and move forward and in with that a lot of people who it is difficult, right? You can't just pick up a phone and call your best friend or your girlfriend, your wife or whatever. And you can't just go out to the store. You can't go out to eat. You can't go out for drinks because you're in the tube. So what what can I do now? And it's it's simple. Someone said it right before I ever went on a submarine because I was just like they were in for like 20 years. They'd been on like 10 deployments. And I'll just like how did you like do all that? And he told me it was just making making everything fun. And that's not just on a submarine that's like, how do I make the most of where I'm at right now? Because I can choose to find something to complain about. Or I can choose to find something that helps me makes makes it more entertaining, makes it more fun makes it better. And that's like, that's where a lot of camaraderie comes from. And a submarine. And that really childish shenanigans. Yeah, shouting shenanigans, a lotta shit talking and a lot of things and, you know, it's, it's less bad as like, the old submarine stories, I used to hear a lot of that stuff just not. Not okay, in modern days. However, it's, it's, yeah, it's, it's really, and you realize how important that is to, and then that I translate that to my life, man, because it's the support of your friends and your relationships, your support system, that help you get through whatever, you know, and that's an in and out the military, civilian or not, like, if you're going through something, and you have people who are actually there to support you, you'll get through it. And that's, that's something that I work on still to this day is creating a support system, you know, making connections, making relationships and friendships happening, and look at how can I develop a support system, that we can support each other through difficult things. And that really helped me moving out of the military.

Keith McKeever 46:26

I think you kind of answered my next question, but we'll see if you have anything else to add to it. I was gonna ask you, you know, how can somebody shift their mindset? If they're reflective enough to know that, like, they're not in the right place? Their minds not focused on what needs to be focused on? They need that clarity? How can they shift themselves? To get to that point? I know, that's probably the first step one, you know, being able to reflect and know where you're at. But

Moussa Mikhail 46:49

yeah, so what comes to mind is something I read by Viktor Frankl who survived Auschwitz, and in Auschwitz, he found a way to be peaceful and happy. So anything is possible. Okay? If Viktor Frankl could do it in Auschwitz? I could do it on a submarine. Yeah. Yeah, so I mean, it's

Keith McKeever 47:13

a happy emotion at all

Moussa Mikhail 47:14

right? Especially Viktor Frankl talks about in his book, The Man's Search for Meaning. And, you know, he watched his whole family die. And like 1000s, of 1000s of 1000s of people, right, is the Holocaust. And he's still said that, between stimulus and response, there's a space. And in that space, lies our ability to choose. And in those choices lie, our growth and our happiness. So that really shifted the way I look at everything, because every stimulus causes a response. However, you have that little space where you can, if you're aware, and you're not just emotionally hijacked, you can choose what you're going to do I get this point, if someone really, really makes me angry. I don't just like flip out, I actually think about what, what is the best choice here? What is going to serve Me, then that's the next choice, the next action. So it's really recognizing those emotions, once you recognize that anxiety, for example. What does that mean? It's really questions, man. Key Questions are the thing that will always help. So if you want to shift your mindset, ask yourself specific questions. Whenever you ask yourself a question, your brain will find an answer. It will search like it just is gonna happen. So what? What's Is this gonna serve me? Yes or no? No, like, this is not gonna serve me if I punch this guy in the face. Because that doesn't really help me. Unless I'm, like, defending myself for whatever reason. Yeah. Yeah, if it's like really self defense, you might have to over if it's just like, Oh, this guy disagreed with me. You know what was going to serve me? If I'm going to request someone on an interview for my podcast, and the fear that comes up, I noticed that fear, I noticed that nervousness, what's going to serve me saying, No, I'm just not gonna ask, or just, you know, I'm just gonna ask anyway. And whatever happens happens, and then he says no escalator. Right. It's, it's having that awareness of how you're feeling. Because all emotions, they usually have some type of physical, physiological response in our bodies, and then asking the question, what is the best move here? What can I do here? How, how is this serving me? Is this even serving me anymore? Is this reaction helping me get to where I want to go? Right, and then if you can stop just for a split second and that space, and ask yourself a question that prompts a response, a good quality question like, What is the option here that's going to help me move forward and not just get me stuck in this cycle of emotions, what's gonna get me past? What's gonna help me overcome what's gonna help me conquer this? That's when your mind looks for different solutions like, hey, maybe you should just like walk away instead of like keep fueling this argument. Or maybe you should, you know, have a conversation with your spouse about why this upset you, instead of thinking that person psychic and just going to understand what you're thinking, because no one does. Right. So it's what serves me right now.

Keith McKeever 50:28

Yeah, avoid it. Avoid going to that Karen moment, right? Yeah, God, it'll be Karen, whatever, you know, that whatever the case may be? Yes, that's really good. I like that, you know, kind of stop and ask yourself a question. Because that's actually well, my counselor kind of told me even like to react to things like just pause, before you respond at all, just count to five, and then your response will be better. And then I never really thought about, you know, kind of consciously asking yourself a question, right, your brain is gonna process certain things. And you're gonna go through that kind of question process anyway. But if you kind of consciously ask yourself that question, okay. All right. Musa really pissed me off a second ago, right? I can be the nice guy, we're gonna punch him in the face. Right? What do I want to do? Like they ask the question, you know, do I want to punch him in the face or not? You know,

Moussa Mikhail 51:19

you know, as crazy and how often people hear it, the best thing to get you to, to kind of get focused on that space where you can actually choose what you want to react with his breathing. Because if you start just like noticing your how you're breathing, that gives you that mental space, that headspace where you can, okay, choose. So it's like when people say, take a breather, like, take a pause, like, take a breath, like that, that has real scientific evidence that take a breath, like your brain can process something. And usually, if you're in an anxious state, or you're stressed out, or you're angry, you're not breathing fully, you're very, very shallow in the way you're breathing. So it's like, take a deep breath. And ask yourself, what is this serving me or not? And I used to do it even with productivity, because I would catch myself a lot of times on a submarine just like wasting time. I was like, Is this the best use of my time? No. Okay, let me let me go through what's the best use of my time, and I'm still practicing that now. Because like, sometimes I just like, lay there and just don't want to do anything. Or I think like, What, is this the best use of my time? No, I couldn't, I couldn't be reading or I can be reaching out to someone or, you know, whatever it is, like, questions are the key to everything?

Keith McKeever 52:40

Yes, that's a really good one. I, like I said, I, I think that just that momentary pause of least five seconds, just at least five seconds, normal breathing at a minimum, will change your response. And, and then maybe give you that clarity to hopefully make the right decision and not push somebody interface, or whatever.

Moussa Mikhail 53:01

You know, another great question. Another great question for self awareness and, and realizing things is why. Simple? Why? Why am I feeling this way? Like, why am I reacting this way? Why do I feel this is what I need to do to make a point? Why? Why will reveal a lot of stuff. And if you keep asking why to yourself, you get to the real reason, the real, why. And not just a bunch of stories you use, we use to justify our behavior. Like why do I not want to ask this person for a real estate deal? Or why do I not want to do this? Because I don't think I'll get it. You know, I don't think I'll get it. Why do I think I'll get it? Because you know, they're busy. Well, why do I think they're busy? And then why why why you realize it's something that you can control, which is just your belief, or limiting belief that's stopping you from taking any action anywhere, like I'm afraid of rejection. I don't believe I'm good enough. So that makes me feel like oh, this person's too busy, or whatever, you know, and that one belief once you start like, oh, that's what's stopping me from wanting to do this wanting to lose weight, wanting to enhance a relationship or start a business, you start realizing like that same belief, is stopping everything that you want from happening.

Keith McKeever 54:32

Why? That is a that is a good one. And I'm going to take this from a different perspective, and not kind of like a personal reaction, clarity. But it kind of made me think back to when I was in. I think it's something every veteran is gonna kind of understand. When leadership comes down with something stupid, right? It makes no sense. It's stupid. You hate it. Everybody sitting around the smoke pit complaining about it. I noticed real quick when I was in the that happened a lot. Right? I think we can all agree that happens all the time. And then I was like, Why? Why? Why this decision? Why are they doing this? Why are they doing that? Right? I know there's been some backlash lately about, I think it was just the Army Air Force might have done it too. But grooming standards for women, allowing them wear ponytails. Right? And a lot of backlash. Who cares? Honestly, like, for starters, who cares? But why? Why did they change it? Well, I don't really know, I wasn't sitting in the room when they made that decision. But you have to trust that the people that are ahead of you rank wise, position wise, authority wise, whatever, are armed with more information. And you have to believe that they're making the best decision they can, for the group as a whole, you may not agree with it, it may suck and make your job harder. But that's one thing that I learned real quick. And it kept me from sitting there dwelling on that crap. Like other people sit around the smoke pit, you know, six months later, pardon my language, or bitching and complaining about it? It's like, okay, it's out of my control. I don't care, right? You know, if I was in right now, I feel the same thing about women in hair, like, okay, it's gonna be weird seeing women walk around in uniform with their hair in a ponytail. Okay, it's gonna be weird. But what effect does it have on my life? None. So if I pay attention to it, and just accept it, and kind of think about, you know, why, you know, while somebody armed with more information made a decision that they felt was best for the force, if I don't have to split it anymore, right. And that gives me more clarity, more clarity to focus on the things that really do matter that I have control over.

Moussa Mikhail 56:44

Right. And you You did it to you, at some point you ask yourself, Is this worth my energy and contemplation? Is this Sir, is this serving me yet? No, it's not like, am I gonna keep talking about something that added my control? Someone made a decision already. And I asked that question like, every day, when I hear any guidance come out, I'm just like, why? And it's something that any leader Jocko willing talks about in his books. If you're a leader, in any team, or even just in your family, it will definitely serve you to make sure your people know why any decisions ever made. Because that, you know, that was one thing that bothered me so much as like, I never knew why there was there was some missions I was on. I'm just like, why are we doing this? And it's nothing. Somebody, somebody thought it made sense. And that's what needs to be communicated. If any relationship if your kid, if you're explaining something to them, and they're just like, puzzled, or they get mad or frustrated, they don't understand the why behind it. And if they really understand the why. And I'm like, Okay, well, that makes sense. I'll do it. Right. And then you get a lot less friction between subordinates and leadership. Though I just

Keith McKeever 57:59

did that the other day with my kid. I'm not gonna go into what what exactly he did, but he was messing around something in my garage. And, you know, finally found out it was him, which I knew was him. You know, I mean, it's the parent instinct we have. You know, it's you, you know, I know, your brother has more sense than that. But, you know, he was doing something and then, you know, so I caught him. And he finally admitted to it, and, and I had that conversation with them. I'm like, Okay, here's why you can't play with that in the garage. You know, here's the list of things that could happen. And you know, and here's why you can't do it. I mean, actually wasn't that bad. Okay, got gas cans out there, sitting next to my snowball. And he decided to kind of pour just a little bit on the ground. I'm talking like, just a drop, right? Because he was kind of curious what the what the color of gasoline was. And it was like, did you think it his age may need to be smart enough not to do that. So I have this conversation with him like, Dude, it's dangerous, it's flammable. You can, you know, I said, if you were starting to fire and I was down in the basement, I would not be here right now. I'd be dead. You know, I've only got one way out of my basement, and then hit him. At eight years old. He's like, Oh, I got you dead. I understand. Now you explain why I can't play with that. And I'm always very upfront with my kids. And like, if you if you don't understand something, you won't understand how something works, then ask. But you won't understand how a screwdriver works fine. I'll get a piece of wood. I got tons and tons of screws around here. You can drive all the screws, you wanted a piece of wood. If you want to learn how to use it all, then I'll teach you how to use it safely. Right, you know, but you need to understand what the dangers are and how and why and all that stuff. And when it was one of those things is like Dude, why?

Moussa Mikhail 59:42

Right? And that's helpful, right? Because like some people might see that and just react and yell at their kid and go away, go in your room, like don't mess with that. And the kid just like, oh, like feeling all these emotions, like, Oh, I'm ashamed. I'm scared. I'm fearful or whatever. And they don't. Yeah. I just want to see what back it was, Oh, why? Oh, those things toxic it could burn down the house like, you know, that makes sense. I won't do that. Right and it leaves the situation better. So kids are amazing practice for Yeah.

Keith McKeever 1:00:15

It was definitely one of those things I'm like, Dude, he's kind of tucked in a corner next to snowblower. I don't know how you were even over in that corner and saw the tank, you know, that, you know, I'll prove canister and all that stuff. And I'm just like, you know, you never know what you got to put up for your kids. You know, I thought we were asked all the safety devices. But you know, they do some they do some weird. Couple weeks ago, they took a took a hammer and a screwdriver and drove it into a into a log for the burn pit. Like for no reason. I'm like, Why did you do that? Like, I don't know, because we wanted to see what happened. I could have told you what happened if you just asked, you know, like, you didn't need to ruin my story, because I had to bend it to get the thing out. But you know, kids, so you saw I was gonna, I was gonna ask it one more question about the submarine thing. And this is just kind of a curiosity thing. Because I know, when you guys are at sea, sometimes you're probably out there for months or at least weeks. You could be underwater, or minimal communication. So just out of a curiosity question, what's like the weirdest piece of news that you guys kind of heard when you kind of got back to a station or you kind of came up where you could get a signal? Like, what's the one thing that like went throughout the whole ship? Like everybody is like, oh my gosh, did you hear about this? Yeah, there's

Moussa Mikhail 1:01:33

a few men. I remember Prince died once. Well, not once. He died when I was on a submarine underway. And then I remember coming back from a deployment and there was a whole haram Bay issue. And I was just like, What the hell is horombo? Oh, no, it is like my friends are catching me up. And I'm just like, wow. Like, I felt like every time I came back from a deployment, I felt lost in the sauce, man six months, just like off the grid. I didn't know what the hell was happening in the world. So rhombi was one of the ones that were just like, wow, that was that was kind of funny. Yeah, crazy. That was like a whole whole revolution going on when Harambee that Harambee incident happened. Just like, Wow, that's crazy. So that was that was a running joke for a little bit.

Keith McKeever 1:02:23

You know, that? You know, and I got to kind of thinking about that out. I just just came up with that question, because I was just like, man, that's gonna be really weird. You know, from my perspective, being Air Force, and both times I was deployed, I mean, I was obviously on the ground, right? We had phone calls, we had, you know, connections to the outside. So you did hear some, you know, most news, it might be a little delayed, but not six months delayed. But I just I figured it, there had to be a good story there about kind of catching up with the world and some WTF moment of like, what? Yeah,

Moussa Mikhail 1:02:57

there was a few Yeah. For you. Yeah, no, there's this, like, there's a bunch of things that happen. And those couple of years are just like, at a certain point, I was just like, you know, I don't even care what's going on. And that was just like me just getting by. And, you know, I missed so many sports and events and just things it was just kind of like, almost depressing in a way that just like, Man, I'm missing out on life. However, it was the best thing because it taught me to cherish the time, man, now I have a great gratitude for time. I feel like more than a lot of people I know. And I appreciate time, and I appreciate you know, the little things a lot more because of that time I spent to

Keith McKeever 1:03:44

so if you ever catch up like on the Super Bowl and find out the Tom Brady didn't win one. Like a shock to or some of the world news, like it would just be the craziest thing.

Moussa Mikhail 1:03:55

Yeah, man. I was out of the loop with sports for so long. And I didn't miss one of the Super Bowls, because I deployed right before Christmas. And you missed the whole holiday season Super Bowls and everything and it was just like, wow, like, I just want to watch the Super Bowl again. You know, you miss out and it just like yeah, Tom Brady's still still open ass. Yeah. He doesn't know patriots aren't suitable Ghana. Weird. Yeah. What? Surprise.

Keith McKeever 1:04:27

Kind of a common thing though. I don't know how much communication there is, you know, some some shifts to the, to the outside world. But you know, sure. It's difficult sometimes to get messages, you know, in and out and hear all the details of what's going on in the world. It's got to be kind of gotta be weird. There's even a show about the last ship. I don't know if you've seen it. My kids love watching that one. And maybe throwing around some mission. They come back and whole worlds infected by some virus. We're,

Moussa Mikhail 1:04:52

you know, it's crazy. A lot of the surface ships now have Wi Fi. So it's like, wow, we're a submarine. We can talk to you Anybody you guys got Wi Fi? Freaking on Facebook and shit. While we're out here like reading a book. We got to do.

Keith McKeever 1:05:07

Tick tock. Gotcha. Now it makes sense. Yeah, no, it's weird how, you know, times, Gil, like, I've heard of people, you know, on deployments over the last like 10 years, you know, they're doing FaceTime or they're doing video chats with their family back home or like me, I did get some card that had 50. Okay, I had to wait in line three hours to sit in a hot trailer with no air conditioning, just to punch these 50 digits in and pay an absorbent amount just to talk to my to my mother or my, my stepfather, my sister, whatever, for 10 minutes. You know, forbid the card runs out, you're gonna somebody's gonna send you one. Or you know, it's like interface timing now,

Moussa Mikhail 1:05:43

it was getting better. I heard they got like Starbucks on some aircraft carriers and like you can order Amazon and then like flight in.

Keith McKeever 1:05:51

That's incredibly dangerous, just volume of stuff that could be on the ship.

Moussa Mikhail 1:05:58

And I don't know if it's true. Don't quote me on that. I've never been on an aircraft carrier to find out.

Keith McKeever 1:06:06

That seems like a crazy, crazy situation being the middle of the sea on a giant ship with loud. I tell you what being enforced I hated fighter jets, is I may do the coolest things in the world. But man, those things are damn freakin loud, man,

Moussa Mikhail 1:06:20

loud, man. And I'm here next. And there's Nellis Air Force Base in a fighter jet just crashed into a neighborhood.

Keith McKeever 1:06:27

You know, I heard that. Yeah. Crazy. That's imagine you

Moussa Mikhail 1:06:31

mean you're doing this podcast and I'm freaking jet comes in hits me. Like,

Keith McKeever 1:06:35

Well, I think I would quit podcast.

Moussa Mikhail 1:06:39

That's PTSD right there. I'd

Keith McKeever 1:06:40

be like, okay.

Moussa Mikhail 1:06:43

That's crazy to think of, like, crashing into houses. Like, that's crazy.

Keith McKeever 1:06:48

Yeah, you know, it's, it's part of the risk, though, you know, aircraft and things can go wrong. And, you know, when I was in, I was down in Ecuador for six months. And first one, the first things they told us because we're on Ecuador, Air Force Base was, you know, you got to prepare for a crash out here. Because the Ecuadorian Air Force Base, now their planes were like, from the 60s, right? But they're, they're like, they average, average three crashes a year. And we're like, we're not here for six months. So we might see one or two. And so we did a lot of exercises for a lot, we got lucky, we're down there. But, you know, it was like, Oh, this is great. Because you know, that's gonna be, that's gonna be a mess to deal with, you know, from multiple perspectives, we will go there. But we will wrap it up. I got three final questions for you that I asked every veteran that comes on my show. So the first one is, what advice would you have for somebody who's looking to transition out of the military, you know, today, sometimes soon, etc.

Moussa Mikhail 1:07:46

Best advice I can give is just getting a support system around you. Because I thought I had everything planned out. And I had a good plan getting out. And it was still extremely hard on me. So getting support systems and maintaining those connections, those relationships with people. And even if you know, people who are getting out like me, you know, check up on them, right? Because those support systems make a huge difference.

Keith McKeever 1:08:12

That's a good one. Yeah, I think that's a huge key to success. You know, whatever that looks like for a veteran. So what about somebody who's looking to join the military today? What kind of advice would you have for them? Besides, don't become, you know, don't get yourself on a summary.

Moussa Mikhail 1:08:28

You know, it's just make sure you know, your Why. Why do you want to be in the military? Because I see a lot of people when they join the military, for their reasons. And then somewhere along the way, they forget why they joined. And that's where things start going south and their behavior, their experience starts becoming a negative experience. Be very clear on why and just keep that keep that in the forefront. Always. Why did you even join in the first place? Because that will get you through all the challenges in the navy or any branch?

Keith McKeever 1:09:01

Match? Now there's a why question again? Mm hmm. That's a good one.

Moussa Mikhail 1:09:05

Why am I doing this? Very clear on that

Keith McKeever 1:09:09

often. So find the question here. Give me an opportunity to kind of not necessarily question but you know, an opportunity to give a shout out to any veteran organizations or nonprofits or anybody you think is doing some, you know, some good things out there. How would you like to give a shout out to

Moussa Mikhail 1:09:24

those get a shout out to 22 warriors, their foundation that's based on excuse me, I'm based out of Las Vegas over they help veterans all over really fighting veteran suicide and providing amazing resources for veterans for free. So awesome organization. 22 warriors.org 22 warriors.org.

Keith McKeever 1:09:45

All right, I'll have to remember that one. And it's my head to my website. I don't know if you've been on my website or not, but constantly tried to put some resources myself on there. So that kind of it's always an interesting question to kind of ask and see what else you know other people have seen because I may not have and trying to add the resources out there, you know, the more places that eyeballs can see things.

Moussa Mikhail 1:10:08

Definitely, definitely a lot of opportunities to help people out there. You just got to be open to it.

Keith McKeever 1:10:14

Absolutely. So that's all I've got. Got your website scrolling at the bottom, loosen McHale calm you can check them out that the conquer approach podcast. I know it's on Spotify cuz that's where I listen what other platforms I'm assuming, you know, Apple, Google and all those things.

Moussa Mikhail 1:10:33

Yeah, it's on all platforms, all major platforms YouTube, I post the videos. So anywhere podcasts are listened, you can catch the conquer approach.

Keith McKeever 1:10:43

And YouTube, same thing I do. I get it out there everywhere. So I appreciate you once again, who's taking the time, despite some technical issues we had earlier today. We got it done. So I really appreciate you bringing it, you know, some information on mindset and clarity because like I said earlier, it's like a perfect time for it because we're in at that shifting point is the CDC kind of comes out with some new guidance and masks and you know, what's the new normal the world look like? And I think a lot of people can really use a lot of clarity. Absolutely. Figure out how to how to navigate what's in front of us what that sounds like. So

Moussa Mikhail 1:11:21

now I want to thank you and you're doing amazing work, keep it up as your message makes a difference. And I'm just it was an honor to be on your show and be connected with you.

Keith McKeever 1:11:32

Absolutely. I'll go ahead and play the the little outro right here. And once again, thanks a lot.

Moussa Mikhail 1:11:41

Thank you, man. Take it easy.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai