Will Craig: Transforms Fear Into Freedom

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0:16Will Craig:It's not about how I led always. It's what did they learn from me? What were they inspired from and how I lived my life every single day? I think about it a lot with parents. And while I'm not one myself, one thing that has always been acutely aware to me is most of what a kid learns is through osmosis. It's by what they see every single day. Welcome to Mick Unplugged, the number one podcast for self-improvement, leadership, and relentless growth. No fluff, no filters, just hard-hitting truths, unstoppable strategies, and the mindset shifts that separate the best from the rest. Ready to break limits?

0:57Let's go!

1:02Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Mick Unplugged, and today we're talking to a personal friend of mine. He's turned passion into purpose, silence into strategy, and mental health into a mission. From battling personal darkness to becoming a best-selling author, a viral speaker, and a corporate truth-teller, he's bold, he's transparent, and he's a good human. He is Mr. Will Craig. Will, how are you doing today, brother?

1:31Will Craig:I'm doing good, my friend. How about yourself? I am doing amazing. Doing amazing, man. It's cool that we get to have this conversation, man. Like, you know, when Robert Irvine introduces me, like when we're out, he's always like the power of LinkedIn because that's kind of how our relationship started was LinkedIn. And now I get to do the same thing to my buddy Will, man, like the power of Instagram, right? It was like it was an Instagram message. We chatted a lot on Instagram. You invited me onto your podcast. And now we're like boys, man. So I want people to understand the power of social media when done correctly can really introduce you to some amazing people.

2:16Because I got introduced to my good friend, Mr. Will Craig.

2:20Will Craig:No, I completely agree. And I think there's even like a, whether it's social media or even just in person, like I think it's a skill that doesn't get talked about enough like in school or anything else. is just the ability to just walk up or reach out to somebody that you don't know and just like try to extend an olive branch right that simple connection because like all that happened with us for those who don't know the backstory here with nick and i he had engaged he had liked a couple of my videos that i posted and then i just shot him a message i didn't know if he was going to reply but to me it was like let's why not why not reach out say hi i appreciate what you're doing in the space and let's go from there.

3:00Will Craig:And so I think that's an untapped market for everybody is just shoot your shot, reach out. No, totally agree. Like shoot your shot and do it with purpose and with passion and with, with really positive energy, right? Like, you know, again, my mentors, I all met somewhere. And one of the things that they will all tell you to look you in the eyes to your face and tell you is one of the reasons they respect me is because I'm not like, oh, let's take a picture. Let's do a selfie. Right. I'd rather ask a question because those conversations go further and they'll remember a conversation more than they will remember, you know, who they did a selfie with.

3:41Damon John takes a million pictures a day. Right. Les Brown takes a million pictures a day. Robert Irvine, a million pictures a day. But it's those conversations that actually move people. And so that's just one little tidbit of advice that I'll give out to folks as well, too, man. Like shoot your shot, but make it meaningful.

3:58Will Craig:Couldn't agree more. It's, you know, it's that if you think about it, you only get so many chances with everybody you walk into life, no matter where they're at in their stage either. It's like that impression will last. And so to your point, like asking the right question or, you know, leaning in to what someone's background is doing just a little bit of background work ahead of time to know like, Hey, this person cares about these things, I'm going to make the impression to say, I did my homework. I came prepared. And I want to have this conversation with you because I think you're a meaningful person to have that with.

4:30Absolutely.

4:31Will Craig:Absolutely. Well, man, so let's get into it for the, for the audience. And I want the audience to know a little bit about your because, right? Like what's that thing? And like, I know, but I want the audience and I want the viewers and listeners to know because to me it's really dynamic like what's that thing that keeps you driving what's that real reason behind your why that keeps you doing what you do every day man i love the way by the way that you frame it up as the because you know the why is great simon said it was right start with why but that has to lead into the because so i think that's worth calling out to folks but for for me as you called out in the beginning of the show i've had to battle a few different demons personally.

5:16Will Craig:I went through some dark bouts of depression. I had a significant other die unexpectedly. I've had six brain surgeries and I'm going to have more. And all of those are just part of my story of who I am as a person. And that's my why. That's what got me caring about mental health and caring about these things. But as I put myself out there in the space to write, to speak, to make videos, the because it became more clear, which is that it's one simple mission. I want others to feel less alone in their struggle. When you're in the darkest parts of your life, when you're in that place that it feels like nobody's going to understand, the reality is you're not alone.

6:00Will Craig:And there are other people who have been in your shoes and there are people that are willing to hear what you have to say. but so often we whether it's depression anxiety you name it those things feed off your ability to feel alone and that nobody else is going to care so if you can understand and if I can be the person to extend it out and say I've gone through these things I have struggled in these places I have come out the other side from it a maybe it's an inspiration but b it's if nothing else to let other people feel less alone and as I've evolved what I'm doing with the podcast it's getting other people to share those stories too.

6:38Will Craig:And I only have so many experiences. How do I get other people to express theirs as well to make the rest of the world realize they're not alone in their struggle? That is deep, man. And I want to unpack, no pun intended, unplug a little bit of what you talked about there, man. I want to go into this segment that I want to say, who was Will Craig? Because who you were versus who you are today are different. So who was will craig man like if we were to look back and say you know you talked about the brain surgeries the loss of loved ones right i know a little bit about the the darkness that you you lived in who was will he was a scared kid at his core he was just so scared for a number of reasons the core of which being because of a medical condition i have called hydrocephalus at the core of that like i said i've had six brain surgeries i'm gonna have more and i truly believed that my existence in other people's lives was a sunk cost to them so i had to be exceptional in order to be worth anyone's time and that fueled arrogance it fueled cockiness and all these things because i had to go the complete other extreme.

8:00Will Craig:And so, you know, if you talk to 22 year old me, he's this arrogant, want to be something guy who's got everything to prove, but nothing to actually show for it. Because I needed everyone in my life to see me as something more than I was, which at the end of the day, all anyone ever actually needed of me was to be a good guy. Right, right. That's so deep, man. And so six brain surgeries. Talk to us about that. Like, what's the story? Again, part of who was Will, like the brain surgeries were part of who Will was, right? Yeah. Yeah. So as I mentioned before, it's a condition called hydrocephalus.

8:41Will Craig:So you've got your brain, you got your skull, and in the middle, you got cerebral spinal fluid. Your body brings it up, drains it out naturally, absorbs it through the body. Mine brings it in, but none drains out naturally so i've got a mechanical device called a shunt that goes into my uh brain drains out the spinal fluid brings down to my abdominal cavity it's a man-made piece of plastic it'll break and it's going to break and they can't make it out of metal because that's not practical for a number of reasons you also have to do cat scans so it's got to make it out it's a polymer plastic and that's not meant to last forever so the doctors my neurosurgeon neurosurgical team that I work with have said, if it breaks, I've got roughly eight hours.

9:25Will Craig:That's kind of the estimate of what happens when that happens. And you would know it'd be very, very obvious. Wow. And so that, you know, living with that kind of ticking time. So I was diagnosed at two months old, at four months old, I had my first break. And then I went from four months till I I was 16 without a problem. And then at 16, I collapsed in high school and went home. My dad and I thought I had the flu, but then took me to the hospital. And because my temperature got down to like the high 80s and was headed to a coma. And then that's when it's like, okay, this is going to be a part of your life now forever.

10:09Will Craig:And I had two more when I was in high school. I had one more about eight years ago.

10:17wow bro so like the pause is me just sitting there thinking about you saying you have eight hours and then you also said but you know right like you know you know when it happens you know what it feels like like i i can't fathom that as i'm sitting here right now that okay something happened, I've got eight hours. What if my doctor or surgeon is, you know, in Maui or is asleep or, you know, isn't picking up the phone? Like, like what happens, brother? Here's something I wish somebody had told me earlier. Your money should work for you, not nickel and dime you with fees. That's why Chime caught my attention.

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13:10Will Craig:Actually, not Maui specifically. He was on vacation, though. That actually happened to me when I was in high school. Wow. Sorry, the two that I had when I was 17. um one of them was uh it is about a year after the last one and then went in and either make sure of like it didn't take or you know wasn't fitting in correctly whatever the case may be two days later like i was back in the hospital and so my doctor who had done the previous surgery had gone on vacation and so somebody else in his medical group but that's where like having a team having a plan having all these things are so important so um wherever i've moved wherever I've lived, I always make sure to have a team in place to know, hey, you're my team.

13:54Will Craig:You know me. You know my stuff. You have my records. We know what hospital to go to. Even when I travel, having that in the back of my mind of knowing, hey, we're staying at this hotel. This is where I would go for this. This is how we do it. If we go out of the country, hey, this is how we have to handle medical insurance. Just having a little bit of a plan to know that we know the steps. We know where to go at the end of the day i'm gonna need brain surgery if it breaks so that's that's obvious and most major hospitals can do that so it's just about knowing the right place to go that has the best team in place and you know training the people around me as well too training my wife my my good friends making sure all of them know like hey if this happens this is this is what you have to do this is what you have to say because i'll get to a play in the beginning phases i'll be able to communicate by like hour four or five there's a good chance i can't talk much So I need the people around me to advocate on my behalf.

14:48Will Craig:And growing up as my parents, and God bless them, because I can't imagine the amount of stress, anxiety, fear that they've had raising me. I know they wouldn't change it for anything in the world, but at the same time, that had to be hard. So for everybody that's listening or watching right now, I want you to pause. I really want you to pause. I want you to come in. And I want you to think about you have eight hours, right? You know you have eight hours. What are you doing? What's important to you? Who are the people that are around you? Because my buddy Will lives with that, right? Like knowing that something happens, I literally have eight hours.

15:38So I want everyone to think. I really want you to pause. I want you to dial this in. something happens to you and you know you have eight hours to fix it, to get right. Like what's your mindset? What's your purpose? Who are the people that you're rallying with? How prepared are you for anything? And I also want you to think about the things that you're going through today. The things that you contemplate today. how important are they really the decisions that you're making how important are they really the things you put on your plate how important are they really because my guy will man like again you know we talk a lot offline we you're you're really one of my good friends man and like i just one i want to applaud you for the things that you do but two looking back at who will was right that's pretty pretty dynamic to know who you are now right and now let's transition to that let's transition to who will is now so you know i talked about best-selling author man talked us a little bit about the book what made you write the book and then like one i'm proud of it because i've actually read it and it's a good book man but like what can viewers and listeners pick up from the book.

17:05So let's start with, tell us a little bit about the book and why you wrote it.

17:10Will Craig:Thank you. So why I wrote it, funny enough, was the challenge of a friend. So I had been blogging for years. And when I was blogging, it would just be something that's been brewing on my mind, sit down one night, write it, we're good, post it the next day, maybe edit it real quick in the morning and call it a day. And I didn't think I had the discipline, frankly, to like sit down and write a full book. And then a friend of mine who happens to be a full-time author kind of challenged me. He's like, yes, you can. You just are viewing it the wrong way. You're seeing it as I can only write in these bursts.

17:45Will Craig:You have to look at it from the full picture. If you just took a couple of years of your blog, you could have a book. So that's where that sat as far as like where it came from. But it really, to me, was cathartic because it got to take the last four or five years of writing that I had done and really contemplating everything I am about as a person and putting it all into one cohesive story to really tell people where I've been, what I've learned and why this is so important. To care about your mental health, to care about your experiences. Like these things matter. Yeah. I love it, brother. I love it.

18:25And, you know, going back to how you and I kind of met And, you know, I was a huge fan of you and what I was seeing on Instagram and your post, man, because it was about mental health and I'm a huge mental health advocate. I believe, especially as we talk to men, our men listeners and viewers and ladies who have significant others. You know, guys, we don't always have to be tough, right? We don't always have to fight. you know I know that that's how we feel a lot of times and we've got to be strong and we've got to do that and yeah we do but not 24 7 right like there are times that you need to take that reset right Will so that that reset is always needed so talk to us a little bit about the reset and then we'll transition to your podcast the Sunday reset

19:23Will Craig:But to me, it's taking that pause, as you said, for all of us, in those heightened moments, in the moments of high stress, high anxiety, or it can be the dark side, the depression side, whatever the case may be. It's taking that pause before you make any decisions, before you go down the rabbit hole, take a deep breath, take it all in. Allow your brain to realize you've been here before, you can do it again. And even if you haven't been here before, you have a stack of evidence on everything else in your life that you've overcome to prove that you can and are capable of getting to the next phase.

20:00Yeah. Yeah. That's lovely, man. Like, so again, I want the viewers and listeners to understand this. So for those that are listening, Will, that are watching, that are like, yeah, well, that sounds great. But sometimes I don't know how to pause, right? Or I don't even know when to pause. Like, what are some tips that you can give people? What are some signs people can look for when, hey, probably need to get ready to pause? Or this is too much, take a break. Like, what are some signs that people can look for?

20:34Will Craig:Well, first, I think it actually has to, you have to start with yourself and be honest with who you are as a person and how you best operate. Because I think so often we try to fit ourselves into boxes that don't serve us well. And so we're trying, either we're a person that needs to focus on one thing at a time, but we're trying to do 27 things or vice versa. Maybe you're best operating a little bit everywhere. That's me. I'm somebody who, I want seven stovetops going at any given time. Because focusing on one is the death of me, frankly. And so that's the first part is being very honest with yourself and knowing how you operate best and leaning into that.

21:15Will Craig:So that's before you get into the situation. The pause to me comes into play after the fact, which is that like eventually the pot boils over using my stovetop analogy. Or eventually you feel as though everything can be a bit overwhelming or even potentially underwhelming. that's see that's an alternative as well too as maybe you thought this was going to be up here and turns out it's way down here that's your expectations playing against you but as you realize i think we're all in tune with the shifts that are happening in our minds we can feel our heart rate raise up we can feel when our breath gets a little tighter we're we're acutely aware of it we just don't know what it is so i actually think so much of it draws from the physical you know if you realize like hey be in tune with your body to know my my heart's bathing a little bit faster than it normally is my breath's a little more shallow than it normally is my mind's racing in a way that i'm not used to seeing it be in tune with yourself and then the more you can understand those things you'll start to recognize okay no i'm in a place where i'm not operating the way i want to and that's where it's worth just take a quick i'm not asking for much take five seconds take a step back breathe in breathe out allow everything to process the the visual that i've used uh in speeches is we've all seen like on tv things buffer and it gets to that like weird place where it's like it's like too far ahead and it's like everything's not operating from a digital perspective the way it's supposed to and you can't make heads or tails of anything on the video But if you pause, let it catch up, everything becomes clearer.

23:00Will Craig:And everything can acutely breathe because you gave it the space to do so. All it needed was that little bit of buffer time. You and your body and your mind are the exact same way. I love that, dude. I love that. And, you know, going further with your, your, your mindset toolbox, right? What are some of the daily habits or strategies that you use today for, for mental health awareness or mental health resiliency? see yeah it's a great question i the biggest one for me is writing uh and you know taking the time to journal every day for a couple of reasons one i think when you get the chance to write it all out gives your brain a chance to really truly process and think about things more acutely yeah secondly you can start spotting trends especially if you're using the same notebook you're like hey i noticed i wrote about a similar feeling a couple days ago or i experienced heightened anxiety around these people a couple weeks ago you start spotting those trends because you're taking note you're taking a catalog of it you're being mindful with that so journaling number one is got to be like my best and most useful thing second one being um i would actually breath work has become a really big part of how i operate in managing my anxiety you know taking the moments to pause there's a few different strategies you can deploy so i think everyone should find the one that works best for them but really dive into like breath work and the idea of understanding and getting your body better aligned from a breathing perspective because especially if you're someone who deals with anxiety that shallowness of breath can be debilitating and it makes all your decision making that much worse so those are my two big ones i like that man so So let's go to the journaling.

24:51So you have created a journal, right? I'm getting a copy of this journal. So talk to us about the journal. What is it designed to help us do? Why does everyone need it? And then we'll talk about how we can get access to this thing.

25:12Will Craig:Yeah, I love it. So the journal for me, so going back to what we talked about with the blogging, all of this has been, whether it's writing a blog, making videos, writing a book, writing a journal, all of it has just been starting a podcast. All of it has just been amalgamation of the same mission of making people feel less alone in that sense. So the latest edition of that is my journal. And the journal came to me because when I was starting in therapy for the first time, I'll be honest, clearly I have no problem talking. But when I sat down in a therapist's office, I had no idea what to say.

25:47Will Craig:I had just lost my girlfriend who died unexpectedly, and I didn't know what the hell to say. And so I would sit there, and I'm wondering, how do I even begin to process this? And it was my therapist who actually said, hey, you love writing. How about in between sessions, you just write letters to her, write letters to anything that can happen. Write a letter to your future self, whatever the case may be, and gave me prompts. And then I started coming up with stuff on my own. And then that's how I processed my thoughts. And then that way I could come to therapy more prepared to better tackle my demons.