How being in control of your mental health can change your path to success

In the past, mental health was probably the last box checked on most people’s list to achieving success. Unlike education, “peace of mind” wasn’t emphasized in hustle culture.

Instead of listening to how you feel, mantras exclaiming “no excuses” and creeds which advocate keeping your emotions to a minimum were used to motivate.

To openly discuss mental wellness was taboo and therapy was seen as a luxury hobby for the wealthy. Mental wellness was addressed only when it came time for treatment, not practiced for prevention.

However, the perception and acceptance of mental health have since shifted. Millennials are reportedly very interested in self-care and as a result, have begun reversing the stigma of mental health.

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The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) Attitudes Survey found that in 2004, 60% of people agreed that ‘people today spend too much time dwelling on their emotional difficulties’, and in 2014 this has dropped to 39%.

Over the past year, we’ve seen voices of influence like Royce Da 5’9 and Wale in rap, Kevin Love and DeMar DeRozan in sports, and people like Charlamagne in media, all come forward to admit not only that they needed therapy but to encourage all to indulge. Turns out there’s a lot of us suffering.

17% of adults and 10% of children are affected by mental health issues and according to Mind one in four people will experience a mental health problem each year. On top of that, nearly half of all ill health among people under 65 is due to mental health problems.

Could it be that millennials are more focused on what makes them happy rather than what makes them money, and have been one of the most entrepreneurial generations to date because of this focus on mental health? Maybe so; there aren’t any official studies correlating the two.

What we do know, however, is what mental wellness can do for you. No matter how you define success, with a clear mind, renewed energy and a consistent presentation of your best self, you can achieve it.

Mental Health America is the nation’s leading community-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing the needs of those living with mental illness and to promoting the overall mental health of all Americans. With tools like this, we can make sure that we’re putting as much emphasis on our mental stability as need be.

Believe it or not, mental health can take you far; and it all starts with our minds.

Clear Mind

Being in a good headspace is almost as valuable as the know-how to clear it, yet both seem to be overlooked when it comes to the pursuit of success. The secret, however, is that when it comes to being successful a clean stream of consciousness makes the world of a difference.

Mental resets allow us to live one experience at a time. A sober thought process allows us to take every moment for what they are instead of attaching our past trauma to them, but because we’re used to the clutter, we’ve normalized distraction, short attention spans and lack of focus.

You can trace success or the lack thereof to the unkemptness of your mental attic. Whether it’s a relationship that lacks closure, an unfinished degree or an argument from yesterday, we cannot go throughout life without eventually letting them go.

Mental health is not about being weak, it’s about understanding your self.

Therapy and an attention to mental health are not for the unstable per say, it’s a self-check — a daily routine to make sure you’re approaching the new day with a new attitude — which a lot of us do not do.

It can be as simple a morning jog or setting up weekly talks with someone you trust, either way, it’s important to make having a clear mind a part of our success method.

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Best Self

Just because we’re great people doesn’t mean we always present our best selves.

We’re all flawed and we go through things. Our objective is to somehow tap in to and remain operating in the best version of ourselves at all times. For starters, it keeps us sane, but it also goes hand in hand with success.

Think about the times you’ve gone to your job upset or finished a work that lacks your best effort. Now imagine if you could limit those occurrences exponentially. When we take mental health seriously we give ourselves the chance to be our best more often.

From mood to attitude, we approach life with our best intentions when we’re clicking on all cylinders and a lot of times that’s the only ingredient missing from our professional climbs.

It’s easy to get caught up in the external factors that go into becoming a success — the resources, the effort, the team — but it’s only after an emphasis on our mental well-being is implemented that we’ll find ourselves doing what we love at the highest level.

Try seeing success through the lens of mental health, because once we master the mind, all else will follow.