Mental illness and new beginnings

Share This Post

Andy Hall
Andy HallĀ is a mentoring advisor at Greater Manchester Business Growth Hub.

Biggest fuck up?

I realised at the age of 39 that I had been aiming for the wrong career goal. This lesson came when I finally accepted that I had developed severe depression, anxiety, and paranoia following a serious mental and physical breakdown.

I had worked in insurance since the age of 16 and had always aimed for the next step of the ladder and retained the belief that more money and status were an indication of success.

My first promotion was at 19, and this started an addiction to more promotions. This continued throughout my career in insurance without really thinking if this was how I wanted to spend my life. The goal was to be the Head of Sales and Service at an insurance company owned by a bank before the age of 40.

When the recession hit, the bank made cutbacks, and the goal was no longer achievable. But I didn’t accept this, so I redoubled my efforts to the point of physical and mental exhaustion. This led to a series of breakdowns, each causing psychological damage to the point of wanting to end my life.

Accepting that I was mentally ill and the goals I had set were wrong for me. I decide to seek medical help and then leave my job to pursue my interest in business, which had started as a teenager.

So I started up on my own. Despite several setbacks, loss of all our money and increasing debts (plus both parents and 3 franchises), I slowly began growing my confidence back. I started giving back and became a business mentor.

Lightbulb moment

Meeting Steve Carr at Business Rocks and talking about our “higher purpose”. So many overused but relevant quotes spring to mind. The point is; I realised what I wanted to be known for and remembered as. I aimed to be of value to others every day for the rest of my life. Money lost its value as currency and was replaced by creating a legacy.

Useful advice

Enjoy today! Tomorrow may never happen, so focus on enjoying your own journey. AND Don’t set stupid goals!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Posts

Troublesome hiring, missed Amazon shares, and how to improve your judgment

The most important thing for success is good judgment. But there are very few rules, or best practices, around improving your judgment.

Saatchi Kate and Addict Kate

By all conventional measures, I was highly successful..but by 2004, I was struggling with addiction to alcohol.

Sensationalism is destroying public discourse

What needs to change is a return to the fundamentals of responsible journalism: thorough research, unbiased reporting, and a commitment to providing readers with meaningful insights.

Trusting people to run my agency

When I realised that staff had lied, been lazy, and we were losing accounts left, right, and centre, it sent me into a spiral of anger...

Candidates not ready for the commercial world

We live in a cut-throat world so when at work, the primary focus should be delivering amazing work. I'm not sure the younger generation has worked that out.

Is work making you sick?

I found myself having to compete against agency peers on client teams and was often excluded from internal client meetings. This was not what I expected from the ā€˜pitch’, and I noticed other, more junior staff, being treated in the same way.