Leadership Lessons: Mental Health, Ownership and a Happiness List

The last two years, in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, I sent an email to our entire AG1 customer base recounting my own journey with depression.

I was nervous to send it the first time - how would people react? - but I was soon overwhelmed by the hundreds of powerful messages I received in response. That inspired me to share it publicly this year. 

In the email below, I recount my experience navigating my life after failed businesses including in my birth country of New Zealand. These resulted in litigation and serious fines, the loss of my investors’ money, and devastatingly a broader impact to customers, partners, and family who had trusted me. 

That was a very tough experience. But it was not the emotional worst of it. 

My parents were so supportive and only ever said that they loved me and knew I would succeed again. 

But I couldn’t hear it. 

The entire situation sent me into a dark spiral. I began a long battle with depression, alcohol abuse, loneliness, and the feeling of being totally overwhelmed at the task in front of me. 

As I shared in my last post, I realized the only way to dig out of these challenges was through radical ownership. 

And that’s what happened. I set hard goals to pay my fines and pay back my investors, grow AG1 in its early days, and structure a life for myself based on happiness. 

I got to work, and in a way, I haven’t stopped working on the business and on myself since.

We have so many amazing new customers who have joined AG1 in the past year, and I absolutely love interacting with you.  Maybe my original message can be valuable to you, too. 

Thank you for being part of this journey with me. Here is the email, I hope you enjoy, build your own happiness list, and take massive action. 

————

My journey through depression 

Let’s talk about Mental Health Awareness. 

In 2010 I was bankrupt, completely out of cash, with five million dollars of debt waiting to be paid off, with no dollars to even pay for the warehousing of the incredible AG1 inventory I had. 

I hit my financial low point of going through my sofa for loose change to buy rice and beans… I even took a screenshot of my negative balance bank accounts and sent myself an email with the subject line:  “Remember this” and the words “Remember today. You can do it mate.”

I was very, very glad that this financial low point, which was tough, had happened AFTER I had got my head straight. 

Today, as I remember that time in my life, I want to share my experience with you in the hope you can take something positive and inspiring out of it. 

Most importantly, I hope you take action. 

Through earlier failed business ventures, I had lost everything, had even lost my parents’ life savings (resulting in a forced sale of their house), and it resulted in total financial collapse. 

I started drinking too much and felt a lot of guilt for what I had put my parents through. I felt that I had failed them and felt I had an incredibly huge mountain to climb. There was a period when I suffered from depression.

There are few things darker than staring down a hole and feeling you can’t emotionally get out of it.   

Now, I was fortunate that my situation wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t pull myself out of it. 

I maintained gratitude and awareness that I was healthy and everyone I loved was healthy, no one was trying to kill me and I was in the land of opportunity, the USA. 

I declined a doctor’s offer of medication (though I am well aware there are times that this is a necessary support for many people) and instead read everything I could find on happiness and then took massive action.  

May is Mental Health Awareness month. As part of that, let’s talk about how you can care for your own mental health. 

The first step is to have awareness. 

Be very aware of any slowly building feelings. It can be very powerful to talk about this with someone and it is much easier to stop and blunt and reverse it earlier than later. 

From there the SINGLE greatest thing you can do for your mental health is to take action.  

One of our cultural values at AG1 (and one of my personal values) is One Spectacular Life.  

There is a lot to this. The most important being that you take ownership and action towards having a truly spectacular life. This applies to everyone. It applies to every part of life. I always recommend you start with your health. 

As part of this I strongly recommend that you put on your calendar, with priority, the things you know help you be the best, happiest version of yourself. 

For me, back in 2010, I built a list of activities I called a happiness list which I hit every day or week. 

Very importantly: I stopped things that had a negative happiness impact. 

I stopped drinking alcohol for the whole year. 

I distanced myself from anyone who didn’t fully support my new approach and began to exit every single thing that didn’t feel like it would lead to long-term happiness. 

This did not mean walking away from short-term struggle. It meant walking away from things that I did not believe would build towards long-term happiness. 

This meant exiting every relationship that was not positive. 

I then radically changed my eating to the strictest version of an anti-inflammatory autoimmune diet that I could (there is a very strong link between inflammation and depression) and took ownership of hitting my happiness list. 

• I exercised every day

• I did hot and or cold exposure every day

• I swam in the ocean every day

• I went outdoors for a minimum of 30 mins every day, frequently I went on multiple walks sometimes for a long time, sometimes for a short time, regardless of weather. 

• I started salsa classes three nights a week, it is very hard to be unhappy when you are dancing in a social environment 

• I ensured I had a dinner every week with a group of positive people - socializing is important

• I made a practice of phoning someone awesome and thanking them for being awesome 

I then refocused my entire life so that every day was a work day success if I only hit ONE thing on my to-do list (this also forced me to ruthlessly prioritize). 

This took the mental pressure off the mountain I had to climb and meant I had set the bar low to feel that I was a success that day. 

It also meant I really began to move the needle toward the most important things. (A great lesson on some of my favorite things, the power of simplicity and focus!) 

So what do I think should go on your calendar first as you consider mental health awareness and One Spectacular Life? I think you prioritize what goes on your calendar first as you consider mental health awareness and your One Spectacular Life.1. Taking care of you!! That means your health time. Your exercise, your outdoor time, meditation, a massage, whatever rocks your boat should go on your calendar FIRST. 

2. Ensuring you schedule and prioritize your key relationships each week. Your time and experiences with them are so important. 

On top of that… 

3. Making sure you talk to someone about things that are tough, especially if you feel that you are at the beginning of a spiral. Early is best. Talking to someone is so so important. 

I hope you are taking action towards your own happiness.  

4. From there, you can be that open, warm, friend and person that someone can open up to. 

“100% Focus on Happiness”    That is my mantra, and it starts with phenomenal health. 

Chris “Kiwi” Ashenden

Founder and CEO, AG1 

And now you know why I have signed off hundreds of customer emails this way! 

I hope you take massive action around your mental health. It is one of the most important leadership and life lessons.