The way business views illness is sick

This is the fourth instalment of my Too Hot To Publish series. This is stuff that was trimmed from How To Get To Great Ideas to get it down to a manageable size. I still believe this stuff is good, which is why I’m sharing it here.

So far all the extra content I’ve shared has been focused on natural differences that can make us valuably different. This is the last of these. And this is one that at least a sixth of the population can relate to right now: illness. In particular, the mental variety.

I’ve written about my own experiences of this in the past. And again I cover it here. As you’ll see I’m not embarrassed to do this. I don’t believe it’s something that makes me any less valuable. On the contrary, it transformed me in a pretty positive way. 

Any form of illness causes you to adjust your life. Even a small dose of the sniffles gives you a new perspective on things. But what we'll concentrate on here is the mental health epidemic that's plaguing Western civilisation. It's one of our biggest problems but it's also an incredible opportunity.

In the UK, statistics indicate that one in six people have experienced a common mental health problem in the last week. These problems include depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias and a myriad of other conditions. In 2017, depression became the leading cause of disability globally. It's the primary cause of illness in the workplace (much of which is actually caused by the workplace, ironically). And it's on the increase, with diagnoses skyrocketing by 20% in the last decade.

This is an area I've got first-hand experience of. I come from a family with a history of depression. It's in my genes. And it manifested itself quite dramatically in my early 20s.

After being out of work for nearly a year, I felt pretty miserable and valueless. I started to isolate myself so that I wouldn't bring my friends down. My misery became despair. And my despair tipped me into depression. My depression then took an unexpected twist and transformed itself into bipolarism. At this point, you can stop feeling sorry for me and I'll start feeling sorry for you.

I experienced something magical that most people can't even imagine.

The mania that comes from bipolarism is incredible. I felt like a god because I was a god. My brain suddenly started functioning in a way that mortal brains just don't function. I could think more than one thought at a time, I had a clarity of thought I'd never experienced before and I had a productive energy that sometimes lasted for days. The first time it happened to me I picked up the book I was reading and scribbled my thoughts in every margin and space I could find. Somewhere in those scribbles, I invented Facebook. This was in 1992 when the world wide web was probably about a year old. I composed poetry, wrote songs, invented products, came up with solutions for political problems and sketched wildly on every scrap of paper I could find.

And then the mania would fizzle out and I'd tumble into a desperate hole again. But the darkness was worth it for these joyful rainbow-explosions of cognitive mayhem.

These episodes lasted for a couple of years until I found myself in a stable place with a sense of purpose and a steady paycheck.

But this brush with bipolarism transformed me. I would never have had the career I've had if it wasn't for these experiences. Before bipolarism, I was a meek, non-confrontational, procrastinator. After bipolarism, I was a focused, ambitious, ball of energy that was convinced he could change the world. And, in many ways, I still am.

You see, for me, my mental health 'disability' was a super-ability. I look back at it and see the light rather than the darkness. I'm grateful for what I went through. And over the years I've met lots of people who see things in a similar way.

All mental health issues cause you to experience the world in a different way to the average person. And that shifted perspective can often give you an advantage. For example, I know an art director who has OCD. Yes, it causes difficulties in everyday life. But it also gives them the ability to tell if a piece of design is visually balanced or if elements are misaligned. I also know an account director who suffers from anxiety. It can be a horrible condition to live with. But it helps them stay organised and pre-empt potential problems long before they arise.

I'm not wishing any of these conditions on anyone. I'm just hoping that employers and employees alike can start looking at mental health more positively. As long as there is still a stigma surrounding these conditions, we cause people to hide away the benefits as well as the problems. And everyone loses out.

For those of you who are feeling left out because you don't have any of these forms of involuntary divergence, don't despair. The next section looks at how you can diverge purposefully and get access to those ideas that lie outside of the norm.

This is the last of four pieces that looked at personal attributes that can make us valuably different. You can see the first post on diversity here. the next post on trauma here and the last post on upbringing here. Next week I’ll start looking at things we can do to purposely diverge from the well-trodden rut that most people find themselves in. 

If you appreciate any of this stuff that was cut from ‘How To Get To Great Ideas’, maybe you should pick up the book for all the stuff that was good enough to make it into the final manuscript. You can pick it up from your local book store or your local Amazon. 

And if you want your business to benefit from the thinking in the book, drop me a line or check out my website to find out how.