Mental Wellness Mastery: Mental Health Expert Elan Divon Of Divon Academy On Everyday Life Hacks For Optimal Mental Wellness
An Interview With Eden Gold
Gratitude. Every night before going to sleep think about three things that happened to you that day that you are grateful for. It could be a kind email you received, a smile, a sunny day, a compliment, a friend you had coffee with. Anything. By training your mind to search out the positive in your life on a daily basis, you are conditioning yourself to focus on ‘love and abundance’ rather than the lack; On the blessings rather than the blockages.
In our modern, fast-paced society, mental wellness is a crucial aspect of leading a fulfilling life. However, for many people, achieving and maintaining good mental health can be a challenging task, with obstacles such as stress, anxiety, depression, and more. That’s why it’s essential to have practical and accessible strategies for mental wellness that can help build resilience, emotional intelligence, and overall well-being. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Elan Divon.
Elan Divon is a Harvard-trained author, speaker, and founder of Divon Academy: an organization that helps students and young professionals develop work, life, and leadership skills that are proven to accelerate professional success and wellbeing.
Elan’s clientele include Fortune 500 companies and universities where he has trained thousands of students and young professionals on how to land jobs, lead teams, unleash their potential and multiply their impact. His work has been recognized by influencers such as NBA board Chairman Larry Tanenbaum, U.N. Undersecretary General Haile Menkerious, and wellness guru Deepak Chopra. Elan holds a BA from the University of London, and Master’s degrees from Brandeis and Harvard Universities. He is currently working on his next book and lives in Southern California.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion about Mental Wellness Life Hacks, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
In 2015 I co-founded a project to help empower the next generation of Einstein’s and young innovators on the planet. It was called the Einstein Legacy Project. At the time, I was doing development work for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem which Einstein co-founded back in 1918. Through this project, I ended up co-creating the world’s first 3D printed book (shaped as Einstein’s head!) that showcased essays from 100 of the greatest minds on the planet; launched the project on NASDAQ in Times Square, and helped build a partnership with the European Space Agency to support young innovators in underserved communities in South Africa. it was a wild ride!
You are a successful individual. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Persistence.
Positivity.
Proactivity.
Persistence. Many people think that when you follow your path and ‘live your purpose’, then life automatically becomes easier and doors magically open. This isn’t always the case. The reality is that there’s always struggle and hardship — sometimes even more hardship when you follow your passion. This requires persistence. Everything I’ve attained in life, whether it was getting into Harvard, publishing a book, becoming a keynote speaker (I used to be terrified of public speaking), or launching a global project on NASDAQ, or starting my own EdTech company, required tremendous persistence. I had to follow through. Like Thomas Jefferson said: “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” You need to keep hacking away. Persist!
Positivity: It’s really easy to be positive when life goes your way. But the real test is remaining positive when external conditions are negative. In other words, what happens to your inner dialogue when the chips are down and life throws you a curve ball? Can you see beyond the curve and think greater then how you feel in the moment?
Like Moses who saw beyond the limitations of his environment while navigating the Sinai desert without food, water, or shelter, you need to remain positive and believe you WILL reach your ‘promised land.’ This requires positivity.
Proactivity: My high school basketball coach always used to say — “don’t wait for the ball to come to you — move towards the ball.” The same applies in life. I work with a lot of MBA students and professionals who are looking for jobs and or their next career move. And many have spotless resumes and produce great cover letters. But once they submit their applications they’ll wait for the call or email from the recruiter to arrive. That is NOT the formula for success. You are being reactive.
The reality is that for every corporate job opening there are roughly 250 applicants, 5 people get called for interviews, and one person who gets the job. To be that person, you have to be proactive. This means making yourself known to prospective employers, and finding ways to be seen and build relationships before you ever get the job. I teach people how to do this.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview about mental wellness mastery. What is one often-overlooked daily habit that can significantly improve one’s mental wellness?
The simplest way to improve your wellness is to do things that get you out of your head!
99% of stress is generated by your mind. It’s worrying about the future or agonizing over the past, but ultimately resisting the present moment. All stress is the mind resisting the moment. The simplest way to get out of your head is to get moving. Motion changes emotion. By changing your physiology you will change your psychology and how you physically feel. Most of us have got accustomed to living sedentary lives where we are on our computers and phones all day — and so we’re naturally seeing stress levels soar to historic levels. We need to get into motion, which is our natural state as human beings.
How do you recommend individuals recalibrate their mental wellness after experiencing a significant setback or failure?
Setbacks and failures happen, and it’s totally ok to feel the sadness and disappointment that comes with it. You’re human. But you have the power to limit the duration of that feeling. Don’t wallow in despair. Feel what you have to feel, talk to friends and family about what happened (which helps the emotional processing) but then consciously decide to change your focus..
Focus on the lesson, and not on the loss.
Ask yourself: What have I learned from this experience? How can I grow from it? What is the hidden opportunity and what can I do right now or in the next few days to take advantage of it?
Successful people know how to turn their worst day into their best day. They find the lesson and the opportunity in the setback.
In your experience, what is a common misconception about mental health that hinders people from seeking help or improving their wellness?
A common misconception about mental health is that its genetic and hereditary, or that it’s a lifelong predicament that can’t be changed. You’re stuck with it. This isn’t true. The brain can and does rewire, and just because you are anxious or depressed now, doesn’t mean you have to be or will be in the future. There are small steps you can take to change and improve your mental health, no matter how low you might feel right now.
Another misconception about mental health is that it’s a sign of weakness. There’s a pervasive stigma that suggests that experiencing things like anxiety, depression, or other disorders indicates personal weakness or failure. This misconception can prevent individuals from seeking help due to fear of judgment or shame, especially if they are in positions of power or have a public image they want to uphold. In reality, mental health issues are complex and can affect anyone regardless of strength or character.
Which leads to a third misconception that therapy is only for people with severe mental illness. In reality, therapy can be beneficial for a wide range of concerns, from everyday stressors to more serious conditions. Seeking therapy doesn’t mean your “crazy” or “broken”; it’s a proactive step toward improving your mental well-being and developing healthier coping strategies.
Can you share a transformative moment or client story that highlights the power of a specific mental wellness strategy?
There are many examples, but I would say that there’s never one specific mental health strategy that leads to a transformative moment, there are many. I was working with a young professional named Sarah who was struggling with social anxiety, poor self-esteem, and super low confidence. Over a period of six months, Sarah worked on making lifestyle changes that involved regular exercise, gratitude journaling, volunteering at a soup kitchen, asserting herself at work (even when that felt really uncomfortable), and stepped out of her comfort zone by taking a public speaking class. She also reached out and sought the support of family and trusted friends in her transformation process, and saw a therapist once a week. Over time, Sarah learned tools and hacks to catch herself every time she had negative thoughts, began to physically feel better and more confident about herself, and developed a self-belief and resilience that changed her from the inside out. That same year, Sarah’s bosses noticed the changes in her and gave her a promotion at work, while she also met her life partner, and is now in a great relationship.
Based on your experience and research, can you please share “5 Everyday Life Hacks For Optimal Mental Wellness?”
1 . Move and get your heart rate up for at least 10 minutes a day. Motion changes emotion. By changing your physiology you will change your psychology. It’s that simple. You need to get out of your head!
2 . Gratitude. Every night before going to sleep think about three things that happened to you that day that you are grateful for. It could be a kind email you received, a smile, a sunny day, a compliment, a friend you had coffee with. Anything. By training your mind to search out the positive in your life on a daily basis, you are conditioning yourself to focus on ‘love and abundance’ rather than the lack; On the blessings rather than the blockages.
3 . Socialize and see your friends and family regularly. The quality of your relationships will have a direct effect on the quality of your life and mental health. Invest in your relationships.
4 . Control what you consume: You control what goes into your body, but do you control what you feed your mind? Manage your social media and media consumption; avoid watching the news or looking at your social media feed first thing in the morning, and limit your information intake. We are bombarded with so much news and information that ti’s affecting our mental health and wellbeing.
5 . Remind yourself of your cosmic insignificance and laugh about it! We tend to magnify our problems and make them BIG. Which is why you need to put yourself in environments that make you feel small. Here’s what I mean. When you go to the ocean, for example, and look out at the horizon, or walk in nature, or marvel at a sunset or at the stars, you begin to realize how insignificant your problems are in the grand scheme of things. We are a spec; a minuscule slice of life in a vast ocean of existence. If you can give yourself that perspective on a weekly basis, and start to laugh more, even about your own problems, the laughter and the perspective will make you lighter.
What role does technology play in mental wellness today, and how can individuals leverage it positively without exacerbating mental health issues?
Oh wow, don’t get me started on this! Technology plays a MAJOR role in our mental health issues. Remember, 95% of stress is generated by the mind and the narratives in our head. Social media and technology keep us in our head. They prevent us from living in the moment, create FOMO and comparison anxiety, and can make us feel less than other people. Technology also gives us access to way too much information that are brain doesn’t need and can’t process, to the point where local issues in one community start feeling like global issues and you start carrying the weight of the world on your shoulder. Finally, technology has accelerated our perception of time, where we want results and everything to happen fast fast fast. At the click of a button or a text. But real life and the mind’s emotional and mental processing takes time. Organic life can’t be rushed in the way that technology has us conditioned.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
The movement I would start is based on my next book, The Initiation. (to be released in 2025)
I believe that for you to create something new in the world and ultimately in yourself, you must separate from people, places, powers and ideas that limit you. We all get stuck and conditioned by our circumstances and the people and culture that surrounds us. That’s natural, but it keeps us trapped in a closed loop. In order to change, grow, and advance personally, professionally and spiritually, you need to separate from all those things that define you, so you can find something new in yourself and share it with the world. This takes courage, because most people prefer to stay in their comfort zone and the familiar. But the magic happens when you move into the unknown and into the mystery. I call this process, an initiation, where the very act of separation (from the known) is foundational to a new creation.
How can our readers further follow you online?
The best way to find me and reach out to me directly on Linkedin, and also through my personal website — www.elandivon.com. I only take on a handful of individual coaching clients a year as I mainly work with groups and companies. I’m also going to be posting much more on Youtube starting late 2024, so stay tuned.
Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
About The Interviewer: Eden Gold, is a youth speaker, keynote speaker, founder of the online program Life After High School, and host of the Real Life Adulting Podcast. Being America’s rising force for positive change, Eden is a catalyst for change in shaping the future of education. With a lifelong mission of impacting the lives of 1 billion young adults, Eden serves as a practical guide, aiding young adults in honing their self-confidence, challenging societal conventions, and crafting a strategic roadmap towards the fulfilling lives they envision.
Do you need a dynamic speaker, or want to learn more about Eden’s programs? Click here: https://bit.ly/EdenGold
Mental Wellness Mastery: Mental Health Expert Elan Divon Of Divon Academy On Everyday Life Hacks… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.