John Hill - International Men's Day

For International men's day, we wanted to shine a light on some of the amazing men that work for Johnsons Workwear and find out a little more about them.

This year we would like to talk more about men’s mental health and encourage the men in our lives to #talkmore.

For the last article of the week, let’s hear from John Hill, one of our Senior Sales Consultants.

Talk us through an average day in your life:

Normally I'm up at 7.00am and do breakfast with my son Bertie who is 18 months old now. I go back up stairs to shower, dress and then get onto my laptop and check through the day’s planned activities.

I leave the house allowing 30 mins for traffic, and head off to the first appointment, cold calling or team support for the day.

Around 1-2pm grab a bite to eat and follow up on any emails etc from my phone, followed by further appointments, cold calling or team support and get home around 4pm.

I get back on the laptop to update the day’s activities, plan in quotes, and email responses and do a quick check on what’s needed tomorrow.

Amy comes home with Bertie around 6.15pm, so I do some dinner and then daddy play time for half an hour before bath, bottle and bed (Bertie not me!), I then spend a couple of hours catching up with Amy, then it's bed for me too.

What did you want to be when you were younger?

A forensic scientist (I loved Sherlock Holmes books)

What do you think are some of the biggest challenges facing young boys and men today?

The biggest challenge is the voice in their head that tells them they are not worthy, they are a failure, they don’t earn enough, nobody really likes them, they are a fraud.

Everyone has this voice of self doubt but it seems to affect men more because they don’t open up to anyone as this is seen as weakness, this is probably the main reason suicides in men is so high.

How do you look after your mental health?

I don’t listen to the voice in my head … I choose to be positive (most of the time) but we all have days of feeling rubbish which is ok, how would you know you were happy if you don’t have the contrast?

What advice would you give your younger self?

Don’t take everyone’s reaction to you personally as most of the time it has absolutely nothing to do with you and everything to do with them.

What changes would you like to see in the future for men and their mental health?

Awareness of the fact that they are NOT the voice in their head that questions everything and makes them feel worthless.

Awareness that we are all amazing in our own right and don’t need to be compared with others.

Awareness that opening up about challenges is NOT weakness it’s strength and courage

Who is your biggest male inspiration in life?

In business I’ve always admired how Richard Branson portrays his culture for employees but personally it’s actually my Dad, he had a very Victorian type of upbringing but has always been very open with his emotions with us.

What is your proudest achievement?

The amazing people my children have become, they are a credit to themselves, but I can’t help but feel proud to be their Dad.