Getting your mental well-bring on track can often be the first step towards turning things around in your life and at the first-ever ESSENCE I Am Speaking Summit, our Mind, Body and Soul panel was full of tips to help us all get it right.

Keep reading to check out four life-changing lessons we learned from Pretty Girls Sweat Founder Aeshia Devore Branch, I Want a Good Man University Founder Dr. Stacii Jae Johnson, Life Strategist and Empowerment Speaker Sheri Riley and Former PA Psycological Foundation President Dr. Willametta Simmons.

For more of everything you missed at the ESSENCE I AM Speaking Summit, visit www.essencestudios.com.

The ESSENCE I Am Speaking Summit is presented by Coca-Cola.

Don't Spend 100% Of Your Time On 10% Of Who You Are
"When I was a teenager, I had this dream of living in Atlanta—I had never been— and working in the music industry—at this time, there was no music industry in Atlanta. After a whole lot of years of no's and hard work and prayers, I became the head of marketing for LaFace Records, home of Toni Braxton, Outkast, Usher, TLC...and I had this amazing career. I loved the artists that I worked with, I loved the people that I worked with. I bought my mother a home by the age of 27, I was earning six-figures in my mid-twenties, unlimited expense account...and I was miserable. What I discovered is that I was spending 100% of my time on 10% of who I was. I was pursuing money and success and relationships and love because I believed all that would give me freedom and that freedom would give me peace." -Sheri Riley

We Can Unconsciously Internalize Generational Patterns
"Because of generational patterns that we internalize, we become that very thing that we don't want to be. In our effort to not be like our moms or our grandparents, we can go in the complete opposite direction. It's a bit of a continuum, right? And either or, may not be great. So, try to find yourself somewhere in the middle where you are established, you're confident and you know what you want without necessarily morphing into something that you aren't." -Dr. Willametta Simmons

Identify Everyday Things You Can Commit To Doing To Show Up For Yourself
"[As a mother], I find myself getting up early just to get my morning routine out of the way so I can feel like I showed up for myself. There's a few things that I have to do every single day, or I feel like…not that I'm a "failure," but, that I just did not accomplish anything for me. Number one, I always get up and drink some lemon water to hydrate myself because I've found that the more hydrated I am, the happier I am and the clearer I can think. Next, I take my vitamins, find some time to read and have some tea, which is great. I'll exercise and burn some calories and then, I like to take some time to learn something (new)." - Aeshia Devore Branch

It Has To Start With You
"I believe that relationships in themselves can't hurt someone's development. I believe that we, choosing to have relationships with certain people, can hurt someone's development. I'm really specific with that because, for my own personal power, it has to start with me." -Dr. Stacii Jae Johnson