The Business Blues Barrier: Sometimes building my career seems far too difficult. The money isn’t there, the hours are long. I get discouraged and depressed. What can I do?

First things first. Is this career something you enjoyed doing, once upon a time? Tragically, far too many people choose careers because of a promise of big bucks, almost instantly. If not the promise from someone else, their own dream that it is a make-it-big quick career. Overnight success and riches are extremely rare in the business world. Any career takes work, time, and patience. The key is - if you enjoy what you are doing, it is easier to make the commitment and do the follow-through even when you've got the Business Blues.

Find the passion, it will rejuvenate you. Go back to the time when you were passionate about the career and then find out what changed. Possibly you were never passionate about the career - only the rewards. We all need motivation and inspiration. The problem with dollars as the only motivation is that every career has cycles and lows are a part of the cycle. At that time, the rewards aren’t there to keep you excited. The inspiration comes from your passion, the pleasure you find in doing what you like, or even love, to do. That pleasure is rewarding and the fuel for the motivation to persevere.

Get support and encouragement from family and friends. If those around you are not supportive, you have additional drains on your passion. Develop a healthy support system, outside of family and friends if necessary. There are many trade and networking organizations designed to help advance your career. Take advantage of them, which leads right into...

Get professional advice in the area that is bogging you down, time management, education, interpersonal skills, etc. Then follow the advice. Get a coach to guide you and help you stay on track.

Take action. Taking action moves you out of the depression and discouragement because you are taking charge again. Our lows come from the
thought that we can’t, whatever the can’t is. You can. You always have the ability to take some kind of action to change the situation, or at least change how you perceive and feel about the situation.

One of the biggest challenges in many careers is that the boss isn't interested in your overall career. That’s why having a coach can be so valuable to you. The coach helps you to hold yourself accountable and do what is necessary to get beyond the “Barriers of the Business Blues.”

Nurture your passion - water the seeds you have planted by taking action and those seeds will grow. You must be patient though. Don’t keep digging them up to see if they have sprouted (if you do, they never will!). Enjoy what you do, it’s like fertilizer for the seeds. Believe it or not, studies have actually proven that plants thrive in a positive atmosphere - and plants watered by a negative person who is always complaining barely survive. Beat the Business Blues with passion and action. Then your career, like the plant, will begin to thrive again.