However, is it not possible to find work that really stimulates and enhances your life. Something that meets with your vales and feels worth while for you?

In the end, are not great people remembered for their work rather than their life?

Doug
http://www.dougwoods.com

I’d like to add three additional strategies to your list:

1) Outsource as much as possible. If you can’t automate it, but it has to be done and you just really aren’t good at it or don’t like doing it…hire someone else. They’ll do it faster than you and there is a wonderful light feeling when that dreaded task is off your plate!

2) Pay more attention to the *little* ups and downs of your work day/week. Your work doesn’t have to be a strict 9-5 weekday schedule. If you feel like you’d really rather take a morning nap, do it. You’ll feel refreshed and get the work done faster and with more creativity later. Simply pushing through to get work done, even when you don’t really feel like doing it, drains your energy. Eventually, those energy drains add up and create the big, bad dark mood that are tougher to overcome.

3) Sometimes our dark moods are the result of something that happens to us that makes us sad, anxious, distracted, etc. A friend has an accident, a pet dies, your child gets suspended from school and needs counseling, or you’ve gotten some worrying news about your own health. TELL YOUR CLIENTS what is going on. If you leave them in the dark, they’ll start assuming you are “slacking off”. On the other hand, if you share with them that there is something going on, and you are working to get through it, most (good) clients will be very understanding. You don’t have to go through all the details or even be specific about the issue. You’ll feel less guilty — and have more energy to work through your situation.

To your solo success,
Terri Zwierzynski

I always label myself a freelancer by day, marketer at night. Such is the life of a freelancer, eh?

One other thing I’d add is not necessarily the proverbial tough client, but rather the client who wants ugly.

I’m working with a guy right now who’s an absolute joy. Great communication, fast payments on schedule and all those things we wish all clients had. But everything I do for him that, to me, looks really cool he hates.

“Nah, can we go back to that pea green with the pink stripes?”

Oh well, make the client happy!

I think you’re 100% right about dark moods being caused by a sneaking dislike of your work, at least, that has been my experience. I’ve found that looking for the cause of that dislike and treating it to be a pretty powerful way of snapping out of a dark mood. Most recently for me, I took on a bunch of extra jobs that probably tripled my workload. Stupid, I know. I found myself struggling even to do the work I needed to do for my long term clients.

Getting help was the answer for me: I always feel better when I have a plan. My husband looked after my son for a few extra hours and helped me finish a task that had been weighing me down. I managed to get other freelancers to partner with me on a few projects. This really set my mind at ease and allowed me to focus again.

Thanks for your tips: I’ll definitely bookmark this post.

Cheers,

Mandy

- Take a walk to help clear your head. This is good to do when you’re feeling unmotivated but have a deadline approaching, and you know you have to get back to work.

- Read a book by your favorite author. If you don’t have a book to read, surf the Internet for short stories in genres you enjoy and read those.

Thanks for allowing me to add to your post.

Most of the time, simply recognising it for what it is (a temporary down) is all that’s required to move on. It’s enough to remind you to do the things you talk about in your article.