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When I first started my business, I had a business mentor who told me the following quote. I’ve never forgotten it because it’s so true for many, many business owners. He said:

“Show me an entrepreneur and I’ll show you a manic-depressant.”

How true is that? One moment as a business owner, you can be on top of the world and nothing can go wrong. The next, you’re down in the doldrums thinking that a job could really be great right about now. And all it can take to change your mood is literally a phone call or an email.

The problem is that as a small business owner it’s far too easy to find yourself slipping into the hole of depression and once you’re there, it’s very hard to dig yourself out again. I know – I’ve been there.

The trick is to catch yourself when you start feeling down and put things in place again to lift your mood. Let’s face it, opportunities happen when you’re feeling great and clients start to come through the door. When you’re feeling down, nothing works and no new clients materialise. The hole is not a good place for you.

But, it’s all well and good me sat here saying to you that when you start feeling down you need to put things in place to stop you dropping into that hole. What if you’re already there though?

Well, if you’re already there, you need to try every trick in the book to pull yourself out. Here are my top ten tricks and tips that have worked for me in the past:

1. At the end of every day, force yourself to think of three good things that have happened. You’re not allowed to concentrate on any bad things. The good things can be as minor as you like – i.e. had a good meal with my partner, but they must be good. Keep doing this for a few days and I guarantee that you will feel better.
2. Keep a diary or a journal and write in this as often as you can. When you’re running a business, it’s easy to concentrate on the bad things, but if you record the good things too, you’ll find it makes you feel better and then when you start to feel down in the future, you can refer back to these good things.
3. Print out your successes. We all have clients and contacts that send us emails saying great things about us. Make sure you print these off when you get them and put them into a folder. When you’re feeling down, go back through and read them. Believe me – I thought this one was a rubbish suggestion when I first heard it, but it really does work.
4. Surround yourself with positive people. There is a saying that we are the average of the 6 main people we spend our time with. That means if you spend the majority of your time with 6 people who are moaning and groaning about the world, guess how you’re going to feel. Surround yourself with as many positive people as you can.
5. Listen to positive audio recordings. There are tons of positive audio recordings out there. Just look on iTunes. Download some and listen to them. They will not only make you feel better, but also give you some ideas on how you can improve your business.
6. Get out of your environment. Staying in your home or office for days on end is guaranteed to make you feel terrible. Even now, I can go stir crazy if I spend more than a couple of days in the office (and I have got a team working with me!). Get out of your office and change your environment. Do this a few times and you’ll start to feel better.
7. Take the day off. Even though you know you really shouldn’t, taking the day off and trying not to think about the business will do you the world of good. To stop yourself thinking about the business, try to do something that makes you think about the other activity. It’s very difficult to think about two things at once.
8. Talk about it. As they say, a problem shared is a problem halved. Talk about how you’re feeling with a positive person and see if between you, you can come up with some solutions to make you feel better.
9. Work on a new project that gets you fired up. If you’re looking at your to-do list thinking “Yuck!” then work on something different. Look over all the ideas you’ve had in the past and see if you can come up with some that inspire you. Then try giving them a go or planning them out to see if that can get you re-motivated.
10. Actually try some of these ideas. Look, I’ve been in the hole many times over the years and I’ve tried all of these tricks. Try then and find out which ones work for you, you’ll be amazed at how quickly you start to feel better.