Working your way out of a slump
You can make like Derek Jeter and break out of it.

By: Jeanne Sahadi, CNN/Money senior writer
From: New York CNN/Money – June, 10 2004

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Thank goodness my editors liked the idea for this article.

It came to me out of pure frustration during a slow-brain, idea-free week.

That I was coming up dry when the news and resources at my fingertips were thick with interesting stories was just proof that I was a pitiful excuse for a columnist.

Or ... maybe not. Maybe I was just in a slump, made worse by the fact that I get down about it.

So I checked in with two career experts to see why people get into slumps and how we can get out of them.

Cut yourself some slack

Whether you're suffering from burnout or what career coach Sharon Jordan-Evans calls "mold-out" - your job is so stagnant it grows mold - you know something's got to change.

The good news: you can orchestrate that change to your benefit. Plus, you may actually enjoy some of the steps.

First, it helps to realize we're organic beings, not machines.

"Everybody has good days and bad days," said Robert J. Kriegel, a career coach who has worked with both desk jockeys and Olympic athletes, and wrote "How to Succeed in Business Without Working So Damn Hard" (Warner Books, 2003).

Kriegel also notes that studies have shown that most people can work at an optimal level for somewhere between four and six hours a day.

So it's no surprise that working 10-plus hours a day for sustained periods ­ often under threat of layoffs or having to meet aggressive forecasts -- "causes people to be exhausted. Their spirits start to fall," he said. And so does performance.

Focus on what's going well

Faulty thinking can hurt, too.

"We tend to focus on the negative," Kriegel said. If five things go right and one thing goes wrong, guess which one we dwell on?

That's how a bad event can turn into a bad day. And a couple of bad days can translate into the conclusion that you're just no good anymore. (I don't know what he's talking about.)

So you scramble to correct "the problem." You may even try a number of different strategies, and abandon your natural style in the process. If you don't get better results, your slump deepens.

To counteract the negative slide, Kriegel recommends keeping a daily log of what goes right, of things you do well. That puts the bad events in perspective and serves as a reminder that all is not rot.

And as trite as it sounds, get more sleep. Bad days are often the result of exhaustion, he said.

Give yourself a break

Ninety percent of success on a project comes from research and preparation. The other 10 percent comes from inspiration, Kriegel said.

The office is often the last place for creative thinking. A lot of people come up with their most creative solutions in the shower, in the car, taking a nap or exercising, Kriegel said. Vacations are good, too.

So is balance. If you don't have a life outside the office, you'll burn yourself out. So, "re-energize yourself in ways that matter to you." said Jordan-Evans, coauthor of "Love It, Don't Leave It: 26 Ways to Get What You Want at Work" (Berrett-Kohler, 2003).

That could mean leaving the office at a certain time to get in a run or spend more time with your kids.

And it may mean shutting your office door (if you have one) so you can get your work done without distraction.

Shoot for what you want

Still, no matter how much you develop your life after work, you still have to make the first 10 hours of your day engaging.

So take time to figure out what's wrong or missing from your job. Then think about how to change it and who can help, Jordan-Evans said.

Even small improvements can be big. She often asks clients, "If you could change 20 percent of what goes on at work, what would it be?"

Before you approach anyone, though, get clear on what you want to learn at your current job or what new tasks you want to take on. And don't discount new projects that aren't exactly "work" related.

While in an advertising-executive training program at a large agency, Kriegel asked to arrange chartered ski trips for company employees.

Organizing the venture gave him a new sense of purpose in a job that wasn't challenging enough for him and put him in touch with higher-ups he otherwise would not have met.

It also got him promoted out of the program at an accelerated rate.

Jeanne Sahadi writes about personal finance for CNN/Money. She also appears regularly on CNNfn's "Your Money," which airs weeknights at 5 p.m. ET. You can e-mail her at everydaymoney@cnnmoney.com.