On Monday, I talked a lot about what you need to do to keep yourself in the game when business is slow, but I only touched on what you need to do mentally. With work harder to come by for many of us, mental health is too important to just give a cursory nod to it.

The fact is that if you don’t take care of your mental health when business is bad, that’s the end of your business. Why? Because you won’t be in the right mental headspace when business does come your way. And if you’re not in the right headspace, you will either have to pass on the job or risk doing a bad job that may hurt your business even further.

So let’s keep you mentally in the game, even when it’s hard.

Acknowledge the feelings

The very worst thing you can do during this time is to be in denial. If you don’t acknowledge you are having these feelings, then you can’t do anything to make it better.

Before you do anything, sit with yourself. Identify what feelings you are having with absolutely no judgement. Just be curious about what you are feeling.

Once your feelings are identified, think about the opposite feeling. For example, if I’m feeling useless, I start thinking about how I can feel useful. Maybe it’s helping my neighbor with a task. Or maybe it’s doing some quick pro bono work. Whatever it is, it’s a start to getting myself mentally back.

Have a safe person

My gut reaction to slow times is to just not talk about it. I work hard on presenting like I’m totally successful and nothing is wrong. The thing is that everyone has these peaks and valleys in business, so you’re not alone. And the only way to realize that is to talk about it. But I understand that talking about it openly can be just too scary.

That’s why you should always have someone within your field that understands what it’s like to run your kind of business. In my experience with running a social media business is that most of us are out to help each other. The competition that is there is mostly friendly competition. So there is almost always someone who I can run things past who will give me good advice. Because every time I’ve gone to someone outside of that network, I get bad advice that usually includes something like, “Maybe it’s time to get a real job.” I could write a whole treatise about that statement, but I digress.

Someone you can talk to openly about business problems should be a part of your team. It can help you when times are slow, and it can help you when you need to grow. Having this safe person could be the key to your business surviving, especially when you’re mentally in a downward spiral.

Concentrate on self-improvement

I don’t do my best work when I don’t have a lot to do. So whenever things get slow, I throw myself into improving myself in some way. It could be business or personal. Whatever I wish I had time to do when I am super busy. And that allows me to do better work with the clients I do have.

But if I feel like the economy is shifting, I probably will focus this self-improvement time on a skill that will help my business continue. Remember, the more services you can offer at a high level, the more likely it is that your business can survive the shifting times. Because needs will always shift and being responsive to that helps.

This also has the added bonus of keeping you working at a quick pace. If you can keep going at that pace, you will not need to dip slowly into working with a new client. You can just go. Working quickly is a muscle that will quickly go away if you don’t keep using it. So anything you can do to keep it going is a good thing.

Celebrate your small wins

Not being able to see progress is a good way to get yourself mentally in a hole. Instead of focusing on how big the hole you’re in is, try concentrating on all the movement you are making to get out of it.

Did you contact someone and it was out of your comfort zone? You get a cookie. Did a contact reply to you about a potential opportunity? That’s another cookie. And did you get a proposal done? So many cookies.

Okay, you don’t have to eat the cookies. They do add up just like your wins will. Find your own version of a celebration and cheer yourself on as you rack up those small wins. It will help improve your mood and push you a little further out of that hole.

Be patient

I feel like a lot of people are in their own little holes right now wondering when it will be their turn. The thing is that if you keep working it and keep a positive attitude, it will be your turn to get back on your feet soon. I know it’s hard to remember that, but this always happens in cycles. And if you’re patient, you will get back to where you want to be.

How do you keep yourself mentally in the game when business is slow?