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One thing I didn't expect:

Focus Less on Work

Another way to combat career doldrums is to focus less energy on work and more on activities outside the office. This can be particularly effective for Type A high achievers. "These are the driven people who are always producing more and more -- but if it is more and more of what you don't like, you end up feeling oppressed," says Dory Hollander, a workplace psychologist and president of WiseWorkplaces, an Arlington, Va., executive-coaching firm. She urges such employees "to do the minimum required to produce reasonably good work and focus on something you care about outside the office."

By letting go of a single-minded, all-consuming focus on their jobs, Dr. Hollander believes, employees will not only derive more personal satisfaction but also become more productive and effective at work. They will be able to bring new interests and energies to their jobs, which in turn should help them advance their careers.

A 40-year-old business unit-manager at a midsize consulting company in Washington adopted that tactic about 18 months ago. "After six years at the company, I felt I couldn't develop the business into something I felt proud of, and I wasn't encountering any exciting new challenges," he says. In addition, because of the economy's weak state, he couldn't offer his staff promotions or pay raises, or get these for himself. "The news was always about someone leaving or a client downsizing, and that lack of good news deflated energy levels," he says.

He contemplated quitting but realized he couldn't easily replace his six-figure income. So he sought career counseling from Dr. Hollander and subsequently started writing a business book, which he is currently completing. He also enrolled in acting classes.

Both activities "are far outside my comfort zone and require that I work long hours," he says. But both are interesting and therefore energizing and have buoyed his spirits and performance on the job.

For one thing, because he wants more time for after-work activities, he has learned to be far better organized and productive at work. He delegates a lot of administrative work, which he feels he used to waste time on, and focuses intently on partner-client relationships, where he can build business for his firm and add to the bottom line. "I'm working more intelligently," he says.

He also thinks he has become a better people manager. "I used to be extremely remote and was entirely focused on driving the business," he says. He didn't spend much time talking with his staff, gauging where different people needed help or figuring out who was best at what tasks. But since he enrolled in acting classes, he says, he has become more outgoing and better able to converse with employees. He discovered that when he talked about his acting classes and writing, his employees and co-workers responded by sharing more about their lives. The exchange has resulted in closer work relationships, better teamwork and greater motivation on his staff, he believes.

As a result, he no longer wants to land a job at another company. "I've become a happy prisoner of this job," he says.