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In these tough times, it 's easy to feel like you're stuck in a job you hate, and there's nothing you can do about it. But are you? Take a look at yourself and make sure you're not using adversity as an excuse to do nothing, rather than a good reason. Take my writer friend, Pam Grundy. She worked for years in a job she loathed, until she plucked up the courage to start writing online. Sure, it was a struggle at first, but she is now making a modest living, writing freelance. It would have been very easy for her to go on making excuses not to take that step. Do any of these excuses apply to you?

- Are you one of those people who say there's no point moving to another job, because all jobs are lousy? How do you know? You haven't tried every job on the planet, have you? You're defeating yourself before you even start. Give the world the benefit of the doubt, and get out there and have a look. Sure, if you change jobs, you may dislike your new workplace as much as your old one. But chances are (a) you'll learn something new and (b) you'll get a slight increase in salary, so it's not all bad news.

- Maybe you're one of those people who says they don't want to leave because next year, you're going on a world cruise. Or you're retiring in a year or two. Or ....(insert dream here). That's fine - unless you've been saying that for the last five years, and haven't gotten around to it yet. That's called procrastinating. If you're not careful, you'll procrastinate your whole life away. Either get off your butt and live your dream, or change jobs so that if you do take another ten years to get around to it, you haven't been miserable in the meantime!

- Are you one of those people who would like to leave but you don't like to let the company down? Wake up and smell the coffee. If the company decided to downsize tomorrow, they'd retrench you and not shed a tear. Loyalty to your employer is a thing of the past, because your employer isn't loyal to you any longer. If you think your company is different, then you're very lucky - but if the company really did care about you, why do you have such a rotten job?

The bottom line is, if you hate your job, the only thing to do is to find an alternative. That may take two days or it may take two years, but it is the only solution.

Perhaps your solution is simply to look for another job in your current industry. Research how to write a resume, call or write to companies you like the sound of, and keep applying no matter how many rejections you get. Or maybe you'd prefer to make a career change - so go to evening college or enrol in distance education to get a new qualification while you're still working at your current job. If you like the idea of an online career, start it in your leisure time - if it starts to take off, ask your boss if you can cut back to part-time, until eventually you can leave work all together.

Yes, all these solutions mean you have to find some extra hours in the day for a few months, but won't it be worth it in the end?

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