Even people who are relatively happy at work go through periods when they hate their jobs—for days, weeks or even months at a time. Just read between the lines of the recent obituaries of CBS newsman Mike Wallace, who died on April 7 at the age of 93. As The New York Timesreported, Wallace suffered a nervous breakdown when his documentary on deception by the American military about the strength of Vietnamese enemy troops prompted a $120 million libel suit against CBS CBS -0.29% filed by Gen. William C. Westmoreland, the commander of American troops in Vietnam from 1964 to 1968. Still, after the case settled in 1985, Wallace spent more than 20 more years at CBS.

Sure, you can quit when the going gets tough, but it’s hard to do that gracefully. Seattle lawyer Wendy S. Goffe wrote eloquently about the subject in, “How To Quit Your Job Without Burning Your Bridges.” Plus finding something better in today’s tight job market can be a challenge. Thinking about self-employment? That too, has its ups and downs, as  FORBES senior editor Deborah L. Jacobs describes in “How To Make Money Without A Job.”
So let’s assume you decide to hang in there for awhile rather than bolting. Here are 10 things you can do to make things better.

1. Negotiate changes in your job description.Talk to your boss about altering your workload or the kind of work you currently do. Whether you’reoverworked and overwhelmed, or completely unchallenged, your boss will understand that you will never be as productive as you could be unless something gives.

Just being able to have this conversation can be a great start to shaping something new. Your goal is to come up with a solution that will not only be best for you, but also work for your boss, your team and your organization.

2. Arrange to work with different people.Even if you don’t necessarily hate your co-workers, it can refresh your outlook on your work and the aspects of it that you hate to involve different people. On upcoming projects, ask to be teamed with individuals you don’t usually work with or even interact with around the office.

On a more informal basis, you can ask these people to react to various ideas or include them in your brainstorming sessions. Another possibility is to find out whether your organization has retained external consultants who you could team up with on certain assignments. Mix it up to get a new take on things.
3. Seek synergy. If you already know which people you enjoy working with and work well with, find more opportunities to collaborate with them. Internally this could mean asking permission to work on your next presentation with someone you know you have good chemistry with.

Externally, there may be individual suppliers and customers with whom you have a particularly good rapport. Nurture these relationships, strengthen these bonds and take an active role in continuing to grow and develop them. If you’ve previously worked well with specific external consultants, consider asking for their input again.

4. Transfer to a different team or department. If there’s nothing going for you where you are, think about maneuvering a sideways shift. See if your boss is open to the idea of your transferring to a different business area. Think smartly about how you can be helpful in bringing this about, rather than sitting back and expecting to be moved somewhere new. Do some research before submitting your request and look at which areas of the organization play to your strengths or what new teams are on the horizon that you might want to get involved with. Seek opportunities where your input can be valued.