I work a full time job and am a small time weekend entrepreneur. I work with one other partner at a distance and developers half way around the world.
I find it is very easy to slip into crippling depressions for a few reasons:
1) Working after you get home from work is exciting at first, then very quickly becomes grueling and exhausting
2) Every time you take time off after work you begin to feel guilty and start assigning all free time guilt because you should be working on your startup
3) You are constantly aware that when you work alone, or mostly alone, your work can easily trail in scope and head in a useless direction. There is no one to check this for you.
4) You have to be everything, your own marketer, designer, UX/UI dev, product testing, QA not to mention planing and ideation for product features.
These all add up to really, biting off more than I can chew, which in itself is probably the cause of a lot of depression -- the sense of an insurmountable task.
I have been there, several times now. Each time I learn a little more and each time I come away more effective. I've found that when it gets really tight and overwhelming by simply not giving up you begin to notice the things that are critically important and that need to get done and the things that are just nice to have.
In the end when you start noticing these things and get the important tasks done and let the non-important ones slide it feels pretty good.
I still struggle with #2 though. It often feels like no one else I know ever feels that same guilt. The only solution I've come up with so far is if I'm doing something that isn't work then it needs to feel like I'm not wasting time. For some reason I don't really understand yet playing golf doesn't feel like I'm wasting time. Maybe because it's a solo sport and for me it's competitive? I don't know. It helps though.
Edit: To acknowledge the spirit of this thread I am not suggesting a depressed person push through and use the stress to their advantage. This is advice for someone who is not depressed. I do know what depression is like, and if you're depressed and experiencing the above then I don't think it's possible to make it through. Acknowledge your mental state (Very hard to do, talk with other people, seek help) and come back later.
Your comment identifies that my above comments aren't really depression -- more of a dissapointing lull, and should not be confused with a real clinical level of depression which I'm not sure I've ever experienced.
I can only speak from my own experience. Taking that into account from the points you identified that is not depression, rather a state of being knocked down and overwhelmed. Something that in my experience you can push through and learn from.
Depression is different. The best way I can explain it is if you've ever experienced the kind of euphoria associated with a deep connection with someone else. Not just lust but a deep connection or love - depression is the exact opposite of that and just as powerful.
Unlike being in love, you may not know if you're actually depressed or just experiencing what I have taken your points to be as a state of being knocked down.
I find it is very easy to slip into crippling depressions for a few reasons:
1) Working after you get home from work is exciting at first, then very quickly becomes grueling and exhausting
2) Every time you take time off after work you begin to feel guilty and start assigning all free time guilt because you should be working on your startup
3) You are constantly aware that when you work alone, or mostly alone, your work can easily trail in scope and head in a useless direction. There is no one to check this for you.
4) You have to be everything, your own marketer, designer, UX/UI dev, product testing, QA not to mention planing and ideation for product features.
These all add up to really, biting off more than I can chew, which in itself is probably the cause of a lot of depression -- the sense of an insurmountable task.
Not sure the best way to combat that.