Anybody who’s ever been in a slump can tell you, “It ain’t fun!” The self doubt. The product doubt. The company doubt. The economy doubt. The system doubt. The ‘whatever else’ doubt. Having been in my share of slumps, I can tell you that every slump is a downward spiral with increasing slope and increasing speed until near the end, you’re actually swirling, you feel like Willie Loman, put your hands in front of your face and prepare to crash and burn. You see your income and savings dwindling, your bills not getting paid, your kids starving, your spouse leaving you and you think about giving up on your dream, getting a ‘regular job’, settling for mediocrity and ‘normalcy’, then you’re out of it. The seas are calm. Your clients love you. Nobody’s slapping you on the back saying, “Keep at it!” The sky is blue again. You’re dreaming again. You’re wondering if your goals are high enough.
Pick your favorite baseball slugger and think about how you worried about him (or very sensitively called him a bum) when he was in a slump. Or how about gold glovers that all of a sudden can’t catch or throw. Everybody has a slump sometime. Recognize it. Acknowledge it. Handle it.
Handle it how? Let’s hear from you. Tell us about your slump horror. Tell us how it started. Tell us how you got out.
You get out of the slump by: setting ego aside; being willing to get help; showing up every day; being sure you stay focused on the stuff you know is required for you to succeed; do the stuff you don’t like to do. Once your out of the slump, be sure to get even with those who beat on you when you were down . . . you will have earned the right.
Great topic Rick. I wrote an article called Slump Busters in May of 05. Here’s the link if anyone wants to read it. slump-busters
Mike, I agree with everything you wrote except for the getting even part. Why just get even? That’s like hitting your goals instead of overachieving. Blow right by them and don’t look back!
Mike,Check it out. You replied to Dave’s article a year ago.
slumps happen as a result of being successful. you stop doing what you did to admire what you did!! (yogism) I get back on that same horse and ride it as hard as I can.
You know, Doug, you are very wise. How many of us, when we’re at the bottom of a slump, forget that in order to slump, we had to be UP at some point. Good observation!