It happens every year. You make your New Years Resolutions, you set your goals for business, weight loss, quitting smoking, more time for yourself, less TV, more time outdoors, more time with family, more time with friends…. and you do really well…. and then it hits.
(in my best Dragnet tone) Dum da dum DUM.
The Slump.
You don't see it coming. It doesn't make a sound. In fact, the joy and momentum that happens right before the storm making The Slump THAT much harder when it hits.
You start eating fried foods again. Your FitBit begins to collect dust. You decide you can not quit smoking while your husband still smokes – it's just impossible.
You start taking on extra shifts at work because money gets tight. You flip to a new month in your Diva Success System Planner to see no Bookings! Your calendar keeps filling with stuff OTHER than parties.
Before you know it, you are wondering where your business went. And more importantly – how do you get it back?
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How To Overcome a Business Slump
The Slump is inevitable, and we all face them at one time or another. It is how you handle yourself during a slump that will determine how quickly you can get out of it.
First of all, don't beat yourself up over it. When you realize you are in the Slump, do not wallow in self-pity and feel guilty or blame yourself – that is going to only make the situation worse.
Instead, understand we all get them, that it makes you HUMAN, and that it does not make you a bad person NOR a bad Consultant. You must accept that “it is what it is” before you can move on to recovery.
Like any other problem in life, admitting you have an issue and accepting it, is the first step to moving on.
Secondly, strive for excellence, but not perfection. The curse of immediate success is that it puts an unbelievable amount of pressure on us to do everything again perfectly, quickly, automatically because we have “been there and done that.”
The pressure we put on ourselves to race back up to the “top” again is overwhelming and unnecessary and will lead to burn out pretty quickly.
Perfection is an illusion that is completely unattainable, so hang it up and get over it. Strive to be excellent at what you do, but give up the idea that you will ever be perfect. Once you take that pressure off, you are free to be the best you can be.
And finally, just start over. Go back to the beginning, back to the basics, and start all over. Do not try to reinvent the wheel. Do not try to do things newer, better, faster, easier… just go Back to Basics and do what you know works.
What did you do when you “caught fire” before? What steps did you take to find that success? Remember them, and mimmick them, this time with the knowledge of what can happen if you let those actions stall again.
By recreating your earlier successes, you can get back on your “winning streak” quickly, and stay on it longer.
Getting out of a slump is not the easiest thing in the world, but it is doable. These three steps will help you understand, accept, and overcome any slump you hit in business, or in life.