Monday Quickie - Turn Around Your Career Slump in 8 Steps

Twice in my career I've been in a slump.
 
Statistically I'm not sure where that puts me in comparison to others having to do with 'career slumps' however I can openly and honestly admit those two experiences were incredibly challenging and equally as eye opening in my personal and professional development. 
 
What is a career slump?
 
It can be a lot of things. A career slump can be a period marked with stagnation, little to no growth, periods of failure, challenges with our mindset and passion to succeed.  Career slumps are all of these things and perhaps none of them at the same time, it just depends on your situation. A career slump could include mediocrity, boredom for extended periods. Lack luster attitudes and or a general malaise where we 'mail it in' on the daily. These are characteristics of a career slump.
 
What I've learned from my two career slump experiences was it was near impossible to get out of it until I understood what got me there in the first place.
 
I'm nervous talking about this. Being vulnerable on a stage like social media isn't necessarily an enjoyable walk in the park yet I've learned that many others share my same struggles so I choose to offer my experiences in the hope that it helps others. Sharing also helps me understand myself better and become more confident with who I am, what I'm capable of and what my 'why' is for doing what I do.
 
There, right there. That's the answer! Getting out of a career slump isn't some magical experience or event that gets you back on track, its sharing and talking about what you're experiencing, how you're feeling emotionally and being aware of how that's impacting you and your career. Whether we want to admit it or not all of us at one point or another will experience a career slump. No one is perfect and times of strife in this life, more accurately our careers, are inevitable. 
 
The key is to dealing with a career slump is acknowledging it, accepting that it’s real then acting to change it.  Similar to the psychiatric process called the ‘five stages of grief’ how we handle dealing with a career slump is a process of admittance, understanding and then action.  It's a lot of soul seeking and working through your feelings to try and understand your mindset and what brought you to your present place.
 
Here's what has worked for me:
 
1. ADMIT: Recognize and admit things aren't great. Say it out loud.
 
2. PRESENT STATE: Ask yourself how you feel in this moment. Write it down.
 
3. EVENTS: Trace back the last 6 months to a year and unwind your experiences, successes, struggles to understand the chain of events which brought you to your career slump
 
4. DIGEST: Sit on this information for a couple days. How does it make you feel? Do you now know why you're in a slump?
 
5. SHARE: Go find two people to talk with. Share with them your situation and present feelings on the matter. (I know...this is a lot of talk about feelings and emotions. Sounds awful, right. The quicker you can get beyond that the quicker you'll find yourself on the road to confident successful empowered you)
 
6. KEEP GOING: Keep sharing your experience with people. The more the better. You'll begin to notice the more you talk about it the better you feel and more accepting you are of the situation.
7. TRANSITION: Now that you know what's going on start out every day with 20 minutes of mindset activities to get you on the road to a positive you (workout, yoga, meditate, do your favorite activity, listen to music, sit in silence, etc.)  It’s all about cultivating a positive mindset which drives who you are and your actions for the day in front of you. 
 
8. ACT: commit to yourself that the experiences you had leading up to your career slump don’t define who you are.  In fact, they make you better!  Now is when we need to make some changes to our career.  Implement a new office schedule, get rid of work if you’re overloaded, take on a new project to get yourself out of your comfort zone.  Maybe you need to find a new job!  Whatever it is, the new you, the new focus must be different than what you were doing the past month.
 
If we change nothing about our actions and mindset we’ll continue to be who we were during the slump.
 
This eight step process doesn’t happen immediately but you'll begin to notice a change in your overall outlook and mindset after a couple weeks of this. Keep it up, don’t falter. As positivity and empowerment come back into your life so too will your energy to kick ass and take names in your career.