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Jun 26

Are You In A Slump?

“When you’re in slump, you’re not much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.”

—Dr. Seuss

I was watching a baseball game the other night with Dennis.  I don’t remember many details about the game, as I am not much of a baseball fan. Most of what was discussed for about 2 innings of the game was Bryce Harper. Bryce is a Washington Nationals right-fielder, who is normally one heck of a batter. The commentators were saying that Bryce could be baseball’s first $400 million dollar man…and he’s only 25 years old. But Bryce Harper is in a slump and he is up for contract renewal, as well. This could be the worst time to be in a batting slump.They continued to discuss Bryce’s dilemma and  gave their opinions as to why he was in a slump. One commentator and ex-baseball player, Alex Rodriguez, showed us a video to explain why he  believed that Bryce was not batting well.  As I watched this video of Bryce’s swing, as the ball came toward him, his shoulders tensed. I could see his grip tightening–Alex said he thought that Bryce’s knuckles were probably white under his batting gloves.  As Bryce swung at the ball, he held his breath. It was almost like he was trying too hard. (It reminded me of me when I play golf:)  Alex went on to say that the tight grip, the body tension and the breath-holding caused the bat to take a different trajectory and miss the ball.

I then watched a another video where commentators shared their opinions of how Bryce Harper could overcome his slump. I thought this was good advice for us should we find ourselves in a slump. The bold quotes were their suggestions;

1. “Relax.” Be patient. Slumps are part of playing the game.  I will add that acknowledging and accepting  that we’re slumping is the first step to overcoming.   I believe there could be a blessing involved in a slump (WHAT?) Slumps are bumps in the road. They cause our brains to churn in new ways. Let’s ask ourselves what we can learn from this?  What is the slump telling us?  We might come up with successful ideas that we’ve never thought about before!

2. “Trust yourself.  You KNOW how to knock it out of the park.” Don’t give up. Keep swinging. I would also bet that there are coaches and others that Bryce Harper is trusting to get him through this. It’s good for us to have trusted confidants to reach out to for help and encouragement.

3. “Be the dude you are 100% percent of the time.” This was my favorite and the other commentators felt the same way. They suggested that Bryce not let the pressure of the slump and the contract renewal to change who he is.  They told Bryce to remember the passion and the love that he has for game.  I think that’s great advice.

One last piece of advice from Dr. Seuss, “And then things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew. Just go right along and you’ll start happening, too.”

Need help out of a slump?  I’m just an email away!

Batter up!

Jan

Jan McDonald
The John Maxwell Team
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