There are a lot of challenges people face in their day to day lives and if you are concerned about money management, one of these hurdles can be a financial slump. It can come at any time without warning and can affect people differently. One person can just have a slump for a day and come back to work the next day as if nothing happened. For some, it takes weeks or even months and a little harder to shake off.
This slump can refer to a multitude of things from not having the finances they need to a situation where things doesn’t seem to work in your favor. Investopedia.com refers to it as having poor performance or inactivity on a chosen path, career or job. It can also refer to that feeling where you just can’t seem to bring yourself to work if you have a day job. It can also be that unshakeable feeling where you can’t seem to be productive with your business.
Some people chalk it up to financial confidence and how they believe they lose it along the way which results to a slump. Though it could be one of the reasons, it is not always that easy to dissect.
Tips to address a financial slump
If you believe that you are in a slump and you are looking for ways to get out of it for yourself and your family, here are a few things you might want to look into. It would take determination and the will to improve on your current state and as you work hard on it, you will see the results.
- Rest and relax. You might have heard this often in your life but there is value in getting some rest and relaxation into your daily grind. You need to remember that you are not a machine and regardless how healthy or physically fit you are, you need some downtime to recoup energy or even just thoughts. This is one of the easiest yet often overlooked things you can do when you are in whatever kind of slump especially when you are having trouble with your finances. There is that urgency to start working and looking for ways to make it better but sometimes, you just need a little break before you get started.
- Go back to basics. Next thing you can do is to go back to basics because there are times that you have overcomplicated things in your life. This could have led to your slump because you were trying to work with such complicated processes in your life. It can be a budget that is just not working and one way to go about it is go back to basics. Look at and tally your income which comes in every month. Then check and list down all your expenses on one side. With these two in hand, check if your income covers your expenses and see how you can make improvements as you go along.
- Remind yourself of your goals. Another thing that can work for you is to remind yourself of why you are doing the things you do. Why do you work so hard in the office or why do you put in so much time and effort in your business? Why are you outside trying to close a deal or why are you working so hard on that project presentation in the middle of the night? You need to go remind yourself why you are doing the things you do which can help you get over a financial slump. It can be for your family, for your children or even for a goal that you want to achieve in the future. Being reminded why you do the things you do helps you get back on path and push you to succeed.
- Get support from people around you. There are times when you just need some form of support from people around you especially the ones that matters to you the most. Family, friends or people you look up to can be great sources of inspiration and a wealth of support to get you through any kind of slump. You just need to identify the people whose opinions matter to you because there will be a lot of people in life who will put you down. They are either jealous of what you have accomplished or just doesn’t know you all too well. Be sure to keep the company of people who has your best interest at heart.
Why are you in a slump?
There are a lot of causes of why you get yourself in a financial slump. It can come from not having a financial timeline and going off course from your life goals. There are also times when you just make the wrong decisions in life. Here are a few more you might want to be on the look out to help you stay clear of falling into a slump.
- You work too much. Huffingtonpost.com shared that people who does not have any work and life balance are more exposed to burnouts. Too much of anything is bad for you and that is a fact. You need food to survive but too much of it can give you health complications. You need to exercise to keep yourself healthy but too much of it can actually put you in the hospital. The same goes with your work – too much work because you want to earn and get out of a financial slump can work against you.
- You are in the wrong profession. One of the reasons why you might be in a financial slump is because you are in the wrong industry or profession. There are times when you finished one course and you are actually good at it but your heart is set somewhere else. You might be in the banking industry but you really love creating and inventing stuff. You might be in the IT industry but all you can think of is creating music. You need to follow your heart but do so with caution and transition with your finances in mind.
- There are too many distractions. If you are trying to put together an article but you are surrounded by crying babies all day, it might prove to be a difficult task. You might be also trying to get your budget done for the month but it will be a challenge with the tv blasting right in front of you. You need to make sure that you are able to focus on the things you need to accomplish because having distractions around you could affect your productivity and put you in a slump.
- You have unrealistic goals. You plans might include being able to pay off your mortgage loan in 3 years but the reality is that you need at least 25 years to do it. This is a very unrealistic goal and could jeopardize the way you view your money and how you budget for other items in your household.
Being in a financial slump can be very challenging because there are times when it comes when you least expect it and you do not have an idea how to get out of it. There are ways to assess your situation so you can find a solution out of it. The important thing is to know that it is not forever and that you can get out of it.