SLUMPS
by Tom Pryor

Our local baseball team, the Texas Rangers, is mired in a losing slump. Even though the Rangers have one of the highest payrolls in major league baseball, management and players have not been able to turnaround the team's dismal performance.

Webster's dictionary defines slump as "to decline suddenly, as in value or business activity." The word slump sounds like the very situation it denotes. Several ICMS customers are in a slump. My baseball team is in a slump. The U.S. economy is in a slump. I even have a friend whose marriage is in a slump. There are all kinds of slumps. What causes slumps?

TEN CAUSES OF SLUMPS
1. Coasting after success
2. Loss of faith, confidence or trust
3. Boredom due to lack of encouragement
4. Bad decisions or choices
5. It's God's gift of rest
6. Injury
7. Forgetting the basics
8. Out of alignment
9. Lack of discipline
10. Lack of leadership and vision

Slumps are an inevitable part of our personal and professional lives. I believe numbers 2, 4 and 7 above caused the current economic slump. Stock market investors made a series of bad decisions investing in Dot.com companies whose owners had overly optimistic financial plans. When Dot.com'ers did not make money, consumers lost confidence in the
entire economy thereby resulting in a slump.

"Most business owners have experienced the organizational and economic blow to alignment caused by a slump in sales or the loss of a major account," says Andy Stanley in his book Visioneering. "The mood around the office can change instantly. Instead of working to further the vision of the company, employees begin working to secure their employment.
They quit taking risks." Quitting is not a solution for slumps.

Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra once said, "Most slumps are like the common cold. They last two weeks no matter what you do." While Yogi's advice may be true for baseball players, doing nothing rarely results in a personal or pro