It is the midway point in most classrooms and schools. It is a natural time for educators to pause and take stock. The pause can often feel like what is known as, “the slump”. The daily grind of working to make a difference can take on a heaviness and your bag of tricks is getting lighter.

Your students may also be experiencing the mid-year slump and if they are seniors they may be looking to pack it in. Things may not be looking good. Hopes and dreams may begin to fade and are replaced with gnawing feelings of inadequacy, ineffectiveness, and resignation.

Slumps happen all the time. Baseball players get them. Real estate and insurance agents have them. Restaurants and businesses go through them. If you fear you or those you serve are in one, you are not alone. There are ways out and I want to share a process that you can use now to get you back in the game.

The first step is to notice that you are in one! Give yourself some credit for acknowledging that you or your students/colleagues/co-workers are victims of a slump. Naming what is troubling you is the beginning of doing something about it.

Next, you will want to get some perspective on your situation. It just so happens that the matrix works like a charm to get perspective AND bust up slumps. It was built for anyone who gets stuck. So get out a piece of paper and draw this:

In the lower right, jot down who is important to you. Extra points if you also jot down what is important to you. Take your time. When you have your list take a moment to notice how you feel looking at you important stuff and let it sink in.

In the lower left, jot down the “S” word ( that would be “slump” for you creative or impulsive types). Now add whatever shows up in your mind that shows up along with the slump. Take a good look at that yucky stuff and notice how that feels.

In the upper left, jot down your favorite thing you do to get away from all of that yucky stuff down below ( complain, avoid, check your texts, leave, exercise ). Notice that your yucky stuff is still there and has not gone away.

Finally, in the upper right, record what you would want to be doing if that dastardly slump and yucky stuff weren’t messing things up for you. You would do these things to move toward your important people and things that are still there, waiting for you to show up.

Congratulations! You have given yourself a slump-busting road map. Now you want to go and try a few of those toward moves. You may also throw in a few of those away move too, just for fun. Notice how your toward and away moves are working to help you move past your slump and toward who and what matters to you.

The Challenge: Do a matrix everyday and notice what happens.

You can watch a brief video on other keys to improving school performance, and get a copy of my free rapid action plan by clicking here.