Work Life Balance for Speech Pathologists: Mindful Time Management Tips for Therapists, Clinicians, & Private Practice Owners

48. Mastering Summer as a Busy SLP: Balancing Family, Work, and Self-Care

• Theresa Harp

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Summer is upon us, my friends! In today's episode, I'm exploring some of the biggest challenges when it comes to working and parenting during the summer. I'm sharing a blend of practical strategies and mindset shifts that you can use to help you find some balance. I'm also revealing my personal tactics for leveraging quiet moments during the day and how redefining boundaries can create a balance between work and family life. Plus, I'll discuss simple organizational tools and digital hacks that can streamline your routines, keeping you ahead of the game. 

Are you sick and tired of feeling overwhelmed by all the things? I can help. Schedule a free consult today.

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Speaker 1:

This is your speech path mindful time management for the busy SLP. My name's Teresa Harp and, as a mom and speech pathologist turned productivity coach, I know a thing or two about how hectic life can be. If you're an SLP who's overworked, burnout and feeling like you're constantly falling short as a therapist and a mom, then this is the podcast for you. I cover time management and mindset strategies so you can learn to love your work and your home life at the same time. Let's dive in.

Speaker 2:

Hey, slps this is episode 48, and I'm talking today about tips and strategies to help with that all too familiar transition into the summer schedule. So this episode, when it will be released, it will be probably mid to late May, and I know that you might be listening to this at any time of year. And if you are, I don't want you to turn it off, because a lot of these tips in here are relevant regardless of the time of year or the season literally or figuratively that you are in. So stay with me because this information will absolutely be valuable. But for those of you who are listening and it is that time of year when we are moving away from the school day schedule and stepping into a little bit more, I would say, flexible in terms of the schedule, maybe a little bit unpredictable I know that this is something that comes up a lot of times with the moms who I coach in one way or another, and even for those of us who we do this summer after summer right, this is not necessarily anything new. It's not new challenges, but for whatever reason, for lots of reasons that I can think of, actually there it just seems to be something that, no matter how seasoned you are. It still comes up as a challenge, and that's okay, but I want you to have some tools in your toolbox, so to speak, in order to support you, okay? So, first of all, stay calm.

Speaker 2:

I think that if any of you are sort of the way that I am when it comes to just getting very easily frazzled during times of transition like this and when I find myself spending more time parenting than I typically do and I share that with just total transparency and honesty I'm not gonna lie. It is hard, it is really hard. I don't think that makes me an asshole. Maybe it does. You can have your own, you could have your own opinion, but what I have found is that it's a very stressful. It can be a very stressful point of year for me, and I love summer, so don't get me wrong and I love the fun things that we do during the summer. I don't wish it away. I'm just being honest in terms of the challenges that it brings, and you know my thresholds aren't always as high as I would like in terms of patience and all of that. Right, but for me, I get very easily overstimulated by a lot of noise and a lot of physical contact and a lot of visual input. So those three processing modalities tend to be sensitive for me, and so what happens is during the summertime, when I don't have as much space and quiet during the daytime hours as I typically do throughout the rest of the year. It is taxing on my body and on my brain and on my patience, and just that simple awareness can actually be incredibly effective in terms of how to support yourself and how to manage some big emotions that might come throughout this time of year.

Speaker 2:

Okay, enough about that. It was just a short digression, but we're back. We're back on track. Okay, so we're going to walk through a number of strategies and considerations that I think will be helpful. Like I said, any time of year, but especially during this time of year, they're particularly relevant, and these strategies are going to be helpful regardless of what your work status is or what your work setting is, whether you are completely off during the summer, whether you're. Maybe you've just recently started a private practice and you're trying to grow it during the summer. Maybe you've just recently started a private practice and you're trying to grow it during the summer. Maybe you do a little bit of both where you own a private practice, maybe on the side, but you have a full-time job, maybe you work extended school year. You get the idea right. There's a lot of different scenarios and nuances of what this might look like for you, but these strategies, I think, are particularly important.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so we've got that out of the way, and the first suggestion, idea recommendation that I want to offer is to get incredibly clear on your top priorities. So, when you think about buckets, as I call them maybe you've heard me talk about the time buckets resource, essentially, what I'm talking about is those big categories of areas of focus or, you know, categories of roles that you play, so to speak. So for me, my two biggest buckets in terms of priority during the summer and really throughout the year as well, tend to be my business and my family, and so, within each of those buckets, I have a whole lot of different things that I'm doing right, a whole lot of responsibilities, a whole lot of ideas and goals and habits, right. But what I need to do during the summer is to identify which things within those buckets are the most important, because, like I said, less time available available, less patience, less energy available during the summer months for me, and so it's really important that I have the, that clear identification of the top priorities. Now, does that mean that I always follow those? Absolutely not, like I don't. I do not want to give the impression that any of these things are things that I do perfectly I do all the time. That's not the case. A lot of this is stuff that I need to coach myself through and I have to sort of remind myself and work on actively, you know, sometimes every day. So just keep that in mind as you're listening to these suggestions.

Speaker 2:

So, once you've identified what those key priorities are within your top buckets, I think it's really important to then look at what are your unique circumstances, your unique challenges for working during this season. So I shared what my triggers are. Right, I talked about the when there's a lot of visual input, a lot of auditory input, a lot of tactile input. Those are triggering for me. You need to do the same for you. What are some of your triggers? What are some of the things that you need in place in order to feel calm? Because, again, you need in place in order to feel calm Because, again, speaking of priorities, those are the things that you're going to need to prioritize even more than what you're probably doing already and, unfortunately, a lot of times, these are the things that are on the chopping block, and the cost of that is, in my opinion, sanity, and then also eventually, in certain ways, productivity, but I'm more concerned about the sanity piece.

Speaker 2:

I don't know about you. So identify what those triggers are for you, identify what your structure, or lack of structure, is going to look like, and get really clear on what you anticipate in terms of the increased demands on your time, your energy and your attention. And once you've identified what the scenario is right Now, you're starting to get a clearer picture of your situation for the summer, your situation for the summer, and then that can help guide you in terms of which of the following strategies are going to be particularly useful for you. Okay, the very first thing that I want to offer in terms of the strategies related to how you interact and engage and manage your children during this time is I cannot stress enough the changes that I've seen and this is something that I work on continuously but the changes that I see in my kids' behavior and attention, and frustration, tolerance all of that is directly relevant to the amount not even the amount to the quality of the interactions that I have with them.

Speaker 2:

So, in other words, when I slow down and I'm present and I'm engaged and I'm connecting with them, it doesn't matter if it's for five minutes or if it's for three hours, which it really never is. I mean, let's be honest, that's a lot of presence, but it doesn't matter the quantity, it just matters that the quality of the interaction is there. And that's just been true for me time and time again. And so the reason why I offer this is because for me and if this is true for me, it's probably true for you that's really hard for me to do. It is really hard for me to slow down and be present because I'm so used to operating a million miles an hour and rushing through whatever it is that I'm doing and thinking about a million different things at once. I have to actively push myself, guide myself, train myself to slow down and be more present, and I don't know. I think that is, on the one hand, really relatable, and then, on the other hand, the sad part is that's what it is all about, right? That is the reason why, at least for me, why I like to work for myself and why I've chosen to do my work.

Speaker 2:

Set up the way that it is is to be able to be with them, and so why squander it by being stressed and anxious and distracted? It's then basically all for nothing. So, anyway, back to the strategy itself. If you could factor in that quality time with your kids and be strategic when possible in terms of like when during the day that's happening, I think you could really benefit from the sort of payoff of that, which is probably more uninterrupted time, because once I'm connected and spending that time with them, then they give me the space, then they are less likely to interrupt and hang on me, and you know all the things that kids do when they're looking for attention. There's that unmet need there, right, and so being able to sort of build that in advance buys me that space and that focus later on afterwards, and so you could do that frequently. You know, on and off throughout the day, you could alternate between meaningful engaged interactions with your kids and then meaningful focused work. Interactions with your kids and then meaningful focused work.

Speaker 2:

I also really want you to consider what your natural energies are, your natural rhythms. Most of us tend to have a pretty set pattern in terms of are we morning people? Are we night owls? Are we, you know, a burst of energy in the afternoon, or do you go into like a food coma in the afternoon and you need sleep, is it? You know what is your sort of? I don't know what is your, what are, what are those patterns for you, and consider them and see how you can optimize them if possible For me. I like to get up early in the morning.

Speaker 2:

I am more of a morning person, so I prioritize that time before the kids are in bed, when they were napping. When I stayed at home, or when my kids were younger and it was during the summer, I would try to prioritize the nap schedule for whatever it was that I felt that I needed that day. Sometimes that would be just taking a break and zoning out with a show, sometimes it would be closing my eyes, sometimes it would be reading, sometimes it would be content creation. I mean, it really just depends. It depended on what it was that I needed, and at that time, quite frankly, it was a little bit different, because when I was practicing doing direct intervention, I didn't have to juggle as much in terms of, you know, trying to get work done while with my kids. So so yeah, focusing in on what are those energies and rhythms and how can you sort of optimize them to the greatest extent possible, and sort of piggybacking off of that.

Speaker 2:

In terms of optimization, what can you do in general to optimize your schedule so that you really have the dedicated time to focus on the most important things? So, in terms of schedule optimization, does that mean you're going to batch tasks like batch things that are similar and do them together? Are you going to sort of focus on being SLP or business owner, professional in one chunk of the day and then more of that mom identity, that mom role, in other parts of the day? You know you really have to think about what would help you work best. Now, it's not always possible. Obviously. Sometimes we're, often we really almost always are at the mercy of our kids. I mean, that's what this whole episode is about.

Speaker 2:

So, to the greatest extent possible and really you know that applies to basically all of these strategies, as you're listening, okay, another suggestion that I have and don't roll your eyes, because I think it's really important that you hear me is the importance of setting clear boundaries. So sometimes this means not just boundaries with others, but also boundaries with yourself. What is most important to you? How are you going to step into that role, that sort of identity of somebody who sets boundaries and holds them right? For a lot of you, it is about that shift in the way that you see yourself, but for those of you who are maybe a little bit more assertive, this might be a little easier for you than those of us who are a little more of that people pleaser tendency.

Speaker 2:

So, when it comes to boundaries, I'm talking about things like are you only going to do work until a certain hour of the day? Do you have a boundary about how many days per week you work? Do you have a boundary about you know being on your phone at such and such time of day or in such and such of a situation or scenario? Do you have boundaries about you know when your children can interrupt you or when you don't want to be interrupted, when it comes to the time that you're working right Now? Here's the thing about boundaries that everybody gets wrong. This is the reason why people struggle.

Speaker 2:

Okay, when it comes to boundaries, people think that setting a boundary is controlling how somebody else behaves. Okay, people think that boundaries are about changing and controlling somebody else's behavior. That's not what boundaries are. Boundaries are about setting clear guidelines about your behavior. Okay, boundaries are about what you will do or not do. It's not about what somebody else does. Now think about here's an example for you all. Right, think about this.

Speaker 2:

So a boundary in my mind, if I'm thinking of a boundary of, okay, when my door is shut, a boundary of, okay, when my door is shut, my kids cannot interrupt me, okay, right, if that's the idea is, I want to set a boundary that when the door is shut, I can't be interrupted. So I could do this in one of two ways. I could do this in many ways, but here are here are two ways that I could do this. Number one I could say when that door is shut, do not interrupt me. Right, that could be the boundary air quotes here that I set with my kids when that door is shut, do not interrupt me. And I used to set quote unquote boundaries like that before. I used to say, okay, that's my boundary, I'm setting it. And then I would get so mad when they wouldn't follow it, when they wouldn't listen. I mean, you know, within reason they're kids, but husbands count here too, so that would really just cause that power struggle for us, versus setting a boundary and this is what a boundary actually is Setting the boundary of when my door is shut I don't respond to knocks, or I don't respond to interruptions.

Speaker 2:

When my door is shut, if anyone knocks on the door, I'm not going to answer it, just a heads up Like that is a very different tone, that's a very different approach that sends a different message, right, and it impacts the relationship and so when I can choose to engage in that way with my kids, or really with anybody, it tends to be a boundary that's easier for me to hold true without feeling as much guilt and I've noticed it's less likely to be crossed. It's a line that they are less likely to cross. Okay, this next one that I have for you is more of a tactical, you know, tangible strategy that you can try and it really is just a general reminder, if you will to think outside the box in terms of the resources that are available to you in order to keep track of things during the busy time of year, in order to maybe be more efficient in the daily chores that you have to do or sort of your weekly errands or, you know, the house management type stuff using resources can help save you time and can just reduce some of that decision fatigue and mental load that we all struggle with. So here are a few examples so you have an idea of what I'm talking about.

Speaker 2:

Number one I use the Notes app on my phone for a lot. I mean for so much. This is something that works well for me. It doesn't necessarily mean that it will work well for you, and I know that the way that I do it is probably bare bones in terms of the features and the organization of it. I don't get caught up in that stuff because it's just not a productive or useful way that I want to spend my time. So I just keep running open notes on things like a shared grocery list so that whoever's doing the grocery shopping that week, we both know what we need and we can update it. And because it's shared, I can see when my husband purchases something from the list and then you know he can see vice versa when I've purchased stuff, because we both just keep updating that list. That is so simple, so easy and really incredibly helpful when you remember to use it. So I've gotten very good at, you know, staying in that, keep you know, creating that habit of looking at it. Sometimes, though, I'll be honest, I don't always remember to update the list before I go, and so, you know, sometimes I get a little bit thrown off in terms of the actual things that we're buying, but that's topic for another day.

Speaker 2:

So other strategies or resources, rather, that you could utilize would be the voice memo. I do a lot of voice memos of things that I want to remember, or I'll outline podcast episodes, or I will, you know, generate social media posts, like whatever information might be floating around in my brain that I'm not necessarily in a place where I can sit down, open up my laptop, get to work. I find I just got to get them out of my mind, and the way that I do that is I'll record a voice memo and then I'll upload it, you know, to my laptop, or I can listen to it on my phone, and that just sort of keeps me on track with things. I also do everything in Google Drive. I find that to be really simple and easy for me, and I have Google Drive on my phone, because then I'm able to access essentially any work document that I might need. So if I, you know, need to look at some session notes from a client because I'm thinking of some new ideas for them, or if I want to see what I've got outlined in terms of upcoming podcast episodes, but I only have my phone. I just open that up and access it immediately at my fingertips. So that is a huge time saver for me and I love that it's available, you know, on across platforms. Super helpful.

Speaker 2:

And speaking of having information at your fingertips, another thing that I try and do I make a bigger effort to do around this time of year is to just make sure that any information that I might need in terms of you know addresses, birthdays, different phone numbers for different doctors or camps and all those types of logistical pieces of information that you need to track. I just started putting all of that information into my phone in the most logical place. So when I schedule an event in my calendar now I'm making sure that I put the address of the place you know, the location of where it is, or use the information in Google to sort of add in any key details that I might need to know that I might otherwise forget if I didn't have stored there in my phone. Now that might seem super obvious to some of you, but for others you might be thinking, oh yeah, I don't do that either and I wouldn't even think of doing that. But it is super simple to do and then that way you have all of your information that you might need in a you know. In a pinch you've got right there.

Speaker 2:

And that's especially helpful for people like me who, when you're outside of your normal routine, struggle to access, like those executive functioning skills to really remember okay, where do I keep this? Like what time do I need to be there? Like what's, what are the bags that I need, with the right type of of stuff inside, you know. So, having all of that right there in the calendar app, in every you know optimizing every feature that they have, I make sure that I take the time to put in that information. It's a little bit of time up front, but then it saves me a lot of time on the back end. So, nothing earth shattering, just a few simple tools that you can use to help support you as you're trying to, you know, get done what you need to get done in perhaps less time than you typically would have to complete it.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so I know I threw a whole lot at you I could offer.

Speaker 2:

I mean, there's so much more that we could say about this topic, but I also don't want this episode to be much longer, because time is precious and it's important that you are keeping in mind what is the best use of your time, whether that is, you know, to be doing work tasks, or to be spending time with your kids, or to be doing absolutely nothing.

Speaker 2:

You know prioritizing self-care like what is the best use of your time, and really being honest with your answer not what you think you should say, but to what you actually truly feel, and honoring that. So, all right, I hope that this was helpful and I also want to remind you, as you may have heard at the start of today's episode, just to remind you, there is a free webinar that I am hosting that is scheduled for Thursday, may 30th, at 7 pm Eastern. It's completely free and I'm going to be going over some of the most frequent lies that we tell ourselves when it comes to time management and helping you to identify what the actual problems are, what the actual issue is and then, more importantly, what you need to do in order to overcome it. So keep that on the calendar. Thursday, may 30th. I hope to see you there and I will talk to you all next week.