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Work Life Balance for Speech Pathologists: Mindful Time Management Tips for Therapists, Clinicians, & Private Practice Owners
A podcast about coaching strategies and time management tips for busy SLPs, PTs, OTs, therapists, and private practice owners who want to feel successful in their personal and professional life at the same time. Let's take back control of your time!
Work Life Balance for Speech Pathologists: Mindful Time Management Tips for Therapists, Clinicians, & Private Practice Owners
51. Boost Your Productivity: 10 Time Management Strategies for SLPs
Hey there, SLPs! In this episode of Your Speech Path, I'm diving into TEN key strategies to help you save time and improve your productivity as a busy SLP. If you're feeling overwhelmed by your To Do List at work and want to learn how to manage your time more effectively, this episode is for you.
These 10 time management tips are tailored specifically for SLPs, OTs, PTs and will help you streamline your workflow, reduce stress, and enhance your overall efficiency.
Here's what's covered in today's episode:
00:00:01 - Introduction to Time Management Tips
00:05:32 - Planning Treatment Sessions (Two Tips)
00:08:09 - Utilizing AI for Time Management
00:14:38 - Keeping Track of Caseload Information
00:17:24 - Using Timers for Session Management
00:19:57 - Creating a Workflow System
00:23:00 - Utilizing Voice Memos and Dictation
00:27:24 - Efficient Report Writing with Templates
00:31:50 - Making Use of Small Time Pockets
00:34:31 - Implementing Five-Minute Resets
Mentioned in This Episode:
Episode 6 of the podcast--Revolutionizing Clinical Practice With AI and ChatGPT
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Learn more about Theresa Harp Coaching here.
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. Hey SLPs, welcome back to the podcast. This is episode 51. It's going to be a fun one for me because I enjoy talking about tips and strategies and sort of the practical, tangible ways that you can approach time management, and so today's episode is all about that. I'm going to be walking you through 10 tips to help you save time Okay, 10 tips to help you save time as an SLP or OT, pt, and a lot of these strategies are going to be useful for anyone who is in similar fields. Okay, now, there's so many different tips that I could have shared there. This is obviously not all of the ways that you can save time as an SLP. That is, of course, not possible, so these are 10 that I chose to hopefully be a little bit different than some of what you've already heard. Okay, because some of these are, I mean, than some of what you've already heard, because some of these are, I mean, certainly some of these are going to be somewhat familiar, but most of them, I think, are going to be things that you maybe haven't considered or you haven't considered doing it in this way. Alright, so, without further ado, let's just dive in, and these are in no particular order, by the way. All right, so, without further ado, let's just dive in, and these are in no particular order, by the way, although I'm going to try and connect the dots as we go. So the first tip that I have for you when it comes to saving time is related to therapy sessions, specifically planning out your sessions. That is not the tip. The tip is not to plan your sessions, but for those of you who do plan out your sessions, that is not the tip. The tip is not to plan your sessions, but for those of you who do plan out your sessions, I would encourage you to consider this planning them out in themes. So, when I was treating I'm not treating right now, but when I was treating what I would do as much as possible is I would plan out my activities, my sessions with different clients, and I would try to reuse or repurpose the activities that I was doing with one client with many other clients.
Speaker 1:So I'm a big fan of the idea that you can do therapy with a cardboard box. I mean you can, just you don't need a whole lot of materials, bells and whistles. But we know that. I know that most of you, myself included, are using a lot of different. You know games, activities, toys, stuff like that, right, toys, stuff like that, right. So trying to see if you could take one or two or three main activities or games. Or you know toys that you have available or that the clients have available, that you can use for multiple clients. So this is going to help you in terms of planning, right, because you're not trying to think of a million different things that you could do, you're just thinking of one or two or three things. And then you are asking yourself, okay, how can I use this for this particular client who's working on articulation, and how can I use this same material for a different client who's maybe working on increasing MLU mean length of utterance, right? So thinking about it that way, I think that this will help you in terms of cutting down on the stuff that you have. I think it's also going to help you in terms of prepping. So, as you're grabbing what you need and having to put things away, you are taking less materials and using fewer materials, I should say, and so then it's cutting down on your prep, it's cutting down on the post-session cleanup that you're doing and hopefully it's also reducing some of the mental load.
Speaker 1:Okay, so when I say themes, planning sessions and themes I don't necessarily mean actual themes, although that's absolutely one way that you could do this right. I know therapists that will do a different theme for each month or each season or holiday or whatever, and that's fine too. That's another way that you could approach this. But really, what I'm talking about is any sort of overlap or similarities that you can find across activities. Use that to your advantage. Okay, that's the first tip I have for you. The second tip to help save you time as a busy SLP is to begin planning next week's session at the end of the current session.
Speaker 1:Part of me thinks that this sounds ridiculous to say out loud, because it's so obvious. I mean, that is what the P in SOAP notes is for, as we all know. However, I think sometimes we forget about this. I think we overlook the power of this opportunity to really get your mind prepped literally and figuratively, get your mind prepped for what you're going to do next, so really preparing yourself to think to the next session. And I found that when I would do this in my sessions with kids, it helped me already sort of get the wheels turning in terms of what I would be doing the following week. It was so helpful and then I could just sometimes I would just write down a word or a phrase and that was enough to help me jog my memory and help me realize or recognize, remember, recall, whatever you want to say the plan as that session approached. It also sort of helped me prime the pump, so to speak, where I would then start getting ideas in between sessions that would be about that client and would be about either the target that I was working on you know, the goal that I was working on or the idea for the activity or the activities that I had, because I think it reduced that decision fatigue. I wasn't thinking about what am I going to do, I already knew what I was going to do, and so my brain could focus on what I was gonna. You know the next step, what could I do with that material, with that target, with that focus? And last thing I'll say about this as you all know, I think right, we all know that it's much easier to start planning what you're going to do when you're currently doing that thing. Right, it's a lot easier to start planning the next session for a client when I'm sitting there with that client in the zone in the moment. Right, my brain is just primed for that, and so those ideas about what I'm going to do in upcoming sessions just flow really easily.
Speaker 1:All right, the third tip that's going to help save you time and this is a whole episode in and of itself, but I'm going to try and keep it brief is using AI. Okay, so, using AI Now, I'm treading very lightly here. I think that there's a lot of strong opinions on AI. I have I certainly have my opinions. You probably have yours, and so take this with a grain of salt. Take what works for you and leave what doesn't. Okay, that's absolutely fine, but what I would encourage you to do is really open up your. What's the word. Open up your mind to the possibility that AI can be effective and supportive for you in your role as an SLP. I'm not necessarily talking about AI doing all of the work for you. I'm not even really talking about AI doing the thinking for you, right? I'm really talking about little ways that you can optimize. So here are a few examples of what this could look like.
Speaker 1:You could use ChatGPT to generate your word lists or your phonemes. Your phonemes and words in different sentences, minimal pairs, vocabulary concepts or vocabulary words tier one, tier two, tier three words. Right, I don't know about you, but I remember many, many times sitting this is a while back now, but sitting and trying to come up in my mind with lists of words that were targeting the specific phoneme in the specific placement that I knew that my client needed, and I mean now we can just do this in seconds. It's amazing. It's absolutely amazing. So you can use it to help generate those types of material or those types of stimuli. You can also use AI as a thinking partner. So not, like I said, not necessarily doing the thinking for you, but thinking with you. So you could ask AI, you could ask ChatGPT, for you know leading resources or new, most current researchers or resources or journals that are dedicated to or explore such and such topic right Now.
Speaker 1:Again, I'm not saying that ChatGPT is replacing evidence-based practice. I really just want to be incredibly clear on that. I'm saying you need to use this with caution. I don't want you to, I don't want to sort of mislead you and I don't want you to misinterpret what I am saying. But sometimes just putting in simple questions can help generate your own ideas and, in fact, when we were just talking a couple minutes ago about planning sessions, you could use AI for helping you to plan sessions. You know something as simple as what are five different activities or toys that are great for this age. Okay, if that's something that you're struggling with, I'd be really curious what ChatGPT would say if you gave it a specific toy or a specific game and asked it what kinds of ways you could use those materials for learning.
Speaker 1:Now, I think that many of us you know especially if you've been in the field for a while those are things that you probably already know and know better than ChatGPT. But how many times have you gotten stuck in sort of this just brain fart, so to speak, where you're just out of ideas, you're out of inspiration and motivation to sort of be creative and come up with new approaches or new ideas, and sometimes just having you know a resource that you can use to bounce ideas off of then helps you come up with however many new ideas that maybe you wouldn't have come up with before, because it just sort of gets those juices flowing so you can use it for planning sessions, activity ideas. Maybe you could even use AI to help you with report writing. Now, I say this with caution, I can't say this enough. I'm not saying that AI should be writing your reports for you. That is the exact opposite of what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:However, don't forget that AI is also referring to it's not just chat, gpt, right. It's referring to lots of different resources that are automated and that help to generate information quickly and efficiently to save you time. So you can use AI for helping you organize information in a report or to help you think of different ways that you could say things, or looking at jargon that's in your report and asking ChatGPT for input about that. You could also use ChatGPT, for I just thought of this, it's not necessarily related to reports, but for figures of speech or idioms or parts of speech or you know all of those types of things that we sometimes forget. Again, whatever you're putting in, you need to check what comes out, okay, and really take what ChatGBT says, or what any AI says, with a grain of salt and you're really scrutinizing the information. I'll just say it one more time Don't use AI to actually write the report for you. I hope I've made that incredibly clear. That's my opinion anyway on it, but lots of different opinions, as I said when I first made that incredibly clear. That's my opinion anyway on it. Right, but lots of different opinions, as I said when I first brought that one up, definitely play around with it and see what works well for you and you're always making sure that you are staying within the guidelines of our field and remaining ethical in your work as a clinician or whatever discipline you are in. Okay, all right.
Speaker 1:Number four this is a fun one for me. It's kind of obvious and you might have something like this that you do already, but maybe not. I actually sometimes am surprised by the number of people who don't do something like this but keep some sort of tracker or list of important information regarding your caseload. Of course, you're maintaining patient privacy and all of that. So this would be no-transcript and what key details you need for planning and for tracking important information. So what I did when I was practicing was I would have the initials of the client, I would have their goals. I would have their sort of interests or activities that would motivate them and kind of hold their attention. I worked with kids that were really young. I would include the date of their last evaluation. I would include the date of any upcoming deadlines. So that might be for reports or that might be for IEP meetings or IFSP meetings, insurance authorizations, stuff like that, all of those sort of quote-unquote deadlines that float through your head, you know, sporadically and oftentimes when you least want to be thinking about work.
Speaker 1:I can't really stress enough the impact of having all of that down in one central location in a way that makes sense for you and your learning style, the way that you operate, because it just sort of releases you from having to track those things in your mind. Or when they do pop up in your mind, you can tell yourself it's okay, I've got this, you've got my finger on the pulse, I know exactly what's happening when Now I know that there are probably many of you that do this. I've seen lots of different beautiful spreadsheets and fun, colorful ways of organizing this information, but it doesn't have to be that elaborate. This can be something incredibly simple and straightforward. You have to really think about what motivates you and how you learn best, like I said, so really having this be individualized for what's going to work well for you.
Speaker 1:Okay, tip number five to help save you time as an SLP. This is kind of silly but important. This is related to staying on time within sessions. I don't know about you, but this was often an area of struggle for me, and using a timer specifically, I used time timers, but timers that would visually depict the amount of time remaining and that would alert you in some way when the time is up helps you to be really mindful of staying on schedule throughout the day, because you know if you fall behind for one client a lot of times, that just snowballs and then you're running behind for the rest of the day, and many SLPs I know are really good at this. You might have a sort of internal clock where you kind of have an idea of when the session is approaching its end. But I don't about you. There were lots of times when I would find myself sort of engrossed in an activity and really just focused on what I was doing with that particular client or that family, that I would lose track of time.
Speaker 1:The other way that this is helpful even for those of you who do have a really good ability, a really strong ability to stay on time in sessions. This is helpful for your clients, especially if you have family members that are in the sessions with you. I know that this was often a challenge for particularly, I think, for newer SLPs was you know, if you you feel like, if you're in the middle of something you don't want to abruptly just kind of end and you don't want families to sort of think that they could stay and talk to you and you know, next thing, you know you're 10 minutes past the end of the session time. So for certain people who are listening in certain settings, this might be just totally useless information because this just doesn't happen in your setting and the place that you work, and that's great, that's wonderful. But for others this is definitely a struggle and this is one way that you can do it. That sort of helps hold you accountable but also helps you to maintain a boundary that you might struggle with enforcing when it comes to, you know, staying on time, ending the session on time, so on and so forth.
Speaker 1:All right, next tip that I have for you, number six, is to create some sort of workflow. I'm going to record a separate episode on this specifically, but it's important that you have some sort of system or rhythm in place for all of the tasks that you have as an SLP and or as a private practice owner or whatever other roles you have. So this again, like what I was saying with the spreadsheets, this does not have to be fancy, this does not have to be complicated, but it can really help you to know what you're doing, when you're doing it, how long it takes, know what you're doing when you're doing it, how long it takes, and I can't tell you how many times clinicians will talk about you know. Oh, I've just sort of like I'm playing whack-a-mole, that's what I call it. I'm playing, you're playing whack-a-mole. You're sort of just putting out fires, running around and doing X, y and Z as they pop up, without really a whole lot of forethought, and what happens is it's really easy to lose track of important pieces that need to get done by a certain time, and then next thing you know you're taking work home with you, you're working at the nighttime, you're working on the weekends, you're behind, you need extensions, so on and so forth. So having some sort of workflow is incredibly helpful.
Speaker 1:Now, like I said, I will record a separate episode on this and what this looks like, but just for now, as we're talking about it, what I mean to kind of give you an idea of what this could look like is really having an idea of the different tasks that you're responsible for in your role as an SLP and thinking about when during the day are you working on those tasks, which tasks are repetitive You're doing them routinely, which ones are maybe once every I don't know several months, or maybe once or twice a year really looking at the different responsibilities that you have and how to break them down and arrange them in a way that makes sense for you, your schedule, your lifestyle, your vision of work-life balance and all sorts of things like that. All right, so I'll be sure to record an episode on that. Specifically on workflows, I do have an episode that I have recorded in the past that talks about my sort of workflow and how I do this as a therapist and as a business owner, but I believe that that one is actually from the previous podcast that I had under the former name, so it might not be available to you, which is why I want to make sure that I am that I can record an updated one for you. Okay, and speaking of other resources, you know past episodes. I do have an episode that's entirely dedicated to AI and that one might be helpful for you if you're interested in in learning more about what this could look like for you. That is episode number six. It's called revolutionizing clinical practice with AI and chat GPT. Granted, that one was from almost a year ago now, so I've learned a lot more about AI since then, and AI has changed. You know it's. It's just more robust now in terms of what it can do, so I might need to, or want to, record an updated episode about that one as well, so stay tuned, all right.
Speaker 1:Next tip number seven use the voice memo feature. You probably have a voice memo feature, not just on your phone Most of you probably are aware of that but you also have one in, most likely, in your computer. So with different software, different. I'm not a tech person. So it's very funny to hear me try and use these words, because I'm clearly not using the right words, which just goes to show that if I'm someone who's telling you that I figured out how to use ChatGPT, that absolutely means that you can too, because check is not my thing, but I'm getting better. Anyway, so many different programs that are on your computer have voice dictation that are built into them. In fact, google Docs is one that I use often and I will just voice dictate what it is that I want to say.
Speaker 1:Many times I used to do this when I was recording podcasts. I used to sort of talk them out, because I am a verbal processor. I would talk them out in Google Docs. It would transcribe what I was saying and then I would use that as my notes. I don't do that anymore, but I did and it worked well at the time. It met my needs. So use voice. Do that anymore, but I did and it worked well at the time. It met my needs. So use voice dictation or voice memos.
Speaker 1:You can do this for anything. Reminders, right. So if those of you who are on the go, maybe you are in home health, early intervention and you don't really have a sort of home base and office. This can be really helpful for you. You could bring your laptop with you and you could do this that way as you're driving. It can just be. You can be hands-on, eyes on the road but be dictating exactly what it is that you want to remember, or new ideas that you have, or you could voice dictate your session notes. You could do this for reports as well, right? This is especially helpful for those of you who are verbal processors like me and maybe struggle a little bit more when it comes to written content.
Speaker 1:With writing, I have to be in the right mindset for that, the right frame of mind for that, and I have found that it's. I've gotten worse about it as I guess I've gotten a little bit older and I had after I had kids. It just didn't. The brain didn't really work the way it used to. So voice memo, voice dictation, became my friend. So don't underestimate how powerful that strategy can be. That can absolutely save you time. And this is one other thing sort of on this note that you can consider is actually having your notes transcribed so if you're not voice dictating into some sort of a program that will then transcribe it for you. Like that's what Google Docs can do Other things, other programs as well but if you're just doing the simple voice recording app on your phone, you could upload or email that to a transcription service like Otter AI. I use Otter AI and you could have it uploaded there and then a transcript could be created. So there's different ways that you could go about this and they're not all very expensive, so keep that in mind too. I know we're trying to keep. Many people are trying to be mindful of cost and I'm not trying to recommend anything that's going to break the bank, but lots of different options out there, so keep that in mind. All right, I said that you could use voice memos and voice dictation for reports.
Speaker 1:I also want to share tip number eight on the topic of reports is using templates. Now, I'm sure many of you have heard this before. I'm sure many of you already do this. If you don't do this yet, stay with me. Listen, we're going to talk it through. If you are already doing this, still stay with me, because I might have some ideas that you haven't considered ways that you can optimize your use of templates. So when I say templates, I'm talking about different shells outlines of various assessment tools. So they'll give you, in your template you'll have, you know, an overview of the assessment. You'll, you know, include some writing about the scoring and the different subtests and what they are right. So, looking at different templates that you have created yourself, you could pull these from reports you've already written. I also am sure that there are resources on Teachers, pay Teachers, probably other resources out there as well, some free, but I think many for sale that you know offer templates for assessment tools. So you could consider that. But if you are already doing this, here are a few tips that I have to sort of help you level up, so to speak.
Speaker 1:Think about how you organize these templates. And if you don't use templates yet, this is great information for you because as you start using templates, you could incorporate these strategies right from the get-go. So, organizing them thoughtfully so you might save them on your computer, maybe by the diagnostic tool that the template is based on. You know whatever tool or tools are covered in that outline or template. You might save them based on the age of the client or age range of the client or the diagnosis of the client. Right, think about how it makes sense for you and your brain.
Speaker 1:If you were to sit down and try and begin a report for somebody, what would you? Where would you look? What would you? How would you start sort of finding resources to support you? Think about that and then that's how I would save it. So I know for me, I would always think about it by age and by test. So I only worked with children with hearing loss, so that was easy. In terms of diagnosis, they were all organized that way because they all had the same diagnosis, but there was also additional diagnoses that many clients of mine had. So I might think about doing it that way. It's really what works well for you.
Speaker 1:But you want to make sure that they are easily accessible. You also want to consider the difference between a template and an actual report. So I know some of you are taking reports that you've already written and you consider those to be templates. Right. You then open up that report and you're like, oh, okay, great, I'll pull this report and I will change what I need to change and keep what I can keep and add what I need to add. But sometimes this can be distracting and it actually can cost you time because you're deleting things and you're getting sidetracked, right? You're now thinking about that client and you're looking at all of these words on paper and you're trying to decipher. What do I need to edit out? What don't I need to edit out? Sometimes I think it's better to just have the template and then you're filling in the client-specific information. There isn't already client-specific information in there? That at least for me. Anyway, that was a big time saver when I stopped going to old reports that I had written and started just using the shell, the template, rather than having to go through all of the background information and read through what I had already written for previous clients. Okay, so think about that. What is the difference between the template you know template and report or sample reports, and how can you tweak this so that it is going to work as effectively and efficiently as possible? All right, I've got two more for you. Hopefully you're still with me. I'm going to keep these short and sweet.
Speaker 1:Number nine don't underestimate the small pockets of time we think that we need, but really sometimes it's even just that we want these big blocks of time to get things done right, to write a report, or to write a bunch of session notes or to do administrative tasks, whatever you know, whatever things we have on our list, on our to-do list, we really would prefer to have these big blocks of time to get them done. I know it, I think it myself and I hear my clients say this. I hear clients say this a lot, I hear coaching clients say this in sessions. I hear some of you say this in the SLP support group. So this is absolutely a thought error. Okay, because we think that if we can't get the whole thing done in that amount of time, we don't want to start it right. Well, I only have 15 minutes. By the time I pull out X, y and Z information and find what I'm looking for, you know that 15 minute time is going to be done and I won't have accomplished anything. So I might as well just go. You know, scroll on my phone, right, does it sound familiar? So that is an option. Phone, right, does it sound familiar? So that is an option.
Speaker 1:However, those 15 minute pockets, even those five minute pockets, they might not be much on their own, but the cumulative, the compounding impact of those pockets of time absolutely add up, okay, so don't waste them. Add up, okay, so don't waste them. If you choose not to use them on getting some of your work done, that's absolutely fine. That's your prerogative, and I'm not saying that you need to cram work in into every small opening throughout your day. I'm just saying don't overlook the power of those small pockets, because you might want to wait for those big chunks of time, but I hate to break it to you. You might be waiting for a very long time. Those pockets might never come, depending upon what setting you're in and you know what population you serve, so on and so forth. Okay, so don't underestimate the small pockets of time.
Speaker 1:Sometimes it's just a simple sort of beginning, like getting the task initiated. Even if you can't finish it. Just having it initiated can be helpful because then you're less resistant to going in and working on it during the next opportunity when you have a chance. And then, last but not least, I love this one five-minute resets. Whether you do this during the day, whether you do this at the end of the day, or maybe you do this first thing in the morning, whatever works well for you, but I'm talking about five-minute resets to clear your space and to clear your mind, and I don't necessarily do these together Like right. I might have a reset for my mind at one point and then a reset for my space later, although sometimes just resetting my space can help me reset my mind, but it needs to be.
Speaker 1:You need to really look at and consider what sort of how do I want to structure my space, what do I need in place or what do I need away in order to focus and get work done? This is often, if I'm being honest, the last thing I want to do at the end of my day. If I'm being honest, the last thing I want to do at the end of my day. So when I'm working in my office and it's time for me to, you know, pack up for the day, and I say pack up, I'm just going upstairs, but it's so tempting to just shut the laptop and walk away. However, every time I do that, I resist going back into the office because I know what's waiting for me. It's just sort of chaotic and cluttered and I cannot focus in that scenario.
Speaker 1:And sometimes I'll tell myself at the end of the day well, I don't really have five minutes to go and, you know, clean up my space, I've got to go get the kids or I've got to go do this, but when I think about the amount of time that it costs me later, because I was trying to work in that cluttered environment and I'm getting distracted or overwhelmed, then a five minute reset is almost always a good investment of my time. Same thing when it comes to resetting your mind. A five minute break, just like I said, don't underestimate the small pockets of time that goes for breaks too, even just five minutes of walking, leaving the room, leaving your office, leaving your building, walking outside, doing a five minute meditation, doing some deep breathing, doing some tapping If you do tapping or did I say meditation, a meditation? Right, just those little five minute resets can help you to sort of clear your brain, clear your mind, help you center yourself and feel ready for whatever is left in your day. Okay, so five-minute resets If you aren't doing them, give it a go and let me know what you think. All right, that's it Kind of a long one, but really I think really useful, tangible, tactical strategies that you can use, and I would love to know what you think.
Speaker 1:If you are not in the SLP support group, make sure you join, because this is exactly what we cover. This is the type of information that you get in the Facebook group group. Make sure you join, because this is exactly what we cover. This is the type of information that you get in the Facebook group. So come and join so you don't miss anything. I would love to have you in there and I will talk with you all next week.