61. Behind the Scenes of the Rebrand

In the inaugural episode under the podcast's new name, cover art, and introduction, I'm sharing some behind-the-scenes info about the decision to rebrand from 'Your Speech Path, Mindful Time Management for the Busy SLP' to 'Work Life Balance for Speech Pathologists.' Tune in to hear some of my personal struggles with this rebrand, how I navigated them, and how this podcast will help you. Be sure to listen to the end where I tell you the first step to improving your work-life balance. 

Come join the SLP Support Group on Facebook for more tips and tricks!

Follow me on Instagram! @theresamharp

Learn more about Theresa Harp Coaching here.

Transcript

Welcome to the podcast. This is the very first episode that I'm recording under the new name, new cover art, new intro, new everything, right? I'm excited to be here and really excited to dive in with you all a little bit about the behind the scenes on this change, where it came from want to talk a little bit about some of my thoughts about this process and the, the decision making and like all of that. And I think it will also give you some good insights if you are brand new to the show and you have no idea what I'm talking about, you're going to walk away with a very clear understanding of what this podcast is, who it's for. And if you have been here before, and you're here with this unveiling and wondering a little bit more about why the name changed, why this particular name and all [00:01:00] of that, then that's exactly what I'm going to cover in today's episode. episode. So let's do it.

Let's dive in. Okay. So I wanted to first kind of talk you through some of the hesitations that I had about the name specifically, Work Life Balance. So if you're new here, then the old name of the podcast, the former name of the podcast was Your Speech Path, Mindful Time Management for the Busy SLP. And I have, of course, now changed it to work life balance for the busy SLP.

And, I had some significant considerations when it came to making that decision of whether or not to go with work life balance. So, and I think that [00:02:00] these are actually important for you to know about me, just so that you can kind of get the sense if you're new to the show, uh, you kind of get the sense of this is the sort of information that is in alignment with what you are looking for,

because this might not be what you think the show is. And I don't want to waste your time. I want you to know that you're in the right place. So let me share. Work life balance. First thing is there are people that have issue with that phrase. And I know there are people that say there is no such thing as work life balance and we shouldn't use that phrase any longer and blah, blah, blah.

And I, understand that perspective. I don't disagree with it. I also, though, feel like the phrase has evolved over time as has our work schedule and work lives, you know, social lives, all of that has changed. And I think most [00:03:00] of us are not going around thinking that, "Oh, the number of hours that I spend at work must be exactly even with the number of hours I spend outside of work.

 because that's what balance means, balance is equal. And so this is an impossible goal is where work life balance is impossible. And again, I don't disagree. I just think that people know enough now to know that most of us, when we're talking about that phrase, work life balance, have different thoughts about what that is.

And that leads me to another issue that I have with this phrase, work life balance, is to me, it sort of suggests that work and life are two separate but equal things, that work is a, , is separate from your life and For me [00:04:00] and from my perspective, perspective work is one component of my life.

It is one sort of part of my life, but my life also involves my family, my personal life, right? My hobbies. It's not just.

So I wanted to make that really clear and maybe I'm overthinking these, you know, these points and, and sort of the definitions of these words and the meaning behind them. But you know what, as SLPs, you can appreciate sort of the semantic complexity of this phrase. I know you know what I mean.

I also was afraid that people would think that I was now going to be talking about work life balance. And, um, only about work life balance and that I felt like I had [00:05:00] it all figured out when it comes to work life balance. And let me make that really, really clear right now. I do not have it all figured out when it comes to work life balance.

In fact, lately I've had some internal struggles with My work life balance and I'll talk about that in a couple of minutes, but I want to be really clear that for me. I, as I said, I definitely do not have it all figured out and also I don't think that's a problem because I don't think anyone has it all figured out.

I don't think that's the goal. I think the goal, at least for me, the goal is to have a As a feeling of control over or autonomy over my ability to manage my work life and my home life and to design them in ways that feel good [00:06:00] for me to define them in ways that feel good for me and to design them in ways that feel good for me.

So, and. It's, it's always a work in progress, right? It is some days it's a skill that-- it's not like a milestone. You hit it and then you have it. It's a skill that takes continued practice, like anything, right? Takes continued work and focus. And so it's sort of like, a diet versus a lifestyle, right?

It's sort of like, I, you could have a go on a diet to lose weight and look for that end result of a certain number on the scale, or you could change your diet for the goal of, feeling better and feeling healthier, feeling stronger, and then approaching it that way as if it's not [00:07:00] temporary, right? Like a diet to me is sort of like there's a start and an end point, whereas a lifestyle, thinking about healthy eating as a lifestyle is ongoing.

That's the It's kind of like what I think of when I think about work life balance. So I hope that that's really clear. And I want to also sort of clue you in a little bit about some of the internal struggle that I have been facing for a little while, more so recently than in, in that I have in a long time.

And it was feeling like my work life balance was not in my control or not because I didn't have the, uh, the, what would you say? Like knowing that I work for myself. So I have the autonomy. and the freedom and the flexibility to create that work life balance in a way that, that suits me. [00:08:00] But I wasn't doing it.

I wasn't exercising that opportunity or taking advantage of that opportunity. And I was feeling out of alignment. I was feeling out of sync. I was feeling out of whack. I was like, felt like I was either constantly playing catch up when it came to work and then There would be that phase of trying to play catch up and being running late with things, being behind deadlines, whether they were deadlines for other people or superimposed deadlines just for myself, but also had been feeling like on the flip side, there would be times where I'd be up late working and wouldn't be around when the kids were around or, um, what happened even more often lately was, being on my phone and disengaged and texting and, scrolling when I was around my kids, spending time with them and not [00:09:00] putting that away and being present and engaged and enjoying the interactions so that I could benefit from them.

Right. And, and connect with them. There's a difference, to me, there is a difference. And so I was, I was sort of struggling with this and also on top of it, struggling because it then would result in Imposter Syndrome because it'd be like, what the heck, Theresa, you coach other people on this, and this is the thing that you're struggling with.

Like, get it together. Right? Like, why can't you figure this out? And finally I said, Okay, go figure it out. Stop, stop what you're doing. Go figure it out. Coach yourself through this. Figure out what is, you figure out what the problem is, but figure out what are the ways that you're going to solve for it.

How are you going to fix it? How are you going to change it? And in doing so, [00:10:00] I was reminded about these things that I think are really going to help you if this is something that you've ever struggled with in some way. I was reminded that number one, when I don't have clear targets and vision for what I'm working on in my business or what I, what my goals are, what I'm focusing on in my coaching business, then I'm constantly feeling scattered when I'm at work at work, right?

I work from home, but when I come down to do my work, I feel a bit unsure, I feel scattered, I feel confused, I'm like scrambling, I'm not really focused, I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be focusing on, and then I'm spending energy, spending time and energy trying to decide what to focus on. And that's a waste, [00:11:00] in my opinion.

And it doesn't feel good. And so I had gotten away from the planning time and the planning routines that I usually use. So recognizing that and then starting to go back to putting in that time, putting in the planning time, sitting down and actually taking action. I also was reminded about. the fact that when my schedule changes, and this will help you, if your schedule ever changes, I would imagine that's all of you, but I had a predicted change, right? There are some unexpected or unpredicted changes that happen in our schedules. Like when we have a sick kid, you know, uh, school's closed and those are usually short term, but sometimes they can be longterm.

And we also have predictable changes in [00:12:00] our schedules and routines. And this one was predictable because it was school ending. It wasn't like I was unaware that school or camp rather was ending for the summer. I knew that camp was ending and typically I would think ahead about what that would involve and not just sort of think about it loosely, but actually put it down on paper, like pencil it in on paper.

What does that mean for my schedule? What does that mean for my work time? What, when am I doing my work and what are the kids going to be doing during that time? And what am I not going to be doing my work and how do I commit to that? That was a conversation that I really didn't have with myself and I felt sort of flat footed.

Like I, once the change happened, it was really hard for me to shift gears and come up with a game plan. It was more of me just treading water, survival [00:13:00] mode, date, living day to day. And for me, that's not a good fit. That doesn't work well for, for my brain. And the third realization that I had is that similarly to when your schedule changes, 

you have to adapt and plan and adapt. Similarly, when your kids get older, as you sort of enter these new seasons of parenting, then you also sort of need to shift your focus or shift your game plan for how you're spending your time and structuring your schedule for things like, you know, with consideration of work life balance.

And so that is a little bit. It's a little bit harder to predict that because that's sort of the thing [00:14:00] that you don't know exactly how it's going to change. You just sort of, and sometimes you don't know when it's going to change, but it just sort of changes and then you have to adapt after the fact.

That's harder to plan for. But recognizing that it's happening. or as it's starting to happen can be a game changer. So for example, when my kids were little, littler, they're still relatively little, but when they were littler, I was, sort of more bound to the nap schedule, for those. of us who stick to the schedule, which I was very Type A about the nap schedule. Fully aware of that and admit that, but that's what helped my sanity. So that's what I did. But anyway, I digress. When you are in that phase of parenting, , your work hours could potentially be one way or your available time, your free time would be at different points of the [00:15:00] day than say when your kids are in middle school and they're going to all these different activities and all these different locations.

And there are similar, smaller changes that that happen even just in shorter spans of time too, I just, with parenting it's like as soon as you feel comfortable in a rhythm and a routine and like you've got a handle on things, something changes. There's a change and a disruption, in the pattern and then you have to adapt. That's how it goes. So recognizing that that had happened with my kids, they have sort of turned a corner with, their activities, the things that they're, their, commitments outside of the normal camp schedule in the summer or school schedule during the day.

And I hadn't adapted yet and I hadn't evolved my schedule yet. In fact, there were a few changes that happened close together, and they were a little erratic, so it really threw me [00:16:00] off in terms of a workflow and a rhythm, and I was feeling out of whack. I was feeling like I didn't have the amount of time that I wanted to get my work done, which is, you know, and again, then it brings up this sort of doubt and shame because it's like, how can you say that, you know, you get, everyone gets the same 24 hours and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Right. And so it's just sort of. the way that the mind works. That's just the way that it goes. And so for me, this has been very top of mind lately. And interestingly enough, I had recently sat in on after I had already made the decision to change the name and had a pretty good idea of the phrase.

Using the phrase work-life balance would, might be a direction I would go. I sat in on a webinar and I'll, it's with Jena, Jena Castro Casbon. I will, I [00:17:00] don't have any, you know, financial affiliation with Jena at all. I just know her and love the work that she's doing, and so I was listening to her webinar that she was hosting about work life balance.

And as I was listening to it, what I was noticing in the chat was how, how many people in that room, virtual room, felt like they did not have a good grip on their work life balance and were struggling. And it made me realize that there are so many people that need this. There are so many people that would benefit from the awareness of work life balance and their ability, their agency to change it, their ability to modify it, their ability to create a reality that works for you.

I think so many of us as [00:18:00] SLPs are still sort of narrow in our thinking of how we can make money and what we need to do, what our obligations are, what our responsibilities are, what our-- as SLPs, we shouldn't demand a certain rate.

No one's demanding anything, but we shouldn't advocate for what we want, what we need, what our value is. And I think that we can change that. We can. And I think that there's still people though that, and maybe this is you listening, where you think you can't do that. , You think that you don't have the power, the capacity, the ability to change it, to create a schedule, a reality that works for you, that feels good, where you're excited to, to work and, and you're excited to give to your community and serve people who need the services that we can provide and be valued for it [00:19:00] and compensated fairly for it and enjoy your time when you are not working and be present with your family or doing hobbies or trying fun things or whatever that looks like for you without feeling like you should be working or feeling guilty for, being behind on XYZ or feeling like you didn't do a good enough job when you were in a session.

That is a mentality that we need to shift. So we either need to change our circumstances, if you don't like your current situation when it comes to your work life and your personal life, you either need to change the situation, change the circumstances. So take ownership for what you can change and go ahead and start making those changes.[00:20:00] 

Or, change the way you think about the situation. So change the way you talk about it to yourself, change the way you be aware of the thoughts that you have about it and change them when you need to, because continuing to think that this is horrible, I just have to get through the next certain number of years, the longer you think that, the more time you spend with that mentality, the more wasted opportunity.

The more you do not enjoy your time at work or your time at home, because it bleeds into they bleed into one another and you have the power to change that. And that's what this podcast is about. And so this was a very sort of ranty podcast episode, if you will, about, um. about the rebrand [00:21:00] and about some of the changes and my thoughts about this.

But what I want you to do as you are walking away from this is this, okay? So this is your homework, if you will. And my clients, know that we have different words with I have different words with different clients speaking of semantics because some people have some issue with that word homework. And so we kind of use, I use different phrases for it or terms for it.

But anyway, I digress. So your homework, if you have thoughts about that word, then your action step, if you will, is to define what work life balance means for you. What does that mean for you? How do you define it for yourself? And I want you to be as specific as you can when you are defining it. [00:22:00] I want you to not just think about it, but actually write it down, write it down and don't overthink it.

Because, know that it is an ever evolving definition, it is not a fixed definition, if you take nothing else from this episode but this, just know that work life balance is not a fixed point. It is something that is going to change over time and so your definition will change over time. So that's great news because you don't have to overthink how you define it right now.

You can get your first draft of it and then continue to work on it at, as you pursue this and have your lived experience of the process. So how do you define it, define it as specifically as you can without overthinking it. And how do you feel when you have it? How do you feel when you have some sort of [00:23:00] semblance of work life balance?

How does it feel for you? All right, that's it for today's episode. Make sure you tune in next week because I've got another exciting announcement about Lunch and Learn that's coming up. Some more fun stuff. So make sure that you're back here for next week's episode under the new face, new look, all that fun stuff.

I will see y'all then.