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

99. Ditch the Sunday Scaries: How to Start Your Week with Calm Instead of Chaos

• Theresa Harp

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If you’re doom-scrolling on a Sunday with that tight feeling in your chest and a laundry list of “should haves” racing through your mind... you’re not alone. That creeping dread you feel? That’s the Sunday Scaries. In this episode, I'm putting them on blast—what they are, why they happen, and (most importantly) how to shut them down without spiraling.

I’m sharing my go-to strategy: the Sunday Soft Start. This is not a three-hour planning marathon—it’s a 30-minute ritual that’s all about grounding, not grinding. I’ll walk you through step by step how I map out my week in a way that brings calm, not chaos. And yes, it actually works. If you’ve been living in the overwhelm cycle, this one’s for you.

Oh, and did I mention? Next week is Episode 100! I’ve got some big surprises planned—you won’t want to miss it. 🎉

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

  • Why the Sunday Scaries aren’t a sign of weakness (and why they keep showing up).
  • How to recognize your “panic planning” patterns and what to do instead.
  • The Sunday Soft Start method: A realistic way to set your week up for success in just 30 minutes.
  • Practical steps to map out your focus points for the week without the overwhelm.
  • Why adding something fun to your calendar is non-negotiable.

Mentioned in This Episode:

🎉 Special Announcement:

Episode 100 is NEXT WEEK! I can hardly believe it, and I’ve got some amazing surprises planned. Stay connected for updates in the Facebook Group.

🔔 Call to Action:

Ready to ditch the Sunday Scaries for good? Try the Sunday Soft Start and tag me in the FB group—I want to see your version! And if you’re ready for a deeper dive into creating sustainable work-life balance that actually sticks, schedule a consult with me. I’ve got a few spots open, and I’d love to help you make it happen.

🔗 Connect with Me:

🔥 Subscribe & Review:

If you loved this episode, don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review. Your support means the world and helps other SLPs find this show. 😊



To find out how I can help you improve your work-life balance, click here.

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.

[00:00:00] Welcome to Work-Life Balance for Speech Pathologists. I'm Theresa Harp, an SLP and Productivity Coach, and this podcast is all about how to build a successful career as an SLP and still have time for yourself and the people and things you love. So if you're ready to ditch stress and burnout for a more balanced and fulfilling life than you are in the right place. Let's dive in.

Hey SLPs. Welcome to episode 99. I'm gonna be talking about the Sunday scaries. Dun dun dun. So listen, if you are currently doom scrolling and you've got that tight feeling in your chest, you maybe you're breathing a little bit more rapidly and maybe your palms are getting a little bit sweaty, you're feeling your heartbeat a little bit faster, and in.

Inside you are thinking about the week ahead. You're thinking about [00:01:00] what's coming up at work, what's on your calendar, what's not on your calendar, but needs to be on your calendar. What's going to get added to your calendar, whether you like it or not, right? These are all the sort of thoughts that are floating through your brain.

That is what we call the Sunday Scaries, and by the way. This can happen on any day. It just tends to be heightened on Sunday because you're home. You're doing usually hopefully fun, exciting, enjoyable, or restful and relaxing things. And then you remember, oh yeah, I've got work coming up. Right. And it starts to sort of be this, become this dark cloud over your head of what's looming.

Right. So today we're gonna be putting the Sunday scaries on blast. I'm gonna be talking [00:02:00] about what they are, why they happen. We've all been there, some of us more often than others, and I'm gonna give you a little trick that I use to shut them down without spiraling and trust me, I. I'm very, I am very familiar with spiraling.

I know what that looks like. I've been there. I've definitely been in the position of the Sunday scaries in the past. Fortunately, I don't, I don't have that feeling really these days anymore. Mostly because I've learned to manage my mind and also I have. Changed my lifestyle and my circumstances so that I have more control over what my weeks look like.

And that is sort of the crux of my coaching is if you know me, you know this, it is strategy plus [00:03:00] mindset. And so today I'm gonna be talking you through what you can do to help with those Sunday scaries. Okay? So. Let's think about this feeling that we've all experienced, and it certainly will look different for every person, but in general, some of the frequent flyers are those feelings of dread, those feelings of procrastination, if that is an emotion that we can, uh, it's not, it's not an emotion, but it is a, a tendency.

An action of inaction that we te that tends to come up during this time. Avoidance, right. Um, the feeling of overwhelm, the feeling of nervousness, the feeling of maybe some guilt happening, overwhelm, anxiety. [00:04:00] Right. And those feelings that we get are often. Feelings that are happening because of the thoughts that are floating through our body.

And whether you realize it or not, the thoughts are happening in your brain, and if you stop to listen, check in with them. They might sound something like this. Tell me if any of these are familiar. Uh, this week is gonna be crazy, or, oh my gosh, I still didn't get that thing done and I was supposed to get it done weeks ago.

Or, oh my gosh, I didn't get enough done over this weekend. I knew I should have stayed up later and gotten those reports done, or finished those session notes. Or you might also be thinking something like, oh my gosh, I'm already exhausted and the week hasn't even begun. Or I'm already [00:05:00] behind on work, and the week hasn't even started yet.

Or you might be thinking something like, well, maybe if I just stay at work really late tomorrow, then I'll be able to get back on track, catch up, and then I'm just gonna have to make sure that I stay on top of things for the week so that I don't fall behind again, and then I won't feel so stressed. But let's be honest, the more you plan, the later you stay, the harder you work doesn't just automatically erase that overwhelm.

It might give you a temporary reprieve, a little reduction in that. Anxie, the level of anxiety that you're feeling, but in reality, it's just this cycle that we have created that comes, and then we overcompensate, [00:06:00] overplan, or we under compensate, under plan, and avoid. But either way, we're right back where we started.

A few days later, a week later, we're in exactly the same boat. And we're not feeling any better. We're not feeling any differently. So you cannot over prepare or over plan, over schedule. Well, you can over schedule your week, but what I mean is you cannot over prepare or over plan for your week in an attempt to have this peace of mind and this work life balance.

That's not how it works. Trust me. I know. But the Sunday scaries. Don't necessarily mean that there's something wrong with you. It doesn't mean that you are a bad SLP or that you're in the wrong field, or that you're in the wrong setting or working with the wrong caseload like that. Well, that's possible.

That could, some of those things could be true, but they're not [00:07:00] automatically. Why you're having those feelings. It's not, that's not what's coming up. That's not, that's not what is creating what's happening. For the most part, for some of you who are truly in a place where you're not feeling aligned with your own needs, your own values, that's a different story.

Book a consult, talk with me. We'll talk, I'll talk you through this and we'll, we'll get it figured out, but for others. Those Sunday scaries can happen even when you are the quote unquote best SLP that you could be. You feel the good about the way that you're showing up. You feel like you're in the right setting or you're working with the right population.

You know that you love what you do, but you're still feeling those ways. Okay? It's not necessarily. A sign that something has gone wrong. It's just a signal from your brain that is trying to tell you, work is coming, overload is [00:08:00] coming, stress is coming, and this is dangerous. That's what your brain thinks.

This is dangerous. This is dangerous. I've gotta avoid this. I need to figure something out. I need to escape. I need to solve it. Right, and that stress, that overwhelm isn't necessarily a sign of weakness. It's not a sign of you having done something wrong or something being wrong with you. It's your brain trying to protect you.

It's not wrong. It might be dramatic, it might be frustrating, right? It's like brace yourself. Chaos is coming and it's just drama. But once you start to learn how to direct what you're thinking about in your head, what actions you're taking or not taking, you start to realize that you have a lot more control over these situations.

You have a lot more control over how you're feeling. Then what you might think [00:09:00] at first. Than what you might realize. And if you can start your week just 5% calmer, even just 5% calmer, I'd love to go higher than 5%. But let's say that if you could start your week about five, 10% calmer, you are playing the game smarter.

You are taking control over what you can control. You are stepping into your ownership and your responsibility, and you're taking care of yourself in the process. You're taking yourself out of that hustle mode and into the intention mode, the intention and planning mode. So I'm gonna walk you through what I have done.

In the past and still do from time to time. When I start to notice those quote unquote Sunday scaries happening, so we [00:10:00] could call this lots of things. I love to give things names. I'm gonna call it today, I'm gonna call it the Sunday Soft Start. So it's not like a, okay, we're gonna sit down for three hours and we're gonna hardcore plan out our week, and then when we get in to work, we'll have everything under control.

That's not realistic or possible. So that's not what we're talking about. What I'm talking about is just a low key. Low key intro to your week before the week has begun. So a Sunday soft start. All right. If we can take this from like three hours over planning to maybe 30 minute prep. I'm thinking we have a better shot of getting some progress of helping to reduce some of that overwhelm.

Okay? And the focus is going to be about centering yourself, grounding yourself so that you can go into the week feeling like you, not feeling like a chicken with your head cut off, not feeling like you are the [00:11:00] overworked burnout. Frazzled. SLP, just feeling like you, the person, the human. Okay. Feeling like a human.

That sounds pretty good. Right? Alright, so there's lots of different ways that you can structure a Sunday soft start. I'm gonna give you some suggestions of what I think will help alleviate some of the biggest stressors that I see my coaching clients struggle with at the beginning of a week. Okay? But keep in mind.

This will look different for everyone, and I want you, as you're thinking about this and listening to this, I want you to consider what other things might be useful for you with a Sunday soft start. Okay? Another way to get to that answer if you're having trouble is asking yourself this question, what are the greatest sources of stress before my week begins?

What are the things that [00:12:00] are causing you the most stress, the most overwhelm, the most anxiety. Sometimes it's big things, right? Like maybe it's a difficult IEP meeting that you have coming up that's, you know, a bigger, that's a bigger thing. Other times it's something that's pretty trivial that results in some stress that really isn't.

Aligned with the level of the, of the inconvenience or the level of the challenge. Like it might be a small, minor thing, but your brain, for whatever reason, hasn't worked through the solution. So in your mind it feels like it's a massively overwhelming week. And if you ask yourself what is, or what are the, the biggest stress sources, what are the biggest things, air quotes that are causing you?

Stress before your week has started. That will help get to the, hopefully get to the pinpoint. It'll help pinpoint and get to the root of the [00:13:00] problem. And then you can structure your, so Sunday soft start around that. Okay. You can structure your Sunday soft. Start with that thing in mind. Okay. So here's what I like to do.

I like to, I don't always do this, but in general, I like to look at. The calendar. I like to sit for, you know, 10 minutes or so just looking at my calendar ahead of time. I do Google Calendar, I use everything in there. I like to look at the Google calendar. I like to see what's happening and pinpoint some of the, maybe some of the days or times of day where.

Things look like they're gonna be, uh, extra chaotic. And also looking at the areas of the week, the parts of the week where I might need help. Now, I will say I am recording this the very beginning of May, and May tends to be a very crazy [00:14:00] busy month in May. Sometimes I'm just going one day at a time. It's like day by day, and.

That's, you know, I have to sort of gauge where I'm at mentally as I do this. So you gotta, again, decide what works well for you. Do you wanna just look at one day ahead? Do you wanna look at one week ahead? But in general, I prefer one week because if overall, if I'm only going one day at a time, it tends to put me in more of a reactive.

Uh, planning mode and sort of like a reactive time management rather than proactive time management, because usually if the day has already begun, I'm now trying to like. Tackle it and as it's coming at me rather than looking ahead and you know, you always know those situations where you've got stuff that's happening later on in the week.

And if you are only going one day at a time and you need to order something, I don't know, buy something, [00:15:00] prep something ahead of time and you get to that day and you're like, oh shoot, I was supposed to have done this days ago. Then you're in a little bit of a pickle. But I'll look at the week ahead. Uh, like I said, I'll identify the points that might be a little bit tricky with the schedule, and I'll identify when I might need to ask for help.

And then I tend to pick about three-ish focus points for my week. And I like to do this in my different time buckets. If you've, I don't know if you've, uh, tried or seen or heard about the time buckets, time management strategy. I will link to that in the show notes if you wanna see what I'm talking about.

But I use that, it helps me tremendously. So I'll think, okay, what's one thing that I'm focusing on? In the home. What's one thing I'm focusing on in my business? What's one thing I'm focusing on in my teaching? What's one thing I'm foc focusing on with the kids? Right? And I just sort of map out like one thing, [00:16:00] highlight one thing.

It might change during the week. It may not happen at all, and that's okay, but it gives me that sort of well-rounded. Balance, if you will. It's not equal, but it's, it's balanced. It's a nice smattering of things across the different, like roles that I play so that I'm not, you know, only focusing on hyper focusing on work, but I'm letting the ball drop in some of the other areas and then I'm just, you know, stressed about those areas.

So I like to identify what those focus points are. I also like to. Take my sort of big to-dos the things that I really want to get done and I try to pencil them in for the, for certain days of the week and I, as I'm doing that, or even before I do that, I try to batch them. So this is sometimes just something that I'll do on a [00:17:00] post-it just so that I can.

Understand, wrap my head around it and then I let go of it. It could be actually in the calendar as an event or as a task. I've done it different ways, but I. I like to sort of pencil in the days of the week where I think I'll be able to work on some of my bigger to-do items. So if it doesn't get done that day, I'm much more likely to shift it and move it to a different day of the week than if I just kind of leave it.

At the beginning of the week on a list, and I don't assign it a time. I don't assign it a day or a time, and I batch them as I go. So if I have a bunch of phone calls to make, I try and just group those together and knock those out at once. If there's paperwork that I have to get done, same thing. I try and group that together.

That works well for me. And then I'm still on my Sunday soft start. I like to, and this is a fun one, so if you're with me. If you're still here, think about what this could look [00:18:00] like for you. But I like to put something on the calendar that I'm looking forward to. Like I, I look at the, and I'm like, what is something I'm looking forward to?

I love having something to look forward to. That's why I love Christmas Eve more than I love Christmas. I love the anticipation of the fun. I love the anticipation, the excitement ahead of time. So I try to put something on my calendar that's just for me. Now, this isn't like. You know, go get a massage every week.

I'm talking about maybe one day I go and treat myself and get lunch instead of making my own lunch. Or maybe it's, uh, you know, catching up with a friend or going to see a friend. Maybe it's one night where I don't have anything at night, and I'm like, okay, that night we're not doing anything and we're just gonna prioritize like rest and sleep.

So it's just little sort of highlights that I have to look forward to, and if they are not on your calendar, they don't get done again. So I like to put [00:19:00] them on the calendar when I can and then, you know, sometimes there's fun stuff that doesn't make it on the calendar and that's fine too, but sometimes just having it on there and seeing it on your calendar.

It's increasing the chances that you'll actually do it, and it's reminding you throughout the week that you have that coming up and it just kind of taps into more senses and you get more excited. Okay? All of that tends to take me roughly a half hour, so, you know, 10 minutes looking through the calendar, highlighting my, like big focus points, maybe penciling in some of the to-dos that I have.

And then figuring out what I'm looking forward to that week and putting that on the calendar, and then making sure that I am prioritizing myself. So before the week begins, before that Monday starts, do I want to go spend some time outside? Do I wanna watch a show? Do I wanna read a little bit of my book?

Do I need to get a good workout in? Like what [00:20:00] is something that I can do today on Sunday to really help fuel me? Kind of energize me and fill me up so that I can go into the week with more peace of mind, with more energy, more positive energy, all that fun stuff. Okay. So yeah, roughly about a half hour. So what would be in your Sunday soft start, if you were to come up with a Sunday soft start, what would that look like?

Some other ideas that. Could be incorporated into this. I'm just gonna throw them at you. Maybe it is prepping your bag for work on Monday. Maybe it's prepping your lunch ahead of time. For work on Monday, or maybe it's just writing out what you're doing for dinners this week, or what your meal plan is for the week or even one day.

Again, take this and make it your own. Make it something that's gonna work for you. These are just some ideas of things that could be helpful. [00:21:00] Maybe it's cleaning out your car. Maybe you do a lot of travel for work and you wanna just get the car cleared out and ready to go. Whatever that looks like for you, play around with it.

I would love to know. I would love to know. So you can pop into the SLP support group and share what your Sunday soft start will be, what it looks like, what you wanna try, and if you're feeling like, oh my gosh, Theresa, a Sunday, soft start is just barely scratching the surface. I need something more than that.

This is like putting a bandaid on a bullet wound then. Click the link in the show notes. Schedule a console. I have three currently. I have three coaching slots that are open, and I would love to help you figure out your Sunday soft start. I'd love to help you figure out your version of work-life balance and help you break this cycle.

Okay? Alright. That is it for this week's episode, but next week's episode is [00:22:00] gonna be a fun one, so make sure you are here. Next week is episode 100, and I promise you it is. I've already outlined the episode. It's I'm pa, it's packed with value. There's lots of fun stuff in that episode. And in honor of this fun milestone, I have some surprises lined up, which I'm super excited about.

So make sure that you are subscribed to the show so that you don't miss that episode. And be sure to share it with anyone who you think needs to hear this. Alright, I will talk to y'all then. Bye.