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

116. Why Your Systems Don’t Stick — and How to Fix It

• Theresa Harp

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Tired of setting up “perfect” systems that fizzle out by week two? You’re not broken...your systems just don't match your brain's way of thinking. In this episode, I walk you through three coaching lenses I use with clients to design ADHD-aware systems that actually stick. You’ll get simple questions to guide your setup and one killer tip that saves your future self time (and sanity).

What You’ll Learn:

  • Why past systems fell apart (hint: misalignment, not laziness)
  • The three coaching lenses that make systems brain-friendly:
    1. Access: Where would you naturally look for this later?
    2. Recognition: How should it be labeled so your brain identifies it fast?
    3. Organization: Do you work better with one hub or smaller, separate parts?

Quick Coaching Prompts (save these)

  • Access: “What’s the first place I’d go to find this?”
  • Recognition: “How can I label/save this so I know what it is instantly?”
  • Organization: “Do I want one master doc or many small docs—and which is easier on a low-energy day?”

Killer Tip (the one that changes everything)

As you build your system, keep a notepad or blank doc open and jot each step while you do it. Don’t worry about perfect order or wording—treat it as a working document you’ll refine over time. Momentum over memory.


Resources Mentioned



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.

Hello SLPs. Welcome back to the podcast. This episode's gonna be a fun one 'cause I'm gonna be talking about a recent coaching episode that I had, or not a coaching episode, but a coaching session that I recently had that I think is going to give you some really great tips and ideas for how you can set up.

Little systems, rhythms, routines for yourself in your role as an SLP or pt or an OT, or a private practice [00:01:00] owner, whatever role or roles you show up in professionally. And although I didn't really frame it this way, this information is also really helpful for figuring out systems in your home as well. So that's what I'm gonna be talking about today.

Now if you are somebody who is already thinking, um, systems, Theresa processes, nope, not for me. I can never stick with anything long enough. I've tried this a million different times. It never works. I hear you. That's why I've created this episode. And if you are somebody who maybe has created lots of systems in the past that seemed really good at first.

But then you realized quite quickly, maybe they were a little too detailed, a little too involved, overwhelming, or just not all that realistic for the everyday, you know, tasks and activities that we do. [00:02:00] This episode is for you to, okay, so. I want you to start out this year, which is like, while I'm recording this, the time that I'm recording this episode, it's the start of a new school year.

I want you to be able to start out this school year or pick up wherever you are right now and. Start creating something that will help you save time, because let's face it, while the beginning of a calendar year or the beginning of a school year tend to be really great opportunities in our mind anyway to sort of start fresh and set these things up.

What is the point of waiting? If you are listening to this at any other time of the year, you don't have to wait until then to start fresh, to start using some of these suggestions and strategies to save you time now. So whether [00:03:00] you are listening to this and you're eager for a fresh start and you. Find yourself timing wise in a position where you have a fresh start.

Awesome. And if not, that's okay too. Okay? Think about what are the routines or the tasks that you do repeatedly in your role as an SLP, and let's pick one of those things and create a system for it. All right, so I'm gonna walk you through this coaching process that I use with clients to build systems with them.

And it, these systems fit the way that they think, the way that my clients think, and I'm gonna share some of the exact questions that I've asked coaching clients that you can answer for yourself, so that if you aren't working with a [00:04:00] coach and you want to try and do this on your own, you have some, some starting points.

You have a a nice place to begin. Okay. All right. So recently. This is what sort of inspired this topic. Like I said, I had a coaching call with a client where we were not necessarily body doubling, right? Where body doubling is where you're, you're working on something and somebody else is working on something, and you're just sort of having like a study hall where you're all working independently at the same time, super effective strategy for productivity, especially for those who are neurodivergent.

By the way, I host free. Virtual body doubling sessions every Tuesday at noon Eastern on Zoom. So if that's something that you're interested in, click the link in the show notes. There's no charge. There is no obligation. There's no expectation. Show up anytime you can at any point within that hour, we'd love to have you.

But this session back to my client was not [00:05:00] a body doubling session because we weren't. Working independently. We were partnering strategically to set up this system together, and it was not, by the way, me telling my client how to set up the system. Okay? So it's not that I am telling her. What to do. It's not that I'm setting it up for her.

I am there with her virtually as she is setting up that system, and I'm asking her questions that are really strategic, that help to increase the understanding, her understanding most importantly, and mine as well, of how her brain works. And then we use that information and we built a custom system. For her.

Okay. So if your system or [00:06:00] PA systems in the past weren't really sticking, it's not a you problem, right? It's a, it's a problem with the way that the system was designed or the way that it does not align with your way of thinking. Okay. Alright. So. I'm gonna, the way that I've broken this down is into three lenses, three sort of perspectives, categories.

Okay. So I'm gonna share each one individually. We'll talk through them and then we will go through how you can sort of synthesize this and put it into action. Okay. Alright. So the first lens that I. Sort of introduce, or that we looked at together with my coaching client is how does your brain [00:07:00] access information?

So when you need to find something, when you need to. Locate something or get started on a task and you're in the, the, the beginning stage where you're trying to retrieve the information that you need, where is the first place that you would look for that information? Okay, so your brain has its own filing system.

Don't necessarily know what that is because you haven't examined this before. This is what we do in coaching. So we are looking at how does your brain organize, store and organize information, and now we're trying to pull that out and use it strategically. So if you would, let's, let's, I'll give you an example.

If you were creating a tracking, some sort of like [00:08:00] tracking system for the. People, the students or children on your caseload? Okay. Let's say you wanna have a place where you have not just the name of the client of all of the clients on your caseload, but you have some of the basic information. Okay?

Where would you go to look for that? If you've had something similar to that in the past, where's the first place you would look for it? Or if I told you, Hey, we created this. Where do you think it is? Right. Imagine that you're sitting down trying to find it. Are you looking in a. External hard drive that you're, that's like buried in a drawer somewhere.

Are you looking at a sheet of paper where you've written information out and it's on your bulletin board? Are you going to your notes app on your phone where you've got, you know, uh, privacy protected information about your, who's on your caseload and, and some of their [00:09:00] basic information Again.

Protecting their privacy. Um, I'm just assuming that, okay? And, and then maybe you would look on your computer and if you would look on your computer, where would you go? Where would you look? That is where you should store this information. That is where you should store this system that you are creating.

Okay? So think about that first. Where would I go to look for this? Where, where would I go to look for this and. That is where I'm going to start as I'm creating this system. Okay, so for my client, that information she typically said could be in lots of different places, but if she, if I told her, I said, if it's all synthesized in one place.

If I told you we've already figured out where it is, it's all together in one place, where would you look? The answer that she came up with is the answer where we would [00:10:00] begin to store it. Okay. The second lens that we can use to approach a system, a system that works for your brain is, how does my brain recognize.

The information that it sees. So interesting. I had a client tell me recently that she would, oh gosh, lemme see if I can remember this on the spot. She was saying that when she sees words. She, no. When she sees images, she takes those images and in her mind, converts them into the word, into a word, a label, something that that represents what that image is.

That's how her brain processes and recognizes information. So she sees a picture. And she translates that into [00:11:00] something in writing. So her written processing skills are stronger. That is the way that her brain is processing information, is recognizing information. So for you, how do you recognize information?

How does your brain recognize information? And this might be a really broad question. But I, I wanted to give you that example because I think it will hopefully help you start to uncover some new awareness about your, your brain, your executive functioning skills, and then I'll give you a couple of other examples of how this relates to a system as well just to really help you kind of get, get going with this.

So, another way to think of this, how does my brain recognize information is how can I label this? Or, uh, I label is really the best word that I can go up with. How can I label this so that when my brain sees it, my brain instantly knows what it is? [00:12:00] Is that gonna be with a, a picture, an emoji, right. My husband and I were going through finance stuff this weekend and we were, you know, going through an app that we have that, that tracks spending and expenses.

And one of the features of this app is that you can categorize. And label your expenses using emojis, and it uses written words as well. But those emojis are for certain processing styles, really helpful with making sense of what you are seeing, making sense of information. Would you rather. Would it be easier for you?

Would you rather see an emoji? Will that help you recognize what it is? Is a color gonna help you recognize what it is? If you see something in green highlighter or green writing, or a green label color on. The computer, maybe that tells you something right away. Okay. You can save it or label it that way.

Does [00:13:00] your brain like to recognize, uh, words, what a label, a written word, help you recognize what that information is? And if so, what label, like what actual word will help you recognize it? So for me, I'm trying to think of an example here. Sometimes I will label things. When I'm saving a file on my computer or in Google Drive or something, I will label it.

I, I will often think of like the word that has the most meaning, like the word that sort of represents, it's like the key word for that item or for that task. So for example. Paperwork, like I have, um, blank like templates and blank forms, coaching forms stored on my [00:14:00] computer and in my Google Drive so that I don't have to recreate the wheel every time I, you know, start with a new client and want to.

Use a, a certain session note, a certain type of session note with that client, right? So I have one folder that is labeled paperwork, blank paperwork. And then within that it has, uh, it will say like the, the key word for each form. Contract or session note, like I said earlier, right? So for me, I sort of pick that key word, and that's the word that I lead with.

And then I might add in on the label, I might also include a couple of the, you know, additional words for context, but I try to lead with that key word, right? So as you are thinking about setting up a system for yourself. Make sure you are considering how your brain recognizes information. Okay, so that's the second lens.

I hope that this is [00:15:00] making sense. The third lens that we're gonna look at this through is the lens of this question. How does your brain organize information? How does your brain organize information? Now, this is a little bit different than number one. How your brain accesses information, and number two, how your brain recognizes information.

This is about organizing the info. So let me give you an example so that this makes sense. Do you prefer, does your brain prefer to have everything in one place or lots of things in small, separate places? Which setup feels easier for you to maintain and for you to process? So for example, I'm thinking [00:16:00] of that, uh, the caseload list that I mentioned earlier.

Right. Do you, does your brain process information, would it better process information if that information was all in one? Place one document. So do you have one document with all of the people on your caseload and then all of the. Important information, which you get to decide, by the way, what information you need or want to track, and having all of that information in one place so that when you need to find something out about somebody on your caseload, you go to one place and then you weed through in there what you need, what it is that you're looking for, so that you can find it right or.

Does having all of that information in one place overwhelm your brain? Does your brain start to shut down and it's like, I can't process this, in which case you have separate documents. [00:17:00] For each client on your caseload, right? And then you go to the information that you need just for that client and you can find, you open up that client's document and you can find what it is that you're looking for in there.

Neither way, neither of these is right or wrong. Some of these you will not know until you go, okay, I hope that you hear me on this. Some of these, these questions you will not know. Until you try it. So if you are someone who overthinks and you're listening to these questions and you see or feel yourself getting stuck, just pick one.

Pick. Answer it as like your best guess. Give your best guess. Give your best answer and try it that way, and then go. And then test it out. Okay? Because like I said, there are no right or wrong ways to do this. There is no right or wrong answer, but some of this you [00:18:00] just might not know until you try, and that's okay, because I don't want you to get stuck in analysis paralysis and then not actually be able to execute and get some sort of system in place to save you time and energy going forward.

Okay? All right, so those were three lenses, like I said, to help you figure out how to create a system that's going to work for you. Now, I wanna offer one sort of what I consider to be a really valuable tip, okay? Now, if you are, or I should say, as you are creating a system, as you are setting this up. You are building the system.

I want you to have either a notepad or a blank doc on your computer where you are typing or writing down what [00:19:00] you are doing as you do it. So this is your cheat sheet. This is your step by step list or step by step instructions for how you're creating the system. This is key because if you are human and you have a human brain and you are in our field of speech or related professions, right?

We tend to. Create these systems in the most ideal circumstances where you know, nobody's bothering us. We're sitting down, we have this dedicated time, and we're setting this up and we're feeling really good. But when we are using these systems, the circumstances are often very different. You have a million things going through your mind.

You may have a kid in the room or a client in the room. You may have a family that's. There waiting for you. You may have colleagues in a meeting and you're trying to access information and [00:20:00] give it to them. It's different, and so the cognitive load is heavier, and if the cognitive load is heavier, then we need to do whatever we can to make this simpler for your brain.

So. Write out or type out the steps that you are using, the steps that you're taking as you create this system and as you are doing this, if you are, if you are an overthinker, if you are a perfectionist, if you are somebody who gets stuck. This is for you. Do not try to do this perfectly. Don't worry about getting the steps in the right order or labeling the steps correctly.

That's not, this is not the place for this. This is not the place for that. This is not the time [00:21:00] for that, okay? Just capture the process in real time. Let it be messy and consider it a living document. It's like an IEP or an IFSP. It's a living, breathing document that's going to change. It's always subject, subject to change.

It can be adjusted as needed. Okay? So don't worry about getting it right, let it be messy. You'll refine it as you go, because trust me, once you get going and start using this system, you are going to find things that you need to change. That is a sign that you're doing it right, not a sign that you've done it wrong.

Okay? These systems will change as you start using them. You're gonna refine it, improve it, modify it, simplify it, all sorts of things, [00:22:00] and that's. Fantastic. That's the beauty of a system. This is how we create a system that works with your brain, not against it. Okay. Alright. I hope that this has given you some new insights, some fresh perspectives about systems and work and.

Again, like I said, all of this was really sort of applied to your professional roles, but similarly, you can take these questions and apply them to your home environment, to your personal life, okay? Nothing happens in silos, so just keep that in mind. I talked all about business or all about not business for me, but, uh, work for you, but keep this in mind too, that this stuff can be applied.

Elsewhere. Okay. That's how we create the work life balance that you want. That's how we do this. [00:23:00] And if you're listening to this and you're thinking, this is exactly what I need, but I just don't know how to, I don't know how to do it myself. I hear what you're saying, but I need help doing it, then reach out.

Let's book a consult. I'll help you. We'll figure out how we can do this for you in a way that works for you. We can co-create it together. And then we can modify it as we need to. And not only will you walk away with the system, but you're gonna walk away with such a deeper understanding of your brain, of how you in interpret and process information.

And once you have that, you can take that and apply it anywhere. Trust me. All right, so the link, if you wanna book a consult, the link is always in the show notes. I hope, like I said, I hope that this was helpful. Pop into the SLP support group on Facebook. If you wanna share a system that you're creating, [00:24:00] ask any questions that you want some support with, we are always there in the SLP support group.

We'd love to have you. If you aren't in it yet, go ahead and join. Alright, that's it for today's episode. Hope it helped. I'll talk to you all soon. Bye.