#12. Need Time Management Help? My 3-Step Process
Episode Shownotes:
In today's episode, I'm sharing the 3-step process that I use with my clients to help them take back control of their time. If you've been struggling with a packed calendar and long To Do Lists, and you can't seem to figure out how to keep up with it all, this episode is for you. Tune in and I'll walk you through where to start.
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Episode Transcript*:
This is Your Speech Path: Mindful Time Management for the Busy SLP. My name is Theresa 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, burnt out 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.
Hello, podcast listeners. Welcome back to another episode. How are y'all doing? I'm good at the moment. We've had a rough couple of weeks with the transition back into school and just busy schedules, illness, you know, the whole kinda shabang as is expected. And I feel like at least today, today is a good day, things were status quo. Everything kinda went according to plan, so far anyway. And I'm getting some work done, which means recording podcast episodes, which is always fun for me. I love doing these episodes. So today is going to be I'm trying to stay super focused and give you some really clear steps about how you can get going with time management. So when it comes to managing your time, I think a lot of people feel like they don't know where to start. They feel like there just there's so much going on. There's so many moving parts. There's no way I can take control of my time because I'm just constantly instantly inundated with all these things thrown at me that I've gotta get done and it can be really overwhelming. And it could be really hard to know how to even start taking back control of your calendar, control of your time, control of your schedule, all of that. Right? And I realized in looking back at episodes, I've never done an episode about my three step coaching process for time management. And so what I want to do today is share what each of those steps is, walk you through, you know, why I start —where I start with clients and in the hopes that for those of you that are listening who are trying to get started yourselves—maybe on your own, you have at least an idea of a way to begin.
Now, I will say that I do not think that this is a one size fits all approach. And I very much believe that every brain is different. Everybody's personalities are different. Their circumstances are different. And so I don't think that there is a one stop shop, like a one solution, a one way to taking over or taking back control over your time. Having said that, after doing this with different clients and learning about time management and the coaching process and all of that. This is the process that I have come up with that I feel works best for me and for my clients. However, the way that it looks, the way that I structure this, the way that we actually execute this, is gonna be a little bit different for every person. So this is just our kind of a rough guide to get you started if you are trying to do this on your own. If you're trying to manage your time and and figure out how to use the time that you have. This is where I would start. Okay? So that is what we're doing today.
Alright. So I'm just gonna dive in. I mentioned I have a three step process. Let me give you the three steps, and then I'm gonna talk with you about what each of those steps looks like. Okay? So the first thing I do with my clients is we look at where your time is going. That is the very first step. So step number one is figure out where your time is going. Step number two, is to figure out where you want your time to be going. And step number three, is giving you the tools and the strategies and the accountability in order to get there. In order to get to the place where your time is going exactly where you want it to be going. That is on a very simplistic level, the three step process that I use. Okay? So let me go through each one of those and offer you…my goal is to offer you some ideas of how you can do this yourself and why I have chosen to structure my coaching sessions with this approach. Okay?
So for step number one, looking at where your time is going, the reason why this is so important to start with is believe it or not, many people are either unaware of what they're spending their time on or they misjudge what they spend their time on. They might not accurately recognize the amount of time that they're spending on things. And this is really the kind of tough love, truth of the matter. Most of us aren't aware of how much time we waste. I know when I first started my family when we had kids, and I was working, you know, when I went back to work after they were born, I just remember having this shift in what I wanted to spend my time on, as many new moms do. And that's when I really became more aware of all of the things that I was spending my time on that didn't matter then and/or definitely didn't matter now. They were no longer priorities. Right? Because your priorities shift, of course. And that's life. Your priorities are always going to shift. So is what you are going to spend your time on, and that's step number two. We'll get there. That's gonna change as well. Right? But you can't go in and start figuring out how to modify your schedule or how to make different decisions about time management until you know what you're spending your time on. Most people, like I was saying, live in what I call reactive mode. Right? We're We just sort of—you might just handle whatever comes your way. So it's just a matter of, okay, whatever pops up today either on my calendar or in my business or in my family, I'm just dealing with whatever comes my way. That is how I spend my time. Rather than proactive mode where you're creating a schedule, a rough schedule, precise schedule, you know, it's gonna look different for every person. But where you have some sort of a schedule and a plan, about what you're spending your time on and you follow it to some extent. Okay? And I did an episode about that somewhat recently. I will link to it in the show notes, but I did an episode on being reactive versus being proactive when it comes to spending your time. And I think that's episode… the episode that aired on August 8th, I believe. So definitely check that out. Okay? Because it goes hand in hand with what we're talking about today.
Now, it's important that you know what you're spending your time on and the reason why I think many of us don't do this is because there are some element…there's some underlying thought that we maybe don't wanna realize what we're spending our time on. We don't wanna sort of face the music, so to speak, of what we are spending our time on. What are we wasting our time on? We might wanna avoid making decisions about not spending time on things because we might not wanna disappoint people, not wanna let people down, we might not wanna address or acknowledge how much time we waste scrolling social media, how much time we pick up our phone and look at it without any sort of intent behind what we're picking up our phone for. Right? There are so many things that we waste our time on. And I liken this to what I sort of the way I visualize this or or think about this in my mind is this is like trying to create a budget without knowing your expenses. So trying to improve your time management skills without any idea of what you're spending your time on. It's like It's like knowing your income, like, you know your salary, maybe you know your income, but you don't know what your expenses are. Right? And then, yes, spoiler alert. Some of you might be thinking, you might listen you might be listening to this and thinking, and actually, I have no idea what my expenses are, Theresa, and it's just easier to sort of stick our head in the sand than face the music. Right? So there's a little bit of a pattern here, but we need to know this information where your time is going in order to create a system or a workflow that's gonna help you have a greater sense of control over what's getting put on your calendar. When you're working on that, how much time you're spending on it, those sorts of things. Right? So in order to do this, you first need to know where your time is going.
Now the how how we do that, the how of that, that's where the coaching comes in, quite frankly. That's something that we do in coaching. We do this in different ways. You know, we have I have different time audits that we might do, you know, different logs, stuff like that. But for those of you that are listening that are not working with a time management coach would would encourage you to do is start to become more aware of what you're spending your time on. Just start by being present and tuning in to what exactly am I doing right now? Watch yourself. Right? Like I said before, so many of us are just reacting all day long. So, okay, be the observer of you reacting. What are you reacting to? What are you getting, you know, caught up in? What are you seeking out in terms of activities. Look at what you're spending your time on. If you are a visual learner, if you're a visual person, maybe looking at calendar and seeing exactly what's on there. But I would venture to guess that either (A), you don't have some sort of a calendar system that's gonna tell you what you're spending your time on or (B), if you do have a calendar system that you're using, it's probably not the best indicator of what you're spending your time on. So that might be a tool that you could use to start with, but this is really going to rely on you becoming more in tune with the activities that you are doing. Okay? So that is step number one. Look at where your time is going. And I promise you you will find pockets of time, you will find little moments where you're wasting time, squandering I'm not using it intentionally. And this is not to judge you. This is not to shame you. This is not to tell you that there's a right or wrong way to do it. But this is the first step in being able to control and have power over what you spend your time on.
Okay. Step number two, look at where you want your time to go. This is so important. So if you take nothing else away from this episode, I hope this is what you take. Are you ready? It's so important to recognize time ownership. We could do a whole other podcast episode on that alone, but it is important for you to recognize time authority or time ownership. You are in control over your time. Whether you think that or not, to to the most, to the greatest extent possible. Yes, there are exceptions. Yes, there are some things that you won't be able to control, all of that. Okay? But in general, I believe that you have so much more control over your time than you realize. Than you are willing to even take responsibility for. But once you start to recognize time ownership, and you start to make sure that you're spending your time on the things that matter. That's when you're able to feel that sense of control, to feel that sense of freedom, to feel that sense of that release from anxiety, that release from stress. Right? And what I want you to do is think about your Have Tos, your Want Tos, and your Need Tos. Okay? What do I have to do? What do I want to do? What do I need to do? And so when you look at where your time is going, you're gonna take that information and start to sort of, I don't know, parse through it. Like, go through the things that you are spending your time on and ask yourself, is this something where I want my time to be going? Is this something I want to be spending my time on? Right? I think many times people are overlooking at least one of those three categories, the Have Tos, the Want Tos, or the Need Tos. Or they might be thinking their view of those categories might be skewed. So for example, they might think that something that they have to do is, like, there might be something on their list that they would consider a have to, that in reality is not a have to. Right? So get really honest with yourself about what is a have to, what is a want to, what is a need to. Right? Sometimes people are saying yes to things that are not in alignment with their personal goals or their business goals. And so what we do in coaching when it comes to Step Two is a needs and values assessment. So I walk my clients through: What is truly important to you? What matters most? What do you value in your personal life? What do you value in your business, in your work life? What do you need in your personal life? What do you need in your work life? What are the things that you need and value in order to feel and operate at the highest level? That is so important. And most of us are just walking around without any awareness of (A), what we're spending our time on and (b), how those things that we spend our time on are in alignment or are not in alignment with our values and needs. Seriously, when is the last time you really stopped and thought about what your values are and what your needs are? That is what we do in coaching. That's what we look at. And I love doing this exercise in sessions with clients because sometimes the stuff that comes up is surprising. Or it's stuff that we often were aware of, but maybe we've been overlooking for so long because we feel like we can't afford to spend the time on some of our values or needs, and they're just sort of lost in the shuffle of things. But when you start connecting the things you put on your calendar with the things that you value and need, oh my gosh. That's when things start changing. Okay. So that's step number two. Looking at where you want your time to go.
But then step number three is how we get there. Right? It is the bridge that we build to get from where your time is going, to where you want your time to be going. So step number three is building that bridge. It's where we sit down, coach and client, we set a goal, we create a plan to get there, and then we trial that plan out. Most of my clients will tell you what we do in sessions is we create some sort of an action or a challenge or to do list, a system to try something that they go out and try on their own in between sessions and then we come back together as a team and we review it. What worked? What didn't work? What do we need to troubleshoot? What do we need to try differently? What do we need to try again? Right? And all the while, when we're doing this, we are building your awareness of what your underlying thoughts are, what your underlying beliefs are, what your underlying feelings and emotions are. About how you spend your time. It's not just about me giving you strategies like here, you know, create this to do list and put it in this app and set reminders and notifications on your phone or your computer. Or, you know, use this format for a checklist and for a to do list, or here's how you time block. Do those things help? Are those things effective time management strategies? Sure. They can be. But in order to use them optimally, in order to actually execute them, you need to have that awareness of what's going on in your brain. Of what you're thinking about, what you how you're feeling when you do certain activities or don't do certain activities. Because those underlying thoughts and beliefs, I promise you, those are what are governing how you spend your time. It’s true. And we talked about this and I think it was last week's episode about how time management truly is emotional. It is more emotional than people know or want to acknowledge. Right? So step number three is pairing this newfound self awareness that you get through coaching with these hosts of strategies. Right? Pairing those two things together to help take back control of your time.
Alright. So that's all I've got for today's episode. I'm curious, go out and try it. Try this three step process. Start to look at where your time is going. Start to consider where you want your time to be going. And start thinking about how you're gonna get there. And if you need help, reach out. I'm happy to walk you through this. Happy to talk you through how we could work together to make it happen because you don't have to do it alone. You truly don't have to do it alone. And if you're listening to this podcast episode, most likely you've been thinking about or struggling with time management for a while and why continue to waste your time. Book a consult. The link is always in the show notes. And pop into the Facebook group and let me know how this three step process goes for you. I would love to cheer you on. Alright. That's it. Have an awesome week everyone, and I will talk to you next week.
*Please note that this transcript was generated by AI and may contain errors.