#40. Hustle Culture Series Episode 5: Five Strategies for Thriving Beyond Hustle Culture as an SLP
Episode Shownotes:
Ready to swap the frenzy of hustle culture for peaceful time management? Join me as we conclude our Hustle Culture Series with the keys to not just surviving but thriving as a busy SLP. Today, I'm detailing 5 strategies you can use to sort through the chaos and zero in on what matters most.
The SLP Support Group on Facebook is your community to exchange ideas and connect with other SLPs who are taking back control of their time.
And be sure to mark your calendar for the upcoming free webinar to dive deeper into these topics and even secure a chance to win a personalized coaching session: Thursday, March 28th at 7 PM Eastern. Save your seat here!
Mentioned in this episode:
Download your free Time Buckets Resource HERE!
Episode 18 of the podcast: an overview of the Time Buckets System
Are you sick and tired of feeling overwhelmed by all the things? I can help. Schedule a free consult today.
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.
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.
Hey SLPs, welcome back to the podcast. This is the fifth and final episode of the Hustle Culture Series that I have been doing over the past several weeks, and if you haven't caught any of the other episodes in this series, that's okay. You don't need them in order to make sense of today's episode, but definitely worth checking out. So those are episodes 37, 38, 39, actually episode 36, 37, 38, and 39. And then today's episode, episode 40, is, as I said, the fifth and final. I'm going to be giving you some tips to break free from hustle culture, hustle mentality and the habits or choices that we make that are leading to burnout. So that's what we're going to dive into today, but before we do that, I just want to remind you if you are a listener, you are probably already aware, and if you're not are a listener, you are probably already aware, and if you're not, then I want to let you know that I am hosting a free webinar on Thursday, March 28th, at 7 PM Eastern, and it's all about time management for the busy SLP. So I'm going to be going through the top mistake that I see people making when it comes to time management. We're going to be talking about actual strategies that you can use to support the way that you're spending your time. You know there's a whole bunch of fun topics and resources and information that we're going to be talking about during that webinar. And it is free, and all who register will be automatically entered to win a free coaching session. So if you haven't signed up already, make sure you click the link in the show notes to save your seat and I look forward to seeing you all there. And, yes, there will be a replay available. So if you can't make it live, that's okay, you'll get the replay, but make sure that you register, because if you're not registered, you will not have access. Okay, all right.
So Hustle Culture, episode one of this series. The first of the five episodes was about what Hustle Culture is and why it's a problem. In episode two of the series we tackled the difference between being busy and being productive. Episode three of the five-part series was about examining your relationship with stress, and that one I kind of gave you some pretty raw, vulnerable, personal stories of my relationship with stress, so that one is a bit more open and honest than normal. And then last week's episode was about…I shouldn't say more honest than normal, I should say more personal. I think that's really what I'm trying to say. But anyway, last week's episode was about identifying your values and needs and using those to inform how you spend your time. If you did not listen to last week's episode, that would be episode 39. Go back and listen to that one. There is a free resource in the show notes of that episode where you can download the Values and Needs resource and figure out what your core values and needs are and use those, like I said, to help you decide how you're spending your time. And then in today's episode we're going to be building off of some of that information, particularly some of those strategies, and we're going to really get deeper into some practical strategies that you can put into play, that are going to help you stay focused on the things that are most important to you. So if you've been really craving some practical, tangible strategies, then this is for you.
Okay, so I'm just going to dive right in now. The very first strategy that I have to offer is what I refer to as the time bucket strategy. If you haven't heard that phrase before, if you haven't heard that phrase before, or if you've heard it and you don't really know what I mean, essentially what that means or what that helps you do is helps you to make sense of and organize all of the many different responsibilities that you have for the different roles in your life. So most of you, if not all of you, who are listening to this are speech pathologists that also play other roles. You are also maybe a wife or a partner, or a daughter or a mom. You're also maybe a volunteer.
You have many other roles that you play, and one of the most common things I hear from my coaching clients is how they struggle to make, keep sense of or keep track of all of their different responsibilities. They feel like if they're focusing on their role as an SLP, then it's taking them away from their role as a mom and they fall behind in that area. So the time bucket system was essentially created to help you with that. It helps you to see what you're spending your time on and gives you a really easy visual for how you can ensure that you are spending time, if you wish, to working on all of those different roles, so that you don't feel out of alignment, you don't feel like you're giving your everything to one particular area of your life and then everything else is just falling by the wayside. So that is the time bucket strategy in a very broad overview, what I want you to do.
If this sounds like it's helpful for you, if you feel like you have a whole bunch of things on your list, on your to-do list, and you don't even know where to begin, that you're all over the place, then what I want you to do is go to the show notes of this episode, download the free Time Buckets resource, and that's going to guide you in how to figure out what your Time Buckets are. Guide you in how to figure out what your time buckets are. And then you also want to check out episode 18 of the Your Speech Path podcast, because episode 18 gives you a very detailed insight or overview of this system, okay, I was gonna say of this simple system and so, yeah, but it gives you the overview of this system. So, if you really want to take a look at this and understand how you can make it work for you, check out episode 18 and download the free time buckets resource. Okay, so that's the very first strategy I have for you. The rest of these are going to be pretty self-explanatory, so you don't have to worry about not being able to make sense of them or needing to go somewhere else. But I did just want to lead with that time buckets resource because I really do think that it can be a very helpful strategy for women in particular, who play so many roles.
Okay, the second strategy is something that is very easy to say, hard to do, maybe also counterintuitive if we're talking about getting things done and achieving goals and all of that. The strategy that I want to offer is taking breaks. Before you roll your eyes or turn off the episode—listen, I have been working on this in many different ways in my life. It keeps showing up in different ways in my life, because I am someone who absolutely struggles with slowing down and taking a break. In my mind, I feel like if I pause, take a break to do something, I'm going to lose my momentum, I'm going to waste time, I'm going to maybe have difficulty getting back into work, and so and it's really hard for me to stop and pause when there is still so much in my mind that I have to get done or that I want to get done right, tell me that you can't relate. I will find it very hard to believe. If you've never experienced this at all, I'm sure you all can relate in some way, shape or form. So, especially for those of you who have a lot on your plate and you are going going, going, taking a break can feel like the exact opposite of what you quote unquote should do.
But don't get caught in this trap. It is so important to pause and to rest and to spend time doing things that fill you up, that give you energy. Trust me when I say that if you don't, it will catch up to you. Eventually. It will catch up and you will. If you don't take a break, if you aren't taking breaks earlier on, before you need them, you're going to be spending more time trying to recover, on the other end, when you burn out, when you just hit the wall and cannot go any longer. So take breaks. This could be going outside, walking around. This could be connecting with a friend. This could be taking a whole day off. I mean, you get to decide what that looks like. This could be a five minute break where you walk around, you leave the room, you walk around somewhere else, you know, change the scenery for a minute, or go do a quick five minute meditation, go have a snack, whatever it looks like for you. You get to decide, but make sure you're taking breaks.
Third strategy—and strategies three, four and five are all building upon one another and related, okay, so stay with me—but strategy number three is about identifying your top priorities. Now I'm talking about per day. You also want to do this in general, yes, but within the day. Okay, because for those of you that struggle with not knowing where to start, or you struggle with like, oh my gosh, where'd the day go? I feel like I was working all day but I don't know what I got done, this one is really important.
The number of priorities that you identify is going to vary from person to person, so for—and from day to day—so for me, one day I might identify the top three priorities for that day. Another day I might have just one priority, another time it might be five. Right, it really depends on various circumstances. Really depends on various circumstances, but you get to decide how many priorities you want to set. But I suggest doing this either first thing in the morning or the night before, so that you're identifying what are the top priorities for this day. And side note sometimes the day goes awry, often the day goes awry, right, and so you have your starting priorities, but those priorities might shift as your day evolves. You know, today I didn't count on having two kids home sick. So the priorities that I had established yesterday, those priorities were set when I thought I had a block of about five hours to get work done. When I woke up and realized that that was not the case, I needed to shift the priorities a bit. And that's okay. They're fluid, right, flexible, but you need to identify what is the top priority or priorities for this day and focus there, especially for those of you that are really pinched on time.
Okay, strategy number four is what I'm calling ruthless elimination of tasks. Tasks or activities or whatever, but ruthless elimination of the things that don't need to be on your list. What can you completely eliminate? If you can't totally eliminate it, what can you delegate or what can you outsource? Look at what you spend your time on in a day and ask yourself is this necessary? Is this something that I want to be doing? Is this something that I need to be doing? Is this something that I have to be doing? Is this something that someone else could do? Right?
In order to do this, though, in order to ruthlessly eliminate the things that do not move the needle, that don't move you forward you need to have time authority. You need to step into taking ownership over your time, and many people don't necessarily see themselves as being an authority of how they spend their time, and that is something that is really worth looking at. Do you believe that you have control over your time? Yes, there are certain things in life, when it comes to what we spend our time on, that you don't have control over, I agree, but there are a lot of things that people are filling their calendar with, or people are spending their time on that they do not enjoy, that they don't need to be doing, but they're adding them to their list because they think that, well, there's a whole number of reasons, but that'd be something to get curious about you yourself. Why do you feel the need to do this? Right, reminder, you have control over your time. You do have time authority. So by ruthlessly eliminating the things that are not serving you, you will have less on your plate, you'll have more time, but, more importantly, you'll have more energy. You'll have more bandwidth to be able to spend on the things that truly do matter.
And then that brings me to my fifth and final strategy, which is know your why. Know your why and this is related to strategies three and four identifying your priorities and ruthlessly eliminating the things that don't serve you. But when it comes to the things that you are spending your time on, what are your reasons for spending your time on those tasks? Right, those things are an investment. It's an investment of your time, and it really really helps if you're clear on why.
Some of your reasons why might not be the most, I don't know. I'm drawing a blank for words here, but some of you might have. You know. Quote unquote noble reasons. Some of you might have less noble reasons for the things that you spend your time on, and that's totally fine. That's normal. That's normal right. So, for example, you might have, if you're talking about spending your time on clients, obviously noble reason, right, you want to help people. You want to serve.
I love working with kids with hearing loss and working with their families. Right, I enjoy that. That fulfills me. That is a why, but there's also other whys, right. It's also stimulating to have adult conversation to learn to challenge myself. It's also important to have a paycheck, right, to get paid and support my family.
So, anything that you're spending your time on, if you can just take a minute and identify the reason why that matters to you, it will help you with moving forward with the things that maybe you would otherwise avoid for a little while procrastinate. It will also help you know what things you might want to eliminate or what things are lower on your priority list. Okay, so you see how these strategies go hand in hand, but it's really important that you know your reason or reasons why you're spending your time on the things that you're spending your time on.
Okay, so just to recap for you, strategy number one was time buckets, where you're categorizing the different roles that you play and the tasks associated with those, so that you have a nice overview of what you're working on. Strategy two is the importance of taking breaks. Strategy number three was identifying your top priorities for the day and being flexible throughout the day if you need to shift those. Strategy four was the ruthless elimination of tasks that don't serve you. And strategy number five is know your why.
If this is something that was helpful for you, do me a favor and pop into the Facebook group, the SLP Support Group on Facebook. Let me know what you thought of this episode or, better yet, share it with someone else who you know needs to hear it. I hope that you enjoyed this episode and I really hope I get to see you this Thursday, March 28th, 7 PM Eastern, at the free webinar. All about time management strategies just like these and more for busy SLPs. I hope to see you there. Have an awesome week. I'll talk to you all next week.
*Please note that this transcript was generated by AI and may contain errors.