#77. My 3 Step Method for Work-Life Balance
Episode Shownotes:
Ready to start 2025 with better work-life balance? Want to crush your To Do List at work and at home and still have time for the things you love? Book a call today.
In today's episode, I'm sharing a Facebook Live from the SLP Support Group where I walk you through my three-step process for better time management and work-life balance.
In this episode, you'll learn:
why it's so important to define what work-life balance means to you
the role self-awareness plays in time management
how systems can help you manage your time--and how they fall short
why many productivity strategies are ineffective for those with ADHD
how to use your strengths to improve work-life balance
Join the conversation in the SLP Support Group and gain access to other free resources just like this one.
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*:
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, then you are in the right place. Let’s dive in.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] Hello, SLP support group. Good morning. It's morning here. I'm in Eastern. Eastern time zone and I'm starting a few minutes late because I was running into some tech issues. I could not figure out how to connect, how to connect all the things. I did it on Friday. I figured it out, but I couldn't figure it out today.
So I need a little extra time and I figured, but I figured it out. I think this is working. So if you are watching live, say hi in the comments so that I know that you're here. I know who's here and, um, Would love to offer you some information and support. That's really tailored to what you want to know.
So feel free to chime in, ask questions, make comments, all of that fun stuff. And [00:01:00] if you are watching the replay, you can comment hashtag replay and let me know how I can support you. All right. Uh, today's topic. I said it was going to be going live every day this week. So here I am. And today's topic is. An overview of my three step process for better time management and work life balance and before we talk about each of those three steps and how you can apply this to your own work.
You know, home life, work life, all of that. I just want to offer that a couple of things. Number one, it's really important that you define what work life balance means to you. Okay. I know there's a lot of opinions about that phrase to be perfectly honest. I don't even, I don't really care for it. Um, that could be another Facebook live in and of itself.
In fact, maybe I will talk about that later this week, [00:02:00] but regardless, I use that phrase. intentionally, because I think that is what most people look for when they're searching for information. And I want them to be able to find my podcast and find this Facebook group. And I think it's the most, you know, widely recognized sort of phrase or terminology, regardless of what you believe about it, what your thoughts are about it.
Okay. And What I want to offer is that you get to decide and you get to determine what work life balance means to you. So, It's really important that you are clear on that or at least you have some idea or some gauge that helps you to identify when you are sort of moving out of that. comfort zone of work life balance so that [00:03:00] you're aware of when it's happening and you can make adjustments.
Because when you don't know, when you aren't able to recognize those things, when you don't know what work life balance means to you, when you aren't, um, you know, checking in with yourself and recognizing that, hey, I might be doing too much, it will lead to burnout. Trust me. And I know if you're in this Facebook group, you are probably well aware of that.
Okay. But that is not the topic for today's Facebook Live. The topic for today is to walk you through the simple three step process to help improve your work life balance, to help improve the way that you spend your time, the way that you manage your time. Okay. And I'm really excited to share this with you.
I've been working hard on this behind the scenes in trying to sort of revamp and update my coaching process and what I walk my clients through to really reflect the work that I am doing with clients right [00:04:00] now. And so this is, this is not necessarily brand new, but it's more updated and more polished.
And what I hope will for what I hope it will do for you is to really give you, um, a new perspective or a new way of thinking about why you're struggling with time management, why you're struggling with work life balance, and what you can do about it, most importantly. Okay, so as you're watching, let me know in the comments when you when something I say resonates with you.
So if you hear something today that you can relate to or that you have experienced, have, have experienced or have struggled with, then comment below in the comments so that it's, I think it's really helpful for others to see that we are not alone. We are not the only ones that struggle with these things.
There's nothing wrong with you. There's nothing wrong with me for [00:05:00] struggling with these things. But what we I think need to recognize is we have the opportunity to do something about it. Okay. So picture this picture, a triangle triangle shape, and each side of the triangle represents one of the three steps in this process.
And While these are three separate, distinct components, they are not necessarily happening in sequential order, they are not necessarily beginning and ending. They really do overlap and they impact the other two, like, so each piece of this framework, each piece of this process impacts the other two pieces of this process.
And I think it's going to make more sense as I start to, to dive in. Okay. So, The [00:06:00] first step, and I'm saying first because to me this makes the most logical sense to start here. The first step of this process is what I call self awareness and mindset. Because what I have seen so many times when it comes to time management is that we think that we can find the solution, we think that we can find the strategy, and that it's, there is one solution or there's a sort of Compilation of a few strategies that are going to make all the difference and the piece, in my opinion, and if you've been here for a while, you've heard me say this, the piece that we most of us are overlooking is the self awareness and mindset.
And when I say self awareness and mindset, what am I talking about? I'm talking about [00:07:00] the way that you think about time. The way that you the relationship that you have with time. And that might sound a little unusual, right? Like, Teresa, what are you talking about the relationship with time? Well, think about it.
When you think about time and you think about your schedule and you think about the time that you have in a day, what thoughts come up for you? What is your perspective? What are your beliefs about your time? Do you find yourself thinking or saying things like, there's not enough time in the day, or I'm I would love to do this, but I just don't have enough time or I'm going to run out of time.
That reflects most often a relationship of scarcity, a belief, a perspective of scarcity. There is not enough time in order to do what needs to be done. You might believe that that is true, that that is factual. And that is one of the [00:08:00] things that is getting in your way. Because if you start out with this belief that there is not enough time to do X, Y, and Z, then you will not do X, Y, and Z.
Okay, but when we start to recognize that we actually do have some autonomy, we actually have some control over how we're spending our time, it shifts the way that we spend our time, it changes the choices that we make. So that's one way that your relationship with time comes into play. Are you Often racing against the clock.
Are you sort of seeing time is the enemy or maybe it's the opposite. Maybe you're in a situation where you feel like there is so much time. I've got the time. I just don't know how to spend it. I don't think there are as many people in this boat in this group, but I will say that that has come up with clients that I've worked with in the past.
I remember one [00:09:00] person saying that she was. She was an empty nester and she had a private practice that was part time. She was doing that part time and she felt like she had a good amount of time that she could spend. But she never knew what would make the most sense and what, how she should spend that time.
What would be the quote unquote best way to spend that time. And it was so interesting because I never really thought of it from that perspective. Partly because probably the season of life that I'm in. But there are moments where that comes up for me. And I wonder if this comes up for any of you. So drop a one in the chat.
If this is something that you can relate to, if you have ever found yourself with this gift of time, maybe you've got like an hour or you've got even a half hour that was unexpected. And you're like, I don't know what to do with it. I could do this. I could do this. I could do this. And you're just sort of unsure of how to spend that time.
Because not because you can't think of [00:10:00] what to do, but because you can think of too many things to do. Right. And then you wind up. almost wasting it in many cases. So I don't know if any of you can relate to that. That is definitely something that I can relate to. So these are just examples of ways that our thoughts, the way that we think about time, impact the way that we spend our time.
And I believe that there's many people, and maybe this is you, who are not even aware that these thoughts are popping in your head, because I think in many cases, People who struggle with time management and work life balance have over committed to things and we are constantly on the go. We are constantly putting out fires.
We are constantly go, go, go, do, do, do. Yes, I see your comment, Julia. Yes, you can relate, right? So it's almost like we're in this survival mode. We're go, go, go, that we don't even have the [00:11:00] bandwidth to be aware of those thoughts that are going through our mind. And so if you're not aware of them, the first step is to get clear and to, to believe number one, that those thoughts exist and that they play a role.
And then number two, to start becoming an observer, start becoming more aware of what you are thinking. And then there are some of us who We know that we have these thoughts during the day, but we feel like we don't either have the bandwidth to address them or to acknowledge them and consider them or act on them, or we don't like what we're thinking and we think that we can just sort of stuff it down.
and block it out and avoid it. And interestingly enough, I think a lot of us who struggle with time management and overcommit are falling into this boat because we're often filling our calendar with things [00:12:00] as a way to buffer or avoid certain things that we don't want to deal with, that we don't want to address, thoughts that we don't want to sit with or feelings that we don't want to face.
And so, When you think about how these things, these pieces are interconnected, right, it starts, I think you start to become more in control. It starts to put you in the driver's seat of how you spend your time. Okay, so that is a very sort of abbreviated version of that first piece of this three step process.
And again, that is self awareness and mindset. So if you are listening to this, I want you, your sort of homework, if you will, or your takeaway is to ask yourself, what are my thoughts about time? And Side note, I'm talking about thoughts regarding time, but obviously we have a million different thoughts about a [00:13:00] million different things.
And so this information, this sort of self awareness and um, starting to tune in a little bit more to what you're thinking throughout the day, that can help you and apply in any area, not just time management. Okay. So I want you to start becoming more aware of what those thoughts are and just start questioning them a little bit.
Start challenging them. Okay. That's what we do. It's what I do with coaching clients and just sort of challenge their perspectives because we have this belief, many of us, right? We have these perspectives or these beliefs that we, in our mind, they are fact, they are truth, but really It's just a reflection of our own experiences, our own conclusions that we have drawn, but they could be very, very different from other people's.
Alright, the second piece of this three step process is systems and strategies. So this is sort of the Roll up your sleeves, try some rhythms, [00:14:00] routines, processes, and see how we are going to implement those both at home and at work. And I let in coaching sessions, my clients and I, we sort of drive this bus together.
And so we're looking at what are your, there's different words I used to describe this, but what are your sort of core routines or core tasks that when they are done, you feel like, Oh my gosh, yes, I'm on top of the world. But when they are not done, You are overwhelmed, stressed and anxious. Okay. And those things are different for different people.
So I go through both home routines and work routines, and we identify what those key pieces are. And this is really important because we don't have endless amounts of time, right? [00:15:00] So this is one way to start prioritizing the things that are going to have the biggest impact. So once you do that, that's where we focus our.
Energy. That's where we focus our attention. Now, I will say for most of the coaching clients that I have worked with, documentation tends to come up as one of those key pieces for the work component. And so we start looking at, okay, well, how are you thinking about documentation? Do you think that it's going to take a long time?
Do you think that you have to document every single thing that you observed or saw during the session or during the evaluation? What are the actual requirements for your documentation? Where in the setting in which you work? And so you can see how the self awareness and mindset comes into play. So even though we're right now focused on that second step of the three step process, we have to lean on and integrate what we, what we cover and what we know from the first step, self awareness and [00:16:00] mindset.
So that's what I'm talking about when I say that they're all interrelated and they overlap. So. We coach on what are your thoughts about, in this case, in this example, documentation, and then we look at, okay, well, what are your strengths? What are the things that you are really good at? What are the things that you You do well.
And sometimes you sometimes clients are able to say that right off the bat. And sometimes clients struggle with this, which that in and of itself can be telling and that's information. Right? And so I'll ask, Okay, well, what do other people tell you that you're good at? What are the compliments that you get?
have been given before. And so we look at what those strengths are and how we can incorporate those strengths into the systems and processes and strategies that we are setting up and using. The other piece that comes into this step of the process is, and this, This we touch on in all three. This is a big piece of all three of our, [00:17:00] um, of this process is, do you suspect you have ADHD or do you have a diagnosis of ADHD?
And what is the role that your ADHD is playing here? Because Transcribed I can tell you from personal and professional experience, the strategies, the typical time management strategies that we see textbook, right? Textbook strategies. They're great for neurotypical clients or neurotypical people, but a lot of them are not so great for neurodivergent individuals.
And so we have to really look at, are we trying to put a square peg into a round hole? What really do we need to modify based on the way that your brain works, the way that you think, the way that you operate. And as we create those systems and processes and start integrating those strategies, we start moving into the third step of the process, which is Implementation and sustainability.[00:18:00]
So we look at, okay, now that you're starting to implement these strategies each week, I check in with clients. Okay, what's going well? What is working well this week? What isn't working? What have you noticed that maybe we couldn't predict or we didn't anticipate? And it's something that we now need to sort of solve for together.
And then the third piece is, what are you going to do differently? What do we want to try differently this week with regards to these systems and, and habits and, um, processes, right? So we're really looking at what's going well, what's not going well, what do we want to do differently? And Spoiler alert. In order to answer those questions, you need to have the self awareness component, right?
So we're back to the beginning. We also need to know what those strengths are, what your strengths are, what your core needs are, and your core values are. So we're taking all of the information and all of the learning [00:19:00] that we get from each of those three steps of this process and integrating them. Okay, the other piece here is, as I mentioned, sustainability, because We want to make sure that whatever new strategy you're using or whatever new system where you're using, it is sustainable.
One thing that often comes up in My sessions with clients at some point or another is solving for when the shiny object is no longer shiny, right? So a lot of times we'll use a new system, a new approach, and it sounds really good, right? It's really exciting. Oh yeah, I'm excited about this. And since I'm excited about it, I'm probably going to use it.
This is great. This is going to solve all the problems. And I'm, I'm thinking this is what the client is saying. And so we're sort of coaching on all of that. But we know that for many individuals with ADHD, once the newness wears off, we need to, to [00:20:00] modify. And so that's one of the things that we do in this step of the process.
Otherwise, it's not sustainable. I had a client one time who, when we were talking about this specific topic, she, felt like that was a failure. Like, well, if we're changing the system, then it must not have been the right system. We must have gotten something wrong here. And I said, but what if that is the system?
What if the system is that we use it short term and then we modify and why is that a problem? Right? If we could spend our time and energy trying to coach you into being able to use a system long term, Right? Or we could use that time and energy and find a new, slightly modified version of a system that we know is working well and try that out since that's the way that your brain is just naturally thinking, right?
And so you can see how, again, how the coaching aspect comes into this and how we're [00:21:00] really digging into what are you thinking? What are you thinking about these strategies? What are you thinking? think what are you making them mean? What are you thinking about your ability to use them or not use them?
And that is key when it comes to finding long lasting changes. Okay, so just to recap the three steps of this process. Number one, self awareness and mindset. Number two, systems and strategies, and number three, implementation and sustainability. And those are the core components that I walk clients through when we work one on one for 12 weeks, six months, and we work through how to integrate these into your work life and your home life so that everything is running at a, in a way that you feel good about and you feel more in control of.
not necessarily perfectly. We're not machines. This doesn't mean that you're [00:22:00] operating and checking off all your boxes on your to do list every single day. That's not the goal. But the goal is to give you more ownership and control over the pieces that aren't working well for you so that you're able to actually change them into things that are working well for you.
All right, so yeah. I would love to hear what you thought about this, what, again, if anything resonated with you, let me know in the comments and I will be back here live again tomorrow in the SLP support group talking about another topic, which is if you, if you want to kind of mark this off on your calendar, the topic that we're going to be covering tomorrow is why I coach on both work life change.
and home life. Why do we do both of those? What does that look like? And why, in my opinion, so many other productivity coaches are selling their clients short. There's, they're [00:23:00] not, they're not serving their clients to the fullest capacity. So that's what we're going to be talking about in tomorrow's Facebook live.
Love for you to be here. I look forward to seeing you all there. I'll talk to you soon.
*Please note that this transcript was generated by AI and may contain errors.