I started 2018 feeling overwhelmed, overworked, and unfulfilled. After a year of introspection, learning, and experimentation, I’m ending 2018 with a newly discovered professional mindset. I don’t expect to ever have it all figured out, because new challenges arise as we get older. But for now, I’m satisfied that I’m improving my workflow and skills and finally starting my life-long dream of writing.
The key to my success this year was changing my mindset. The power of a positive mindset is obvious, especially to therapists who help other people change their lives. But it can be hard to see unhelpful thought patterns in ourselves. Sometimes, we accept “that’s just how things are” and don’t realize that we actually have the ability to improve our situation. I’m sharing three main areas I’ve improved this year along with resources that may be helpful to you.
Outline:
- Getting a handle on working in home health.
- Teaching is a great way to implement new ideas.
- Tapping into my neglected creativity.
- Unhappy? Examine, reflect, and model.
Getting a handle on home health
I’ve been working in home health for over four years, and I nearly burned out. I was torn up about it, because I absolutely love working with people in their own homes. But I was working 10-12 hour days, five days a week plus four to six hours on the weekends. That’s no way to live.
I cut my hours and spent time figuring out how to do this job efficiently while still providing good care. I paid attention to how other clinicians worked, talked to other SLPs, and learned a lot from SLPs in online communities. I’ve also spent a fair bit of time learning about life planning, personal goal setting, and time management.
The idea that sparked real change for me
While I’ve made several changes that have really improved my work experience, the real key was changing my mindset. Something clicked for me when I heard a supervisor say that we have to manage our time as if it’s our business.
Switching from an external to an internal locus of control
When I heard this, my perspective completely changed. No longer did I feel like a hapless employee, toiling away all hours of the day trying to meet endless expectations. Instead, I suddenly saw myself as a valuable, skilled professional offering my services in return for pay and benefits. I realized that I had more power than I realized in determining the course of my day. Several thoughts flashed through my mind:
- Most outpatient clinics and private practices offer 30 to 50 minute sessions.
- We’re encouraged to select the visit frequency that our patients clinically require.
- People tend to learn better when they have distributed practice (i.e. more frequent, shorter sessions per week) rather than massed practice (i.e. fewer, longer sessions per week.
I suddenly realized that I could put time-management ideas into practice, combined with shorter and perhaps more frequent sessions, and end up with a win-win for both myself and my patients.
That switch from an external locus of control (being a hapless employee) to an internal locus of control (being a professional with the power to shape my own experience) has made a world of difference to my mental well-being this year. I made a number of changes that allow me to work more efficiently during sessions while still providing good care.
Are you struggling with home health?
If you’re struggling with working in home health, consider whether you have room to grow in these areas:
- Treating the patient holistically (step outside of the SLP silo).
- Being willing to try new ways to practice.
- Using your time strategically.
- Being flexible in responding to constant (and sometimes unplanned) change.
If you’d like to work more efficiently, you may be interested in these posts:
- 5 ways I improved work-life balance as a home health SLP.
- 7 tips to benefit your home health patients and minimize your workload.
- Organize your materials and your schedule.
Teaching is a great way to learn and implement new ideas
While I’ve earned three ACE awards, and I’ve been to a number of ASHA Conventions and other seminars, I’ve only put into practice a fraction of what I’ve learned. On the one hand, it’s frustrating, because I want to be the best therapist that I can be. On the other hand, we can’t realistically absorb and implement everything we read and hear. The sheer volume of information available is daunting. In addition, there are many conditions or situations that we only rarely encounter.
I’d been feeling stressed by that tension between wanting to do my best for my patients and feeling overwhelmed by all the knowledge that we have access to.
Starting this blog has helped me in several ways
Starting this blog six months ago has made a huge difference for me, in a number of ways. First, I now have a manageable way to dig into the mass of ideas and materials I’ve accumulated over the years.
I pick out one idea at a time to share with you. Sometimes that idea is related to something I know well (like spaced retrieval with errorless learning), but other times, it’s an unfamiliar topic (like the series inspired by this year’s ASHA Convention).
Regardless, I spend a lot of time researching and thinking about the posts I write, which is deepening my understanding and giving me time to implement the ideas in my own practice.
Another benefit of writing a blog is that it gives me a sense of accountability which motivates me to keep digging into that mass of ideas. I get further encouragement when you comment on posts, email me, or comment in the Facebook groups.
While I’m benefiting from writing the posts, I definitely aim to provide useful information to help you improve your own practice and work experience (if you’re a clinician) or to help you improve your day-to-day experience living with chronic problems with swallowing, communicating, or cognition.
Are you struggling to try out new ideas in your practice or in your life?
- Write a SMART goal for yourself to try out a specific assessment tool or therapy technique.
- Make it specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
- Find an accountability buddy.
- Telling someone you’re going to do something makes it much more likely that you will.
- Set a reward for yourself if you do try it out.
- A little self-bribery can be motivating.
- Share your experience with others.
- Whether it’s blog posts, Tweets, or posts or videos on Facebook, YouTube, etc… sharing is a great way to motivate ourselves and get encouragement.
- Teach someone else.
- If you’re a clinician, teaching is a big part of your job. We teach patients and caregivers, we give in-services to other professionals, we mentor new clinicians, and we give presentations to the community. Depending on what your goal is, you may find someone to teach it to.
Tapping into my neglected creativity
One reason for my growing discontent with my life in general was that while I love my job, it isn’t completely fulfilling. Ever since I learned how to read, I’ve wanted to write both non-fiction and fiction.
Growing up, I wanted to be a science writer. I wanted to learn interesting new things that could improve people’s understanding and solve problems and share that by writing for magazines, newspapers, and books. I’ve always been an avid fiction reader, particularly mysteries and science fiction, and I’ve always had a secret desire to create my own stories in my own worlds.
Growing up in western Pennsylvania in a working class family, I didn’t see anyone around me going to college for anything other than to be a teacher or a nurse. My parents encouraged me to pick something practical, so I went into teaching. My path to becoming an SLP was long and windy, but suffice to say, I never considered going to college to become a writer.
I had also grown up with the idea that people were either born with the story-making talent to be a fiction writer, or they weren’t. Since I love to read, I’m well aware that my early attempts at writing fiction were not good. Therefore, I believed that I wasn’t creative enough to write fiction.
Two podcasts that changed my life
This year, I came across two podcasters who changed my life. First was Darren Rowse of ProBlogger fame. As I listened to him, I quickly realized that I could use blogging to indulge my desire to write non-fiction. Specifically, I could continue learning how best to serve my patients and share that information with other clinicians and people affected by impairments in the areas I treat.
Darren’s podcast introduced me to Joanna Penn’s podcast where I’m gaining the confidence and knowledge that I can write, publish, and market a non-fiction book. The more I listened to Joanna this summer, the more I realized that fiction writers aren’t born talented and successful. Anyone inspired to write can develop the skills to write fiction well, if they’re willing to put in the time and effort.
These realizations represent a change in my mindset which is changing my life. I kept myself from pursuing my dream of writing because I didn’t believe it was possible. Just as I kept myself locked in the same unhealthy work practices because I didn’t believe anything else was possible. What I’ve learned this year is that I have a choice whether to persist in situations that make me unhappy or to apply my executive function skills in improving my life. And it’s trite, but true: our beliefs shape how we live our lives.
Do you have a creative bent that you’d like to explore?
- ProBlogger by Darren Rowse (blog, podcast, free and paid courses).
- The Creative Penn by Joanna Penn (blog, podcast, books, paid courses).
- BlueHost.com for web hosting.
- Pat Flynn’s guide to starting a podcast (free).
- Canva.com for creating visuals (free).
*This is an affiliate link. If you sign up with BlueHost, I may earn a small commission. There is no extra charge to you, and it will help keep Eat, Speak, & Think sustainable.
Unhappy? Examine, reflect, and model
At the beginning of the year, I was over-worked, stressed, and unhappy that I wasn’t pursuing my dreams. Now, at the close of 2018, my work hours are much more reasonable, I have a blog with more than 350 people signed up for my newsletter, I’ve started writing my first non-fiction book, and I have ideas percolating in the back of my mind for my first fiction series.
I believe developing a professional mindset was the key to improving my work practices as well as finally starting to work towards goals and dreams I’ve had for a long time
I don’t know if I could have changed my perspective sooner, or if the timing has be right. But I believe that if we’re unhappy about any part of our life, we can change it by examining our pain points, reflecting on our assumptions and beliefs, and modeling ourselves on those who have achieved the success we want.
Featured image by Linda Xu on Unsplash.
Lisa earned her M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Maryland, College Park and her M.A. in Linguistics from the University of California, San Diego.
She participated in research studies with the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) and the University of Maryland in the areas of aphasia, Parkinson’s Disease, epilepsy, and fluency disorders.
Lisa has been working as a medical speech-language pathologist since 2008. She has a strong passion for evidence-based assessment and therapy, having earned five ASHA Awards for Professional Participation in Continuing Education.
She launched EatSpeakThink.com in June 2018 to help other clinicians be more successful working in home health, as well as to provide strategies and resources to people living with problems eating, speaking, or thinking.
Be First to Comment