As a conscientious mental health professional, you want to spend as much time with your patients as possible – after all, it is only through speaking with them and building up a rapport that you can do your best work and help those who come to your clinics! Unfortunately, too much of our lives are filled with other necessary tasks, and from paperwork to the morning commute it all adds up, until you start feeling the squeeze.
We’ve come up with a list of handy time management techniques that could help you to get your schedule under control and have more time to spare for the people who count: the patients. You t even have heard yourself discuss some of these tips with your patients; just remember that you can also benefit from using them yourself!
Manage Emails and Communications
As a therapist, you are constantly in communication with a number of other people; prospective clients, other professionals and current patients as well as members of staff that you work with – all sending emails or competing for a few minutes of your time on the phone. If you attempt to answer all communications as they come in you’ll be snowed under, and can quickly find that it’s all you seem to be doing. Instead, consider setting aside certain slots of time each day for responding to emails, and only focus on non-urgent messages in those dedicated periods.
Eliminate Time-Wasting Activities
Spend a day, or even a week, making a note of all the activities that take up time throughout your working day. Could any of them be eliminated entirely? Or, more likely, could they be combined together for more efficiency? For instance, you could consider bringing admin tasks together on Monday mornings or Wednesday afternoons; using one long chunk of time rather than lots of small sessions stops you from breaking up the rest of your week unnecessarily.
Don’t Agree to do Everything
The same compassionate nature which pushes people towards the medical profession can make you want to say yes to every favour or task that your colleagues ask of you, however big or small. It’s great to help people out where you can, but if you take on too much at the expense of your patients then nobody benefits in the long run – so assist where you can, but be firm yet friendly if there’s already too much on your plate!
Good time management is all about striking a balance, so spend some time experimenting with different techniques – what works for your friend or colleague might not be the same as what works for you, but adapt these general tips and you certainly can’t go wrong.
