A Therapist's #1 Secret Productivity Killer

I talk with a lot of therapists who have trouble keeping up with notes. Yet, when we actually sit down to write notes together it only takes about five minutes to write one note (on average). 

Even if you see 20 clients a week, that's only an hour and 40 minutes every week to keep up with notes. If we assume a 40 hour work week, that still leaves more than 18 hours each week for all the extra administrative stuff you do (answering phone calls, marketing, billing, networking, etc.). This makes paperwork, and particularly notes, seem like a really small portion of the weekly workload, right? Especially when we consider how important your notes are for your business. 

So if it's not the time it takes to write notes themselves that's causing the problem, what is?

I've seen one problem come up over and over again... Not ending your sessions on time. 

Yup, this one thing is so easy to do but it eats up hours worth of productivity. Don't believe me? Let me count the ways, my friend...

Ending sessions late eats into the time you need to care for yourself. When you have clients scheduled back to back and you're not able to take some time to center yourself in between you feel more exhausted at the end of your day. It's go, go, go until the last client leaves. By the end of a day like that, the last thing you want to do is stay in your office and finish notes before heading home.

Even more practically, you may simply be hungry or tired and need to head home because it's dinner time, bedtime, take the kids to swimming lessons time, etc. 

One solution to this problem? Schedule yourself a 30 minute break in the middle of back to back sessions. Decide how best to use this time, whether it's for a walk around the block, taking a nap, grabbing a bite to eat or even catching up on a few notes. 

Now let me say that I do think it's okay to write your notes the next day. If I see clients until 8pm at night, that's what I'm doing! But the moment we put off that task we increase the likelihood that it will get pushed back even further (woops, forgot about that appointment tomorrow morning and then the kid's school thing!) and also that it will be of poorer quality whenever it does get done.

And guess what? It takes longer to write notes when you have to try and recall what actually happened in the session. I know I'm not the only one who has sat in front of a computer screen trying to remember what in the heck was that big thing I talked about in my session at 4pm two days ago. Now, a task that could take five minutes is taking fifteen minutes. And there are 10 more notes to do. 

Ending sessions late also eats into time you could spend on small tasks. One good thing about all of us being on our phones all the time is that you can actually be productive while doing things like waiting in line or sitting in the waiting room at a doctor's office.

Let's say you feel great in between sessions and don't really feel the need to center yourself, go to the bathroom or grab a quick snack. If you see 4 clients in a row and do 50 minute sessions, that's 30 minutes in between you can use to call someone back, confirm an appointment, briefly answer an email... Or even write a progress note!

By contrast, those extra 5-10 minutes you're providing your clients by going over in session aren't likely making a huge overall impact. Of course, there are always exceptions and the occasional session will go over but when this becomes a regular practice, it really takes up your time.

My whole point with using the phrase "meaningful documentation" over and over again is that your paperwork needs to suit your (and ultimately, your client's) needs. Same with your policies and procedures.

If you know you won't be ending sessions on time and don't want the stress, then own it. Plan around it. Use the 30 minute break strategy above. Schedule chunks of time to write your notes when you won't feel stressed about other things. Do what works for you to get the work done well. 

And if you feel like a little help with the technical part of writing is what you need to save yourself some time, check out my free Private Practice Paperwork Crash Course. In that course, I share strategies for simplifying your documentation and identifying templates that work best for you... another great time-saver. 

Like the tips in this blog post? This blog is part of the compiled tips in the ebook Workflow Therapy: Time Management and Simple Systems for Counselors.