Here’s a question I don’t think we ask ourselves often enough: When was the last time you worked ON your center instead of just IN it?
I’m going to guess your answer sounds something like mine used to: “I can’t remember.”
The Project That Never Got Done
Back in 2006, ScribbleTime was expanding from 72 students to 114. It was exciting. It was terrifying. And every single Sunday, I sat down with my beloved notebook, made my to-do list for the week, and wrote the same thing at the top: Enrollment.
We needed to fill those new spots. Facebook was just emerging as a marketing tool. I had plans. I had ideas. I knew exactly what needed to happen.
And every single week? I never got to it.
Every Sunday, I’d look at my list from the previous week and there it was again: Enrollment. Untouched. Pushed aside. Buried under the urgency of running a childcare center.
Why? Because I was too busy answering questions, helping teachers, supporting classrooms, handling phone calls, and yes—plunging toilets.
I was managing the center. But I wasn’t leading it.
The Difference Between Managing and Leading
Here’s what I finally realized: Managing your center means reacting to everything that comes at you during the day. Leading your center means protecting time to create the future you want.
When you’re managing, you’re available for every interruption. When you’re leading, you’re creating the systems that reduce those interruptions in the first place.
Both matter. Both are part of your job. But if you never make time for leading? Nothing changes. Systems stay broken. Enrollment stalls. Your team stays inconsistent. And you stay exhausted.
The question isn’t whether you should manage or lead. The question is: Are you making time for both?
What If You Protected Just One Hour?
I did some math recently that completely changed my perspective.
If you protect just one hour a day—five days a week, 48 weeks a year (because you deserve vacation)—that’s 240 hours a year.
240 hours to build the systems your center needs.
240 hours to work on that project you keep pushing to next week.
240 hours to create consistency, reduce stress, and finally move something forward.
Can you imagine what you could accomplish with 240 protected hours?
Want to Know How I Did It?
In this week’s podcast episode, I’m walking you through exactly how I broke free from the cycle of managing everything and started leading my center forward. I’m sharing:
- The signs that you’re stuck in managing mode (and they’re probably happening to you right now)
- How to protect that one hour without your team thinking you’ve abandoned them
- The conversation I had with myself that changed everything
- Why your “circle time rule” is the key to setting boundaries
- What happened when I finally implemented this system (spoiler: enrollment took off)
This isn’t about working more hours. It’s about working differently.
If you’ve been putting off a project for weeks (or months), if “important but not urgent” work never gets done, or if you’re exhausted from running your center but frustrated that nothing’s actually improving.
Take a listen to the podcast episode on this to get deeper into the philosophy and then put it into action! https://share.transistor.fm/s/68ba0260
