Five things worth your attention, every month.
Running a center means everything is urgent and nothing is finished. Each month we narrow it to five focuses and hand you the forms, scripts, and trainings that go with them. Nothing here needs to be done all at once.
Same shape every month, so you never have to relearn it.
Five focuses, published the first Monday. Read it in ten minutes, pick your starting point, and work down the list at whatever pace your month allows.
The people work — coaching, communication, and the conversations you've been putting off.
Enrollment, family relationships, and the events that make people want to stay.
The part that gets skipped. One small practice for the person carrying everyone else.
The routines that should run without you. Write one down, hand it off, stop repeating yourself.
The paperwork and deadlines that are quiet until they aren't. Timed to the calendar.
Read the five focuses at the start of the month — ten minutes, top to bottom.
Your program has its own calendar, ages, and team size. Read each focus for the principle, then adjust the timing to fit yours.
Pick one focus to start. Download its tools and put the action steps on your calendar.
Bring the messy parts to the community thread. Someone else is mid-month too.
Every program looks different. This still works.
You might run a year-round program with 200 children or a part-time preschool with 15. You might have a team of 40 or be the only adult in the building. Your philosophy, your ages, your calendar — none of it has to match ours for this page to be useful.
Each monthly focus is built around what’s happening in the rhythm of the year, but your rhythm is yours. Year-round programs often shift their “start of year” to whenever children graduate to the next classroom. Evaluation cycles that fall in November and March for a school-year program might land in November and May for yours. A summer camp will skip some months entirely and double down on others.
The goal isn’t to follow this page — it’s to use it.
One focus done well this month beats five done halfway. Start where it matters most — the rest will be here when you're ready.
Settle the room, then set the tone.
September is the month everything is still forming — new faces in classrooms, new families sizing you up, and paperwork stacking up behind both. Here's where to put your attention first.
Read the full focusNovember moves fast. Thanksgiving cuts a week short, evaluations are due, and families and staff start asking, "Are we open the Friday after Thanksgiving?" Your staff may be wondering something else too: "How am I doing?"
This month is about clarity: being clear about holiday hours and telling your staff how they're doing, early enough that everyone can plan for it. Clear doesn't mean blunt, and early doesn't mean before the details are confirmed. It means no one is surprised by something you could have told them sooner. That makes your December a lot easier too.
November is your time to answer those questions.
Semi-Annual Staff Evaluation · Open
Classroom Observation Template (Formative) · Open
The 21-Day Director Pivot, Day 11: The 24-Hour Feedback Loop · Start
The Art of Accountability: Correcting Without Demoralizing · Read
Coaching, Not Controlling: How to Develop Staff Without Micromanaging · Read
Customizable Holiday Closure Signs, Social Posts & Emails · Open
Holiday Schedule Memo Template · Open
Family Connection List · Open
The Leader's Stance, Lesson 10: Communicate with Clarity · Start
My Interruption Rule · Open
Delegation Audit · Open
The 21-Day Director Pivot, Day 2: Auditing the Firefighting · Start
Sustainable Leadership Requires Recovery · Read
Why the Same Fire Keeps Coming Back: Moving From Reactive to Proactive Leadership · Read
The Monday Minute · Open
Monday Minute Topic Log · Open
The Commander's Intent Meeting Guide · Open
The 21-Day Director Pivot, Day 18: Standardizing the "Small Stuff" · Start
Director's Intent: Why Your Training Is Failing and How to Fix It · Read
Emergency Drill Planner · Open
End of Month Report · Open
Pick a month
Twelve months, one plan each. Once a month publishes, it stays open to you — the rest arrive on the 1st.
Start the year with one system, not ten.
Keep the people you already have.
Fill next fall while it's still quiet.
Spring cleaning for your systems.
Say thank you like you mean it.
Close the year without loose ends.
Hire well while the summer is slow.
Open the doors ready, not rushed.
Settle the room, then set the tone.
Ask your families how it's going.
Hold the line through the hard stretch.
Close the year kindly.