Schools Of Excellence Podcast Chanie Wilschanski

In 2020, everyone’s world turned upside-down 
Sioux Falls school owner Cayla Rush knew there was too much on her plate as the pandemic began, but she didn’t see an alternative. 
She felt it was her responsibility to make countless decisions that could impact the health and well-being of her staff, herself, and the families she served.
“My self-trust was shaken,” she told me. “Before 2020, I felt like I could trust myself to make decisions. But then that went out the window.”
That’s when we met. 
Instead of allowing herself to remain stuck, Cayla joined the Schools of Excellence Owner’s HQ. I’ve had the privilege of watching her grow into a transformed leader over the years.
Today, she is confident, resilient, and discerning.
She’s hired a great leadership team, pursues big dreams, and has learned how to coach her colleagues.
She even got a beautiful tattoo of the word “Breathe” to remind her of a big takeaway from the Schools of Excellence community. When she takes a deep breath and sits in the silence and discomfort, she hears her inner voice.
In this week's podcast episode, I sit down for a conversation with Cayla about her leadership journey.
Join us to learn more about:
Quick wins Cayla achieved when she first joined the communityHow she turned her impostor syndrome into a deep sense of belongingThe impact of personalized coaching on her school’s growth and her personal growth as a leaderSteps she has taken to reject hustle culture in favor of resilience and wisdom
Learn more and apply for the Director’s Inner Circle & Owner’s HQ: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/membership/ 
 If you want to overcome self-doubt, impostor syndrome, and hustle culture within a supportive environment, apply for the Schools of Excellence Director’s Inner Circle or Owner’s HQ membership program. Inside, you’ll receive tools, coaching, and a like-minded community of school leaders to help build a school of excellence.
If Cayla’s story sounds like your autobiography, I invite you to work with me through a Leadership Day Intensive. You'll get a full day of on-demand, highly personalized, in-school training with me, plus various accountability check-ins, to help you and your center thrive. https://schoolsofexcellence.com/leadership/
More about the show:
If you are an Early Childhood director or owner, prepare to transform your school and life with the Schools of Excellence podcast. Tune in each week to learn from Chanie Wilschanski, the founder and host of the Schools of Excellence Podcast and a mom of 4 little kids. Each episode will be packed with tools and strategies – equipping you to build schools with higher staff retention, teacher motivation, parent partnership, collaborative culture, and beautiful quality of life. 
 
Every week, Chanie shares the truth about the journey to excellence, the strategies that are working TODAY, and the mindset about the critical decisions and choices that you make every day which impact yourself, your teachers, parents, family, and children who you serve every day.

Have you seen Forbes’ 30 Under 30 and 40 Under 40 lists?
They feature the brightest, shiniest, hardest-working entrepreneurs. These individuals embody hustle, grind, and achievement.
It would be exciting to get on one of those lists, right?
Let’s step back for a moment.
When you’re 40 years old, or even 50, 60, 70, or 80, your school will still be there. You have your whole life to be an owner or director. As I like to say, “I’m playing the decades game.”
So who says you have to hit a certain level of success before a particular age?
Running your school may not be a finite opportunity, but being present for your current season of life is.
If you’re raising young kids, caring for an aging parent, planning a wedding, or anything else that’s important to you, you will only be in this season of life for so long.
Once the door on your current season of life closes, it will never open again. 
Treasure the season of life you’re in.
Meanwhile, the school will still be there. It’s a constant in your life.
Now, don’t misunderstand me; I’m not saying you shouldn’t have big ambitions. 
In fact, this is an extremely common misconception among school leaders. 
They think that schools with a slower pace will achieve less. So they eat lunch at their desks, burn the midnight oil, and run themselves to exhaustion in order to meet their goals.
What they don’t realize is that rest, calm, and peace give you the breathing room you need to take stock, make intentional decisions, and take more meaningful actions.
Simply put, you can accomplish more, at a more sustainable pace, when you do less.
Last week on the Schools of Excellence Podcast, I talked about what causes a culture of urgency in schools.
In this week’s episode, I’m discussing how you can create calm and banish the urgency once and for all.
Join me for a conversation about:
Why calmness is the key to meaningful progressVital characteristics leaders need to adopt a culture of calmTechniques you can implement in your school to cultivate well-beingMindset shifts you can begin to embody today that will make a differenceHow a culture of calm opens you up to incredible opportunities
Learn more and apply for the Director’s Inner Circle & Owner’s HQ: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/membership/ 
Creating the calm in your school won’t happen overnight. If you could use support, book a Leadership Day Intensive. You'll get a full day of on-demand, in-school training with me, plus various accountability check-ins, to help you and your center thrive during your transformation. https://schoolsofexcellence.com/leadership/

If you’re looking for ongoing, personalized support as you shift your school’s culture, apply for the Schools of Excellence Director’s Inner Circle or Owner’s HQ membership program. Inside, you’ll receive tools, coaching, resources, and access to a thriving community that will help you work towards building a school of excellence. https://schoolsofexcellence.com/leadership/

More about the show:
If you are an Early Childhood director or owner, prepare to transform your school and life with the Schools of Excellence podcast. Tune in each week to learn from Chanie Wilschanski, the founder and host of the Schools of Excellence Podcast and a mom of 4 little kids. Each episode will be packed with tools and strategies – equipping you to build schools with higher staff retention, teacher

Leaders have lots of amazing ideas. 
And sometimes, those ideas can turn into multiple priorities. This is absolutely normal. 
But when there’s a new idea, a new priority, every month, week, or day, it’s exhausting and confusing for the whole school.
As the focus shifts constantly from one urgent matter to the next, everything becomes a priority. In a culture like this, the team learns that when everything is a priority, nothing is actually a priority.
They may delay starting a project or put in low effort in the beginning, because they know the leader is apt to chang their mind.
Not only can this result in low morale and frustration on the part of both leadership and the team, it poaches employees’ buy-in, ownership, and innovation.
Short-term focus and inconsistent prioritization are two symptoms of a culture of urgency in a school.
Operating within a culture of urgency is such a difficult and stifling experience, so I’m dedicating the next two Schools of Excellence Podcast episodes to the topic.
This week, I’m discussing how you can recognize the patterns of a culture of urgency within your own school.
Join me for a conversation about:
Three key symptoms to help you diagnose a culture of urgencyTen ways a culture of urgency negatively impacts a school and its leaders, staff, and familiesOne critical skill for leaders to learn that can help create a sense of deliberateness and calmA valuable tool for understanding the core tension within your center
Learn more and apply for the Director’s Inner Circle & Owner’s HQ: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/membership/ 
 P.S. When you’re facing dozens of competing priorities, an outside perspective can help you focus on the next best steps to move you closer to your goals. Let’s work together in a Leadership Day Intensive. You'll get a full day of on-demand, in-school training with me, plus various accountability check-ins, to help you and your center thrive during this busy time. https://schoolsofexcellence.com/leadership/

If your school is experiencing high turnover, burnout, and stress, you may have a culture of urgency. The Schools of Excellence Director’s Inner Circle or Owner’s HQ membership program provides proven, ongoing support as you get to the root of the problem. Inside, you’ll receive tools, coaching, resources, and access to a thriving community that will help you work towards building a school of excellence. https://schoolsofexcellence.com/membership/

More about the show:
If you are an Early Childhood director or owner, prepare to transform your school and life with the Schools of Excellence podcast. Tune in each week to learn from Chanie Wilschanski, the founder and host of the Schools of Excellence Podcast and a mom of 4 little kids. Each episode will be packed with tools and strategies – equipping you to build schools with higher staff retention, teacher motivation, parent partnership, collaborative culture, and beautiful quality of life. 
 
Every week, Chanie shares the truth about the journey to excellence, the strategies that are working TODAY, and the mindset about the critical decisions and choices that you make every day which impact yourself, your teachers, parents, family, and children who you serve every day.
Mentioned in this episode:
School Leadership Toolkit
School Leadership Toolkit: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/toolkit/
School Leadership Toolkit

Summer is coming, faster than we could have anticipated. 
Have you figured out what you and your family are doing for the break?
“What are your summer plans?” It sounds like a simple question—one you’ll probably get asked a bunch over the coming weeks—but the reality is anything but easy.
If you’re feeling panic or irritation at having to make yet another decision about summer break (or even what's for dinner), that’s because there is a whole world of invisible labor that goes into every single choice. 
My friend, you are experiencing some very real decision fatigue.
In this week's podcast episode, I’m discussing the mountains of invisible labor that go into decision-making, so you can better protect your energy for the decisions that really matter.
Join me for a conversation about:
Five steps of decision-making you may not realize you’re already experiencingThree types of invisible, draining labor that go into making choicesWhy decision fatigue, emotional factors, and information overload compound the difficulty of choicesConcrete ways you can reduce your mental load and make decisions more judiciously

Learn more and apply for the Director’s Inner Circle & Owner’s HQ: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/membership/ 

A common frustration I see in school leaders is overwhelm when they are making multiple large decisions at once. For instance, they might be onboarding a lot of new parents while also changing software or switching curriculum. If this sounds like you, let’s talk during a Leadership Day Intensive. You'll get a full day of on-demand, in-school training with me, plus various accountability check-ins, to help you and your center thrive during this busy time. https://schoolsofexcellence.com/leadership/

If you’re feeling completely overwhelmed by decisions and wish you could have regular heart-to-hearts with like-minded school leaders about the challenges inherent in your work, apply for the Schools of Excellence Director’s Inner Circle or Owner’s HQ membership program. Inside, you’ll receive tools, coaching, resources, and access to a thriving community that will help you work towards building a school of excellence. https://schoolsofexcellence.com/membership/
More about the show:
If you are an Early Childhood director or owner, prepare to transform your school and life with the Schools of Excellence podcast. Tune in each week to learn from Chanie Wilschanski, the founder and host of the Schools of Excellence Podcast and a mom of 4 little kids. Each episode will be packed with tools and strategies – equipping you to build schools with higher staff retention, teacher motivation, parent partnership, collaborative culture, and beautiful quality of life. 
 
Every week, Chanie shares the truth about the journey to excellence, the strategies that are working TODAY, and the mindset about the critical decisions and choices that you make every day which impact yourself, your teachers, parents, family, and children who you serve every day.
Mentioned in this episode:
School Leadership Toolkit
School Leadership Toolkit: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/toolkit/
School Leadership Toolkit

Learn more and apply for the Director’s Inner Circle & Owner’s HQ: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/membership/ 
 
More about the show:
If you are an Early Childhood director or owner, prepare to transform your school and life with the Schools of Excellence podcast. Tune in each week to learn from Chanie Wilschanski, the founder and host of the Schools of Excellence Podcast and a mom of 4 little kids. Each episode will be packed with tools and strategies – equipping you to build schools with higher staff retention, teacher motivation, parent partnership, collaborative culture, and beautiful quality of life. 
 
Every week, Chanie shares the truth about the journey to excellence, the strategies that are working TODAY, and the mindset about the critical decisions and choices that you make every day which impact yourself, your teachers, parents, family, and children who you serve every day.

When my business was new, I was in the practice of waking up at 5:00am to work on some big, exciting projects. I would reply to emails and write content while my house was asleep, so I could get some focused work time in.
But when I had my fourth child, Yossi, I suddenly could no longer set an alarm for 5:00am and expect to be productive—because I was also waking up at 12:00am, at 2:00am, at 4:00am, and at 6:00am to care for my baby.
I often talk about respecting the season of life you’re in, and pre-Yossi and post-Yossi’s birth were two different seasons of my life. It was important for me to adjust my expectations and priorities accordingly, without getting stuck in guilt, shame, or regret.
In this episode of The Schools of Excellence podcast, I am doing something a little different. Instead of sharing my stories and thoughts, I’m giving you space for reflection and questions about your own life. 
I ask questions like:
If you are in a season of grief and loss, who is in your support system?If you are a school leader who is also raising young kids, how are you defining and evaluating the quality of time versus the quantity of time you spend with each of your children?For leaders navigating a health challenge, do your career goals align with your health challenges, and does it make sense to realign them?When leaders are caretaking loved ones, such as aging parents, are there time-wasting activities that could be minimized to make time for essential responsibilities?
Learn more and apply for the Director’s Inner Circle & Owner’s HQ: http://Chanie.me/jointhedic  
 
More about the show:
If you are an Early Childhood director or owner, prepare to transform your school and life with the Schools of Excellence podcast. Tune in each week to learn from Chanie Wilschanski, the founder and host of the Schools of Excellence Podcast and a mom of 4 little kids. Each episode will be packed with tools and strategies – equipping you to build schools with higher staff retention, teacher motivation, parent partnership, collaborative culture, and beautiful quality of life. 
 
Every week, Chanie shares the truth about the journey to excellence, the strategies that are working TODAY, and the mindset about the critical decisions and choices that you make every day which impact yourself, your teachers, parents, family, and children who you serve every day.
Mentioned in this episode:
School Leadership Toolkit
School Leadership Toolkit: https://schoolsofexcellence.com/toolkit/
School Leadership Toolkit