I feel very strongly that one of the ways I was able to create better work life balance for myself, was by reminding myself of this very thing. My 70% is someone else's 100%. That acknowledgement gave me permission to breathe. To slow down just a little. To stop hustling so hard.

I implemented a few simple routines that I could do each week to prioritize my own career growth and ensure that I'd always at least have some ideas about where I was headed and what I was working toward.

Coasting at work or quiet quitting is getting a lot of air time these days. But the truth is, working parents have gone in and out of phases of coasting for years as we navigate returning from parental leave, co-parenting with a partner's demanding work schedule, or just daycare illness season each fall/winter. It can be necessary at times and life/career-saving too. But what if you're stuck coasting because you think you don't have the time or energy that "leaning in" to your career will take? And what if the truth is, it doesn't take that much more?

Why do you work?

If you’re anything like me, that answer has changed over the years, and especially since having kids.

Before I had my son (my first), I worked because it was what you do. I needed to support myself, to pay off loans, to pay for fun things like trips and nights out and new clothes, and to save for bigger future purchases (car, house, etc.).