Can Working Moms Get Promoted AND Have Balance? (Yes — Here's How)

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If you've been telling yourself, "Maybe now just isn't the right time to go after that promotion," I want you to hear this. In this episode, I share a conversation I had with a working mom who thought she was questioning her ambition, when in reality, she was simply running out of capacity. We unpack why so many ambitious women shrink their dreams instead of expanding their ability to hold them, and why sustainable work-life balance isn't about choosing between career success and family, it creates space for both. 

In this episode, we unpack:

  • Why feeling "stretched too thin" isn't a clarity problem—it's a capacity problem. 

  • The hidden reason ambitious moms stop pursuing promotions. 

  • How survival mode quietly shrinks your career goals. 

  • Why work-life balance is the foundation for career growth. 

  • The simple mindset shift that helps you build a true "both-and" life. 

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Transcript

Hey, working moms.Real quick, I want to offer you something. A 30-minute call with me where we map out exactly what's draining your mental load and build a real plan to lighten it. I call it a Mental Load Reset Call.

Imagine getting home from work and actually having the energy to say yes when your kid asks you to play, or getting some real sleep without constantly waking up in the middle of the night, or having conversations with your spouse or partner that aren't just about kid logistics. Maybe even reading a good book now and again.

That's what's possible.

For only $9, you can grab your Mental Load Reset Call by going to www.ambitiousandbalanced.com/strategy. It's also in the show notes for you.

All right, let's get to it.

Welcome to the Ambitious and Balanced Working Moms podcast, your go to resource for integrating your career ambitions with life as a mom, I'm distilling down thousands of coaching conversations I've had with working moms just like you, along with my own personal experience as a mom of two and sharing the most effective tools and strategies to help you quickly feel calm, confident, and in control of your ambitious working mom life. You ready? Let's get to it.

Feeling Stuck in Your Career? It Might Not Be a Clarity Problem

So I was talking to this amazing working mom this morning who reached out to talk about joining the next Ambitious & Balanced Cohort, which starts July 20th.

We had this really fascinating conversation around stepping it up in her career and sort of the timing of doing that, and whether she should really pursue the next director-level role that was sort of right above her.

And here's the thing. Her confusion around pursuing that next step in her career wasn't really about her desire, which is what she really thought. Meaning that it wasn't really if she wanted that role or not, or if she wanted to pursue moving up in her career.

Because when I asked her why she wouldn't do that, her response to me was really fascinating. It was this:

"Well, I'm already feeling sort of stretched thin now, so I don't feel like I have the time or energy for it."

And so I said, "Look, this is not an issue of clarity. This is an issue of work-life balance."

And here's what she said, and I want you to really listen into this.

If you have kind of felt held back in your career, or maybe you yourself have been wondering if you want to take the next step and feeling confused about that, here's what she said.

Overwhelm Is Holding You Back More Than a Lack of Clarity

She's like, "Well, no, I don't think it's really about work-life balance. I mean, I'm sort of making it work now. I just don't know if it's what I want."

And so I said, "OK, just roll with me on this one."

I said, "OK, let's assume that I could literally teach you the skill set to sustainable work-life balance, meaning it doesn't matter what your job is. You could literally learn the process of managing your time, feeling successful in all areas of life, grounding yourself, and feeling present whether you're at work or at home.

Let's just assume that I could teach you all of that, and you could learn it, OK? Do you think that if you learned that, you would pursue the next level in your career? You would pursue this director-level role?"

And she paused and said, "Well, yeah."

So then I said, "That means this is not a clarity problem. This isn't even a timing problem. 'I'm wondering if now is the right time.' The issue is work-life balance. You are letting overwhelm and stress get in the way of you pursuing your career growth and next steps."

So that's what I want to talk about today because I've been hosting all of these Mental Load Reset Calls, and the next cohort of Ambitious & Balanced is starting up, and I'm having conversations around that.

Why Ambitious Working Moms Feel Stuck About Career Growth After Having Kids

And so I want to talk directly to the listener right now that, in the back of their mind, has this desire, or at least had a desire, to move up in their career prior to having kids and has maybe wondered if that's something they want to pursue, but are worried about the impact it's going to have on themselves, their family, their personal life, their sanity, and their time.

Because I see this pattern form for career-focused, ambitious, driven women all of the time.

It starts with a desire for more in your career. At least there was one prior to having kids. And now maybe it feels unattainable, or there's confusion on whether you really want it, or maybe you're thinking now isn't the right time.

That's where it starts.

But this isn't a "maybe this isn't the right season" type of conversation. For a lot of women, it never actually feels like the right season, right? Year after year.

Stop Shrinking Your Career Goals to Match Your Current Capacity

I mean, Samantha, the woman I spoke with this morning, her daughter's three. So for the last three years, she feels like she's been putting her career on hold because it hasn't felt like the right time, or she's sort of been feeling confused on whether that's what she wanted or not.

But that's not really the problem here. The real block is a lack of capacity. Like, you are already stretched so thin in your current role, so the idea of taking on more doesn't just feel hard. It feels irresponsible.

And then underneath that belief is, "If I take on more, something's going to have to give," likely my time with my family, my health, my sanity, my marriage.

So then what happens in this pattern is that instead of expanding your capacity and focusing on that, what ambitious women do is they just shrink their goals to match the capacity they have right now. And they think of that as being responsible.

Let me say that one more time because I want to make sure you really heard me.

What happens in this pattern is that instead of women actually expanding their capacity—that's building sustainable work-life balance—what ambitious and driven women do is shrink their goals and their plan, essentially, to match the capacity they have right now, which feels like there's a lack of it, right?

And they call that being responsible instead of expanding their capacity and figuring out how to sustain balance so that they can pursue all of their career goals, now or in the future, without it negatively affecting themselves and their family.

Career Growth Starts by Expanding Your Capacity, Not Waiting for the Perfect Time

Here's what I want you to really hear in all of this. As we talk about capacity and sustainability, pursuing the next level in your career is more about expanding your capacity than anything else.

It's not about being more confident. It's not about being more clear. It's not about finding the perfect time, or having a partner help out more, or waiting around until your kids are a little bit older. It's none of that.

It is about getting out of survival and figuring out how to do that in a sustainable way.

Because pursuing the next level in your career is going to require you to step back and see your future and your future potential, vision-cast what you want for your career. You're going to have to sell yourself into that next role. You're going to have to feel connected to the vision and the goals—something you were once connected to, I promise you.

Why Survival Mode Keeps Ambitious Working Moms Stuck

But it's really, really hard to connect to any of that and to connect with vision and have that perspective when you're in survival mode. You're feeling stretched thin, or on the edge of burnout, or in this chronic state of overwhelm. That's basically survival mode.

And when you're in survival mode, your brain is designed to narrow down to just the basics so that you can survive. That's what it's meant to do.

So, of course, a promotion is not going to feel possible. Of course, you're not going to feel confident in pursuing that right now. Of course, your brain is going to offer to you lots of very logical reasons, like it's not the right season, or you should wait till the kids are older, or there's just not enough time right now. Of course, your brain is trying to keep you safe.

Build Sustainable Work-Life Balance First, and Career Growth Naturally Follows

So just like this morning, when I asked Samantha if I could teach her sustainable work-life balance—like literally, she could learn the steps in a repeatable way because that's how I teach it—if I taught her that, would she take on that next promotion or potentially go after it? Of course, she said yes. She would pursue it. And because of that, I knew she was in the perfect spot to start coaching.

Because building capacity, which is really the same thing as work-life balance, we're literally creating space and margin in your life. And when you do that, what happens is you stop feeling so maxed out and in this chronic state of overwhelm. And because of that, things are going to get so much clearer for you.

Dana, who was in one of the past Ambitious & Balanced cohorts, was actually on this podcast. When she stopped feeling spread thin, she actually stopped daydreaming about quitting her job and instead doubled down and finished out this huge project at work that recently went live. And it's going to be, like, literally the cornerstone of her resume moving forward.

Or Mallory, who was also on this podcast. Just a few months after we stopped working together and she graduated from the program, she got promoted into the next role.

Or Irene, who pivoted jobs into something she's really excited about.

Same thing with Jean. She started confidently applying to other universities that felt more aligned with the work that she did.

Or Kelly. She's now on the road to becoming a partner at her architectural firm.

For all of these women, the next level in their career came after they built capacity and learned the steps to sustainable balance.

You Don't Have to Choose Between Career Success and Work-Life Balance

This is what I call a both-and life. And that's what we're all about here in the Ambitious & Balanced community.

It's about having all of your career dreams and goals and having the amazing family and home life that you want. You don't have to choose between ambition and your sanity, but you do have to build a foundation first to have both.

So here's what I want you to consider right now.

The next level in your career that you potentially have been putting off, or wondering if you really want it, or thinking maybe down the line you'll go for—that's not a someday problem. It's not even a time problem or a seasonal problem. It's likely just a capacity problem.

And capacity is something I can literally teach you how to build. I teach it in three steps that feel repeatable no matter what level of career, job, or position you're in.

I would love to walk you through these three steps to help you move from a two or three on the work-life balance scale all the way up to an eight or a nine. That's the average that my graduates from the Ambitious & Balanced program leave telling me that that's how they grade themselves when they leave the program.

Book Your Mental Load Reset Call and Start Building More Capacity

And the really best way I can show you that, at least at a high level, what the steps are like and how to apply them to your life, the best way we can do that is by you scheduling a Mental Load Reset Call.

These are $9 strategy calls with just you and me where we can focus on exactly what your priorities are, what your circumstances are, and I can help you figure out how to pursue those priorities no matter what.

This is literally a hands-on strategy call. I guarantee you're going to walk away with something super tangible, and you're going to feel so much clearer than when you came in.

I'm only taking a couple more of these calls until July 3 as we're leading up to the next Ambitious & Balanced cohort that starts on July 20. I almost said June there.

So in order to do that, in order to book that call—that next-level call—you can go to www.ambitiousandbalanced.com/strategy. And as always, that's in the show notes for you.

All right, working moms, this is not career growth or balance. It's a both-and.

Actually, pursuing the next level in your career—the path to do that, the fastest way to do that—is to learn how to build your capacity right now. And I can teach you that.

I can't wait to speak with you on one of these calls. And until next week, let's get to it.

The Mental Load Reset

One sec before you go, I want you to know that every woman who has ever transformed her life inside one of my programs started the same way. One session. Thirty minutes. Just the two of us.

In this strategy session, we cut through the noise of your life and get specific about what's actually driving your overwhelm. You walk away with one concrete thing to do about it.

And most women tell me this is the clearest they have felt in months. I've opened up a few of these Mental Load Reset spots exclusively for podcast listeners for $9.

If you've been listening and thinking, "Oh, I wish I could chat with Rebecca without making any sort of coaching commitment," this is the next step. And it's the one that makes everything else start to make sense.

There's a link in the show notes. Grab your Mental Load Reset spot, and I'll see you there.

Rebecca Olson