Putting your career on hold doesn’t serve you — or your family.
You dont have to sacrifice your career goals to prioritize your family. From an early age, women are taught that it is selfish to want things and that putting other people’s wants before their own is the epitome of selflessness. But are both of these premises accurate, particularly in regard to business? Let’s walk through it.
The power of pursuing what you want
When we want something, we create a focus for ourselves. Our want becomes our goal. We create a plan around the want. As we accomplish the action items related to the goal, our energy builds. We become excited and joyful.
We may even feel like we are “in the zone,” functioning at our optimal level of performance. We navigate around obstacles, solve problems, and keep moving towards what we want.
When we finally achieve the want, it… is… amazing!
The feeling of obtaining what we wanted, what we pointed to and said, “That’s what I want,” and then getting it creates an incredible cocktail of endorphins and adrenaline in our brains.
Have you ever felt this?
Take a second to think about a time when you were actively chasing after a “want,” working deliberately to achieve it, making step-by-step progress. Do you remember how that felt? And what about when you succeeded in attaining the want? How did that feel? Pretty amazing, right?
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Now think about the people around you — employees, co-workers, family, friends — who watched as you went through that process. They get to reap the benefits of your optimal functioning. They saw and experienced you at your best.
Your want became a ripple effect that pervaded all aspects of your life, and those around you likely benefited. Whether the benefits were tangible rewards (new house, more money, trips, or the like) or nontangible (being part of your happiness, seeing you as a role model, feeling energized by your excitement), those around you experience the gift of your want.
The danger of putting what you want on hold
What about putting others’ wants before your own? What effects does that have? Think of a time when you put what you wanted on hold to help someone else achieve their goals. Sometimes it feels good to help someone out, to put someone else first.
But in business, sacrificing or postponing your wants can often mean that you miss the opportunity. Someone else wins the sale. A different person manifests the idea. Another company picks up the project. Your peer secures the promotion. You end up feeling demoralized or frustrated.
The situation may leave you doubting your abilities or yourself, or you might even develop a trace of bitterness towards the people whose wants you put ahead of your own.
Now, instead of functioning at your highest level, you are struggling to get back on track. Does that seem beneficial to those involved?
A client I worked with graduated from her MBA program at age 24 and received an employment offer from a global investment banking organization in New York, a company that had been on her vision board since high school. Her fiancé graduated from the same program and was offered a job in Chicago.
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Guess what she did?
She sacrificed her professional wants and followed him to Chicago.
Shortly after moving, they became pregnant and decided one of them should stay home with the baby. By this time, her husband was rising in his career, and my client thought, “I’ll get my turn later,” “It’s better for the family,” and later, “Having two parents working would be hard on the kids.”
For some people, this choice might be their want. But did you read “want” in any of her statements?
As the years went by, she kept shoving her wants down. Her anger with herself manifested into bitterness towards her husband and her kids.
Her “selfless” decisions created significant problems in her marriage because she did not state what she wanted and find ways to achieve it.
Only when she and her husband worked with me as a couples coach as a final step before separation did she say what she wanted out loud.
Her husband was shocked. For 15 years, he believed that his wife’s wants had shifted from a career in finance to being a stay-at-home mom. And she believed that saying what she wanted was selfish.
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Redefining Family and Career on Your Own Terms
For many people, the vision of family life has long been tied to traditional roles; however, the truth is that there’s no one right way to make it all work.
A stay-at-home dad may choose that path because it aligns with his priorities, just as another parent may thrive in a full-time job while still showing up fully for their children.
The real question is not whether one path is “better” than another, but whether the choice allows each person to feel fulfilled and aligned with what they want.
Finding work-life balance means acknowledging that success in a person’s career doesn’t cancel out being present for loved ones. When people make a personal decision to pursue both their goals and their families’ well-being, it sets a healthier model for everyone watching.
Making Practical Choices Without Losing Yourself
Sometimes, balancing professional ambition with family needs comes down to strategy. For some, starting their own business provides flexible hours and more flexibility to design a work schedule that accommodates the early years of raising children.
For others, it might make more financial sense to stay with most jobs that offer stability, insurance, or maternity leave, even if it requires adjusting expectations. Many families weigh childcare costs, the value of childcare help, and the time spent at home versus at work.
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On the flip side, parents who pursue their goals often find their mental health and own sanity benefit from maintaining a sense of identity outside of parenting.
In the world of modern parenting and careers, the real goal is to create a rhythm where both priorities can coexist without unnecessary guilt.
The Tough but Rewarding Path Forward
Choosing whether to stay in a role, seek a career change, or take on a new job can feel like the toughest decision, especially when raising children.
At a younger age, people may feel pressure to pick the “right” path, while at a young age many women are told they must make the big deal choice between family or ambition.
The truth is, balancing or even juggling work while raising a family can be the hardest job of all. For some, shifting to project-based opportunities or jobs that allow more money and more flexibility can be the answer.
For others, it’s about finding ways to support both family and work while practicing self-care and protecting long-term goals. When people commit to balancing career aspirations with family, it doesn’t mean sacrificing either — it means writing a course that allows both to happen with intention.
You don’t have to sacrifice your career goals to do the right thing for your family. But you do have to be honest with yourself and those around you. Ultimately, the bottom line is that you don’t have to sacrifice your career goals to prioritize your family.
