Every summer, many of us as working women and moms look forward to a slower pace of life: more family time, vacations, a well-deserved break, and maybe even catching up on postponed projects and finding more time to invest in our careers… And right as the hurried morning commutes to school stop, they are just as quickly replaced by kids’ activities, impromptu sleepovers, and endless snack requests… Before you know it, the summer is gone, just like the last one, leaving behind a few scattered memories and a need for a vacation to recover from the one you just had…
It’s understandable. After all, there are only so many hours in the day. For working women and moms, there are even fewer, as household and invisible labor of all kinds enter the daily scheduling equation. Investing in your career can then feel unthinkable, as time gets swallowed up by endless summer demands and activities.
So how do you invest in your career over the summer as a busy working woman and mom, when hours dwindle by the second and calendars fill as quickly as they change?
This is where the idea of compounding comes into play. Breakthroughs, including career breakthroughs, rarely happen at the end of intense yet short-lived pushes. More often, the most notable ones come from small, consistent investments. Think of them as investments that compound over time, which, for working women and moms, can make a world of difference during the summer months, when only small amounts of time, energy, and resources are available at any given moment. That can mean investments as small as 15 or 30 minutes, or an hour, a day.
Here are six summer investments you can make as a working woman and mom , small ones that compound into real career benefits over time:
Invest in your knowledge.
If you can commit to learning something for 20 minutes a day, whether it’s reading a book, listening to a podcast episode, or taking a class, you’re already moving your career forward.
Invest in one relationship.
While summer is somewhat quieter in terms of networking, it can also mean people have more flexibility to meet. Picking one relationship to nurture over the summer, grabbing coffee or lunch with a mentor, or reconnecting with an old colleague, can pay real dividends.
Invest in your visibility.
What is one thing you can do over the summer to increase your visibility? If you have 15 minutes, you can make one update to your LinkedIn profile. If you have 30 minutes, you can refresh your resume.
Invest in your confidence.
Building confidence is a life skill, one that can be developed a little bit at a time. Decide to layer one uncomfortable habit into what you’re already doing at work. Participating in a meeting? Challenge yourself to share at least one idea. Offered an opportunity? Use it to practice your negotiation skills. Every small act of courage sets the stage for the next.
Invest in your health.
You are the product in your career, and that includes your brain, your energy, your emotions, and your mental and spiritual health. Can you commit to doing ONE thing this summer to invest in it? It might be taking a 20-minute walk every day, cooking more nutritious meals, or protecting your sleep.
Invest in your family.
As a working mother, one of your greatest investments is not perfection. Rather, it is the gift of lifelong growth. As your children watch you invest in yourself and in your work, one bit at a time, they’ll be encouraged to invest in their own.
All in all, this isn’t about transforming your life over the summer. It’s about making small investments, ones you can layer into the lifestyle, tasks, and activities you already have, that compound over time.
Choose ONE habit, one course, one walking routine, one networking goal, or one family ritual this summer that you can invest in, a small amount at a time. That’s how lasting, meaningful change happens.
Because summer doesn’t have to be the season when growth pauses. It can become a season of planting seeds, however small, that multiply over time. The most impactful careers are not built through dramatic, one-time changes. Rather, they are built through small, consistent, and intentional investments, compounding over time.
The Corporate Sis.
