向前一步:第129期 不要身还在 心已远(3)

 Often without even realizing it, the woman stops reaching for new opportunities. 很多时候，女性在无意中不再去争取机会，

If any are presented to her, she is likely to decline or offer the kind of hesitant "yes" that gets the project assigned to someone else. 即便有人把机会摆在她面前，她也很可能会直接拒绝或犹豫不定，希望把项目交给别人。

The problem is that even if she were to get pregnant immediately, she still has nine months before she has to care for an actual child. 问题在于即使她立刻怀孕，离真正照顾孩子也还有九个月的时间。

And since women usually start this mental preparation well before trying to conceive, several years often pass between the thought and conception, let alone birth. 通常女性会在计划怀孕前就做好充分的精神准备，先不说分娩，在这种精神准备和怀孕之间也许会间隔好几年。

In the case of my Facebook questioner, it might even be a decade. 而对于本章开头提到的那位女同事来说，这段时间很可能是10年。

By the time the baby arrives, the woman is likely to be in a drastically different place in her career than she would have been had she not leaned back. 如果不在职场中退缩，到孩子出生时，这位女性很可能已在事业上进入了一个新阶段。

Before, she was a top performer, on par with her peers in responsibility, opportunity, and pay. 假设此前她是个出色的员工，在职责、机会和薪酬方面都和同辈水平相当。

By not finding ways to stretch herself in the years leading up to motherhood, she has fallen behind. 在备孕的那几年里，她没有想办法拓展自己的事业，于是有些落后。

When she returns to the workplace after her child is born, she is likely to feel less fulfilled, underutilized, or unappreciated. 当孩子出生后她重返职场时，很可能会对自己感到很不满意，觉得没有充分发挥自己的价值或是得不到老板的赏识。

She may wonder why she is working for someone (usually a man) who has less experience than she does. 她想知道自己为什么要为一个各方面都不如自己的人（通常是个男人）工作，

Or she may wonder why she does not have the exciting new project or the corner office. 而且没有令人兴奋的项目也没有独立的办公室。

At this point, she probably scales her ambitions back even further since she no longer believes that she can get to the top. 她也许会收起曾有的事业进取心，认为自己不可能再获得晋升的机会。

And if she has the financial resources to leave her job, she is more likely to do so. 如果经济情况允许她辞职，她很可能就毅然离开职场了。