I would argue the exact opposite applies to many people: I couldn't care less about promotions (An additional $40,000? It doesn't affect my happiness in any wa

I would argue the exact opposite applies to many people: I couldn't care less about promotions (An additional $40,000? It doesn't affect my happiness in any way). If I want extra responsibilities for the challenge, I can usually engineer my roles and projects to do them without moving up the org-chart. On the other hand, all your family and friends judging you, raising eyebrows, making you feel like a bad mother ... that one is harder to ignore.