Send the next HVAC machine you work on a text asking it to come over and help you move some furniture. That might help you spark something.
[Reply]

I've never fallen in love with any kind of work I have done. I think that shit is for the birds and child dreams. I think thinking that is pretty normal as well for the vast majority of people as well. However many people have the job of the dreams there is, has to be less than the number of people that marry their high school sweetheart. That shit just doesn't happen very often.

My advice would be to look for things out side of work for you to fall in love with and spend as much time as possible doing those things instead.
[Reply]

There are a lot of things that promote buy in.

If you work with good people focus on that. If you’re making gains on a pension or 401k focus on it. If there is some satisfaction gained by knocking something out, or achieving it quickly, focus on the good. Find something you like about the gig and really lean hard into it. Even if it’s a competition with yourself to beat a time or something focus on the good.

The reality is most jobs suck. I’m where I’m at because I have the opportunity to work for myself. Innumerable things I do absolutely blow ass. Most of which are shit you wouldn’t think a self employed fucker would have to do. Moreover, most people would look at the work I put in and be like, dude….why? But I’ve found the motivating factors that work for me and focus on those.

I see a lot of employees these days get mad because they have to do some level of shitty work. Sometimes that’s the job. Sometimes the answer is You have to find happiness, satisfaction, motivation, peace, whatever inside yourself before you can be happy with your job.

I’ve seen a lot of dudes be all pissed off because they have to do this or that and fuck this job just to take some other job that is very similar.

Sorry to ramble and go deep on the shit but I’ve been through a lot of this shit of late.
[Reply]

This is good advice.

I love cooking, boating, hiking, woodworking, and whole load of other activities. Pretty sure if I took them on as work I'd abandon them within a month.
[Reply]

I appreciate this. I think a part of me is just feeling bothered by the unwanted change and it’s not exactly been something that I’m interested in. But I took the situation because I wanted to stick around for a while and see if I liked the job opportunity. But 5 years in with the company I hate the idea of leaving too.
[Reply]

Good post.

Work is essential. Financial security matters to me. A lot. Maybe it doesn’t to others but I will always council others to lean towards maximizing earnings. Work life balance matters but it matter much less if you’re broke.

Another point I should make is I studied a bunch of motivation theory and supervisory management techniques in business school and none of them really matter if a dude doesn’t want to grease a tractor or blow off a combine. At some point you have either are willing to do the shit or not. Square peg round hole type stuff. But there is a threshold in there somewhere of it being an internal problem (you suck) or external problem (the job is untenable). And only you can answer that question.

If you are looking for a job to love my recommendation is to look elsewhere for a job but be objective about what the job is and have a good understanding of the barriers to entry and exit and make a reasoned decision not an emotional one.

Good luck.
[Reply]

Appreciate the posts Buehler.
[Reply]

Good luck man. It’s a big decision. The good news is there are opportunities out there. I wanted out of Internal Audit when I was with Cabela’s and there just wasn’t shit out there that wasn’t sales, entry level or required 5 years experience (which I didn’t have). 2009 wasn’t a great time to be looking for a different gig even for a guy with an MBA. Things are different now and that works in your favor.

But that’s still a decision that you have to weigh. My recommendation is to take some time and try to find some objectivity both with your performance and the requirements of the job you have and the one you want.

I’ll quit talking around it and give an example. My nephew works for us. Good kid. Capable help, but doesn’t want to be there sometimes. He told me he was going to take a job pumping oil wells somewhere else. I figure he’s out the door so I tell him he needs to figure shit out in his own life because the shit he doesn’t like about this job isn’t going to be materially different than the one here.

I figured he was out the door so I was fairly blunt about things. To his credit he walked back the “I’m gone” attitude and did some introspection and decided to stay. No clue if it will be a long term change but the fact is he (finally) saw that the problem of the unhappiness wasn’t going to change with the scenery. It was something he had to figure out.

Not saying that has anything at all to do with your situation other than I firmly believe you need to be as objective as possible when you evaluate your options.
[Reply]

You don’t articulate what you loved before that is missing from the new position. What is that? Was it autonomy? Was it the appreciation everyone showed that you fixed all their problems? What was the buzz?

Commercial HVAC is a serious skill with strong earning potential. Can you find a job that combines HVAC with what you loved about the former position?

Unless you would lose serious retirement benefits by leaving, do not hesitate to move on if something better comes along. The company won’t show loyalty to you, so look after yourself.
[Reply]

I get paid to do engineering software development and the twenty hours or so a week I actually manage to spend programming I enjoy. I generally like the project team and feel good about the work I'm doing and the project itself.

The meetings and the time spent with bureaucracy and the time spent on email and documentation and proposals and user support and computer problems unrelated to my software and user reported bugs that are just users not knowing what they are doing, and contracting and billing and etc., not as much...

But I look around and it is pretty easy to convince myself that I have a pretty good gig.
[Reply]

Not to ignore your other part of this, but I truly enjoyed the wide range of things I was able to take on each day beforehand.

I was doing painting/plumbing/drywall/electrical and every day was an adventure in a phone booth and I could sort of decide what I wanted to work on for the day and go at my own pace with things even. Also, I had thee greatest boss of all time. He passed away from Covid earlier this year. I had run things in the building on my own after he passed for about 9 months until our contract ran out.
[Reply]

I’m hearing autonomy (able to choose priorities and work at a reasonable pace without micromanagement) and variety.

For autonomy you can either be your own boss (are you cut out for the stresses of being self employed?) or find a position with the right boss. The current economy provides opportunity to change jobs with less risk.

HVAC is specialist work. You sound like you prefer being a generalist. You might have to take a pay cut to be a generalist. Is that worth it to you?
[Reply]

Just feel lucky that you were able to work at a job you loved, because 95% of people go their whole lives without finding a job they love.
[Reply]

That's a good skill set to have and you seem like you should start your own handyman business. Its not hard at all to start a handyman business. With how many shit heads that are in the industry, then all you have to do is show up when you say, do good work, and don't steal money from elderly people and you could make an absolute killing. You'd be able to pick what you wanted to do and when
[Reply]