Yeah this was a huge revelation to me. Spend months of long days to complete a record milestone for the company with hundreds of people involved…get a couple celebration dinners and it’s immediately into meetings to scope out the next months long, record milestone. Corporations will continuously push you, they never run out of work to do, and the better their documentation the more disposable you are (although they’ll never realize it). If you’re in the mood, fine. But it’s not a lack of motivation if you’re not…it’s being realistic and having self worth. Milestones and the share price and the late night meetings are a fun game if you have an interest and spare time, not something intrinsically great and motivating.

I've encountered this so many times myself, and I still get burned on it, but mostly because sometimes the work you're doing is so technically interesting that the "reward" is the work itself. Then, when you finish, you somehow expect everyone to celebrate and take it easy but then they shove more work at you.

You couple that with maybe one day your project gets cancelled, and not due to the quality of the work itself but for other business reasons, and all of a sudden you just don't care anymore. This is something that just happened to me recently and I find it incredibly hard to get motivated to work hard on anything. I just can't "logic" my way into doing more than the bare minimum.

Not an engineer but definitely seen and experienced that. I want to exceed expectations, just not to the point where I'm carrying the cognitive load equivalent of 10 mediocre people on the regular just because I've proven that I can on occasion do it

Indeed, I made the mistake of working too hard early on in my tenure at my last job, and was quickly rewarded with more responsibility than I could handle, leading to burnout. This time around I'm trying to be more tactical in my rate of exertion.

But is keeping a chair warm really how one wants to spend the precious few years one has alive?

Of course it can be, especially if one can work remotely or can do other things they are interested in. I mean, for sure it sounds bad (parasite!), but it does not feel right at all to me this (very US- or US-driven) attitude that one's contribution to the world is through work or family.

Let's say I am the daughter of rich parents and I inherit a fortune. It happens, am I right? For some (intuitively "right") reason, it is not considered as bad as getting "free" money from a corporation, which has intrinsically zero control over spending at the individual level. Paraphrasing some Blade Runner here, "I have seen people paid...". And while the fortune is inherited just for sheer luck (I don't think anyone has chosen their parents), most of the time those cushy positions are coming after years or decades of hard study and hard work. How many of those inheriting good money said, "I don't want it, I have no worked for it". Some, for sure. But the vast majority pocket the money, maybe do some charity or some work, and carry on.

Sure, one feeling the need to work effectively can change jobs, we all can do it. But there are many other opportunities to have a good time and good impact on the world outside of a corporate job. If the money is coming in and who's distributing the money is ok, who am I to say no to good fortune?

I think coasting ain't as bad as many people think. That's because a) you are doing your job good enough, so you are not a burden on your team and b) you have a better chance to stay healthy than if you're overworking. Also, you're probably a better team player because of your healthy/peaceful state of mind. I think if you can find the line between overwork (burnout) and boredom (boreout) then you're good (even if it means only working 20h instead of 40) and your employer can be satisfied for a long time. But really, we must not discount healthiness. Health is the most important part of being a successful cog in the machine.

I would rather be kind of poor but having a good time (like other people paying for having a good time) than have a very good salary and have miserable days. Maybe accept some temporary misery if this means some personal development that I like.

But I can fully understand a decision not to change to a much less paying alternative as it decreases the quality of life for an other part of every day. Considering the frightening fact that when you move away there is probably a chance that you cannot come back that easily. This may present a fear of trying out the alternatives.

Of course not. I bought a heating pad and now the chair keeps me warm.

No, but keeping your family housed and fed usually is.

If you've got kids to look after, and a mortgage to pay, it's very likely you're stuck doing whatever your doing, whether you think the work is worthwhile or not.

Most parents won't put their kids in the poorhouse because they hate their job.