3 Ways to Reduce Helplessness with Your Home Comfort

I was listening to a podcast the other day, and they were talking about, um, in psychology, a term called learned helplessness. And this was a big study, and, um, it talks about some big things. And, um, of course, I was thinking about our world of home comfort and energy savings, and I was thinking, you know, I've been saying something similar not quite this deep, but something similar, similar to homeowners for years. So the term, or the research on learned helplessness, was coined in 1967 by Martin Seligman and Steven Maier. The article goes on to say when we're helpless, we don't— we, we have no control over our lives. Our actions are futile, nothing will change, so why bother? Why bother? In this mindset, change seems unfeasible. However, it is always possible to take action. We just have to be open to possibilities. So as I heard this research and, and we're thinking— it was thinking about it, of course I was thinking to, to what I've been saying to homeowners for years, which, you You know, obviously that's on a much deeper scale and goes into some more psychology and, and, and everything else. But as homeowners, I think we can take that sliver and apply it to what we talk about, which is you don't have to be uncomfortable. You don't have to be uncomfortable. So the reason I thought about this article when, when I heard it Learned helplessness is that I've been to some homeowners that they've just given up on being comfortable. Uh, they just assume that that's how it's going to be. Uh, they just believe there's going to be uncomfortable at home. Uh, there's nothing they can do about it. And again, it goes back to this article because this Psychology study says when we're helpless, we have no control of our lives, our actions are futile, nothing will change, so why bother? I think that's some point to, to where some homeowners get, you know, nothing's going to change, why bother? I've been uncomfortable for years, I will continue to be uncomfortable, so You know, what's the big deal? Well, it is a big deal because we spend 90% of our time indoors. And 90% of our time indoors these days, that is where you should be comfortable. There is no reason to not be comfortable unless something is preventing it. So I'll come over 3 ways, 3 ways to help reduce helpless helplessness with your home comfort. 3 ways to help reduce helplessness with your home comfort. Point number 1: seek a professional. Now, what do I mean by professional? I don't mean somebody that dabbles in it. Uh, somebody that does it on the side. Um, I mean a professional who has years and years of experience with home comfort, designing systems to match home comfort. Um, not saying you're, you know, I know a guy or I know a person, they can fix it. Not saying they can't fix it. I'm just saying, at this point, when you feel helpless, it's time to call a full-time professional to come see what's going on. Call a full-time professional to see what's going on. There are reviews everywhere— Google, Facebook, everywhere you'll find reviews. Now, very few, if any, are going to be all 5 stars when they have like you know, 500+ reviews, you might find a few out there have all 5 stars. But even then, you have to be a little— how do they have all 5 stars with this many reviews? Because to make everybody happy is usually not possible. I'm not saying it can't be done, but usually Typically, uh, even the most experienced companies that have been out there for all these years, 60+ years, 70 years, you look at their reviews, they're not going to have all 5-star reviews because it's an indication of reality. You can't make everyone happy every single time. It's just It's not possible. It's not even realistic. So number 1, seek a pro. Seek a full-time pro. Seek an experienced pro. When I say pro, I mean somebody seasoned, experienced, and they have done this before. They have designed systems of home comfort for years and have a great track record of doing so. Number 2, detail comfort issues. Now, usually when a pro walks in your home, they can have a pretty good idea of what the problem is without you saying something. They can— they can have a pretty good idea of what the problem is, um, but still Make sure you lay out all the problems you're having right now, what needs to be addressed right now, and have them look at all the solutions available to get that problem fixed. Make sure you detail all the issues you're having— hot, hot spots, cold spots, hot and cold spots. Smells, noises, uh, whatever you have, and detail it out for that pro and go over it with them and have a checklist of everything that's going to happen. Now, when they come back with the solution, there's probably going to be multiple things that need to be addressed. Multiple things that need to be addressed. So tip number 3: take at least one of the recommendations. Take at least one. If you can't do them all, if you cannot do them all, at least take one. Start eating the elephant one bite at a time, right? You've heard that before. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you get better home comfort? One bite at a time. So take at least one of the recommendations. If you can't do multiple or all of them, at least take one to see if you're on the right track. Now let that contractor or that pro prove to you that they can handle what's going on with your home. So tip number 3, take at least one Recommendations. Again, the 3. Number 1, seek a pro. Number 2, detail the comfort issues you're having. Again, a lot of pros, when they walk in the house, they can see what the problem— what some of the problems are. It might not be all the problems, but you can see the obvious problems. Um, I told a story about a birthday party we went to at my, my wife's friend's house. And if you can imagine the house, imagine like, you know, a rectangle. Um, the thermostat was in the middle of the home and the kitchen was at the top, or like right-hand corner of the home. Also, the top right-hand corner had windows pretty much all glass wall on the outside, and it was on the south side. So when I came in, of course, we're all at the kitchen, the kids are at the pool having a good time at the party, and I was just making conversation. I said, it's probably pretty warm in here, right? She's like, absolutely, it's It's terrible, it's so hot in here. I said, well, you're in the kitchen, which is the hottest part of the house. Uh, you're on the south side of the house with the windows, which gives the most heat or sunlight, and the— your thermostat is in the middle of the hallway, uh, in the dark. So a lot of pros, when they come to your house, can you know, spot these issues before you say anything. But still, number 2, detail comfort issues. Detail these issues for them to take care of. And number 3, if you can't take care of multiple ones or all of them, at least choose one. At least choose one. That will get you on the right path. But Again, I was listening to this research on learned helplessness, and I thought about all the times I've said this to homeowners. If, you know, it feels like at a certain, certain point, uh, when you live in a home, uh, you feel helpless, you feel you're not going to be comfortable, no one can fix the issue. No one's listening to you anymore. Um, but I assure you that can be fixed. The only thing that cannot be fixed is how the home is built, and there are ways around it. Might not be, you know, the number one best way around it, but you have to do what the home will let you do, uh, in that situation. So Hopefully this helped you out. I know the, the study on learned helplessness, again, it's pretty deep, but if we take a little sliver of it and apply it to home comfort, some of that is what I've been saying for years to homeowners, is that you don't have to be uncomfortable. There is no helplessness. You can make an impact on on your comfort. Even though change seems far out there, it is possible once you get a professional involved.