The Human Diagnostic
The $2,000 Heat Pump Rebate He Knew About and Never Claimed
Description
I have a customer who has read every HVAC blog on the internet. Early fifties, software job, smart and polite. He has a Trane variable-speed system, a thermostat app, a humidifier, a media filter, a UV light. Every maintenance visit he has a list of things he has been meaning to do. A register to rebalance in the back bedroom, a humidifier pad that has sat on his desk for three months, a duct seal job in the attic. None of it ever gets done. In 2000 two Stanford researchers, Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton, published a book called The Knowing-Doing Gap. They found that most underperformance is not a knowledge problem. People usually know what to do. The gap is between knowing and doing, and it is bigger than anyone admits. One mechanism they named is the substitution effect. Researching the work and talking about the work start to feel like the work itself. That is my customer exactly. He has been thinking about that bedroom register for three years. He has read about dampers and Manual D and static pressure. The register has never been adjusted. When I asked him gently what was stopping him, he thought for a long time and said, I want to make sure I do it right. The wanting to do it right is genuine, and it is also the obstacle. He treats a twenty-minute reversible task as a final, high-stakes decision. The way out is not more information. It is action small enough to be reversible. I told him the worst case for the damper is you turn it the wrong way, the room gets too cold, you go back up and turn it back. There is no version where you ruin something. He looked at me like that had not occurred to him. We went up together, rotated it, fine-tuned it the next week, and three years of research got solved in about forty-five minutes. If you recognize yourself in this, the research is not the same as the work. It feels active and diligent, but it is the absence of action wearing the costume of action. Treat small reversible decisions as experiments, not final calls. If you can undo it when it does not work, just do it. Core line: "The research is not progress. It is the absence of action wearing the costume of action." ---------------------------------------- Give Us A Shout Thanks for tuning in to Hartzell's Heat & Air, your trusted HVAC experts in Oklahoma and beyond. From Kingfisher to coast-to-coast consulting, we design, install, and maintain smart, efficient systems that deliver year-round comfort. We're employee-owned, family-run, and powered by 45+ years of experience. Whether it's AI-powered thermostats, geothermal systems, or classic tune-ups, we deliver upfront pricing, expert care, and warranties that back it all up. 🛠️ Book Online: https://book.housecallpro.com/book/Hartzells-Heat--Air/4a569038b3dc460daf2d5f6497b18351?v2=true [https://book.housecallpro.com/book/Hartzells-Heat--Air/4a569038b3dc460daf2d5f6497b18351?v2=true] 🌐 www.hartzellsheatair.com 📞 (405) 375-4822 📲 Follow us for tips, updates, and real-world installs: YouTube: @hartzellsheatair6003 X: https://x.com/HartzellsHVAC [https://x.com/HartzellsHVAC] Facebook: facebook.com/hartzellsheatair LinkedIn: Dave Hartzell Built on trust. Backed by warranty. Designed for comfort.
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