Responding to another post about how we get through the drudgery of work, I wrote the following, and hope it helps some people: It's partially how I went from making enough to pay some bills 7 years ago to making enough to buy a home.
I stopped caring and now just live for the 1-year-mark where I then aggressively apply for higher pay.
This month I took 8.5 days off. They were sweet.
Next month I have jury duty, and hope I get selected for a nice long trial, like I'll come back in August and take a vacation in September, and then come back needing to be refreshed on all the stuff I just started learning to do.
Come Thanksgiving, I'll apply for at least 20 jobs and hopefully be gone in January.
Once I get notice of being hired, I'll take 3 weeks off to unwind before starting the new job, but upon starting the new job I'm going to let them know I had a vacation planned for my kids' upcoming school break. They will say of course! because they don't want to get off on the wrong foot with me.
I used to always want to hit the ground running to impress them. Now I wonder how they'll impress me, which I know they can't. When you stop caring, only they have something to lose, and it actually feels that way.