You know which call it happens on. Somewhere after the fourth one, the energy goes. The process gets shortened. The last customer of the day gets a different technician than the first customer did.
And you feel it at the end of the day, when there’s nothing left for anybody at home.
In this episode of Windshield Time, Chris Elmore walks through how to manage a long day of calls. Almost none of it is external. It’s what’s between your ears.
He starts with the difference between a routine and a ritual. A routine can be interrupted. A routine can be thrown off. A ritual has enough meaning that you do it no matter what, even if it starts 30 minutes earlier or later.
That’s the three Ds: duty, discipline, devotion. Duty is because you have to. Discipline is because it’s a habit. Devotion is because it means something. And once something is in devotion territory, you don’t do it.
From there, Chris gets practical about fueling the day, working one call at a time, and taking five minutes to reset between calls rather than going from driveway to driveway.
His last point is the one that holds it together: take comfort in a predictable process. Follow it on every call, and your last call is as good as your first. That’s how you keep the energy for what comes after.
Inside This Episode:
- Ritual vs. routine: why a routine gets interrupted and a ritual happens no matter what time you get up
- The three Ds… duty, discipline, devotion: and why devotion is the only one you never skip
- How to prepare your body for a long day of hunger, dehydration, physical effort, and situations where you could get hurt
- Why “one call at a time” beats seeing the whole schedule: three calls and you want off by four, you’ll be off by four
- The five-minute reset between calls: stop the truck, review the call history, check yourself, and don’t spend 30 minutes at the supply house
- What to put in your ears during windshield time, and why the news and social scrolling work against you
- Take comfort in a predictable process: how following PRESS PLAY on every call keeps your last call as good as your first
Episode Chapters & Summary
Episode Chapters & Summary:
It’s Not Just an HVAC Summer
Chris opens the topic by killing a common assumption: long days aren’t seasonal to HVAC. He’s worked with electricians and plumbers who get just as busy in the summer. Then he sets the frame for the whole episode… this is about managing the day from your perspective in the truck.
Key takeaways:
- Electricians and plumbers get as busy in the summer as HVAC techs do.
- Long days and overtime are part of the work. The variable is how you handle them.
- The episode is about you and your truck, not about fixing your company’s scheduling.
Who Gets to Define an Emergency
Chris tells a composite on-call story to make a company-level point: when the customer or the technician decides what counts as an emergency, everyone loses. The 2 a.m. call about a suffering household turns out to be a pool house unit for a party the next day.
Key takeaways:
- The company needs to define what an emergency is, not the customer, and not the tech.
- Defining it relieves pressure off the technician because he knows the dispatch is legitimate.
- If the company doesn’t define it, the customer will.
- Chris flags the story as a reenactment built from several real calls, not one specific event.
Ritual vs. Routine: The Three Ds
The core distinction of the episode. Alex reads the definition: a ritual is a sequence of actions in a prescribed order, and unlike a routine, it carries deeper meaning. Chris builds the three Ds on top of it and names his own devotion.
Key takeaways:
- A routine can be interrupted, thrown off, or skipped. It’s just what you do.
- A ritual carries enough meaning that you do it no matter what, even shifted 30 minutes either way.
- Routines are habits. Rituals become devotions.
- The three Ds: duty is because you have to, discipline is because it’s a habit, devotion is because it means something to you.
- Chris’s devotion is working out. It gets rescheduled, but it doesn’t happen.
- Without a morning or evening ritual, you’re letting things happen to you.
Preparing Your Body for the Day
Chris ties this to the Prepare step of PRESS PLAY, then pushes past mindset and appearance into fuel. He tells the chocolate milk and Chester’s popcorn story, then the 130-degree attic. He’s careful to say he isn’t preaching about anyone’s diet.
Key takeaways:
- You’re going out to face hunger, dehydration, physical and mental effort, and situations where you could get hurt.
- Five cups of coffee and a donut is not preparation.
- The chocolate milk and Chester’s popcorn ended with Chris throwing up in a 130-degree attic.
- Hydration packs and sports drinks help you absorb more liquid, so you can drink more without feeling full.
- Carry food with you instead of defaulting to fast food mid-shift.
One Call at a Time
Chris makes the case for not knowing your whole day. Techs want the full schedule so they can see when they get off, and Chris says that visibility quietly sets the finish time. He lived it himself.
Key takeaways:
- Three calls and you want to be off by four, you’ll be off by four.
- Two calls and you want hours until five, that’s what happens.
- Every customer deserves the same level of energy and attention, and that’s hard.
- Prepare your family that you’re working all day, and update them when you know more.
The Five-Minute Reset Between Calls
The most actionable segment. Chris says don’t go driveway to driveway. Stop the truck for five minutes, take in the next call, and check yourself. He also explains where the show’s name comes from and what he wants techs putting in their ears.
Key takeaways:
- Five minutes, not 30. Don’t park at the supply house and talk to the counter guy.
- Listen to the incoming call and review the call history before you arrive.
- Check yourself: are you clean, do you smell, does your appearance need an adjustment.
- Windshield time is for filling your brain with something good. Not the news, not social scrolling.
Take Comfort in a Predictable Process
The closing point. Following the same process on every call is what makes one call at a time possible, and it’s what protects the back half of the day. Chris names the temptation directly and then makes it personal.
Key takeaways:
- Follow the process on every single call so your last call is as good as your first.
- The temptation late in the day is to knock it out, because the customer doesn’t want you there and you want to get home.
- A predictable, repeatable process is where the stability comes from.
- This is how you protect against burnout and keep energy for your life after the last call.
- Now is the time to change one small thing about how you start the day.
