Keeping Your Cool as an Air Conditioning Technician

Working as an air conditioning technician can be stressful at times

Working as an air conditioning technician is a great job with many rewards. Most of the time. But every technician will experience stressful situations that can try your patience and resilience.

Trying to solve a tricky problem, working on unfamiliar equipment, handling a frustrated customer, or just dealing with city traffic and parking can leave you hot under the collar. Especially if you’re a person who tends to struggle with keeping your cool under pressure.

It’s tough to stay calm all the time. But those who manage to roll with the punches come across as more likeable and competent in the workplace, and tend to perform better as well. Research shows that 90% of top job performers are good at managing their emotions. Plus, it’s well known that prolonged stress can hurt your mental and physical health.

8 tips for keeping your cool under stress

Thomas Jefferson offered sage advice about keeping your cool under pressure: “Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain cool and unruffled under all circumstances.”

Here are some tips for air conditioning technicians to help you manage emotions and give yourself the best chance to succeed.

1. Keep your body cool

An air conditioning technician’s job requires working in hot and often cramped conditions. Yet being physically uncomfortable makes you irritable and much more likely to lose your cool under stress. So what can you do to stay as cool as possible?

You already know to wear lightweight clothing, take breaks, and drink plenty of water. Here are a few ideas for staying cool that you might not know:

• Avoid caffeine
• Don’t skip meals and let your blood sugar get too low
• Eat light meals that include fruits and vegetables that replenish electrolytes
• During breaks, apply ice packs to your head and shoulders
• Wear a cooling head or neck wrap

2. Practice breathing techniques

Taking a minute to practice a controlled breathing exercise can do wonders to help you control your emotions in a stressful moment.

It doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. Try this one:

• Breathe in through your nose for a count of four.
• Hold for a count of four.
• Breathe out through your mouth for a count of four.

You’ll notice that controlled breathing slows your heart rate, which sends your brain the message that there’s nothing to worry about.

3. Try visualization

You’ve probably heard the one where you pretend you’re in a relaxing place that makes you happy. That can work, especially when combined with controlled breathing. Try this also:

Think of your problem as a knotted ball of string. When you panic and pull on the strings, the knot only gets tighter. But when you relax and focus, you can pull on one strand at a time until the knot resolves.

4. Listen to soothing sounds

This idea can be super helpful when you’re working in a chaotic or noisy environment and you need to focus all your attention on the complex problem you’re trying to solve.

If you’re allowed to wear headphones while working, try listening to music (keep it light and positive) or use a white noise app to play soothing ambient sounds like rain, waves, birds, crickets, or chimes (you can skip the one that plays air conditioner noise!).

5. Use your imagination

When you’re facing a stressful situation and you’re tempted to express your anger and frustration to another person (or take it out on some nearby object), it can help to take a moment to imagine two different scenarios.

First, imagine yourself completely losing it and doing and saying everything you would like to. What’s likely to be the outcome of doing that? Chances are, it’s not good for anybody.

Now imagine yourself putting the incident in perspective, reacting calmly and appropriately, and getting past it. Chances are very good that things work out better that way.

Just imagining yourself acting that way can de-escalate your feelings and help you be the calm person you can see in your mind.

6. Get inspired

Is there someone you admire who always seems calm and unflappable?

Think about how that person would respond and react in your current situation. Now do your best to emulate their demeanor and actions.

7. Reframe your thinking

When things are going wrong, it’s easy to make the problem bigger in your mind than it really is. When you notice yourself thinking “always” and “never,” think again. Is it really always or never? Try to come up with examples that don’t fit. That can help you reframe flawed thinking as well as your emotional reaction.

Here’s another way to reframe negative thoughts. Chances are, you’ll get through the day and the problem will be in the past (“this too shall pass” can be a helpful mantra). It’s probably not worth risking your relationships with customers, co-workers, and superiors by reacting poorly. You may not be able to control your situation, but you can control how you respond to it.

8. Control your speech

When you’re starting to feel upset, make an extra effort to speak with calm deliberation to customers, superiors, and coworkers. Speak more slowly, adopt a pleasant (or at least neutral) tone of voice, think about the words you are using, and smile if at all possible (and appropriate given the situation).

When you do that, you’re much more likely to get a positive reaction from others, which can definitely de-escalate your feelings of anger or frustration.

More resources for growing your career as an air conditioning technician

Looking to gain skills to increase your value as a service technician? Check out our free resources.

HVACR Career Connect NY was created to promote the exceptional quality-of-life benefits of a career in HVAC and Refrigeration service, and also to provide a clear path for getting started in the profession. In doing so, we serve as a resource for employers in the New York City metro area to find and hire smart and capable new technicians. We also serve as an educational resource to support business growth and to help service technicians succeed in their chosen profession.