Being bored for 10 hours a day when you have the capability to do so much really is terrible. Couldn't agree with you more.
1) I generally take the higher paying gigs but mostly so I can accelerate retirement 2) Even in the crappiness of high paying jobs (I often think I'm essentially being bribed to put up with all the BS) I can generally maneuver myself into doing interesting work. It takes about 1.5 years of concerted effort, but once I understand how stuff works, I can generally start nudging stuff in the right direction, and can eventually find some form of fulfillment amongst the BS.
> I generally take the higher paying gigs but mostly so I can accelerate retirement
My problem with this outlook is that sacrificing my current well-being for increased future well-being is risky. I don't know how long I will live or what my health will be like. I have to make the best of the time I have now (without sacrificing too much future well-being, of course!)
Not that I don't do the same, just, it feels risky, on its own. I think the rest of your comment is super important for this reason.
Whether that's the particular mechanism or not, I think this bears investigation.