The reasons for bad feeling including the loss of motivation may have nothing to do with what he thinks it is, either now or back when he quit academia. If he'

The reasons for bad feeling including the loss of motivation may have nothing to do with what he thinks it is, either now or back when he quit academia. If he's prone to seasonal affective disorder (SAD), he may be feeling down because of that and taking it out on his career choice. If you are feeling bad about your career, family or life situation, - just buy a SAD lamp such as the Philips Wake Up lamp - use it religiously for a week - after a week, assess the problem again - do you feel the same about it? If you're prone to SAD, after a few days of using, your motivation will come back and the "rational" reasons which you felt very strongly about will lose all emotional charge.