Last week I finished ‘The 4-Hour Workweek’. While the book lost some steam towards the end, it was still a very good and useful book.

In my last post I enumerated some of the changes author Tim Ferriss made to his work life that created huge changes to his personal life. In short, he now works to live rather than live to work, and he encourages you to do the same.

His mantra: Work wherever and whenever you want, but get your work done so you can free yourself up to play. It’s not so much that he wanted to be a millionaire, he wanted the millionaire lifestyle – to have a life of complete freedom.

Ferriss viewed the long-accepted “rules” in the working world – sit behind a desk until you retire at 65, taking a vacation or two a year along the way – as unacceptable.

Psychologically speaking, Ferriss was like the oppositional teen, railing against his parents’ rules. He sought his own identity (of thought, belief, language, etc.), separate from his parents. Psychologists call this phenomenon ‘separation and individuation’.

Like a teenager, he asked lots of ‘why’ questions, like ‘Why wait 40 years to travel and have fun?’ He wanted a work life that made sense to him, something that he could stamp as his own. He found it and he is far happier for it.

There’s much to be learned from the book. My hope is that, among other things, it will prompt people to take a serious look at their work-life balance.

In my psychotherapy practice in Washington, D.C., I meet with a fair share of overworked professionals who have limited time for their personal life. So, they come into my office with feelings of depression or anxiety or they tell me their partnership/marriage is falling apart.

They have neglected their personal life (family, friends, interests/hobbies) to the point that it’s nearly non-existent. Ferriss’ plea is to reclaim your personal life and the sense of freedom that comes with it.

While you don’t have to travel to exotic locales, dancing the tango and racing motorcycles as Ferriss does, you can implement some of his techniques and live a far happier life.