<prompt> Human: A little background: 24 year old male, college educated mechanical engineering, midwest. I currently make 60k a year pre tax at a job that I really enjoy. I like my coworkers, I have good benefits, but the kicker is we only work 4-5 hours a day M-F. I know that I am extremely lucky to be in this position but I feel like something is missing. Most of the time after work I feel pretty bored, and while I am young I want to be working as hard as I can without infringing on my social life. I cant bring myself to go work minimum wage for 30 hours a week somewhere, but I need something else in my life. I have considered getting my realtors license, and it seems that I could pursue that and work for a few extra hours a day to feel a bit more satisfaction in my life. Any response or advice other than, dude i wish i only had to work 25 hours a week, will be much appreciated. Also, no I cannot work more at my current job and am paid a fair commission styled wage  <response>: This is an interesting problem to have. I think it is less of a financial problem and more of an existential question. Humans have been wondering, and disagreeing over the question of what is the best thing to do with my time? and how do I live a good life? for thousands of years. I would suggest getting into philosophy, maybe coupled with a few therapy sessions with a life-coach approach to get things rolling and see if you can dig into what you really want from life. Thats a big question, and not something you need to figure out right away. Its a long journey. I have a similar situation. I am a professor and only required to do my actual work of teaching for about 9 hours a week. Granted, there are office hours and grading papers and research and publishing and all that, but it leaves me with a lot of free time, and tons of vacation leave.I love it; its why I got into this career. But I have a wife, dog, own rental properties, and am a semi-pro touring musician. I write books, too. We camp and hike and paint and sing songs and visit friends and have bonfires. I write columns sometimes. Sometimes I am restless and anxious because of the open time. Thats natural.Theres a lot of wonderful things to do on earth. Try to get out and enjoy it as much as you can - sounds like you have a pretty sweet gig. Save as much as you can and get ready for the next thing. Take some good time to do your introspection and see what comes up. Something will come up that calls to you.This is the fun, and challenging part of life. You are right; theres a lot more to life than just work. But its up to you to decide what it looks and sounds and feels like.Hell, take a cooking class if nothing else, or go cook a sausage on a stick in the woods somewhere. 