Drake, who successfully downshifted his own work life, gives timely advice to help people move from the "fast track" to a more satisfying, less-focused lifestyle.

Anna Quindlen offers deep truths from her life to motivate and inspire you to become your most authentic self. “Trying to be perfect may be inevitable for people who are smart and ambitious and interested in the world and its good opinion. . . . What is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.” In Being Perfect, Anna Quindlen shares wisdom that, perhaps without knowing it, you have longed to hear: about “the perfection trap,” the price you pay when you become ensnared in it, and the key to setting yourself free. Quindlen believes that when your success looks good to the world but doesn’t feel good in your heart, it isn’t success at all. She asks you to set aside your friends’ advice, what your family and co-workers demand, and what society expects, and look at the choices you make every day. When you ask yourself why you are making them, Quindlen encourages you to give this answer: For me. “Because they are what I want, or wish for. Because they reflect who and what I am. . . . That way lies dancing to the melodies spun out by your own heart.” At the core of this beautiful book lies the secret of authentic success, the inspiration to embrace your own uniqueness and live the life that is undeniably your own, rich in fulfillment and meaning.

With the arrival of the 21st century we have encountered a mental and material explosion in the Western world: we have near-unlimited information at our fingertips, we can have children who are healthy and safe, and we have wealth and possessions beyond what most of the world can dream of. However, this is not a boast. We are more stressed than we have ever been: the majority of us are profoundly unhappy. Despite the potential of prosperity, our fears are undiminished: we are stuck with cars and computers and houses and mobiles and hundreds of other tiny apparent "needs" that, when all combined, build to something unsustainable. Though we are surrounded by what we want, our desire to keep and still get more creates a pressure that we cannot tolerate. But we do not need to "keep up with the Joneses". The flip side of our society's growth is that we can choose what to accept, and what not to accept: what to keep, and what to lose, joyfully and consciously. With this handbook of simplicity, Leo Babauta shows us: • why less is powerful • how to know what you want, and what you need • how to choose what is essential, and clear out the rest With The Power of Less, you will be able to start a complete shift from wanting everything to needing nothing, be able to live your life simply without compromise, and discover that though we cannot have everything we want, we can obtain anything we will ever need. With this book, you will find how to go through life not carefully, but carefreely.

Wieder reveals her simple five-step Roadmap to Ease, with dozens of inspiring stories of people who have achieved their dream of doing less and having more.

This book is for you if you are....fed up with the 12-hour work day and want to cut back....scared about the risks that come with working less....looking for more satisfaction in life....making a good income, but wondering if the price is worth it....questioning ''Is this all there is?''....wanting more time for your family or yourself, but uncertain about the best ways to achieve it. Downshifting is all about getting off the merry-go-round. It is written to help you move from the fast track to a more satisfying, less work-focused lifestyle. You will not find Downshifting to be pie-in-the-sky. Most of us need to work to earn a living. We recognize, too, that work can be a positive experience it can provide us with a sense of self-worth, pride of achievement, and even an identity. But, as with most things in life, dependence on just one source for fulfilling our psychological needs narrows the opportunities for personal satisfaction. This book helps you to expand the possibilities. In Downshifting you will learn ways to cut back and still make a good living. I will show you how to convince your organization that the changes you want to make will be good for the organization. You will even learn how to cope with the scared feelings that you're likely to experience. This book will guide you through all you need to know, and do, to find more free time not only for yourself, but those you care most about. I've written this book because I want to share my experiences in becoming a happier, more balanced person. As a workaholic I knew it would be difficult to work less and as a psychologist I knew why, but I learned how to do it peacefully and profitably. I've never had the desire to go back.

Helps the reader to succeed personally as well as professionally, to make a good life as well as a living.