I'd hesitate to call the solution to his problems "obvious" but it seems one obvious thing he should do is look for remote work, or at least work someplace with

I'd hesitate to call the solution to his problems "obvious" but it seems one obvious thing he should do is look for remote work, or at least work someplace with a lesser commute so that he can get 4 hours a day back from his commute. He should take a less-challenging job, perhaps, and get his work done quickly so that he can have lots of time left over for his own pursuits. I've had jobs in the past where I was able to do this with some success. The idea that your job should challenge you is, perhaps, BS. For so many jobs, the "challenges" consist mainly of dealing with political forces and/or forcing yourself to do other things you may not necessarily care about. I would guess only a tiny percentage of us have jobs that are truly fulfilling. And maybe that's fine. Maybe we should go back to the days where we just punched the clock, figuratively speaking, and ditch the idea of getting fulfillment from our jobs. It's hurting our ability to find fulfillment elsewhere.