"Be so good they can't ignore you."

Steve Martin (the comedian, actor and art collector) passed on some advice for aspiring performers that really seems to resonate for anyone trying to turn a job into a career that they actually find challenging, stimulating and enjoyable.

I bring this up because I have a lot of patients who are young and trying to get a leg up in a famously down economy.

The idea here is that over a 10 year period of time, he simply focused on how to do what he did really, really well.  It may be that becoming happy, recognized and well-compensated for what you do may be less a matter of looking for "the perfect job" than putting your head down and doing what your job calls for really, really well. 

h/t Lifehacker