After comparing him to a 42-year old woman who can't find the "right man... a soul-mate from her zip code," actor and comedian Mike Rowe (best known as the host of Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs) offers:
Stop looking for the “right” career, and start looking for a job. Any job. Forget about what you like. Focus on what’s available. Get yourself hired. Show up early. Stay late. Volunteer for the scut work. Become indispensable. You can always quit later, and be no worse off than you are today. But don’t waste another year looking for a career that doesn’t exist. And most of all, stop worrying about your happiness. Happiness does not come from a job. It comes from knowing what you truly value, and behaving in a way that’s consistent with those beliefs.
Many people today resent the suggestion that they’re in charge of the way the feel. But trust me, Parker. Those people are mistaken. That was a big lesson from Dirty Jobs, and I learned it several hundred times before it stuck. What you do, who you’re with, and how you feel about the world around you, is completely up to you.
h/t: Cal Newport's Stop Looking for the “Right” Career and Start Looking for a Job
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I've upvoted this article, but with mixed feelings. (Where's the "partially agree" upvote button?)
On the one hand, I very much agree that happiness often "comes from knowing what you truly value, and behaving in a way that’s consistent with those beliefs." Yet happiness doesn't always come from behaving consistent with your principles. (You even wrote about this here when discussing political activists who are sometimes imprisoned for behaving consistent with their beliefs.) I also don't agree that "What you do, who you’re with, and how you feel about the world around you, is completely up to you." (Again, you assert this in your same article when you discuss chance driving so much in our lives.) People often pretend to feel other than they really do. They often come up with rationalizations to effectuate this farce. Mike Rowe might consider that healthy - I would respectfully disagree.