In this brief communication I will report on what I have found to be a most interesting clinical phenomenon. This concerns well educated, financially secure individuals who—despite good intelligence, emotional stability, and a history of using sound judgment in most respects—choose vocations for which they have little or no talent or ability. This ensures years of frustration and disappointment in a centrally important aspect of their lives.

Unlike others who are forced to labor at jobs that are frustrating and unrewarding because of financial necessity, limited education, lack of marketable skills, or a downturn in the economy, the individuals I have in mind have the means and the skills to choose a variety of more satisfying careers. In fact, prior to making their career choices, some of these people had demonstrated interest and ability in other areas but disregarded those qualities in themselves to choose fields for which they were decidedly ill-suited.