Should you be worried by today's headlines of economic gloom? No. Because once you know how the very meaning of "career" has changed, you can act and succeed without paying attention to them.

The first tip: Listen to the underlying message these headlines are sending. Culture, technology, and society are changing too rapidly. There is no economic certainty, the highest paid executives are constantly being taken by surprise. Even Nobel Prize-winning economists can't agree.

To find an equally explosive era, you have to go back in time, to the European Renaissance, the discovery of the new world, revolutions in math and science, and the development of nation-states created a pace of political and social change so rapid that it rivaled, perhaps even surpassed, our own.

We can learn much from that age. Those who succeeded then fashioned their lives and careers as works of art, flowing—and flourishing—with the exciting changes that were confusing and engulfing others. The formula for success—lives committed, fulfilled, and lived with passion—is no different today.

Like those Renaissance artisans, realize that your career is your canvas. Launch (and relaunch) it. Make it your hobby. Want a sports analogy? Choose your own playing field, and you'll sidestep the ongoing economic turmoil. "But a career is a serious thing," you say. "Aren't you taking this too lightly?" And to this the New World replies, "Welcome to the new cosmic joke." Take yourself too seriously and you may find yourself holding on to a job, a company, or a skill that won't be around much longer.

(Need an example? In the space of only a decade, typists—employing a job skill that had been relatively unchanged for 50 years—have become word processors, then computer operators, and now desktop publishing experts.)

This New World awareness is a dynamic view. It's less detached. More playful. And more holistic, embracing all your life—work, relationships, kids, leisure, sports.