Micklethwait's Law of Negotiated Misery
In a post at Samizdata, Brian Micklethwait nails it.
There are four kinds of work you think about maybe doing. (1) There's work you love and are good at. (2) There's work you hate and are good at. (3) There's work you love and are bad at. And (4) there's work you hate and are bad at.
Imported from a really old blog. Some links might be dead. Let me know if you find dead links.