Searching for a Career - is this an outmoded concept?

In the past month, since I stepped away from the Product Development for the Texai, I have been entertaining conversations on "searching for a career". Around the time of Yom Kippur, I met my natural mother's best friend - a gentleman that has had on order of 20 careers in his lifetime.

He was married three times, has two kids, is into real estate, financial instruments, clothing, sales - you name it. And I was surprised by his incredible candor about his life. He said that every time he was working, he always was looking to "settle down" and build a career, but circumstances and the economy often had another spin on his life and would have to change and rebuild once again.