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Sue Pressman, 69th President of ACA
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Sue Pressman, 69th President of ACA
C arl O. McDaniels (1930-2019), one of the leading pioneers of career development in the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, began his work as a professional consultant with lifelong career development and working life as a scientific focus. I proudly called him a professor and mentor, given the impact he had on me and the career guidance field.
In his lifelong approach to career development, it became increasingly clear to him over the years that leisure activities play an important role alongside work. This focus is even more important at various stages of career development, including first job, job loss experience, and a variety of career transitions – graduation, family loss, military service, retirement, etc. Hence, more than 30 years ago, McDaniels suggested the formula career = work + Free time before (summarized as C = W + L).
When I think about work and leisure in the midst of today's pandemic reality, I believe we have rarely been so challenged in terms of our life satisfaction and spiritual wellbeing. If we want to plan the next phase of our life in a post-pandemic world, it seems to me important to take a holistic approach that takes into account the emotional, social, physical, economic and spiritual values of our own work and leisure activities. A convergence or intersectionality occurs.
At an international conference recently held in India, I had the opportunity to coin and introduce a new formula that extends the original work of McDaniels. This new formula recognizes the intersectionality of mental health, work and leisure to create what I call the Life & Career Happiness formula:
Mental health + work + leisure = life & professional happiness (summarized as MH + W + L = LCH).
What we really strive for in the course of our lives is a healthy balance between these three modern elements. To do this, we need to understand the relevance of this formula to the work of professional consultants. In a sense, this formula creates a scale that, when tilted or unbalanced, can become an important starting point for the counselor-client relationship. It provides a framework for clients to assess or reevaluate what is happening in their life so that rebalancing becomes an ongoing self-governing goal that leads to life and career happiness.
Let's save and define the three elements of the formula. In a modern world, and certainly in a post-pandemic world, social and emotional health involves creating wellness environments and mindfulness to include time for reflection, walks, yoga, art, music, and relationships with friends and family – the things that do self-care . We also need to help our clients identify new interests and support their efforts to develop new skills to adapt to the ever changing and fast paced workplaces. Finally, there are leisure activities – hobbies like gardening, sewing, cooking, golfing, bowling or reading – that help reduce stress and bring joy. These activities nourish the mind and soul.
“Pressman's extended model expands and deepens McDaniels' original theory to include mental health, which creates a broader balance of well-being in all areas of life. It promotes a mindful and healthy way of being, not just one way of doing. It uses a person's creativity and skills to achieve happiness in life and career. "- Judy Daniels, University of Hawaii
