Activating Your Abilities : Helpful Tips to Maximize Your Desired Outcomes by Michael J. Thomas, MS

When I think about success and what inspires me to look ahead despite obstacles that get in the way of moving forward, I can think of several individuals and programs that can assist with making bouncing back into the game a less stressful process.

However, the purpose of this post is to cover the importance of developing and activating your own abilities. This is not to suggest that getting connected to resources to maintain your journey to victory is a bad thing, but rather knowing how to effectively use self-made tools is a more meaningful process that will yield better results. 

Aside from seeing your friends and loved ones experience that heavily desired come up, I don’t think there is anything more satisfying than developing the tools and skills to help you take your life back after falling from grace; or after trying and trying and still not reaching your goals/desired outcomes.

Listen, the following is not a comprehensive list of things that will help lead you to greatness, but what it can do is provide direction on how to strive for excellence, which ultimately allows you to be the strongest version of yourself.  Articulate your vision, turn passion into action and advance your life.

1. Articulate Your Vision

When I think about some of the more challenging events in my life, I often think about instances in which I didn’t have a strong answer for my why. In those moments, I felt like I was wasting my time, often growing frustrated with a lack of results after having put in so much effort. From dieting and exercising to unsuccessful dating as a Black, same gender loving man, what was missing from me in those failed situations was a strong articulation of my vision for those experiences. Indeed, vision is critically important in all that we do. It allows you to use your voice/experience in service of what you could and should be. 

Now, I don’t want to confuse what I am saying with the idea of having unrealistic expectations. And, to be sure, there are natural progressions that lead up to you being able to articulate a stronger and more effective vision for yourself, but not having one to begin with is just as bad (or worse) as having unrealistic expectations. Be clear. For example, if you are working a job that requires you to coordinate programs and services, ask yourself, what would make this one job outstanding in its implementation? 

For instance, you might say that you plan to make your program “the most dynamic experience for Black people in the city attracting 50% of Black people from several neighboring states to your event in three years. What can you do to make your work pop in a way that people become actively engaged with what you see (your vision) and want? 

Similarly, if you are dating, it would be a good idea to voice who you are in relation to your dating goals, so that you and members of your dating pool can be on the same page. Nothing worse than serving soul food to someone who only eats Scooby Snacks.

2. Turn Passion into Action

Another way to activate your greatness is by turning all your passion into action. You may be thinking to yourself, "hmmm, there are quite a few things that I am genuinely interested in doing." Ideas/goals that, when you think about them, put a smile on your face and bring joy to your heart. But how do you begin to reach your goals? What are the steps? How do you make it all happen? There are many ways to do and get things done, but understand there will always be better ways to get things accomplished. 

First, identify your goals. Given your priorities, narrow them down to your top five goals for the year. It is extremely important that your goals are specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, and associated with a time frame.

Poor goal example: I’d like to increase my visibility

Better goal example: I’d like to meet with at least five community leaders in my neighborhood by January 1st.

Next, come up with an action plan that is based off self-reflection. This practice ensures that you think about and filter through the things that really matter to you. Now, while every goal may not require the same steps, it is important that your selected action will direct you closer to achieving your goals. I find that writing things down works better for me to achieve my goals rather than only discussing them. 

For example, through reflection, make a demand to yourself. Next, come up with an action. Finally, come up with a timeline and status. To further illustrate, this could look like the following:

Reflection/Demand	Action	Timeline/Status
I want to plan events related to a range of Black identities	Black women’s retreat Black queer support group Black men’s dialogue	Completed/Annual To complete in Nov. 2018 Completed/Ongoing

When you begin to think about your goals in a more organized, clear and succinct way, you can then work on the finer details of planning and executing them. It will always be necessary to have a plan, but mission critical for you to develop a plan that will do a better job of moving you forward.

3. Advance Your Life 

Last but certainly not least, you must advance. And I mean just that! Strong development is key to more effective operation of many things, particularly visions that we have articulated and subsequent actions that we take because of it. What makes your operation good? More importantly, is it as good as it can be or are there areas for improvement? It is important that we consider our best efforts as it relates to desired outcomes. 

Often, we are operating in ways that allow us to reach our goals, yet much is left to be desired from the process. Remember, many will be able to maintain but very few will be able to take it to the moon and the stars if they don’t innovate. Next level moves are not easy, but they matter.

For example, imagine you are invited to interview for a director’s position. Before you arrive, you are asked to respond to the following prompt: Best practices in African American Student Services. You’ve also been given the green light to be as creative as you wish in answering the prompt as you will be presenting this topic at an open forum. All things considered, how do you demonstrate your ability to effectively lead a Black cultural center? What is your plan to support Black student success amid budget cuts and limited resources? 

There are many ways to answer these critical questions, some more creative than others. However, in this instance, I would argue that no matter how you choose to answer the questions, do make sure to communicate your ability to transform. Again, only being able to maintain is not where we want to be. Sure, you will eventually reach goals but if your actions are not able to take what you do to the next level it’s time to reevaluate your steps. Like most things that we have been tasked with flawlessly executing, we need to make sure we are up to date with best or promising practices related to our goals and desired outcomes. 

For example, if you are charged with updating a website (demand), and what gets the job done is monthly maintenance (action) then congratulations, you can sustain operations. But what does advancement of this operation look like? For me, it looks like weekly maintenance instead of monthly. This allows you to make more updates to the website, effectively putting you ahead of the game in this context. 

Figuring out how to take what you do and make it better is not an easy thing, but it will be worth it in the long run. Discerning your abilities and determining what can be done is a process that allows us to think critically as our goal should always be to excel at whatever task we are presented with. When we take a moment to step back and echo on our passions, amazing and powerful things can happen. Through developing an awareness of and appreciation for deep reflection, the road to success becomes less jarring and more about how best to use the skills gained because of enduring a process.

About the Author:

Originally from Chicago, IL, Michael J. Thomas holds a master’s in educational leadership from Oklahoma State University and a bachelor’s in business administration from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. He currently works in the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

As a Student Services Coordinator, Michael is responsible for developing, managing, and assessing programs and activities focusing on leadership and education, cultural identity development, and community building. In this capacity, he plans and executes the following programs: Ubuntu (Black Community Lunch), Black Alumni Panel, Pre-Kwanzaa Celebration, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Campus Commemoration, Study Break Sessions, Harambee (Black History Month Celebration), and Social Justice programming initiatives. In addition, Michael works closely with OMA’s campus partners to enrich the UWEC experience for Black students. He also provides advising to the Black Student Alliance and the African Student Association on navigating university resources, which helps them become stronger and more effective student groups. Michael enjoys cooking (good) food, vibin’ to dope music, and challenging oppressive structures-small and large. Catch him on "Woke N Broke" podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and follow him on Instagram @dr.mike_mike.