Maximizing Your Potential

I can vividly recall this past Thanksgiving involving a fork full of cheesy macaroni, and an unsettling scene from the film: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In the beginning, we meet the young chocolate lover Charlie, and his father; a factory worker who caps toothpaste tubes. One day the company invests in a more efficient machine to cap the tubes, eliminating his job.

Now if you’ve seen it, you remember how Charlie’s family subsequently falls below the poverty line (it pulled at my heart strings a little). At this point, I’ve put my fork down because my anxiety is causing a tsunami of thoughts. “What would I do if I was in dad’s shoes?” I can no longer indulge in my plate because at twenty-something-years-old I’m having a career crisis!

Then it happens, as cliché as it sounds at that moment; I had an epiphany. “What if I can make myself irreplaceable?” (YES Beyoncé’s song Irreplaceable just popped in my head too!). Figuratively speaking because obviously if I die or quit said job, they must find a replacement. I mean what if I can increase my value as an employee so that I’m indispensable? If I capitalize on my strengths, coupled with experience; I can become that rare, exceptional, and inimitable employee with a better chance of job security.

So let's discuss 3 ways to maximize your potential, a (mini) guide to creating a career path for the best version of yourself. We’ll journey into evaluating your foundation, enlarging your repertoire, and establishing goals. In no time you’ll be just like Charlie’s dad at the end of the film, the person rehired to repair the robot that took his job. How’s that for a heaping helping of irony!

For this (class) assignment, I looked for ways to prepare for my future career of Medical Billing and Coding (MBC). To do that, I started with a self- examination of my current skill set; what inside of me can propel me to my destination?

Being a writer, poet, and content creator at heart, Journalism is my chosen major. I even went to a college prep high school where despite my mother’s suggestions, I chose Journalism and aggressively avoided the medical program. I don't like hospitals or doctors, and needles give me nightmares! With those facts in mind, how I end up in the MBC program here at a trade school; dead in the middle of my Journalism degree is lightyears beyond my comprehension. However after questioning my sanity, I proceed to identify the qualities I possess.

For example, I remember when I worked for a non-profit called Urban Youth Impact (UYI). UYI helps inner city youth become productive adults with character development and purpose pushing. To help them gain insight into who they really are, we give them a personality quiz called the 16 personalities test. I took it myself, and was blown away by my analysis of Protagonist! This detailed personality typing, gave me a peek into my emotional intelligence, and even better- a list of famous people with my personality type! Apparently Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, and I are practically related thank you very much! This test was like the mechanical manual of my mind, explaining things like how I may respond under pressure, and even what environments I can best thrive in!

Another recent quiz would be the 5 Voices communications style test my class took, talk about a game changer! These invaluable tools helped me to assess my potential, noting key traits I have. Now, the challenge of translating journalism skills into the healthcare industry doesn’t seem like such an absurd idea.

I personally recommend these test as a starting point to anyone who understands the reward of investing in yourself. Education is vital, but being the best version of yourself is becoming a well-rounded, well-versed individual. Besides, your journey starts whereever you are; so start!

The term repertoire [rep-er-twahr] comes to us from the French, and it means collection, supply, or range. Enlarging your repertoire is as simple as building on your skills and acquiring new ones. So to get started, Google and I searched for skills that medical billers and coders have, so that I can develop and/or acquire them.

My search returned an article by the Harris School of Business. They gave me some interesting statistics along with the starter list of MBC trait must haves. I was surprised at the similarities of an MBC and journalist, and that I already had a few of the necessary skills! So, moving forward, my next step is to enhance them! The five must haves of an MBC are analytical, social, and technical skills; that's exactly what Journalism requires also! The others are attention to detail and integrity, which are two of the more vital ones in my opinion.

Earlier I mentioned capitalizing on your strengths to become indispensable, and according to Dawn Dugan- staff writer for salary.com- a good way to do that would be to master areas where others are weak. Dugan produced an article about ensuring job security with 14 ways to stay indispensable. She stated that we should “develop a unique knowledge base or skill, excelling where others in the department are weak. Filling an important gap will ensure that others see you as invaluable,” said Dugan. Keeping this in mind for my future career, I plan to begin skill sculpting in advance. Not only will this increase my productivity as an MBC, but it will increase my value for the purpose of job security.

At Last, we’ve arrived to the beginning of the rest of our lives: establishing goals. Whether you like to create dream/vision boards, or have a hard copy of your to-do list, find a way to pull your dreams off of paper and make them reality. I'm hoping to make this one a New Year's resolution that I actually complete: a life-size vision board (Pinterest literally has every idea under the sun!). A few of my goals are simply to finish the MBC program, locate a job in the field, and work to put myself through school for my true passion: Journalism. Though life is full of detours, it's what you make it that counts! (And I'm hoping make money).

Goal setting is as simple as identifying your passion, creating a plan, and ultimately preparing to proceed towards it. So find what you love doing, whatever gives you joy. Cultivate your passion whether it's a desire to serve, or to professionally play a sport. Plan your route and ask yourself what education or experience is necessary. What will you do next to maximize your potential and become the best employee and person possible? Well go enroll, sign up, volunteer, or apply Etc! The only thing standing in the way of your success is most likely you, so get moving!

If you have to, grab your favorite snack or beverage, pen and paper in hand; and begin drawing up the first draft of many game plans. I promise time spent planning (or praying) is time invested, not wasted.

I hope that you have gained not only insight into my career plans, but maybe you took something away also. I hope those three practical ways will aid you with ensuring job security, character development, and success- which you indeed have the power to achieve! Remember to live life and be content where you are, but never forget where you’re going!