Personal SWOT Analysis

Don’t worry, it is not another article about how useful a SWOT analysis could be for our business and how this has been used for many years as a strategic planning tool for the assessment of our company’s situation in relation to Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

What people may have never considered is that the SWOT analysis could be applied at a personal level.?

We all want to succeed in life, either success is related to our professional career or to anything else that makes us happy. For this very reason, we would be more likely to succeed in our life plans if we were to get the most out of our talents as well as manage to the best of our abilities all those weaknesses that could hinder the journey to our happiness.

Therefore, to start with what I will call a “Self SWOT” we should identify our strengths and weaknesses in relation to the opportunities and threats that could stem from them.

The website mindtools.com, offers a self-explanatory template that could be used for our Self SWOT which is also supported by a nice article that helps us understand better how to get the most out of our analysis (see links at the bottom of this article).

Below is a quick overview of the questions that we could start asking to ourselves when performing our Self SWOT analysis.

Strengths

• What do you do well? (actually, better than anyone else)
• What unique resources can you draw on?
• What do others see as your strengths?
• Have we got connections with people that could be very influential for our business/life?

Weaknesses

• What could you improve? (please be honest with yourself)
• Where do you have fewer resources than others? (is there anything you avoid because not feeling good enough)
• What are others likely to see as weaknesses? (again, please be honest)

Opportunities

• What opportunities are open to you? (remember, this is not just about your job, it can indeed apply to your private life)
• What trends could you take advantage of?
• How can you turn your strengths into opportunities (tip: do not wait for the golden opportunity to materialise, go and get it!)?

Threats

• What threats could harm you? (any obstacles at work or in your private life that hinder your path to happiness)
• What is your competition doing? (tip: in this case, I would not consider competitors only as those you want to win against but perhaps also those whom you could ally with)?
• What threats do your weaknesses expose you to? (at this stage honesty is very important since the lack of self-awareness could really hinder our strategy for happiness)

I would say that self-honesty and being as specific as possible are the two key elements to starting the Self SWOT analysis on the right foot.?

I feel comfortable in saying that the Self SWOT is something that can be done whenever we want, either for fun or during a rather challenging period, and hopefully, it will help us to achieve a higher sense of accomplishment and happiness in our life.?