We’re about halfway through a year-long GenuLines series of articles on self-improvement. It’s a good time to pause for an overall look at how we’re doing.
The following offers a template for doing that.
Consider Doing a SWOT Analysis on Yourself
When people create case studies on businesses, they often include a SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
If you can do this for business, why not consider doing one for yourself?
It can help you gain insight into yourself and reinforce the idea of believing in yourself.
The SWOT concept is usually diagrammed in quadrants or squares. Each represents one word or letter in the acronym.
You can put any of the words into any square
It’s customary, though, to use the upper left square for Strengths. The lower left square is for Opportunities.
The upper-right square is for Weaknesses, and the lower-right square is for Threats.
Fill up each quadrant with appropriate items relating to the heading of the quadrant. To take this a step further, ask family and friends to help you fill up the quadrants.
After you have them all filled, you can decide what needs improvement.
Stay positive
Don’t let the negative aspects of this process (Weaknesses, Threats) trip you up. You’re listing them to gain perspective in areas that you need your focus.
In fact, some weaknesses you may not want to tackle because it doesn’t interest you. Threats are merely items to be aware of and may help you try to overcome them.
The key to success is to be as honest as possible with yourself about all the items included in the analysis. If you aren’t, it isn’t going to help you much, and you may focus on the wrong items to improve.
Further, you may not be as strong in some areas as you believed, which also can lead you on the wrong path.
A good SWOT analysis is a great foundation for your personal and professional life. You can use it as a tool to advance your goals.
You’ll learn about yourself and who you are. But don’t rush this process.
You want it to be as representative of yourself as possible. It’s better to take several days or even weeks than to try to list items for the sake of filling up the quadrants.
Feeling comfortable with your analysis can help your self-belief.
It’s all there for you to reference and to refine your tasks and goals.
JohnK 6-18-2019
Overheard: “The analysis of character is the highest human entertainment” ~Isaac Bashevis Singer
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