Why SWOT Analysis is Essential in Personal Development

Personal development is an essential step for making yourself more appealing to employers and customers. It also helps boost your self-image. People apply many different tactics to stand apart in this sea of candidates. They want to secure the top position, but it not as easy as it sounds. Individuals often conduct the SWOT analysis.

SWOT is seen as an analytical framework which can help companies facing great challenges. It helps to find the most promising new markets. The analysis was created by business gurus Edmund P. Learned, Kenneth Andrews, C. Roland Christensen and William D. in the 1960s. They wrote about it in their book “Business Policy, Text, and Cases.”

Even though SWOT was originally used for business, it can help assess a person’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats too. This kind of simple analysis structure will provide guidance. It looks at internal and external factors. Do not take the SWOT analysis light.

Self-analysis is perhaps one of the most complicated things. But, it plays a very significant role in personal progress. The personal skills SWOT analysis will help you to learn more about you. Carrying out a personal SWOT analysis is an important step towards finding life and career direction.

Follow all steps seriously and create your Personal SWOT analysis.

Before you allot precious time in the process, make sure that you are ready to provide honest answers to yourself. While we easily scrutinize companies, jobs, employers and colleagues, criticizing ourselves is the first step here.

Dig deep and identify what your own contributions really are. The analysis entails finding out what you are good at and what you are terrible at. SWOT is a tool for you. After you learn all the necessary details about yourself, you can make an effort to make positive changes which will lead to new opportunities. Basically, SWOT analysis provides a better picture of all pros and cons you have.

The outcome will depend on how you react to the findings. For example, you can react in 2 ways after you list all your weaknesses. You can either understand how they can be threating to not only your career but also your personal life, or you can work to overcome the weakness. It is always wise to think positively. Act proactively to turn the weakness into strength. Also, try to eliminate all threats. Give importance to your strengths and take advantage of the opportunities.

SWOT for personal development can help the following people:

• Students
• Managers and Owners
• Professionals, Executives
• Career Starters
• Practitioners and HR
• Doctors and Engineers
• Employees
• Husband and Wife
• Parents

The elements of a Personal SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis focuses on the 4 elements included in its acronym. Knowing about these positive and negative factors can help you make changes more effectively. Typically, a SWOT analysis is done by creating a table, divided into 4 columns. Usually, the strengths and weaknesses do not match the opportunities and threats listed. Remember that pairing external threats with the internal weaknesses can help highlight the most serious issues.

For each of the SWOT elements, ask yourself some questions. I have listed some example questions below, but they may vary.

Strengths

• What benefits do you have which others do not have? This could include skills, education, or connections.
• What are you better at than anyone else?
• What personal resources do you have access to?
• What do other people see as your strengths?
• Which achievements are you most proud of?
• What values do you believe in that others fail to show?
• Are you part of a network no one else is involved in? What connections do you have with powerful people?

Weaknesses

• What work do you usually avoid because of lack of confidence?
• What do people think you weaknesses are?
• Are you happy with your education and skills training?
• Do you have any negative work habits?
• Which of your personality traits hold you back?

Opportunities

• What new technology can assist you?
• Can you take advantage of the market in its present state?
• Do you have a network of strategic contacts to offer good advice or help you?
• Is any of your competitors failing to do something important? Can you take advantage of it?
• Is there a need in your company which no one is filling?
• Could you create an opportunity by offering solutions to problems?

Threats

• What hindrances do you currently face at work?
• Is any of your co-workers competing with you for projects or roles?
• Is your job changing?
• Can technological changes threaten your position?
• Could any of your weaknesses lead to threats?

The Advantages of Conducting a Personal SWOT

The main purpose of a SWOT is to promote the identified strengths, reduce weaknesses, exploiting the opportunities and having contingency plans to minimize threats.

There are many benefits and advantages of using SWOT Analysis for personal development. It is good for your success and betterment. Some of the most common benefits of conducting a personal SWOT analysis have been mentioned below.

• Helps to develops strategies to attain your goals
• You can be better than your friends and colleagues
• Shows where you currently stand on the path of success
• Measures your scopes of reaching desired goals
• Boosts your career, life and personality
• Helps to better understand who you really are as a person
• Maximizes your strengths and diminishes your weaknesses
• Explores and also enhances your soft skills and hard skills
• It helps you understand your preferences and personality traits.
• Focuses on your attitudes, abilities, skills, capabilities and capacities

There are many other advantages of this analysis. Apply it to your situation and enjoy the awesome benefits of personal SWOT analysis.

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