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How To Do Personal SWOT Analysis | SWOT Analysis Process

SWOT analysis is the review of your (or your organization’s) situation by looking at Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
It has been adopted by businesses for several years as a strategic planning tool because it endeavors to give you an all-round view of the organization.
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SWOT analysis is, however, equally beneficial on a personal level as a way to recognize areas for development, and as part of career conversations.
Its easy format and easy-to-apply structure mean that it can be used very efficiently without support.
A Quick Summary of SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is a way of gazing at your situation by identifying:
Strengths, or those spheres where you have the edge over others, or some unique means to exploit;
Weaknesses, or domains where you or your organization may be more vulnerable than others and may discover that others can do better than you;
Opportunities, or probabilities that you can take advantage of to support you achieve your goals and aspirations; and
Threats, or circumstances that might stall you or your organization from making a profit or achieving your aspirations and goals.
Personal SWOT Analysis
A personal SWOT analysis is very comparable to one for business, saving that you focus on yourself and your purposes.
Our page on SWOT analysis demonstrates that one of the benefits of a SWOT analysis is that the structure is very flexible.
You can, therefore, utilise it in a wide assortment of circumstances.
A personal SWOT analysis, nevertheless, may be more useful if you concentrate on a specific goal or obstacle that you want to approach.
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This is because we all have several very distinct goals.
The skills and traits that may assist us towards one goal may be inappropriate, or even a weakness, in another setting.
A threat in individual context could be insignificant in another.
The SWOT Process
Identify The Goal That You Want To Accomplish
It is crucial to be as precise as possible.
Be definite about timing, that is, when you want to accomplish your goal, and additionally how you will comprehend that you have achieved it (your success criteria).
If you have not yet recognized any goals, you may find it convenient to browse our page on Setting Personal Goals.
Think specifically about that goal.
Recognize The Personal Strengths

Recognize the personal strengths that will assist you in accomplishing it, and the weaknesses that could hinder you.
It is often important to consider experience, skills, knowledge, resources and assistance that you have available.
If you list these topics independently, you will master to analyse them all.
These operations are generally internal, that is, they correlate to you personally, and the means and talents that are accessible to you.
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They are, therefore, things that are frequently under your command.
TOP TIP! Kick-starting your self-analysis
If you find this process complicated, you may want to take our Interpersonal Skills Self-Assessment, to give you an opinion of your weaknesses and strengths.
This may be a helpful starting point for future thinking.
Identify Any Personal Opportunities
Recognize any personal possibilities that could allow you to accomplish the purpose, and furthermore that you will be able to derive the benefit of it when you have accomplished it.
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Opportunities are usually external, correlating to the environment and those nearby you, rather than you. They include things like:
Promotions and financial incentives; and
Improvements that are likely to transpire at work or outside, such as someone going on maternity leave or vacation that might mean you have an opportunity to do something different.
In recognising opportunities that might initiate as a result of accomplishing your goal, examine both short- and long-term benefits.
Identify Any Threats
These are external elements and events that are bothering you, or that might happen and deter you from either accomplishing your goals or taking benefit of the privileges.
Review and Prioritise
Ultimately, as always with development ventures and anything that seems like strategic thinking, it is an excellent idea to evaluate your analysis. Ask yourself:
Is this recognisably me?
Is there anything that I have overlooked?
And subsequently:
Which areas are most relevant in each of the four sections in the analysis?
Attempt to highlight one, or at most two, elements from each of powers, vulnerabilities, opportunities and intimidations that you think will be most important in obtaining (or preventing you from accomplishing) your goal. Those fields will be your priorities for action.
Using a Personal SWOT Analysis

Our page Learning from Mentoring implies that a personal SWOT analysis is a beneficial tool in working out what you require to get from mentoring.
It is, though, much more extensively applicable, and you can use it to assist you in analyzing any personal development or learning circumstances.
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Operating through this process for a selective goal and/or obstacle that you face enables you to recognise which areas are disturbing you, and where you most need to concentrate.
You can use the method for every goal, but it may be more convenient to use it only when you find an issue particularly stimulating.
It is, definitely, a way of organizing your thinking and helping you to see the problem in a somewhat varied way.
Phone a Friend?

A personal SWOT analysis could be done on your personal level.
Still, it is worth bearing in mind that a business SWOT analysis is more effective if it forms on evidence from outside the company, such as autonomous market research, or views from consumers.
In a similar way, a personal SWOT analysis is anticipated to be more powerful if you draw on the viewpoints of others.
If, for instance, you are member of a learning society at work, college, or university, you can accept to go through the method for each other in turn. You can even collect evidence from each other’s co-workers to confirm the analysis.
If you are achieving this by yourself, you may require to ask friends and colleagues their opinions on your strengths and weaknesses or invite them to elucidate on your first draft analysis and recommend additions.
A Conclusive Observation…
Similar to any personal development process, a SWOT analysis is not something that you need to do every day.
But if you are encountering a particular problem that is very unmanageable, or that you are striving to know where to begin with a goal, it may be a helpful way of ordering your thinking and giving you a distinctive perspective on the problem.