SWOT Analysis S-Strength W-Weakness O- Opportunities T-Threat.

Long ago Greek philosopher Socrates said Know Thyself which literally means know yourself. One does and sometimes it is important to put on multiple personalities in order to tackle people and situation all their lives. However sometimes we start acting according to these false imagies and pretences which is where it becomes fatal for our personal and professional lives. Corporate world has become an unrestricted territory and we have to work and interact with people of different religion cultures and background. To be working with a person it is important to understand them well however to do that we need to understand ourselves first. It is impossible to understand others unless person has understood himself/herself. You therefore need to be aware of yourself and your position and work according to that and not what others perceive you to be. It is important to know yourself because You would be able to know your strengths and weaknesses and thus will be able to build on your strengths and eliminate or minimise your weaknesses. You would be able to tame your emotions which literally name no place in the corporate world. It helps you make your decisions and choices without getting affected by emotions. Knowing yourself helps you in achieving your goal as knowing your strengths and weaknesses would put you in a better position to understand the best and the fastest ways to do achieve your goal. You would be in a better position to take sound decisions. It would help you in improving your relationship especially, interpersonal relations at the work place, as it helps you in developing a better attitude. Helps you realize your full potential and shortcomings when it comes to your professional helm.

How to do a personal SWOT analysis Personal SWOT analysis is a look at your traits personally and professionally, it helps you in identifying the areas where you need an improvement, the ones you can capitalise on, the ones you can look forward to and the ones you need to be careful of. Thats why it is a very important step in your personal goal setting While doing a self SWOT analysis you need to understand what will feature under which head so lets Define S W O T first.

Strengths Your strengths are the competencies you have related to a given field or exploration of a given factor, in your personality that enhances your competitive edge or advantage. Weaknesses Your weaknesses the lack of targeted competencies for a given field or a task. This can also be a non existence of critical factors which are important to enhance your competitive edge or advantage. These are the internal factors which can be controlled by us and can be improved upon.

Opportunities Opportunities are external conditions, which, if identified and used rightly, could positively impact your critical performance parameters and improve competitive advantage. Provided positive action is taken in time. Threats Threats are external conditions that could negatively impact your critical performance parameters and diminish your competitive advantage if corrective action is not taken in time. These are the external factors which are practically not in our control.

To identify these parameters you need to answer a few questions attached to each one of them. Strengths What do you do well? What others see as your strengths? What are the personal behavioural traits which can render you strong professionally. Any specialist knowledge which you possess. Possession of a material resource is also a strength. E.g. money to make initial investment when you want to start a business.

Weaknesses The points you need to improve on. The places where your resources are lesser than others. What are others see as your weaknesses. Your limitations both, professionally or personally. Any material resource which you might need but dont have can be listed as your weakness like- Money, Time, human help etc. A lack of interest or motivation too is a weakness when it comes to professional goals.

Opportunities What are the trends you can take advantage of? Any way that you can use to improve your result area.

Availability of any special tool which can help you in enhancing your present skill set. E.g. Educational courses which can help you in improving your skill sets are the opportunities available to you. Even training programs which can help you in developing your personality traits are opportunities available to you. Threats Competition The factors which might harm you. Any changes in the environment which migh be a hinderance in your way is a threat, be it a government policy or a danger of a natural clamity.

The analysis will help you in understanding The best opportunities for you. You would know the internal strengths you possess, which would help youin overcoming the threats. The threats you can overcome and the ones you need to eliminate. Your weaknesses which might require your immediate attention.

How to do a SWOT analysis? Brainstorm the purpose of doing this analysis is that you dont know much about these points yourself and you need to discover them for your benefit. SO we need to take following steps to do our SWOT analysis. 1. Brain Storm You need to brian storm to identity the oppoetunities and threats in your environment. Ask yourself whats are the proformance parameters which are critical to my goal achievement. Explore External conditions whoud could affect your performance. Identify Roadblocks you might encounter. Some of the points you might come across would be Availability of time Availability of right guidance at work place Availability of funds if you want to start something availability of the right opportunities Expectations of family and friends from you and your job Stress level you might encounter Degree of competition Your personal career goals Availability of right jobs Kind of career growth your job/company might offer

Now prepare an opportunity/ threat analysis sheet and rate these on the basis of importanct and probability of occurrence

2 Rate yourself on the basis of your own performance What are your core competencies What kind of job profile you would be able to handle What are your extracurricular achievement which might help you in your work How do you spend your leisure time like some people love working on computers and have a knack of handling them and making new programs for fun they can turn this fun activity into a career. Your communication skills Good or bad Your motivation levels Your team management skills You believe in working hard or working smart Your body language Your interpersonal relationship skills Your own time management skills Whether you are an organised person or not How well do you perform under stress Whether you are a positive thinker

This is how you will come up with a list of your own personality traits. Now strike out the traits which you feel and not relevant at all. Prtepare a strength weakness sheet now list down your strong points in the strength section and the point you think you need to work on in the weakness section be honest, this is for your own good. Now amalgamate two sheets and you would have your SWOT analysis in front of you. 3 Act Now you have listed down all the points you would possibly have in your SWOT analysis it is action time so act. Build on Strengths Resolve Weaknesses Exploit Opportunities Avoid Threats.

A personal SWOT analysis is a powerful tool that can be used when seeking a career change, a job, admission in a new college or a course or even while you are looking for a girl friend. The idea is link it with a strong goal and it will enable you to take advantage of your skills and attributes to take your life, career and profession to a new height.