Personal SWOT Matrix: What It Is, Parts, And How To Do It
The SWOT or SWOT matrix It is a tool used in the business field that allows us to learn more about the state of companies and develop an intervention plan when problems are found.
Thanks to its effectiveness in the business world, this technique has been transferred to the personal sphere, with the aim of helping people better understand their reality, in addition to helping to develop strategies to achieve their life goals.
In this article we are going to see what this technique consists of, what its components are and how to apply it in our lives to achieve everything we set out to do.
The SWOT matrix, in its most general sense, is a tool that allows us to analyze the current and real state of a company, an organization or a person.
Thanks to this, and by detecting the strengths and weaknesses, it is possible to develop strategies whose purpose is to achieve goals or make a diagnosis of the organization, with the intention of intervening and improving it.
The personal SWOT matrix is a variant that focuses on the characteristics of an individual. It makes it easier to achieve both the personal and professional goals that we set for ourselves, and in recent years it has been gaining popularity due to the emergence and rise of personal brands.
This tool allows us to know ourselves in more depth, in addition to detecting those aspects, both personal and environmental, that will help us improve our lives.
With SWOT matrices we can search for and solve problems that hinder our path to success, whether they are related to our work lives or more personal aspects. Through this It can be improved both professionally and psychologically since the foundations are laid to enhance self-esteem and relationships with others, in addition to discovering what it is about our personality that can make it difficult for us to achieve what we have set out to do.
Just because it has been used in the business environment does not mean that it is a tool that is difficult to apply. Quite the contrary. It is only enough to have a sheet of paper, a pen and half an hour to create a personal SWOT matrix, in addition to not requiring much imagination to detect what influences us when it comes to reaching our goal.
What elements make it up?
The personal SWOT matrix has four elements, which are grouped into two types: internal analysis components and external analysis components.
The components of internal analysis are those that are related to the characteristics of the individual himself, and there is a certain degree of control over them. These characteristics can be fundamental when it comes to understanding our success or failure. The positive personal aspects are the strengths, and the negative ones are the weaknesses.
On the other hand, the external analysis components are those that are determined by the characteristics of the environment, such as the professional environment. We can hardly control these aspects, and they come in the form of opportunities and threats.
Below we explain each of the four components of the SWOT matrix in more detail.
1. Strengths
These are the internal characteristics that help achieve the proposed objective. They can be different types of qualities, such as positive feelings, favorable personality traits, academic degrees, professional experience or technical knowledge, to name a few.
Analyzing these aspects makes it easier to modify the life objective in such a way that it is plausible to achieve it, in addition to being able to see what brings you closer to your life goal.
They are all those characteristics of ourselves that keep us from our goal. They can be defects, fears or simply knowledge that we must expand.
It is very important to be aware of what limits us, since this way we will be able to know what we need to improve and be able to get rid of any impediment over which we have a certain degree of control.
3. Opportunities
They are the environmental conditions that act as facilitators to reach the proposed goal. Through them we can take advantage and get closer quickly to our goal.
4. Threats
They represent the characteristics of the environment that can make the process of reaching the goal difficult. They are conditions external to us such as politics, social problems or family dynamics, which can negatively influence us.
How is a personal SWOT analysis performed?
First of all, You must be clear about the objective you want to achieve. This goal must be concrete. It is very important to be clear about this, since otherwise it can harm the decision-making that will be carried out throughout the process.
1. Preparation of the personal SWOT matrix
On a sheet of paper we prepare the matrix, drawing a square divided into four smaller squares. Each of them will be one of the four SWOT components, and they will be placed depending on whether they are positive and negative components and whether they are internal or external.
2. Internal analysis: strengths and weaknesses
It consists of analyzing those aspects of ourselves, that is, everything that is related to our personality, knowledge, skills and others, that influence the achievement of the proposed goal and that we ourselves can modify.
It begins by analyzing the strengths, that is, everything positive that helps achieve the objective. During this step, We can ask ourselves some questions and try to answer them:
Once the strengths are detected, we move on to the weaknesses. It is very important to take into account the negative things about ourselves that can be an obstacle on our path to success. This They could be personality traits such as being an introvert in a job where you have to have social skills.
Weakness analysis is not simply about detecting them and that’s it. It is necessary to develop a strategic plan to correct those aspects that hinder us.
Some questions that may arise at this point are:
3. External analysis: opportunities and threats
Once we have evaluated ourselves, seeing the positive and the negative, it is necessary to see What characteristics of the environment help and hinder us from reaching our goal?.
First, we will analyze the opportunities, that is, everything in the environment that can give us some type of advantage. We can ask ourselves the following questions:
Then, we will analyze those aspects of the environment that may be hostile to us, and that directly or indirectly threaten our path to success. The objective of this part of the analysis is see what we can do to minimize these dangers or how to learn to overcome them.
Thus, we can ask ourselves the following questions:
Once the analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats has been achieved, we will be able to know what situation we are in and plan a strategy that will lead us to success.
