[Music] so what is this what a SWOT analysis is an effective process that typically businesses and companies use to analyze themselves and their competitors and formulate their strategies SWOT is nothing but an acronym for strengths and weaknesses opportunities and threats this important exercise can be very helpful for us individuals whether you're looking for a new job or trying to climb the corporate ladder or working on your life goals a personal SWOT analysis can help you achieve your goals it's a creative method of self-assessment to help you assess where your life or career is and where it could go to conduct the personal SWOT analysis ask yourself questions about each of the four areas being examined answer honestly honesty is crucial or the analysis will not generate meaningful results with that in mind try to see yourself from the standpoint of a colleague or a bystander and view criticism with objectivity don't limit yourself to the strengths that you're currently exhibiting in your life or in your job list all of your strengths even the ones that have been dormant for a while and pay particular attention to the things that you have that your peers don't how are you different unique and special [Music] the next step is weaknesses this part examines the areas in which you need to improve and the things that will set you back in your life and your career for the opportunities section look at the external factors that you can take advantage of to pursue your goals and dreams beat at work or beat in your life [Music] finally look at any threats to your career or life growth this part takes into account the external factors that could hurt your chances to attain your goals [Music] once you have filled out the matrix there are two ways to analyze the information and build a strategy matching or converting matching means connecting two of the categories to determine a course of action for example matching strengths to opportunities shows you where to be Grissom and take action on the other hand matching weaknesses to threats exposes those areas you should work on or situations to avoid and lets you know where to be more defensive of your position to convert is to turn negatives into positives in other words converting your weaknesses into strengths or threads into opportunities this can mean growing a skill set through education or maybe finding a creative way to feature a weakness as a strength once the personal SWOT analysis is completed it is crucial to follow through on the insights you uncovered SWOT analysis can fail to be effective if it's simply treated as a laundry list without any time to how the elements identified in the analysis can be put into play for example how can the identified strengths move the needle in the end ever to achieve a key goal or how can one navigate a potential threat once it is identified so as to ensure no ground is lost the best outcome is to take action and succeed in the opportunities you have identified this can benefit you on a personal and a professional level and set you apart from your peers and colleagues now there are a variety of SWOT templates out on the internet but if you'd like a copy of the template that I use personally along with the personal example and the comprehensive list of questions that you could ask yourself in each of the quadrants do leave a comment with your email address and I'll email them out to you [Music]