It’s Time for Your ME SWOT!

I love a good SWOT and use it all the time when working with organizations for strategic planning.

SWOT stands for the categories Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.  Through brainstorming, you list all of the items that fit in these categories.   I love it because it provides a clear foundation about the current situation and where the best areas are to create a plan that is the roadmap for a successful year. 

It got me thinking – what about a personal SWOT as I start the new year? Even though I have already set my goals, I wanted to see if this would provide me more information to incorporate.  As a coach, I love using tools that open up insights, especially those for self-insight. These are the real key to growth because it provides a different context for where, why and how to move forward.

A crucial tool when doing this type of analysis is the prompting questions to help you think thoroughly about each category.  I looked at what was available regarding personal SWOTs, and I didn’t find one that I felt would really help me uncover new findings for the next year.   So, I decided to make my own. And voilà! The ME SWOT was born.

The ME SWOT has a twist from the regular in which the categories are Strengths, Wishes, Opportunities and Threats. I also created the questions to prompt me to think personally for each of these categories in different ways. I used it with a group last night with great success!

Do you want to clarify your strengths and what is personally most important to you in the next year?  Try the ME SWOT using the categories I listed or, if you would like a ME SWOT activity sheet with the prompting questions, I’m happy to share!  Please just reach out to Heather at heather@illuminateandgo.com and she will send it to you.  Happy SWOTTing!