SWOT Analysis

A Personal SWOT analysis is an exercise in self-introspection to help you understand yourself and prepare
for growth. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

In order to make the most of a personal SWOT analysis, you’ll want to not only list out your strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, but expand upon them. The amount of introspection and
analysis you conduct will depend on you, but some questions you can ask yourself include:

• Where does this [strength, weakness, opportunity, threat] come from

• How does it affect me and my life?
• What am I going to do about it? What are the next steps?

Business SWOT Analysis Versus Personal SWOT Analysis:

You may have heard of, or even used a SWOT analysis in a business setting. It’s a common tool for teams
to generate ideas and work on business strategies oriented around their competitive advantages, gaps,
and value proposition. This analysis can also help teams and businesses to identify the external and
internal factors that might affect future performance.

Personal SWOT analyses have the same idea, though rarely are they prepared with teamwork (unless
you’re consulting with friends and family). A big difference between a business SWOT and a personal
SWOT is that for a business, it will usually be focused on products, strategies, and action plans. Whereas,
for a personal SWOT, you can also add soft skills, emotional components, and feelings.

Where these two perspectives align is with action. To make the most of a SWOT analysis (be it for
personal analysis or for business purposes), you don’t just self-evaluate and mark it as “done”. Both
businesses and individuals should use this evaluation to inspire action, decisions, and growth.

Benefits of Conducting a Personal SWOT Analysis:

The biggest benefit to performing your own personal SWOT analysis is the structure it gives your self-
evaluation. Individuals might think about what they’re good at or what’s getting in the way of their
personal growth, at least once in a while. However, abstract introspection doesn’t help us create change.
Action is built into the SWOT analysis in the opportunities section.

Secondly, the SWOT focuses on both positive and negative aspects. If you only focus on the good things,
then you won’t have a clear direction of what to improve or what needs to change. However, if you only
focus on your weaknesses and threats, you might get overwhelmed and disinherited before you make it
to your action plan.

Thirdly, the SWOT analysis focuses on internal characteristics and factors that affect your opportunities.
You’ll always have much more control over internal factors compared to external ones.

How to Make a Personal SWOT Analysis:

Begin your SWOT analysis by choosing which of the four components to brainstorm first. I suggest
starting with strengths or weaknesses.

Strengths Analysis:

Your strengths should encompass both what you are good at generally and what makes you special. If
you’re having a hard time thinking of your strengths, then turn to other people in your life. Here are
some exercises and questions to help guide your brainstorming:

• What have been your biggest successes? (think school, sports, work, group project) What
characteristics made those accomplishments possible?
• What tangible qualifications do you have? (certifications, degrees, education, training,
internships, etc.)
• What projects have you worked on and completed? (whether in school, at work, or in your
personal life)
• What values do you have that others might not have?
• What knowledge-based skills do you have? (languages, digital skills, software knowledge, and
other technical skills)
• What soft-skills do you have? (teamwork, leadership, dependable, hardworking)
• What positive personality traits do you have? (friendly, funny, empathetic, enthusiastic, honest,
patient)
• What do other people in your life say are your strengths? (friends, parents, coworkers, bosses,
teachers)

Personal SWOT Strength Analysis Example:

I am a hardworking professional, an imaginative artist, and a compassionate person. I don’t get

discouraged when something doesn’t work out, but look for solutions. I speak multiple languages. I can
easily learn and understand technical concepts.

Creative

Problem-Solving
Organized

Optimistic

Weaknesses Analysis:
Before starting on your weaknesses, keep in mind that the point of this exercise isn’t to feel bad about
your problems, but to understand them so you can work on improving them. If you want to make this
personal SWOT analysis as helpful as possible, you can also make notes of what you can do to work on
these weaknesses in this same step.

Try to be honest here. This isn’t necessarily the list you’re going to present to your boss or job recruiter.
It’s for your eyes only. That being said, here are some prompts to get you thinking about what your
weaknesses are in a constructive way:

• What times have you “messed up”? (school, work, relationships, with your family, etc.) What
about you or what did you do to cause that issue?
• Are you missing any technical qualifications from your education or professional experience?
• What situations and tasks do you usually avoid? Why? What does this say about you as a
person?
• What bad habits do you have?
• Have people ever complained about you? (Keep in mind that not all complaints are true
reflections of a person) What have been the valid complaints?
• Think about things that aren’t necessarily weaknesses, but things that you could improve.
• What would others say you could improve?

Personal SWOT Weaknesses Analysis Example:

I need to improve my self-control, especially when it comes to doing things that are necessary like
budgeting or cleaning up after myself. I can be impatient and moody. My family says I’m messy.

• Budget
Don’t keep track of income and expenses well
• Follow-through
Better at brainstorming than execution
• Expression
Sometimes I don’t say what I want to
• Technical skills
Have more artistic skills than technical
Opportunity Analysis:

Your list of opportunities and potential opportunities will differ based on the reason you’re conducting
the personal SWOT analysis. Here are some prompts broken down into three main categories of
opportunities: work, education, and personal life

Work Opportunity Analysis

• If you’re looking for jobs: Look at job descriptions on LinkedIn or a career site. Look for jobs that
call for skills that match the ones you put in your list. These could be opportunities for you.
• Are there any positions at your work that need filling? Are there any tasks that no one else likes
to do or is able to do that you can do or learn to do?
• Is there a new project starting at work that you could join and contribute to?
• What potential could you have if you improved one or two of your weaknesses?
• What connections do you have that you can leverage to find work opportunities?

Education Opportunity Analysis

• Ask people you know who have had different jobs that you’re interested in what they studied
and what characteristics they think people need for that job. If these match with your strengths,
then they could be degree opportunities.
• What potential jobs could you get if you studied one degree or course compared to another?
What kinds of courses have you been good at?
• Do you know people who have gone to any schools you’re interested in going to? Could they tell
you about their experience or even get you into a meeting with someone who works there?

Personal Life Opportunity Analysis

• What activities or hobbies could you start doing or learn to do?

• Are there any groups you can join?
• What could you achieve in your personal life if you improved on some of your weaknesses?

Personal SWOT Opportunity Analysis Example:

• Work Opportunity: Jenny works at Microsoft and could get me into an interview.
• Work Opportunity: If I improve sales by 15%, I can get a promotion.
• Education Opportunity: There’s a free online course for learning how to make a website.
 • Education Opportunity: My highest grades in high school were in biology and physics. Could find
success in a science degree.
• Personal Life Opportunity: A DnD group on the local Facebook page is looking for a new member.
• Personal Life Opportunity: The gallery downtown is offering watercolour classes.

Threat Analysis:

What barriers or obstacles are keeping you from achieving your goals and dreams? These threats could
come from people, organizations, policies, situations, or even yourself. Here is a list of questions to help
you brainstorm the threats in your life:

• Is there someone in your life holding you back?

• Think about your weaknesses: Does anyone in your life exacerbate these weaknesses or
encourage them?
• Are there any new trends, technologies, or processes that you can’t or haven’t gotten involved in
that are keeping you from advancing?
• Are there certain tasks, errands, or projects that bog you down and keep you from advancing?
• Is your job, education, or personal life getting in the way of advancing in one of the other areas?
• Do any of your personal traits of weaknesses directly lead to a threat to your success?
• Think about things that, if they were different, would help you move closer to achieving your
goals. What are they?

Personal SWOT Threat Analysis Example

Example of Threats Analysis in Personal SWOT:

• Whenever I’m with my college friends, I’m tempted to spend more money.
• I lose motivation at work whenever I have to work on reports.
• Working from home at my family’s house is too distracting.
• My impatience often leads to difficulties with people.

Conclusion
Your Personal SWOT Analysis is as Simple or Complex as You Make It

You can spend hours brainstorming an exhaustive list of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats and analysing each thing you write down.

Or you can go with your gut and write down a quick list of the first things that come to your mind and
avoid overthinking.

Both tactics can be useful. It all depends on your ultimate goal with the exercise. Do you want to know
yourself better? Do you want to improve? Either way, the personal SWOT analysis can help you on your
way.