Knowing yourself is easier said than done. However it’s the basis for any kind of improvement in personal life as well in organizational life contexts like business and teamwork.
Good thing is, these days we have practical tools like SWOT analysis that we can easily use to learn more of ourselves.
Here is a table for doing a personal SWOT analysis (takes about 30-45 mins). The questions are intended to challenge you. I suggest you time your work on this so you spend a good amount of time in each section.
You can print the resulting table and review and redo it after 6 months to see how you have developed since.
| Date: | |
| Strengths (Internal, Positive, In the Now) | Weaknesses (Internal, Negative, In the Now) |
| What are my strong skills and knowledge? What are my personal values and natural talents? Am I resilient and not afraid to fail forward? | What do I currently struggle with? What are my bad habits? Do I avoid taking risks? What negative thoughts and beliefs hold me back currently? |
| Opportunities (External, Positive, Future-oriented) | Threats (External, Negative, Future-oriented) |
| What opportunities do I have in my current situation? What external factors could assist me in reaching my goals (this week/month/year)? What skills could I learn? What trends do I find interesting? | What obstacles or challenges could I face (this week/month/year)? Are there some negative influences in my life currently? Have I listed and written out the lessons learned from my past experiences? |
You can include different life areas in the table or make separate ones. Themes can be e.g.: relationship, friendships, physical and mental health and work.
The important part here is honesty to yourself and sufficient repetition and review of the SWOT analysis, not so much the one time act of analyzing – and then never visiting the resulting files.
Knowing yourself takes hard work but it pays off as a good life. Happy analysis!
Updated: 2025-01-01