What do I always do in these situations?
What runs in my family?
Am I capable of change?
When you start to become more aware of your narratives (e.g. internal voices telling you whatever), you can start to redirect them – that is, redirect your attention, and thus you spend your energy and efforts more consciously in this moment.
What are my goals?
How do I act now?
Can I shift my focus towards the constructive today?
Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single decision: the direction in which to take the first step.
Tuhannen mailin matka alkaa, kun päätät minne ensiksi suuntaat.
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
Saving and serving as words have a lot of historical and mythological baggage that coaching does not have. Understanding these concepts more clearly can help us relate to coaching in a more useful manner. Here’s a short breakdown of these concepts and what kind of relationship they build:
| Verb | Typical phrase | Economic relationship | Attitude |
| to save | “When ___, then ___.” | unnecessary consumption constant dependence | helplessness occasionally manipulative |
| to serve | “Do what I pay you for.” “I do what I’m paid to do.” | purchase of product or service as needed paid employment regular customer | be useful honesty and respecting contracts |
| to coach | “What are the best steps forward?” “How do you want me to hold you responsible?” | coaching relationship for a few months creating capacity and independence | create time, space and responsibility Reflection and self-awareness |
