Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I used to feel like I was growing in about 20 different directions. I had no real clarity on what I was good at, what was holding me back, or where I should even focus my energy. So many of us on this self discovery journey, but we don't stop to actually assess where we are. Or at least I didn't. That's when I came across the concept of a SWOT analysis and everything clicked. Today I'm going to walk you through how I did my own personal sweat analysis and how you can too. Due to this assessment, I've been able to make line decisions, stop doubting myself, and started showing up intentionally on purpose. So let's get right into it. I believe a personal swat is one of the most powerful things you can do on your self discovery journey because it helps you tie everything together. If you've been keeping up with this series, you know we've been talking about discovering your values triggers, your strengths, relationship pattern, and you're getting to know yourself. But sometimes you just have to take a step back and assess where you are. In case you don't know what a SWOT analysis is or you need a reminder, it's an acronym where the S stands for strengths, what you do well, the W stands for weaknesses, where you get stuck, the O stand for opportunities, what you can lean into or grow towards, and a T stand for threats, what might block or derail your growth. This helped give me a full picture not just of who I am, but of the decisions I could start making differently. And that's exactly what I needed at that point in time when I was on this journey. It's so easy to be focused on growth, growth, growth, growth, growth. And you could grow in all the areas. And sometimes we look at things and we don't even need to do that because we already have a solid foundation when it comes to that. That's where I was. I was dibbling and dabbling in so many self development tools that I was getting more than what I needed. All I needed to do was pause and take a look at my weaknesses, for example, or threats that may have still been holding me back. So I did just that. Instead of looking at my strengths and essentially asked myself what's working for me right now. I was able to identify my strengths by of course, grabbing a pen and a paper and sitting down to journal this out. I wrote out what I was naturally good at, the things people complimented me on, moments where I felt most alive, and some of the feedback I was getting from the people closest to me and strangers. Some Examples from my list include people always saying I'm a common presence or that I'm a naturally curious person asking questions and that I follow through once I'm committed to Taking a look at your strengths also help you gain confidence. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our head and we don't believe that we're good at anything or that we have anything to bring to the table. But when you sit down and write out all the things that make you unique or make you great, or you see what your strengths are, or you hear and you see what other people see in you, that is a confidence boost that lets you know what you have inside of you. And that's important. You can walk with your head up and your shoulders back because you know that there are things that you're good at. Especially if you're someone who is having a hard time trying to pick a direction or you feel really lost and stuck. Knowing your strengths can help you get out of that because you could play into those things. We'll talk a little bit about that in the Purpose episode, but for now, here's the journal Prompts to go with assessing your strengths. Write down three to five strengths that have showed up in your life consistently, even the ones you overlook. You really good at talking to people. That is a strength. There are so many people that are not good at talking to people. You're a great planner. That's a strength. You clean very well. That is a strength. Write down what comes easy to you and what makes you the great person that you are. Now let's talk about weaknesses. This is where I wrote about where I struggle or self sabotage the most. And let me just start this off by saying you have to be honest here. Might even feel like you're failing, but you're not. You have to know what your weaknesses are in order to accept them so you can correct them. This was the hardest section for me, without a doubt, but also the most freeing, I had to admit. Where I play small, avoid hard conversations, or procrastinate so that I could see what was holding me back so I could move forward to the woman that I wanted to become. As I was writing this out, some things that showed up for me were I let perfectionism slow me down trying to be perfect, have it all together, make sure all my ducks were on a row. I dyed my eyes and crossing my T's and just wanting to be perfect and organized slowed me down so much because I could never start anything. Anything. The truth is I was never going to be ready because I didn't give myself the opportunity to have growing pains to grow through what I was going through. I was just trying to be perfect and I was sabotaging myself and what I wanted to do. A perfect example is this podcast. I've been wanting to start a podcast and share my story, but I thought I had to check all the boxes on the checklist and whenever something popped up where it wasn't checked off, oh, I can't start because I'm not ready to do it because I haven't checked that off yet. When I finally got out of my head and started to put one foot in front of the other, everything is coming along as I'm going. I no longer feel the need to be perfect or have everything figured out. Another thing that showed up for me was I was afraid or would avoid setting boundaries because I didn't want to disappoint people. And I can't tell you how much that held me back. Boundaries are about you, your tolerance, what you will and won't allow. And you should never be afraid of communicating how people should handle you. Never. That's something I learned after doing this, but it was one of the things that popped up for me as something that I struggled with. The journal prompts to go along with this section include writing out where you play small, avoid conversations, or procrastinate. And this isn't about judging yourself, it's about spotting the pattern so you can move forward with intention. Now let's talk about opportunities. This is where I focus on what I can lean into. I found my opportunities by simply looking at what's available to me right now that I haven't been fully using new skills, supportive people, even time I thought about all the things that I had learned and how I could apply them. Some examples that came up for me were I realized I could be more visible and share my story on social media. I knew that this would not only be an opportunity for me to expand on my strengths, but also walk in my purpose, which we'll talk about in a couple episodes. Another example of what I learned was that I had access to community of women doing the work, but I wasn't engaging enough. If the past couple years have told me anything is the importance of community and having like minded people around you. So I started seeking out those connections and friendships with other women on the same path as myself. And lastly, there was a course I bought but never started and having paused to assess where I was, I knew that that course was a good course to start based on where I was trying to go. So to identify some of your opportunities, use this prompt. Ask yourself what's already around you or within you that could open doors if you gave it your energy. What's available to you right now? We've looked at strengths, we looked at weaknesses, and we just finished up with opportunities. Now let's get into the and final thing which is threats. I had a couple wake up calls, but the biggest one myself. When I got to this section I had to admit that I yes, I Kina Shache was the biggest threat to my own growth. Sometimes my personal threats look like over committing and burning out. I told you before that I was afraid of letting people down and disappointing them. So I was always saying yes over committing and going along with what everyone else wanted to do. And that was the fastest way to over commit and burn out, which is a threat to my own growth and goals because I can never focus on myself. Another one of my personal thoughts were comparing my journey to where I thought I was supposed to be. I'm this age so I should be doing X, Y and Z. I have this degree, so why am I not doing that? Or this person graduated in the same class as me and they're doing this. Why am I doing that? Like comparison a threat. Because if you're constantly focused with your head up on what everyone else is doing, you can't see what you have going on right in front of you and how to move forward step by step, one foot in front of the other. That was one of the biggest threats to my growth. Letting fear of judgment keep me quiet is another example of one of my personal threats. I called it fear of judgment. Today you might hear it as a fear of being perceived, but it means the same thing. I was so afraid of walking in my purpose because of what it might look like and how different it was for what people knew to be true about me. So I kept quiet. I kept everything in my notebook and I never acted on what I needed to be true for myself. And that is a threat to my livelihood, to my happiness, to my purpose and to my fulfillment. It was never fair. If I kept quiet. In the end all I would heard is myself. So to identify yours, think of these as red flags or patterns to watch, not to shame yourself, but to stay self aware. One of the biggest insights I learned from doing my own personal SWAT was seeing it all laid out made me feel more grounded. I could finally see the full picture and not just the parts I liked or that I was consciously aware of, but all of me. After I did my personal swat. The first thing I did was choose one opportunity to lean into which was showing up consistently and not waiting to feel ready. That one choice changed everything because here I am in front of you right now. This is one affirmation that I use that I want you to start using as well. Affirm to yourself I have the power to grow when I move with honesty, compassion and intention. We are at the end of the video but I would love to leave you with a couple key takeaways and action steps. Your strengths remind you of what's already working. Your weaknesses show you where to be gentle. But real opportunities inspire action and threats keep you awake and aware you're not behind. You're just beginning to see yourself clearly and that's where true growth starts. I hope you enjoyed today's video. If you did like comment, subscribe and I'll see you in the next video.
