Play to Your Strengths in 2009!

Mind Tools Newsletter 116– Dec 30th, 2008 To receive newsletters like this straight to your inbox every two weeks, simply sign up using the form in the right-hand column, or click here.

Contents: What's New? The Power of Planning New Year Offer: Fre*e Life Plan Workbook Play To Your Strengths with Personal SWOT Analysis In the Club A Final Note

Play to Your Strengths in 2009!

As 2009 approaches, goal-setting and planning have never been more important. As in previous years, we need to plan how to make best use of our strengths, and take advantage of the opportunities open to us. This year, however, we need to do this in the context of a particularly challenging economic climate.

With this in mind, this special edition of the Mind Tools newsletter gives you the tools you need to plan ahead successfully!

In today's article, we'll take a fresh look at a powerful tool for analyzing your strengths and understanding your current environment. We also bring you a powerful New Year offer: Get the latest edition of our comprehensive goal-setting and personal planning program, the Life Plan Workbook, for fre*e when you join our Career Excellence Club!

Read on, and make your best possible start to 2009!

The Power of Planning

Think about the most successful people you know. What is the secret of their success? Did they get a lucky break? Or are they unusually talented?

Sure, luck and talent play their part. But more than that, successful people know what they want from life; they work hard to make the most of their talents; and they do whatever they can to create opportunities, overcome and learn from difficulties, and make the most of any "luck" that comes their way.

Put another way, goal-setting and planning are the very foundations of success. So, whether you are working towards that promotion, re-skilling to meet the new challenges of these recessionary times, or searching for new ways to progress your life-long ambitions, you really will be more successful if you set goals and plan carefully.

And our New Year offer will help you do just that!

New Year Offer: Fre*e Life Plan Workbook!

The Mind Tools Life Plan Workbook is a comprehensive, step-by-step program that helps you set the goals and make the plans you need for life and career success.

Normally selling at US$27, the latest edition of this workbook brings you the tools and worksheets you need to draw up an inspiring long-term plan, and then helps you organize yourself to start achieving it today. The workbook guides you through a simple 5-step process of reflecting on yourself at your best; exploring your dreams; focusing on your passions; setting powerful goals; and creating an action plan for success.

For the next 2 weeks, you get out Life Plan Workbook for fre*e when you join the Mind Tools Career Excellence Club!

The Career Excellence Club is a unique, global community of people working to make the most of their lives and careers. Used with the Life Plan Workbook, it's a powerful way of propelling yourself towards success.

Club members access more than 350 Mind Tools skill-builder tools, download more than 50 PDF-based bite-sized training packs, listen to in-depth audio interviews with experts in key career areas, participate in regular coaching clinics, and more - building essential life and career skills in areas like leadership, team management, decision-making, project management, and personal effectiveness. What's more, in the Club community forums, you'll benefit from the help and support of the Mind Tools team and other members around the world.

This is a powerful combination: Find out for yourself by trying out the Career Excellence Club, and get the Life Plan Workbook fre*e for doing so. There genuinely are no strings attached to this offer: You get full Club membership AND the Life Plan Workbook for a first months' Club subscription of just US$1. You can cancel at any time and keep the workbook even if you decide to leave!

Try the Club out now. Get your fre*e copy of the Life Plan Workbook, and experience the Club for yourself!

Play To Your Strengths!

And now for today's newsletter article, looking at Personal SWOT Analysis... Whilst you're planning and thinking about the year ahead, this article will help you understand your strengths and weakness, and think about the environment in which you are working.

Traditional SWOT analysis (where SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) is a classic tool in business strategy. Our personal version of this classic technique helps individuals formulate their "personal strategy" for success.

So read about Personal SWOT Analysis below, take advantage of our New Year offer, and really play to your strengths in 2009!

 

James & Rachel

James Manktelow and Rachel Thompson
MindTools.com
Mind Tools – Essential skills for an excellent career!

To find out about new tools on the Mind Tools site the moment they’re uploaded, click here to subscribe to the Mind Tools RSS feed (you'll need an RSS newsreader installed), or here to find out more about RSS.

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Editor's Choice Article:

Personal SWOT Analysis

Discover new opportunities.
Manage and eliminate threats.

SWOT Analysis is a powerful technique for identifying Strengths and Weaknesses, and for examining the Opportunities and Threats you face.

Used in a personal context, it helps you develop your career in a way that takes best advantage of your talents, abilities and opportunities.

What makes SWOT particularly powerful is that with a little thought, it can help you uncover opportunities that you are well placed to take advantage of. And by understanding your weaknesses, you can manage and eliminate threats that would otherwise catch you unawares.

How to use the tool:

To carry out a SWOT Analysis, print out our free worksheet, and write down answers to the following questions:

Strengths:

• What advantages (for example, skills, education or connections) do you have that others don't have?
• What do you do better than anyone else?
• What personal resources do you have access to?
• What do other people (and your boss in particular) see as your strengths?

Consider this from your own perspective, and from the point of view of the people around you. And don't be modest, be as objective as you can. If you are having any difficulty with this, try writing down a list of your characteristics. Some of these will hopefully be strengths!

In looking at your strengths, think about them in relation to the people around you - for example, if you're a great mathematician and the people around you are great at math, then this is not likely to be a strength in your current role, it is likely to be a necessity.

Weaknesses:

• What could you improve?
• What should you avoid?
• What things are the people around you likely to see as weaknesses?

Again, consider this from a personal and external basis: Do other people perceive weaknesses that you do not see? Do co-workers consistently out-perform you in key areas? It is best to be realistic now, and face any unpleasant truths as soon as possible.

Opportunities:

• Where are the good opportunities facing you?
• What are the interesting trends you are aware of?

Useful opportunities can come from such things as:

• Changes in technology, markets and your company on both a broad and narrow scale;
• Changes in government policy related to your field;
• Changes in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle changes, etc.; or
• Local Events

A useful approach to looking at opportunities is also to look at your strengths and ask yourself whether these open up any opportunities.

Alternatively, look at your weaknesses and ask yourself whether you could open up opportunities by eliminating them.

Threats:

• What obstacles do you face?
• What are the people around you doing?
• Is your job (or the demand for the things you do) changing?
• Is changing technology threatening your position?
• Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten you?

Just as your strengths can often bring opportunities, your weaknesses can often bring threats. Check the weaknesses you've listed, and make sure that you've identified any threats that could come from them.

Take Action

Finally, update your personal planning system to reflect your SWOT Analysis. Where you've identified possible opportunities, set goals to explore them, with a view to capitalizing on them. Where you've identified possible threats, set goals to investigate them, with a view to eliminating, managing or minimizing them.

Key points:

A SWOT matrix is a framework for analyzing your strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats you face. This helps you to focus on your strengths, minimize weaknesses, and take the greatest possible advantage of opportunities available.

Carrying out this analysis will often be illuminating - both in terms of pointing out what needs to be done, and in putting problems into perspective.

This is just one of the strategy tools available at MindTools.com, and, in particular, within the Career Excellence Club. (Strategy is the art of identifying, and taking advantage of, the best opportunities open to you at work and in life.) You can find out more about the Career Excellence Club below.

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In the Career Excellence Club...

As well as articles like the one you've just read, members get access to hundreds of excellent skill-building tools and resources: our Premium Toolkit of member-only tools, downloadable Bite-Sized Training lessons, podcast Book Insights and Expert Interviews, Coaching Clinics, and debate, discussion and support in the Club forums.

With new resources published every working day, here's just a sample of what's on offer in the Club. If you are not yet a member, make the most of our New Year Offer, and get the Life Plan Workbook for fre*e when you join the Club today!

Decision Making Under Uncertainty Good decisions are the foundation of successful operations. In this article, learn how to make good decisions in situations of uncertainty. Premium Article Join now to read more

Ellen Ensher: Mentoring Ellen Ensher has interviewed leading figures in public life to learn about their mentoring experiences. In this interview, find out how to approach a potential mentor, and learn how being a mentor can teach you more than you might think. Expert Interview Join now to listen

Delivering Great Presentations If you want to influence people, you need to be able to give good presentations. Learn how to create and deliver great presentations, each and every time. Bite-Sized Scenario TrainingT Join now to learn this skill

When Actions Speak Louder than Words... Do you "talk" more than you "do"? Perhaps talking makes you feel better, but does it actually move you forward? If not, act now - and do those things you've been meaning to do. Coaching Clinic Join now to participate

Surviving a Downturn Although we're living in troubled times, there's a lot that you can do to protect yourself. Learn the strategies you need. Premium Article Join now to read more

Team Building Team building involves much more than using a few well-planned exercises to get people out of their comfort zones. Learn a different approach, which boosts your team's performance for the long term. Bite-Sized TrainingT Join now to learn this skill

Learning Curves Speeding up the rate of learning on the job can improve efficiency. Learn how to apply the idea of the learning curve in your organization. Premium Article Join now to read more

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A Final Note from James

For good reasons, the New Year period is traditionally the time that we think about what we want to achieve in the year ahead.

Before the pace of work for 2009 gets into full swing, I hope you'll enjoy a brief period of calm for reflection and planning. It makes sense to use this time to think about our own lives and make our own plans, before we're swept up in the plans of other people. After all, there's a lot of truth in the saying "If you're not working to achieve your own dreams, you're probably working to help other people achieve theirs!"

This is why I really do encourage you to take up our New Year offer - there's a huge amount that the Club and the Life Plan Workbook can do to help you make 2009 your best year ever. Just click here, and join us!

Happy New Year, and I wish you lasting success in the year ahead!

 

James

James Manktelow
Click here to email
MindTools.com
Mind Tools – Essential skills for an excellent career!

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