SWOT Analysis of Myself

A SWOT analysis is a detailed, unbiased investigation of a business, project or campaign. This analysis involves 4 main categories: strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. For our marketing report project, we had to do a SWOT analysis of the brand of our choice. This allowed us to dive deep into the brand’s marketing and figure out what they could do better. What better way to figure out what I need to work on and skills I can use to my advantage, than by doing a SWOT analysis on myself.

Finding your own strengths is somewhat hard in the sense that I want to lie and say I’m great at everything, especially things to do with my course (as my lecturers will be reading this!). However, if I want to get the most out of this voluntary look into my talents and flaws, I need to be super honest with both what I’m good at, and what I’m not so good at.

STRENGTHS

I feel like it’s always going to be harder to label your strengths than your weaknesses. However, one thing I’ve always felt I’ve excelled at, is being open to new things, whether that be experimenting with a new art form, trying a new food or involving myself in a new hobby. I have always loved live music and been a part of the Norwich music scene, so when I first got my camera, I knew what I wanted to shoot. As scary as it was, I would turn up to gigs with friends, sometimes by myself, and just shoot. No one tells you how embarrassing it can feel to whip out a camera; it feels like there are hundreds of eyes just glaring at you, judging you. Trust me, no one cares. Doing this gave me a good head start with cameras and Lightroom, which was very handy when it came to some of my projects this year. I also try and gain experience by volunteering to help others with their projects, which often involves being around people I’ve never met, somewhere I’ve never been. This both creates connections for the future, and opens my eyes to new media, ideas and ways of thinking.

Photo : Alex taking a BTS shot of Kaden during our Magazine Shoot

Another thing I’ve been doing quite well this academic year is improving my time management skills. As I currently have a part-time job as well as university, it’s important to make sure I’m allowing time to do my uni work and have down time to reset.

I also think I’m quite a fast learner. I was able to pick up the Adobe software quickly, as well as how to reference images and Harvard reference. These skills have been vital in every project we’ve done this year.

WEAKNESSES

Like many other people my age, I have a horrible attention span. For example, I cannot just sit and watch a show; I’d have to be doing something else at the same time. It has gotten so bad that my boyfriend bans me from my phone when he’s forcing me to watch Doctor Who because I get so distracted! This means it is almost impossible for me to just sit and do my work, often causing me to get behind as it takes me so long to do a simple task. I find it difficult to work in certain spaces, the ultimate study space has yet to be found. Anywhere with windows stops me from working entirely as I spend the whole-time people watching. I must always have my noise cancelling headphones, because although music distracts me even more, having them over my ears with nothing on puts me into my own little bubble where some work is actually achieved. This whole ordeal often fuels my procrastination, causing me to finish all of my work on anxious adrenaline. However, this cycle is very difficult to break as I always get my work done, no consequences for procrastination have yet to occur.

Another weakness I realised I have, whilst doing a project, is that I sometimes struggle with group work. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoying building connections and creating art with others; it’s a great way to be inspired. However, if the group is difficult to work with or not really motivated to meet up and get work done, I find it hard to be patient and not just try and get the work done all myself. Sometimes I would just rather do work on my own than have to work with others, so that I can make sure that things are all done and are correct rather than trusting that others are getting things done.

OPPORTUNITIES

If I look back on the person I was a couple years ago, or even before I started uni, I would say that I have immensely changed as a person, not just in what I wear or what music I’m into, but in the way I go about things and accept change. I’ve never been one to be okay with changing restaurants at the last minute or missing a bus and having to find a different way home. Having things change is an inevitable part of life and ironically, the one constant throughout life is you know things will change. This links to struggling with when my ideas don’t go correctly, or lectures change last minute. And even though I’ve seen a visible positive shift in my mindset towards change or having things go a different way to what I expect, I know it’s something that needs to keep moving in a forward direction.

One thing that I’ve always struggled with is feeling inadequate compared to others. I will always see someone do something and immediately feel worse about myself, just because they’re better at that one thing than I am. Coming into this degree, I very quickly learnt that almost everyone else knew just that bit more than me, whether it be previous experience with Adobe software, or knowing certain designers or magazines, or even just being able to brain storm ideas quicker than me. Even though I came with direct experience with the degree, it still didn’t feel enough. Imposter syndrome quickly set in and the continued feeling of constantly having to catch up to everyone swiftly became tiring. Although all these feelings still often perch in the back of brain, I have learnt that those thoughts are irrational. I was finding my fear of looking stupid in front of my peers and tutors was holding me back. I often shied away from opportunities or giving my ideas because I felt others were more equipped. My feelings of not being able to do things as well as others halted my progress instead of feeding it, and although it’s taken almost all of first year, these worries now drive me to do better.

THREATS

One of my possible threats, which is currently a strength, is that I have a “part time” job. I do roughly 20 hours a week, and often working until late at night. This could possibly threaten my work next year if I still have this job as my uni workload will increase and it will become harder to balance my time. The only benefit this job has on my degree is that it allows me to have extra money for props, clothes, materials and things.    

In summary, after analysing my skills, I've determined that I can see myself working in either a large or small company, with higher efficiency if working in person, but not ruling out remote. I can also see myself traveling a lot for work. Travel is definitely something I would want to work towards having as a benefit in a future job. I can see myself managing groups or working alongside others as well.

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Kenton, Will. “How to Perform a SWOT Analysis.” Investopedia, 29 June 2024, www.investopedia.com/terms/s/swot.asp .