Do you really know who you are? Irksome though the question may sound but this is the ground reality with most people, especially women. Most of us have been used to towing the given line for so long that we sometimes forget who we really are and what we really want. Knowing Yourself is therefore the critical pre-requisite before you push on the pedal to re-start your Career.
The process of knowing yourself is not only daunting but emotionally exhausting. In the process we unveil a host of new findings about ourselves that maybe we had been staving off our whole life. Continuing to keep the lid on these vital aspects will no longer be advisable as we need to rethink and reorganize our strategies all over again. Therefore it is always a good idea to revisit our inner selves and identify who we really are.
Perform a SWOT
The biggest problem that we often face when we sit down to know ourselves more closely is we don’t know where to start. There are so many things that we wish to tell the world about ourselves but how best way to do it. The best and the most popular way of performing this self-introspection is by performing a SWOT.
The SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis is a self-estimation technique that is almost always dynamic and can never be done at one sitting. You need to ponder over cups of coffee and come back to it every time with new insights about yourself. It is usually practiced by Marketing and HR teams of organizations but there is no harm in you doing one for yourself. It always helps to know yourself in a new way. I remember the last time I did one I found out a critical thing about my writing skills which I did not realise I possessed till that very moment. Do not discard anything from including in the Strengths quadrant. Remember, nothing in life goes to waste.
Another tip for putting down an effective SWOT is to think of your weaknesses as your areas of improvement. Once you know what your possible strengths are and the areas you need to improve, just do a ‘Match the Following’ exercise to identify how you can use a particular strength to turn your weakness into an opportunity thereby deterring the potential threat stemming from it.
Highlight your Priorities
Our life is like a flowing river. It meanders itself effortlessly over new bends and curves requiring us to change our course accordingly. In order to stay steadily afloat it is critical that we change and re-align our priorities. Your priorities in life have decidedly changed since your previous professional engagement. It is possible that there is an urgent need to re-skill yourself before you start sending out your resume.
Moreover, the new SWOT that you completed have helped to identify new opportunities and strengths that you were unaware of. Redefine your priorities based on these findings and give it your best shot.
You may also want to read other articles written by the same author ‘Tips To Knowing Yourself Better‘, ‘The P-C-R approach to achieve financial stability‘, ‘Emotional awareness for personal and professional success‘, ‘Tips to improve your resume writing‘ ‘Back from the break – 3 tips to make you rock it’.
About the Author:
Amrita is a freelance writer currently based out of Pune. She has worked with organizations as a Technical and Web Content Writer. Her short stories have been published on Amazon and on Juggernaut books. She is an avid traveler and her travel stories are available on her blog – Amrita writes.
(The author is a guest blogger at Her Second Innings. The opinions expressed are those of the author.)
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