SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) analysis for 'Self-Management'....

Hello Friends, picking-up threads from my previous posts on Stress Management, I am back yet again with some more inputs on 'Self-Management' through SWOT and would like to talk about ways to cope with worldly challenges effectively and lead better & healthier lives using the below SWOT analysis;

"S" - Act according to our 'Strengths' and not just ape (& copy) others unthinkingly.

"W" - Identify our unavoidable 'Weaknesses' & substitute those with suitable alternatives.

"O" - Identify the 'Opportunities' on hand and making the most of the moments on hand.

"T" - Never ignore or underestimate 'Threats' posed somewhat by the competition around us and more by our own complacence.

As we observe that in order to excel in our lives, we just keep moving around in this maddening rush (also called a Rat Race - though I don't why and am curious to find out the genesis of this nomenclature) in quite a mechanised cyclic manner, grossly ignoring this utmost important aspect of focusing on our present moments and enjoying each & every minute (or hour, for that matter) that we have on hand. And while gunning for this bigger objective of making our lives better, we don't realise that it is much easier to manage and make these present moments happier. And that by making good & effective use of these present moments (and making these moments happier) we are actually laying a sound foundation for better & happier lives, only as each well-spent & happier minute (or hour) cumulatively makes our lives better.

I would like to share a small prelude based out on a personal experience to present my point;

Being an absolute sports buff, I used to play a lot of sports including lawn tennis in my college days but had kind of lost touch with the game (after having embarked upon my professional journey). One day a friend of mine who too was quite a sports enthusiast like me, came up to me suggesting that he had played most other sports (but for tennis) and urged me to start to play tennis with him, guiding him (in the process) on the nuances of this game (having played it before). And though there was quite a gap since I'd last played but sensing a certain merit (of regaining my lost touch with sports and also the resultant physical fitness) in his suggestion I decided to play along. So we started playing together in our sports complex on weekends and while I guided him to the best of my capabilities, he too displayed remarkable grit and picked-up the game so fast (with his natural flair for racket sports) that in a very short time he started giving me a run for my money. Now, losing to someone (whom I'd kind of coached) started to cause a lot of stress to me causing sleepless nights. And then in order to cope with this challenge, I decided to carry-out a 'SWOT' analysis on my game plan, one day and realised that I was making the following mistakes which needed to be addressed and corrected immediately;

MISTAKE 1 - Being an athletically built person he was playing with his natural muscular strength, putting-in ferocious power in his shots and in order to match his power game I inadvertently tried replicating the same (to no avail) while overlooking my basic strengths of playing with a deft touch & swift movement across the court which really stood me in good stead later when I made my comeback.

LESSON 1 - ACT ON YOUR 'STRENGTHS' AND NEVER APE OTHERS UNTHINKINGLY - All of us are endowed with certain inherent qualities and strengths though we don't realise this at times and therefore, are not able to perform up to our potential so we must take time out (of this maddening rat race that we are embroiled in) and rather than following typical trends or what others do, unthinkingly and blindly, we should introspect and assess our strengths and then plan & act accordingly.

MISTAKE 2 - For a major part of my turmoil, I didn't realise that not being as stoutly built (as my friend) and with my leaner (though fitter) frame I was not able to match his power game and in trying hard to do so I was missing the timing of my shots and the angles of my serve which I used to put to good effect earlier and which later helped me a lot on my comeback.

LESSON 2 - IDENTIFY YOUR UNAVOIDABLE 'WEAKNESSES' & WORK-OUT ALTERNATIVES -

Like our inherent strengths we all have some or the other deficiencies as well (some natural shortcomings which we can't improvise upon overnight) so rather than getting trapped in a situation these drawbacks start to hamper our growth we must look around for alternative options and put those to effective use, helping us tide over challenges and keep working our way up, despite our constraints & limitations.

MISTAKE 3 - Just thinking about the scoreline all the way while in the game resulted in a diluted focus on the ball-in-play making me take my eyes off the ball during rallies and commit unforced errors to lose points and consequently the game, set & the match. And this proved to be fatal error because I realized this to my dismay that we start thinking too much about the results (that too with our apprehensions & unfounded fears of failure) we invariably make a rough weather of the opportunities on hand (i.e. the ball-in-play).

LESSON 3 - FOCUS ON THE PRESENT AND MAKE THE MOST OF THE 'OPPORTUNITIES' ON HAND THAN GETTING PERTURBED ABOUT UNFOUNDED FEARS OF FAILURES -

When we take our eyes (and minds off) from the task in hand, unduly worrying about its results or carrying any other apprehensions in our minds we tend to lose our concentration and control over that task because worrying (or wandering) minds cause dilution in our focus and when we lose focus we fail.

MISTAKE 4 - Firstly, I completely ignored the 'threat' posed by a stronger and athletically built opponent. Further, in my over-confidence on probably being better skilled than him (since I had kind of coached him and would always prevail over him), I took him so lightly that it resulted in a certain complacency in my approach and my preparation for him leading to that agonising loss, leaving me with a deflated & bruised pride (of having mentored him). And then to add to that, in my attempt to match his power, I again ignored the 'threat' of (accidentally) inflicting a physical strain as well by putting unnecessary pressures on my body which could have been more damaging.

LESSON 4 - BE COMPETITIVE AND NEVER IGNORE THE 'THREATS' POSED BY YOUR OVER-CONFIDENCE, COMPLACENCIES AND LACKADAISICAL & LAZY APPROACH - It is good to be confident but it becomes counter-productive to be over-confident & complacent. Moreover we should always keep our eyes and ears open for the opportunities coming our way because a lathargic and lackadaisical approach takes us nowhere. And then I also learnt that putting your body to unwarranted strain (just to be like someone) and ignoring some very significant signals that our body shares with us, can also pose serious threats to our well-being & resultant competitiveness.

So, all-in-all this experience of mine proved to be quite a renaissance for me making me wake to some important lessons on managing ourselves better whether in a sports arena facing a fierce competitor OR while facing the ground realities of our lives on macro levels.

SUMMATION - Now, if you might be interested in knowing whether I got back to winning ways later, let me inform you (at the cost of sounding a bit pompous, though) that I could actually make a valiant comeback and started to win comfortably & virtually hands-down. But more interestingly, it was the way I orchestrated my game plan after the 'SWOT' analysis which actually is the point that I want to emphasise upon by way of this write-up. In my comeback strategy for that game, I saw an opportunity in every rally to earn a point and by concentrating hard on the ball in play and not taking my eyes off the ball, I gunned for each & every point, playing it at my pace & according to my strengths - like opting for slow yet angled serves, drop volleys at the net or scoop shots at back of his court making him run harder) and slowly & steadily climbed my way back winning points, games, sets and matches thereafter - in a nutshell, building-up my game on a point to point basis with SWOT.

And quite impressed with its terrific results, I then decided to implement SWOT in my day-to-day self-management as well. From that day on wards, I began to make good use of every minute that I had on hand and literally started enjoying every moment (every breath, as they say) that I have been blessed with which not only helped me make a very effective and optimal utilisation of my time but also took my stress away to a very large extent because then I had this smaller job of managing only that minute or that hour on hand which is lot easier than thinking to manage your whole lives better. And then every well-spent & happier minute (or an hour) ultimately leads to a better & happier life only.

THE CONCLUSION - To make our lives better & happier we simply forget that we have to first make every minute, every hour (practically every moment that we currently have on hand), better & happier and then that each happier minute would then cumulatively make our hours, days, weeks, months, years & our lives better & happier (to a large extent). Sounds too bookish, no! but it has worked for me so try it out. And see, there would be exceptions at times but then exceptions too are a part of life so try & enjoy exceptions as well, as much as possible....