SWOT Analysis: A Great Tool toKnow Yourself
The SWOT analysis is a simple tool that helps us to know ourselves. To do the analysis, all we need to do is draw two perpendiculars as shown in the figure below and title the four quadrants as Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
We begin by asking ourselves the following questions to ascertain our strengths. Then write the answers in the first quadrant.
Strengths:
- What am I good at?
- What are the strong points of my personality?
- What are the good values that I uphold in life?
- What are my unique skills?
- What are my achievements so far?
- What do others like about me?
Do the same for the other quadrants. Here are some of the questions that can help you assess your:
Weaknesses:
- What am I bad at?
- What are the weak points of my personality?
- What am I afraid of?
- What holds me back from achieving my goals?
- What are the roots of my failure?
- What do others not like in me?
Opportunities:
- What are my career options, considering my strengths?
- Who can support and help me?
- Where can I improve myself?
- What additional training can I get?
Threats:
- What are the factors that could derail my success?
- How is my personality hurting my career path?
- What are the risks of my weaknesses becoming threats?
- Are there any external changes beyond my control that could be a threat?
Remember, our strengths become our opportunities. You may well know the story of Neeraj Chopra, who was a chubby thirteen-year-old mischievous boy, often fiddling the beehives on village trees and pulling buffaloes by their tails. His father, Satish Kumar Chopra, wanted something to be done to discipline the boy.
After a lot of cajoling, Neeraj agreed to do some running to shed the flab. So his uncle took him to Shivaji Stadium in Panipat — around 15 kilometres from his village. Neeraj wasn’t interested in running but instantly fell in love with javelin throw when he saw a few seniors practising at the stadium. So, he decided to try his luck, and as the cliched saying goes, the rest is history!
The same is with our weaknesses. They can prove to be a threat for us, whether it be in our behavioural patterns, academic pursuits, career growth and so on.
Stories of real-life heroes inspire us to move forward! Sunita Krishnan’s story does just that! From a very young age, Sunitha actively campaigned for the underprivileged sections of society. At eight, Sunitha was teaching dance to mentally challenged children. By 12, she was running schools for disadvantaged children, and at 15, she worked on a neo-literacy campaign for the Dalit community. It was during this time that eight men gang-raped her. But, instead of breaking her, this incident served as the catalyst for what she does today. Today, she is a social worker and co-founder of Prajwala, a rescue and rehabilitation organisation she has been heading for over two decades that helps victims — women and children of sex trafficking. They aim to prevent second-generation prostitution by rescuing women from brothels and educating their children.
Sunitha’s story is not of a victim; it is the story of a survivor, a fighter, determined to bring about sustainable change in the lives of those who don’t have an option.
When we know who we are, our strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, we no longer care about what others think or say about us. Self-awareness helps us to focus on what we are supposed to do! Clarity of purpose drives us and keeps us going even when faced with the most challenging situations.
Davis Abraham,
Training Head, Vigeo International Consulting.
Ph: 90904 86703
Our projects
Giving Wings to the Dreams of Our Children!
Ten students of grades 10, 11 and 12 belonging to the flood-hit areas of Pattathanam and Kalangara in Edathua village of Alleppey District are participating in our project, “Skilling for Academic and Professional Excellence”.
In addition to developing their soft, life, study, and life skills, they attended a psychometric test that assessed their personality, interests, and aptitude. The test was followed by individual sessions of career counselling which helped them to select their best-suited stream or subject and move toward the most suitable career path. Furthermore, three of them are being given entrance coaching support that will help them crack competitive exams for professional degrees.
Ready to Better their Learning Abilities!
Twenty-eight girls from disadvantaged backgrounds studying at an aided school in Thevara, in Ernakulam District are ready to participate in our project, “Whole-brain Development Using the Abacus Tool”.
Learning to use the abacus will help the children develop right brain/left brain integration. For example, when the children use both hands to move abacus beads in arithmetic calculations, it stimulates cells in the brain’s right and left sides, enhancing their skills of visualisation, listening, concentration, logical reasoning, memorising, and recalling, along with developing superior mental arithmetic abilities.
Math Geniuses in the Making!
Fifteen children belonging to the flood prone Puratheparampu colony in Eruvellipra, Tiruvalla in Pathanamthita District have started attending Vedic Maths classes as part of the project, “Developing Mathematical Proficiency”. As the children learn Vedic Maths techniques, they become enabled to do complicated calculations mentally and solve problems 10-15 times faster than those using standard methods.
The ability to do mental calculations quickly will be a significant advantage when they take competitive exams after grade 12.
Building Character in our Children!
The falling ethical and moral values in our youth is a cause of major concern for VET. We believe that this issue can be addressed to a significant level if we are able to build our children’s character during their formative years.
Therefore, character education is integrated into all our projects, and it involves training and mentoring the children to develop their personal and work values.
We are delighted to bring out activity workbooks (for children aged 10-14 years) that can be used alongside our teacher handbook.
Be a Change Maker!
Join hands to transform young lives through education
Alone, we cannot accomplish our mission of equipping and empowering children to achieve excellence in their life and work. Together, we can!
Volunteering at Value Education Trust will enable you to make a sustainable impact in the lives of children from disadvantaged backgrounds in our country.
Transforming Every Child, One at a Time!
Sponsor one deserving child.
Our child sponsorship program is unique in that we provide highly personalised attention and care to each of our children, with the aim of bringing out the best in them.
We start with developing the child’s learning-skills, ensuring that their ability to learn gets 5 times better. This in turn enhances the skills of visualization, listening, concentration, logical reasoning, memorizing, and recalling along with developing superior mental arithmetic abilities.
At grade 8, we give attention to developing the child’s mathematical proficiency, enabling the child to solve mathematical problems at the grade 9 level, 10-15 times faster and prepare them for competitive exams.
When the child reaches grade 10, we concentrate on building their soft skills, life skills, study skills and career skills and also provide career guidance and counselling that will help the child to choose their best fit career.
All the above-mentioned interventions are integrated with character education which enhances the personal and work values of the child.
