SWOT That Idea Into A Reality

Here is a great way to figure out if you are making a good decision:

One of the best decision making tools I have ever used was a technique called SWOT. The technique was drilled into during my 4 years of college (I am a business major). My professor, Professor B., probably did these in her sleep. I ended up using SWOT when buying our car, apartment, and all other purchases.

It’s a very simple process and only uses 4 parts.
Part 1: Strengths

Part 2: Weaknesses

Part 3: Opportunities

Part 4: Threats

Wikipedia has a great article about SWOT

Believe it or not, SWOT was first used at Stanford.

Here is a good Diagram of SWOT:
http://www.everycareercounts.com/images/320px-swot_en.svg.gif

Ultimately SWOT will help you eliminate errors. Such errors can be external or internal thus the diagram above.

Here is an example:

Let’s say I am thinking about signing up for a new credit card to help eliminate debt. My goal is 2.5 months to pay off the debt.

Strengths: Reward points, bonus miles, low interest

Weaknesses: Low interest only lasts for 3 months

Opportunity: quicker way to pay off debts.

Threats: High interest rate kicks in very fast.

The SWOT helped me figure out that the credit card was a good idea based on my current situation.
If I needed 6 months to pay off debt I would have probably looked at some more SWOT’s of other credit cards.

Written by

robin@brokefamily.com