SWOT is an acronym, which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. SWOT can be your best friend. SWOT can help you make better decisions in both your personal life and your professional life. A SWOT Analysis helps you: Convert weaknesses into strengths Determine what you are doing right Determine what is important Make better decisions with your time Get a strong start to the week SWOT is not my idea. SWOT was born in the 1960s at Stanford Research Institute. Corporate leaders were puzzled why corporate planning failed. They asked Stanford Research Institute for a solution. They asked SRI: Why does corporate planning fail, and What can be done about it? SRI developed this analysis that has since helped countless companies and organizations reset their priorities and become more successful. I started doing SWOT Analyses on Friday afternoons when I looked at my schedule for the following week and didn’t know what I would be doing. SWOT helped solve that. I will use two companies to help present the SWOT Analysis. I do a SWOT Analysis for Pete’s Plumbing in my first example. I changed his company name and location, but the issues are still intact.