SWOT analysis for self-defense and combat sports

SWOT analysis (also known as SWOT matrix) is a strategic planning tool used to assess strengths.Strengths), weaknesses (Weaknesses), opportunities (Opportunities) and threats (Threats) of a project or a match or in any other situation including self-defense in which a group or an individual must make a decision to achieve a goal.

The analysis can and concerns the internal environment (analyzing strengths and weaknesses) or external environment of an organization (analyzing threats and opportunities).

This technique is attributed to Albert Humphrey, who led a research project atStanford University in the 60s and 70s using data provided by the Fortune 500.

“Chance favors the prepared mind.” – Louis Pasteur

If your interest is in self-defense, e.g. security, martial arts, firearm training, lessons in self-defense or protection of others, police, bodyguard, etc., you are more likely to be “successful” if you use your talents with their maximum potential and going to know your real skills to be able to perform at the decisive moment the right choices to preserve yourself in the case of defense and security or bring the match to your side.

Clearly it is a different choice than the OODA Loop which refers to the decision-making cycle “observe, orient, decide and act” of that moment while the SWOT Analysis is about everything you can do to improve yourself before that decisive moment.

In this case “success” means making a threat harmless without harming you or the people you are protecting or in the case of sport making choices about your training to defeat a certain opponent or aggressor.

If you know well what your weaknesses are and if you manage these weaknesses so that they do not matter in the work you do it can even lead you to turn them into strengths with the right method and approach but if you do not analyze and know your strengths and weaknesses you will entrust your training to chance making your overall capacity less effective.

So does this approach help you identify strengths and weaknesses and analyze the opportunities and threats that come with them?

Yes, this is the function of SWOT analysis!

Stages of SWOT analysis

These are the steps that are typically followed during a SWOT analysis:

• a desired final state (or objective) is defined;
• the main points of the SWOT analysis are defined, which are:
  • strengths: the attributions of the organization that are useful to achieve the goal;
  • weaknesses: the attributions of the organization that are detrimental to achieving the goal;
  • opportunities: external conditions that are useful to achieve the goal;
  • threats: external conditions that could cause damage to performance;
• starting from the combination of these points, the actions to be taken to achieve the objective are defined, so the SWOT matrix is presented as follows:

• the managers determine if the goal is achievable with respect to a given SWOT matrix. If the goal is not achievable, a different goal must be selected and the process repeated;
• if the goal seems achievable, the SWOTs are used as input for the generation of possible creative strategies, using the following questions:
  • how can we use and exploit every force?
  • how can we improve every weakness?
  • how can you take advantage of and benefit from every opportunity?
  • how can we reduce each of the threats?

Personal SWOT analysis

Make the most of your talents and opportunities.

SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)has long been used in the corporate environment, but I use it in specific self-defense training or as coaching of athletes.

Clearly it is a useful technique also for helped in the area of “personal protection”.

What makes SWOT analysis particularly powerful is that, with a little thought, it can help you discover opportunities that you wouldn’t otherwise have spotted.

And by understanding your weaknesses, you can manage and eliminate threats that might otherwise pose a potential danger to you and others.

It is something more complete and complex than skills analysis because it has a three-dimensional or even 4D view.

If you look at yourself using the SWOT framework, you can begin to separate and further develop the specialized talents and skills you need to achieve success in the field of self-defense and or combat sports.

Below you will find some questions in each of the 4 SWOT areas.

These are just a few cues to make you think.

Use them to analyze yourself first in your training and then think about yourself in potential situations and use it again.

The advantage here is that you will be able to examine certain scenarios calmly and then be able to practice them and put in place training and strategies to improve each of the 4 areas.

The other aspect is that this process will create a thought pattern or strategy that you can use instantly in a “live” situation perhaps combining it with a decision-making system such as the OODA loop.

Remember when you do this exercise everything is tied together, man is made of many things, strengths and weaknesses that come from inside and outside, it is complex and that is why this method helps you understand who you are at a certain time and context.

You have to be very honest and objective in this analysis!

So at first some of the questions may not seem to be associated with your specific field related to self-defense or sports but when you start to evaluate the influence on the behaviors that the question exposes you will understand how this aspect can affect your safety and that of others and the choices you make.

Strengths

Think about your strengths in relation to the people around you.

For example, if you are good at using a kubotan or stick,

or fighting on the ground or boxing

and the people around you are also good with a kubotan, in the fight, etc. this is unlikely to be a strength in your current role, but it may be a necessity to have those skills but they could be an incredible advantage outside of that environment where people do not struggle or do not know how to use the stick.

Consider this from your point of view and the point of view of the people around you.

Don’t be modest or shy. you need to be as objective as possible,and if you have any difficulty with this, write a list of your personal characteristics.

Some of these will hopefully be strengths!

• What advantages do you have that others do not have (e.g., power, speed, weight, training, psychology, or connections between these characteristics)?
• What can you do better than anyone else?
• What personal resources can you access?
• What do others see as your strengths?
• Which of your achievements are you most proud of?
• What values do you believe in that others fail to exhibit?
• What motivates you to learn?

Weaknesses

Again, consider this from a personal/internal perspective and from an external perspective.

• Do others see weaknesses that you don’t see?
• Are colleagues or team partners constantly outdoing you in key areas?

Be realistic: it is better to face any unpleasant truth as soon as possible.

• What tasks do you usually avoid because you don’t feel confident doing them?
• What will the people around you see as your weaknesses?
• Are you completely confident in your education and training that you are doing?
• If not, where are you weaker?
• What are your negative habits, for example, you are not constant in training, you are disorganized, you have a short-tempered character or you can not manage stress?
• Do you have personality traits that hold you back in your field? For example, if you have to hold a sparring session regularly, the fear of doing it in front of others or against a certain opponent, etc. would be one of the main weaknesses.

Opportunity

When evaluating opportunities, it’s important to look at your strengths and ask yourself if these open up opportunities and look at your weaknesses and ask yourself if you could open up opportunities by eliminating those weaknesses.

• What new technology can help you?
• Or can you get help from others or people?
• What opportunities are open for you?
• Do you have a network of strategic contacts to help you or offer you good advice?
• What trends do you see in your area of interest and how can you take advantage of them?
• Where did you succeed before?
• Can’t any of your competitors do something important?
• If so, can you take advantage of their mistakes?
• What knowledge/experience can you benefit from?
• How can you turn your strengths into opportunities?
• Are your friends, family, opponents, or training partners complaining about something in your industry?
• rio/area of interest?
• If so, could you create an opportunity by offering a solution?

Threats

Performing this analysis often provides key information: it can indicate what needs to be done and put problems into perspective.

It can provide you with important information about your personal equipment, prevention, your training, etc.

• What obstacles do you currently face that hinder your education or career?
• What could demotivate you or derail your action or, even worse, make you freeze?
• What is the daily challenge?
• Do your weaker areas pose additional threats?
• Who is your competition and how are they becoming successful?
• Is your area of interest/industry changing?
• Does changing technology threaten your area of interest?

Again, these are just a few questions to help you analyze yourself.

If the language used seems confusing, such as competition, change it to “training partner” or “aggressor.”

And again you have to perform this exercise by looking at yourself in training and in the area of when you experience conflict or do not feel comfortable.

Do this regularly so that you continue to expose all four areas and you can then work to sharpen your strengths and opportunities and decrease your weakness and threats.

Conclusions

Please write me your thoughts on this exercise in relation to self-defense, executive protection, self-defense, bodyguard, and protecting others, because it’s an area I do a lot of research in.

Also from a sporting point of view if you think they can be interesting ideas.

Stay Tuned!

Street Fight Mentality & Fight Sport