In order to improve, you need to know what to improve. So I figured I’d channel Corporate Peter and all those leadership team meetings and business development sessions I’ve attended through the years and put myself through a SWOT-analysis.
As boring as it may sound, writing things down in a structured list has always helped me get my bearings, focus, and gain perspective. Writing things down also makes the task or project more ‘real’ for me, which is also partly why I’m documenting my progress with this blog.
So here I go, my SWOT-analysis of myself:
Strengths:
- I have a strong foundation in my many years of writing.
- I have experience from a broad spectrum of writing projects and writing styles.
- Writing comes naturally to me.
- I have a sense of humour. Really bad dad jokes and puns mostly.
- I consume a lot of written content online.
- I have a good memory when it comes to remembering things I’ve read (and heard); song lyrics, one-liners and such.
- I have a fairly defined scope of what kind of writing styles I like in authors.
Weaknesses:
- I am not a regular book reader. Not because I don’t like reading, I just don’t prioritise it. Because you know, life.
- Zero experience from novel-writing.
- I may have a scope for preferred writing styles that is too narrow for my own good. Am I stuck in a rut?
- I’m doing this project in English, and I’ve done a lot of writing in English. A lot. However, English is my second language.
Opportunities:
- Limitless opportunity to both learn new skills and hone or re-confirm existing ones.
- An opportunity to develop my English vocabulary.
- Better and broader output in the communication and marketing aspects of my day job.
- The project will at the very least bring me a few steps closer to writing that book.
Threats:
- Time and other priorities. If I’m going to do this, I need to set aside time and commit. Sometimes easier said than done when you’re pushing 40, work full time, and have kids.
- Overthinking and fear of writing something ‘less than A-grade’. I have this thing, this hang-up, where I sometimes spend too much time analysing what I’ve written and I always want things to be ‘finished and flawless’ before publishing. Even posting this list feels a bit daunting as it’s just ‘quick and dirty’. Good practice, I guess. (Also, this last bit should probably be listed under Strengths as well.)
My name is Peter Helin. Over the years I have worked with all things marketing. Now I am embarking on a journey to improve my writing skills and once and for all figure out what it would take to write and publish a book.