Art SWOT

Stuck? Too many ideas? Blockages? Yep, me too. So I decided to try an old business planning technique to see if it helped. I wanted to remove obstacles and identify a clear direction for my art practice. Some of you may know about SWOT - a handy business tool used around the world to develop strategy. So why not apply it to art? All you need is a scrap of paper and a pen - create a grid of 4 squares and label them: STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITES, THREATS. Now this is the important bit - strengths and weaknesses are things in your domain. Whereas opportunities and threats are things outside of your control - you'll see in the example what these might be.

Once you've completed your grid, look at each point and rate it according to how important it is to you and how it's blocking your progress. These are the things to fix or focus on. Prioritise them and tackle one at a time. If you can't resolve something - is it time to let it go? Or think outside of the box to find a solution. Once you know what's stopping your progress you can hatch a plan.