Capability analysis

The elements within human being and life can be from opposite ends. The Chinese has a principle of "yin and yang" that is the interaction of two energies, called "yin" (black) and "yang" (white). They are not completely black or white, just as things in life are not completely black or white, but they coexist with each other. While "yin" would be dark, passive, downward, cold, contracting, and weak, "yang" would be bright, active, upward, hot, expanding, and strong.

The shape of the yin and yang sections from the symbol, actually gives a sense of the continual movement of these two energies, yin to yang and yang to yin, causing a dynamic: just as things expand and contract, and temperature changes from hot to cold. Similarly human being and life are not always perfectly black or white, strong or weak, success or failure.

Perfection is only reserved for God. Knowing that we can be both be strong and weak, achieve success and experience failure does not mean a complete acceptance to it. It is mentioned in the holy Quran 13:11; “Truly, God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” The onus to ensure that we are always strong and able to achieve success will depend on the effort we have put out for it.

In putting our effort for success, we first need to set our target. Then we need to analyse our capability to plan and organise our resources efficiently to achive the target. One of the methods to analyse this is via SWOT analysis.

The first step of SWOT analysis is to accept that we have all the four elements i.e. Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat. Then we need to identify and list out the four elements within ourselves. SWOT can be understood as follows:

1. Strength: our ability to plan and organise our resources efficiently e.g. strong memory, wide connection and network
2. Weakness: our inability to plan and organise our resources efficiently e.g. forgetfulness, fear of speaking in public,
3. Opportunity: external factors that would help us to achieve our objective and goal e.g. connection and network with players from other college or industry, sufficient money, enough time 4. Threat: external factors that would hinder us from achieving our objective and goal e.g. stiff competition

From the SWOT list that we had come out with, we then lay out our plan to leverage on our Strengths and Opportunities while overcoming our Weaknesses and sizing our Threats. The plan can be short, mid or long term with measurable milestone and timeline. Every plans should still focus on achieving our eventual target.

As an example, a student wants to improve his result. He then needs to set a target what result he wants to achieve, say to achieve a GPA of 3.5. Then he needs to analyse his SWOT. Let say the analysis comes up with the following list

From the above, the students then can

• leverage on his ability to analyse and his strong command of language during his classes, course work and exams


• be friendly with his smart friends and professional relative to learn and exchange information on his study and general knowledge


• improve on his discipline by not being sloppy consciously and unconsciously


• write down notes at all times to help strengthen his memory


• avoid lazy friends and distraction during study time but keep maintaining cordial relationship with them


• leverage on the family for emotional and financial support

Out of the six points mentioned above, the student can classify which will be something that he can achieve in a short, mid or long term. He should also review his plan and continuously ammend or adjust the plan accordingly in order to achieve the target.

(Amzzah Naseehah Resources conduct SWOT analysis consultancy services. If you are interested, email to : amzzah_naseehah@ymail.com or call: +6012-5103364, terms and conditions are negotiable)