There are many questions that you can ask yourself to help frame the person you want to grow into. These questions can be standard ones like “Where do you see yourself in 5 years” and “What’s important to you?”
There’s a difference between who we want to be internally, and how we want others to perceive us.
Who do you want to be? For the first question, think about who you want to be in your core. When you go home, and you and only you know your truth about your day, outlook, choices, etc. you can know yourself and where you want to go. First, it is critical to know yourself, know your own truths, even if there are half-truths that you may tell others, you need to know what’s right. Personally, I think it’s important to minimize any external half-truths, but it’s important to know them if they’re there.
How do you want to be perceived by others? The second question is all about how important it is for you to be perceived as a certain way by others. This may be different than the first question. It may be important for you to be perceived as hard-working, trustworthy, kind, compassionate, or something else, even if that’s not who you are internally.
For example, you may feel that being perceived as easy-going is a key aspect of being successful, even if you struggle with that internally. Similarly, may be important for you to be obsessive about every detail, passionate, and ultra-critical about every choice you make, but it may be more important that others perceive you as kind and compassionate externally.
Think about these two questions, consider how they align. How important is it for them to align for you?