ideal self
Who you'd become
The ideal self is the person you aspire to be—a mental image of your best possible self encompassing your goals, values, and aspirations.
In psychology, the gap between ideal self and actual self can motivate growth or cause distress: Her ideal self was confident and successful, but reality felt far from that.
The concept appears in self-help, therapy, and identity development discussions.
- aspirationStrong desire for achievement
- personal growthIntentional self-improvement over time
- potentialLatent capacity for development
- authenticVerified as original
- visionAbility to see
vision board · perfectionism · goals · goal setting · mirror · becoming · growth · actualization · glow up · dreamer · better · strive · ambition · persona · future · wholeness · confidence · purpose
- identitiesalter ego, gender, persona, sexuality, alias
- inner selfsoul, psyche, inner being, inner voice, inner child
- humanistic psychologyAbraham Maslow, hierarchy of needs, congruence, genuineness, human potential
- wisheswish, make a wish, wish granted, wish fulfillment, wish list
- Hidden Dreamsunfulfilled dreams
- parts of selfego, id, superego, psyche, soul
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