Building on that, “the woman I wanted to be” implies a set of principles—confidence, independence, kindness, audacity, integrity—whatever qualities define an ideal self. When external choices multiply and advice conflicts, values function like a compass: they don’t tell you which road will be easiest, but they do help you notice which roads feel like betrayal.
This is why identity-based questions often outperform job-title questions early on. Asking “What kind of work should I do?” can stall, while asking “What kind of person do I want to become, and what environments help that?” creates forward motion even in uncertainty. [...]
