Rampersad (2003) argues that 'Formulating one’s personal ambition is a search for one’s identity. Understanding one’s identity is the key to action.' The approach of using a personal scorecard to reflect upon your identity in and out of work outlined here is based upon the following: 

• Rampersad, H, (2003) The Links Between Individual Learning, Collective Learning and Ethics, Training and Management Development Methods, Vol. 17 No. 1.

The article discusses the links between individual learning, collective learning and business ethics, based on a strategic management model, which incorporates personal and organizational balanced scorecards. What may be of particular interest here is the personal scorecard approach. This is intended to enable a person to distance herself or himself from her or his traditional mindsets and think more broadly, aiming at greater self-knowledge leading to greater self-awareness. Rampersad (2003) believes a series of simple, but profoundly personal, questions can help a person to formulate his personal mission, vision, key roles and objectives. These questions include:

• Who am I?
• What is my self-image?
• What do I stand for?
• How do I create meaning in my life and see to it that everything is not about earning money?
• What do I want to achieve with my life?
• What prevents me from becoming who and what I want to be?
• When I die, which legacy would I like to leave behind and what would I like to have meant to others?
• What do others say about me?
• What do I think about others?
• What are my deepest aspirations about the community in which I want to live?
• What do I want to learn very much?
• What do I like to do very much?
• What makes me happy and what makes me sad?
• What am I willing to sacrifice to realize my objectives?
• What do I want to invest in life and what do I want to gain from it?
• How is my health?
• How do I connect with my partner, friends, family, colleagues and others?
• Why did I go to work for my present employer?
• What is the importance of what I do?
• What am I good at and what not?
• What is difficult for me to give up in my private, social and business lives?
• Which social questions intrigue me?
• What social contributions would I like to make?
• What is keeping me back?
• What are the most important motivators in my job?
• To which job do I aspire?
• Why am I active in a certain club?
• Will these things still be important ten years from now?