IDENTITY AND SELF-REALIZATION Before you can answer the question what am I, you must first answer the question who am I and what do I represent? Before you can set a goal for yourself, you need to understand what you really want to achieve in life. Do you want to achieve wealth, fame, a certain level of education or do you want to achieve contentment, inner peace or perhaps contribute to a change in your environment, community or world? Are your goals directed inward or are they for the benefit of others? Some people just want a job to earn money in the short term until they find something better, while others look at the bigger picture and look for a career that they can continue with long term and make money at the same time. a difference in society. We all want to become successful individuals and achieve self-actualization through satisfying our four different levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Personal identity includes many different elements, and our true identity shines through successfully by establishing and using all of these elements. Perceived identity refers to how others see us, which may not be clear when looking at our outward appearance. Therefore external appearance is the main and key element through which our identity can be accurately conveyed. The fundamental foundation of our identity is our ethnicity and cultural background. This provides the basis for establishing our natural sense of belonging. Throughout history, cultural differences have influenced how individuals communicate with each other. High context cultures such as Asian, Indian, Arab and Russian prefer to communicate indirectly, it is less verbally explicit and more internal... middle of the paper... and introversion can also be expressed through our outward appearance and how we would like be perceived by society. Whether we want to believe it or not, the way we look, the way we talk, what we say, our culture, religion and sexuality determine how we will be treated by others. Reaching a point of self-actualization has little to do with financial success, but more to do with being free to be who we truly are and being accepted for our true selves in a world that constantly tells us who or how we should be. Setting selfish materialistic goals might benefit ourselves, but it doesn't benefit others or do anything for our soul. Self-actualization shouldn't be about ourselves, it should be more about how we, as individuals, can offer ourselves to the community through teaching and sharing what we have gained while reaching our highest potential.