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Description: Objective: Successful goal striving hinges on the selection of instrumental means. The current research investigates self-awareness as an individual difference variable that should predict means instrumentality. This effect should be mediated by the tendency of self-aware individuals to approach the process of goal pursuit in a way that is oriented towards problem-solving. Method: Four studies (N1a = 123, N1b = 169, N2 = 353, N3 = 118) were conducted to explore the relation between self-awareness and both subjective and objective means instrumentality via an orientation towards problem-solving. Results: Studies 1a and 1b found cross-sectional support for the relation between dispositional self-awareness and problem-solving. Study 2 (preregistered) replicated this finding and provided experimental evidence for the hypothesized mediation model. Finally, Study 3 found longitudinal support that dispositional self-awareness and problem-solving orientation predict self-reported means instrumentality and, beyond this, participants’ objective exam grades. Conclusions: This research emphasizes the crucial role of individual differences in self-awareness for an important self-regulatory process, that is, the selection of instrumental means in personal goal pursuit.