I'm presuming the "being yourself" self is of inspiration worthy
material, thereby engendering becoming an effortless role model.
If you're not inspiration worthy material, then while you can
strive to improve yourself for the sake of others, it's not
necessary. You can strive to improve yourself for yourself - to
MAKE YOURSELF inspiration worthy by helping yourself gain the
qualities - ... and simply existing and engaging with people
will provide all the affordance necessary for a role-model
situation to come forth.
Or... "If you want to improve the world, improve yourself" just
without the 'if you want to improve the world" part.