As I've been reading commentaries on the paramitas, I notice that practice of most paramitas follows a similar three-step progression. One begins by focusing inward and "working on" oneself. Then the practice "turns around," and finally becomes one of caring for all beings.
This is particularly clear in virya paramita and sila paramita. Virya paramita, the perfection of energy, begins with character development and leads to -- I won't say "ends in" -- altruism. Sila paramita, perfection of morality, begins with a practice of renunciation and restraint and progresses to the selfless activity of compassion.
In each case, the "turning around" middle phase is described as a kind of re-dedication of practice. In some schools, the practitioner may dedicate the merits of practice to others. Or, the turning around may simply be the virtue of bodhicitta asserting itself.
It's important to understand this progression happens of itself, if practice is sincere. I don't think you can will yourself to skip to the last stage. Also, if you recognize that you haven't hit the "turning around" phase yet, don't judge yourself for it. That's very important.
The worst thing you can do is read a commentary like this one and then tell yourself, OK, I'm supposed to be altruistic. If your "altruism" hasn't risen naturally from practice, what you'll probably do is wrap a new persona around yourself labeled "Me Being an Altruist." It's phony, and it's also self-defeating. Hanging on to that persona gets in the way of sincere practice.
Also, as long as you are thinking in terms of what you "should" be, that's still a kind of self-clinging. And then (if you're as neurotic as I am) you are likely to sink into defeatism, telling yourself you don't measure up. More self-clinging.
If you simply sincerely practice, with all your fears and doubts and imperfections, the progression happens of itself. When I say "sincerely practice," it's practice without goal. It's practice with whatever is going on in your life right now. It's doing the best you can do, right now, even when "the best you can do" seems imperfect. Especially when it seems imperfect.
Remember, you're not trying to turn yourself into something else. In Mahayana, we say that everyone is Buddha. You may not feel like Buddha. (And you probably know a lot of people who don't seem to be Buddha, either.) But what that means is that Buddha-nature is your fundamental nature. It is what you are, already.
And, in a nutshell, allowing that Buddha-nature to manifest means letting go of whatever you are clinging to. So put "what I should be" aside and just practice, and the turning around will follow.
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