The repertory grid technique was used to explore how 26 third‐year trainee clinical psychologists construed their personal and professional selves over the course of training and into the future. Each trainee completed a demographic questionnaire and a repertory grid with 10 elements: four ‘personal self’ elements, four ‘professional self’ elements and two ‘qualified clinical psychologist’ elements. They then rated the 10 elements on 10 bipolar constructs of their choosing. Trainees' personal and professional selves were construed to be similar to each other. Trainees had low self‐esteem and reported currently feeling anxious, stressed, unsettled and lacking an appropriate work–life balance. These difficulties were attributed to the demands of training and were expected to resolve once training was completed with future selves being construed as similar to ideal selves. Suggestions for future research with improved methodology are made, and the implications of the findings for trainees, training providers and employers of newly qualified clinical psychologists are given. The overall implication being that stress in training is normative and the profession has a duty to normalize this and ensure that self‐care and personal development are recognized as core competencies of the clinical psychologist for the benefit of its members and their clients. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Message Clinical psychology trainees experience training as demanding and stressful, which negatively impacts on their personal and professional self‐image and self‐esteem. However, they are optimistic that they will become more like their ideal self in the future. Stress in clinical training (and beyond) is normative, and thus, personal development and self‐care should be recognized as clinical psychologist's core competencies.