Well, think about it. CFIs who don't CFInstruct just have a rating on
their paper that says they can do pretty well from the right seat.

You might make yourself a better pilot by taking different training:
aerobatics, for example. Fly with an instructor often enough to keep
sharp of course, but look for areas of training that will augment your
skills. Think about the written exam for CFI -- will passing it make
you a better pilot? You'd probably do better by restudying for the
instrument written.

The point is, given your limited time, would you be better off having
an instructor getting you ready for a CFI, or would that time be better
spent under the hood doing unsual attitude recoveries?

Sure, saying "Yeah, I'm a CFI" is nice, but your post suggests you are
a little past needing that for ego reasons.

Kind of reminds me (speaking of egos) of a great example I once saw.
Let me start by saying I, probably like you, have seen enough PPs and
don their flying gloves and wear their flying boots when they climb
into their 172s. This was at a South Waymouth NAS airshow about 1964 or
so. There was a WW II Spitfire on the field and it was going to be
flown in a demo before the Blue Angels performance. This man, dressed
in a suit, left the crowd, walked over to the airplane, took off his
suit jacket, put it somewhere -- I don't know where -- climbed aboard,
strapped on a chute, then took off and did things with that airplane
that left my mouth hanging open.

He landed, got unstrapped and out -- must have been a good suit, it
wasn't wrinkled -- got on his coat and walked away. He didn't need a
uniform or a label to say he was a pilot.

I have 3000 hours, most of it in a M 20 J. I still fly mostly on
business, and remember him every time I put my suit jacket in the back
seat before preflighting. I do carry a piece of old carpet though,
draining fuel from those tanks is not easy in dress pants.

Just thought I'd offer another opinion.