"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily."--Zig Ziglar

How was your week? On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your results from the last 7 days?

Professional development is also personal development. Reflectively evaluating the goals, relationships, lessons, and experience from the past week helps to reinforce success achieved and adjustments that can be made to become an even better version of you. It's much easier to improve when you have clarity and focus.

Some additional questions for more insight:

* If you scored your week less than a 10, what could have made moved it closer to a 10?
* Who did you meet this week that will be a valuable addition to your network?
* For whom were you a blessing this week?
* With whom do you need to follow up with a next action?

Set the bar

Often the challenge isn't setting the bar too high or too low--it's setting the bar at all.

What would make this upcoming week the best possible seven days? What are the realistic, incremental goals you could set for the week that would move you to your bigger objectives?

Write each goal in simple, straightforward terms with a deadline, including the benefits gained from reaching it. Consider what barriers may keep you from success and identify your strategies for overcoming those obstacles. List the key people, strengths, and skills that can help you achieve your goal, and map out a schedule in your calendar to implement your plan.

Get Over it

Getting over the bar sometimes requires getting over your past.

You can learn many lessons from what happened last week, last month, or last year. Learn from your successes and from your mistakes. You can even learn from the mistakes of others. But don't let your mind stay in the past.

Let it go--Get over it--Get on with it.

If you are a reader of the Bible, you probably are aware of the common theme where God is much more concerned about the potential of the future than the mistakes of the past. What is the same message to Abraham, Moses, the "woman at the well," Peter, Paul, etc.?

Yeah, I know about your past, but let's talk about your future.
You're capable of so much more!

The same is true for you. How you handle the past will determine your future. One moment at a time, one day at a time, one week at a time. The choice really is yours to make as you expand your capacity for professional and personal development.