I am grateful to have received very high ratings from the more than 700 CEOs that I have worked with across North America over the past 3 years. Nearly half of these leaders have formally given me permission to connect, with a view to hiring me to help develop their leaders, high performers, and teams.

But here’s the hitch! While the tendency of these CEOs may be to love what we do and desire our services, they get busy with the other 50 things demanding their attention.

If I want to continue or enhance this potential business relationship, I must organize my week, month, and life to pursue them. Busy people get busier. People want to pay attention to you, but they do so at a higher pace if you pay attention to them. Therefore, I initiate calls to potential clients every week and not surprisingly, we are having our best year ever.

Let me introduce you to two young heroes of mine. My wife, Jenn, and I met these two young brothers while touring Guatemala City, prior to training a group of business leaders.

The older brother displayed an amazing energy (a winning mindset) that activated the following actions:

• He picked me out of our group. The other members of our group were wearing runners (so smart).

• He approached me and spoke my language (not really, but we figured it out), while hundreds of other shoe shine people (mostly older people) sat on the side of the street, shouting, “Shoe Shine?” waiting for me to approach them. I didn’t.

• He was Hungry; he pursued his prospect. This young entrepreneur followed me until I relented. He stayed resilient.

• He got his hands dirty, literally. He shined my shoes with his fingers.

• Finally, he shared the proceeds with his little brother.

Because these two brothers stayed hungry during the day, they won’t be hungry at night. ​ Who will you pursue today? In the language of our Thinking Tendencies Model©, this is a shift into Future Positive Thinking, allowing you to focus your energy on your DBF (desired better future.)

What will you pursue today? It may be that sales opportunity you have been hoping would happen. It may not be business related; it could be a relationship you would like to strengthen or one of the personal goals you want to conquer. Who & What will you pursue today?

The two young brothers have honed one of the skills all NHL players learn early in their career (or they don’t play). No, I don’t think that these kids know how to skate or have mastered a slap shot, but they have developed the skill that the best-of-the-best exemplify: they know what they want, and with a future positive mindset… they pursue it! ​ Ryan