By Leo Rodriguez Jr.

In 2017 I attended a conference in Franklin, Tennessee. The purpose of the conference was to help writers start creating content, or grow their platform if they’re already creating. Many speakers attended and shared amazing advice and experiences.

There were about 300 of us in the room, all at different stages in the process of writing. Some have published, some are about to finish their first book, and others haven’t started yet. For three days, we got a ton of information, ideas, and suggestions on how to go from point A to point B.

After the conference, I reviewed my notes to make sure I soaked up as much as I could. I had pages and pages of notes on top of 7 books that had been given to me by the authors themselves; as you can imagine, this was a lot more information than it’s possible to process in the space of one conference. The list of things I needed to learn and do in order to get my book done and published seemed to be growing and growing almost to the point where I questioned if writing this book was worth it.
As I thought of how I could apply all this new knowledge in the process of writing my book I came up with the following three steps that I needed to go through. These steps helped clarify my road ahead as an aspiring author. These steps can (and maybe should) be applied to any process you get involved in, so as you read these, apply them to your specific situation whether it is at work, school, relationship, or whatever the case may be.

1. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO START?
   When I was getting ready to start writing my book, there was so much I didn’t know yet about the publishing world. But, that didn’t stop me because all I needed to start was an idea of what I wanted to write and something to write with. In fact, I didn’t even need to know how to write; I could just audio record the thing if I really wanted to. That’s it! Really, it is that simple!
   When you think of the specific thing you are trying to achieve don’t get overwhelmed by everything you will need to do in the process to the point that you don’t even start working towards it. Rather than getting overwhelmed take a step back and think of what is the most basic step you can take to get started, after the first step is done go for the second step and so on and so forth.
   I like to remind myself to use the KISS method- Keep It Simple Stupid! yeah, there’s something about that that gets me every time.

What is the thing you want to start? Don’t overthink it… just go to the very basics of it and write down what you need just to start.

2. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO COMPETE?
   So now that I’ve actually started writing, having a strong desire is not enough. Daydreaming about my book is not enough. If I want to get it done, now I need to write often and have a plan to finish the book. If I stay at the starting line, surely others will pass me by.
   Now I put in the work. Now I compete with my lazy self. Now I go to war with my excuses if I want to stay in the writers circle. Writers write! and so should I.

Now that you are in the race, what do you need to do to secure a spot on the winner’s podium? Is there something you need to learn in order to keep up? Is there something you need to do differently, or start (or stop) doing to maintain your pace? What is it?

3. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO WIN?
   I started the race with almost zero knowledge. I stayed in the race by doing the minimum. I wrote here and there, did some research here and there, and talked about my book more than I wrote on it. Now I need to get serious if I want to win at this race. Now I need to make sure I’m writing consistently. Now I need to start learning about the publishing world, what they like and don’t like. I have to start thinking about finding an editor and all the fun stuff that comes with writing a book. Now I really have to get serious if I want to be recognized as an author in the near future.
   It wouldn’t make any sense to quit so close to the end of the race, so I might as well roll up my sleeves and go for the win. This is where you hustle and differentiate yourself.
   This is when you spend more time honing your skills. This is when you study others who are winning in the sphere where you want to win. (This is when you fly all the way to Tennessee for a conference.)

What about you? What is really necessary for you to do if you want to go from competing to winning? This is the point where you can’t be whiny anymore, the point where excuses are an absolute waste of time. This is the time to work. Well, only if you want to win.

 Like I said before, these 3 steps can accelerate your progress in any area of your life, but they only work if you do.

1. What do you need to start?
2. What do you need to stay in the race?
3. What do you need to win?

Share this with someone who wants to win.

Thank you for reading!

EVERY ACTION MATTERS. EVERY DAY COUNTS.

By Leo Rodriguez Jr.

For years I told myself I wanted to write a book. I daydreamed about it every day. I was sure I had the whole book in my head and all I needed to do was sit down and bust it out. One day I finally started to write. Everything was fun and exciting. I would go in my room, put on my headphones and just type away in my own little writer world. As I noticed the bulk of pages getting bigger and bigger I thought, “Oh crap, this might be a real book after all!” So I thought I would call a literary agent and meet up with him to give him my draft. He would then get it published, mail me a fat check, and I would tour the country doing book signings. That’s how writers become writers, right? Wrong! I could not have been more wrong.

Little did I know, publishers don’t usually talk to you unless you have a certain number of followers on social media (especially for a personal development type of book). So how was I going to get my work out there? I just wanted to write and nothing else. Well, I was told to start a blog. A what? I’d never even heard of it, so, after buying a domain name and setting up a website and writing a few articles, someone suggested that a podcast might help. A what? Well, I thought, let me just buy a mic and download the software for audio recording, and so on and so forth. My book is not done yet (in case you were wondering) but somehow now a have a Twitter account, Instagram account, a website where I publish articles, and – coming soon to a mobile device near you – a podcast. I often ask myself: why can’t I just write my book and be done? The answer is simple: because that’s not how it works.

I know, as you probably do too, that there are instances where you can just write a book and all of the planets align and you get it published and things take off, but for most of us mortals that’s not the case.

Imagine having a baby who doesn’t cry at night, doesn’t drop his binky when you’re driving, or who doesn’t have diaper accidents that some how go all the way up to his neck… oh, if only!
What about having your dream job but without a commute, annoying co-workers, or a mean boss…

Let’s be real, rarely will something go 100% the way we want it to; many times, we complain so much about the things we didn’t sign up for that we forget to think about why we started. Things will happen, those things are called life. We cannot ignore the price that we have to pay for our goals.

After feeling like I started from zero in the publishing world, I have to keep in mind that this is all because I WANT to write a book. It doesn’t matter what obstacles get put in my way, I will face them head on because I’m only focused on my end goal: my book.

Sure, I didn’t ask for all the sleepless nights and dirty diapers, but I did ask for children to liven up our home with laughter and joy, the other stuff is just part of the package.

When you find yourself doing that something that you didn’t sign up for, remember YOUR WHY. Remember why you started.

Consider these two factors when defining your why:

1. Is it clear? Your why has to be so clear that it leaves no room for doubt or confusion. You have to know 100% why you you’re doing what you’re doing. Not being clear on your why is an easy way to be all over the place and nowhere at the same time. A clear why will help you see where you need to go. That’s how I’m getting through the jungle of getting a book published. If I forget my why I will get lost and end up at the wrong place.
2. Is it strong? Is your why a strong enough reason for why you’re doing what you’re doing? Being clear alone is not enough because you can CLEARLY be doing the wrong thing. When your why is strong it will make you feel different every time you think about it. It will give you a confidence you otherwise wouldn’t get. A strong why will grab you and take you places you didn’t think you could go. A strong why will help you DO what needs to be done. The reason for my why is because I want to share lessons in my book that I hope will help and inspire others. To me, that is clear and strong enough to get me through all of the fun stuff that comes with publishing my book.

A clear why will help you see.
A strong why will help you DO.
Both combined will help you become who you need to be.

SHARE THIS WITH SOMEONE WHO’S AFTER SOMETHING SPECIAL.
EVERY ACTION MATTERS. EVERY DAY COUNTS.

By Leo Rodriguez Jr.

My wife and I had been married for about four years when I realized I had failed her on most of the promises I had made to her. It happened suddenly while I was at work. I started thinking of how little progress I had made towards everything we wanted early in our marriage, and trust me, we didn’t want much and somehow I had still managed to fall short.

As I thought of everything I would do differently if I could do it again, my heart rate went up, my breathing got heavy and my mind blurry. I could almost see a living image of me standing with my wife looking at our dreams fade away in the distance. Let me tell you, that was not romantic at all.

You guessed right if you think I felt like a failure, like a loser.
This beautiful girl had trusted me to take care of her. She gave birth to our first child. She quit her job to be with our son 24-7. She supported me on whatever venture I got into. She always did her best for us and in return I had a list of broken promises. Not a fair deal by any standards.

This whole thing lasted no more than a minute but it felt like a long time for sure. It seems like when you dwell on negativity time seems to move a lot slower. Right in the middle of me feeling like crap a thought came to mind “you need to live with lessons, not with regrets. ” Boom!

Immediately after this came to mind, my breathing relaxed and my mind cleared. Suddenly my mind was filled with lessons I could learn from every mistake I had made. I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down as many lessons as I could think of from every aspect of my life. In less than 2 minutes I had gone from the most overwhelming feeling I had ever felt, to ideas filled with endless potential.

Let me share with you 4 lessons I learned:

• Own failure. Failure is what happens, not who you are. Failure is only a short scene in the long movie of your life. Failure is a word used to describe things not going your way. You can argue that in spite of not reaching your goal you are a better person for having tried, and I agree. yet, you failed. It may sound harsh but if you can’t admit that fact, you won’t be able to learn or benefit from your past failures. You must turn failure into positive. Henry Ford said “Failure is merely an opportunity to more intelligently begin again.” This world we live in puts so much weight on the word failure that we are scared, terrified to get close to it. Own failure by realizing its merely a step on the stairway to success. Admit it and own it!
• Take responsibility for your failures. After you admit your failures and mistakes you might be tempted to blame others or blame your circumstances for such failures. Doing this will weaken your ability to learn a lesson and improve. I mean, how can you change something you can’t control? you can’t. Look for the things that are 100% under your control and take full responsibility on those. Learning to take responsibility will empower you to make significant changes and move forward. Taking responsibility will lead to action and only doing will you ever achieve anything.
• Write down your lessons. Get a piece of paper and write down the areas of your life where you feel you have failed on your goals. Some of those areas may include: Family-Health-Professional-Spiritual-Financial-Self Development. 
For each section you choose, write down a lesson you can learn from it and explain in writing, to yourself, how understanding this specific lesson will help you avoid the same mistakes and how it will help you  move forward. Call me crazy but there is something about writing stuff down that helps the learning process.
• Don’t be too hard on yourself. Because you failed on something that doesn’t mean that you are a failure. All of us have failed and made mistakes. All of us will continue to fail on some things because that is life. We are humans. What matters is how we react to our failures. Don’t allow past failures to limit the potential of your future success.
  The way we look at and deal with our failures will have a huge impact on our character and potential to grow.

What have you learned from failure?
Leave a comment sharing your experience.