Finding your path through self-reflection
We sat down with Lorenzo “LORDENZO” Rodriguez (content creator) and talked about growth.
A conversation about growth through self-reflection with a content creator
Question
What are your three tips for staying focused?
Lorenzo Rodriguez
First, for me is humility, I think staying humble is one of the most important things you can possibly do. Second, having gratitude, waking up every day, whether you're a religious person or not, thanking whoever you think up in the morning, whether that's your family, God or whoever it could be. Last, have pure passion, I think even if you're kind of steering off of that path that you originally were on but the fact that you're still staying passionate about what you're doing and passionate about levelling up personally before anything.
The recipe for success is staying true to yourself. In the long haul, I mean, there's a lot of things you can say short term, like, oh, you know, hard work this and that. I think there's a lot of things that are generic, but I think when you get to the dynamic part of who you are as a human being, that's going to take it to the next level for the long term.
You can have your hard work, never giving up attitude, and staying optimistic. I try to do those things on the daily basis. But I think, you know, being humble, passionate, and showing gratitude are the top three things that you can put into the pot to stay focused.
Question
What advice would you give to your younger self?
I would say tastes everything that you can. I was trying to play professional soccer growing up. I played at the semi-pro level. I played in college and I think when I look back now it was always soccer which I don't regret at all. It was just staying hyper-focused on just one thing. But I think when you're young, a lot of times people think you can only do one thing. Now the older I'm getting and being the content creator, the fact that I'm able to just play like a certain game, but also take inspiration from other things, whether that's fashion, music, culture, sports, whatever, and just mix it all together.
I think that's the most beautiful that you can do. So I would tell my younger self just to taste everything and everything will work out the way it's supposed to. Everything happens for a reason.
Question
How disciplined do you have to be a winner?
I think if you do the little things, right, the bigger things will eventually kind of just formulate in their own way. So I think discipline is just always doing the little things right. What I learned in school and what I learned from family is to have a million-dollar idea with a $0 budget. So outworking the competition, but not necessarily like, oh, I have to work harder than this person. The competition is really just your mental battles, the demons inside you that are following you, and overall distractions.
Question
What were three tips that helped you stop yourself from going off track?
Finding balance is huge. As I'm getting older I'm more in tune with myself. I'm always asking myself like, okay, am I having fun? I think that's the most important thing. Am I having fun? If I'm not having fun, the people who are watching me stream or watching my content, they're going to see it. Another would be, doing the little things to stay on track. Number three just manifesting and having faith that everything's going to work out. Whether that's exactly the way you put it, or maybe there are some alterations here and there.
Question
Why is it important to have a plan?
I think I've always been hesitant about having plans. Growing up in my younger days of soccer the according to plans, it just never worked which is okay. I think when I was younger, it was hard for me to understand. I'm doing all the things, right. I'm skipping out on sleepovers. I'm not hanging out with friends. I'm not going to parties. I'm missing proms. I was okay with saying you know what that didn't work, go back to the drawing board and just create a new plan.
I make rough plans. I make content roadmaps, but I think being adaptable and having resiliency are two important characteristics when it comes to creatives. You may have this one idea, but if it doesn't pan out there could be 10 plans underneath that main plan that you could have really explored.
Having a general skeleton, but also understanding like bones can break and you're going to have to cast it up and keep going, just being adaptable and resilient are the two biggest things.
Question
What do you do when things don’t go to plan?
I think most of the time things don't go to plan. I tell my streaming community all the time, I have more failures than victories. And I think a lot of people can resonate because most people do have more failures than successes, which is not a bad thing.
I didn't get into my dream schools and that was heartbreaking. I didn't get the job from my dream company, and I realized everything happens for a reason. I changed my perspective which comes from maturity. I have the tools now on how I can get up quickly, and pivot left, right, up, down or straight. And take it in a positive way.
I was able to develop, I got better at presenting who I am. I went back and zeroed in on my resume and really make it crisper. Even though I didn't win, I still won in a lot of different ways. And I think when things don't go your way, you pray on it.
It goes back to those three things. Am I having fun with it? Humility? and gratitude? I could have said hard work and etc, but those are the foundational things that you can always go back to, and then just rebuild on top of those things.
In summary, life can take you in many different directions. Finding yourselves through this journey and understanding what your strengths and weaknesses make this road worth taking. You can view Lorenzo Rodriguez's work on Instagram, website and twitch.