Success Story with Scott D. Clary

Episode: Lessons – What It Really Takes to Win | Carlos Rodriguez – 17x European Champion

Release Date: December 1, 2025

Overview

In this episode, host Scott D. Clary sits down with Carlos Rodriguez, a pioneering professional esports athlete and 17-time European champion. Carlos unpacks what it really takes to win at the highest levels in esports—from strategic game selection to rigorous training, personal development, and building mental fortitude. He offers an unfiltered look into the realities of a career in competitive gaming, the importance of adapting to new challenges, and why failure is an essential teacher in both esports and life.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Strategic Game Selection and Career Longevity

• Luck vs. Strategy: Carlos discusses how luck played into his initial success as he began competing in World of Warcraft (WoW), but his subsequent career pivots were intentional.

  • “I got lucky on my first move in World of Warcraft because World of Warcraft just happened to be one of the largest games back then.” (01:59, Carlos)

• Conscious Career Moves: After peaking in WoW, Carlos made a deliberate choice to move on, prioritizing games with large communities and prize pools that matched his skills.

  • “I decided to quit because I felt like I wasn’t the owner of my luck… I want a career out of this… My eye–hand coordination is pretty good... I have no fear… What game should I play next? … That’s when I consciously decided to go for League of Legends.” (02:41–03:56, Carlos)

• Brand Building: He underscores that building a personal brand as a professional player requires both skill and adaptability, especially when switching to new games.

  • “Even though League of Legends back then was not my favorite game, I just thought that I could be very good at it and I thought that I could have a career that I could live by.” (04:21, Carlos)

2. Elite Training Routines in Esports

• Mental Over Physical Limits: Unlike traditional sports, esports training is about how much the mind can endure, not just the body.

  • “With video games... if your mind can take it, you should be training. You’re not going to get exhausted on your arms… But mentally, it’s very taxing.” (04:55–05:18, Carlos)

• Training Hours: The norm is 8-10 hours of focused gameplay daily, with some professionals pushing even further.

  • “An average successful career has a player training 8 to 10 hours a day… There’s more creative players that benefit more from playing only 6, 7 hours, whereas… 12 hours a day helps others more.” (05:58–06:20, Carlos)

• Practice Types:

  • Team Practice: “You practice alongside your team and you practice against other teams… You practice callouts… your playstyle, which takes hundreds, if not thousands of hours.” (06:20–06:54, Carlos)
  • Solo Practice: “Then you practice by yourself… Every game has something called ‘solo queue’… you practice your mechanics.” (06:58, Carlos)

3. Personal and Mental Development

• Self-Development Habits: In addition to gaming, Carlos emphasizes reading and meditation as tools for performance and stress management.
  • “I picked up reading books and meditation when I was 17 and funnily enough, it was when everything just boomed.” (11:02, Carlos)
  • “When I feel like I’m a bit stuck or a bit overly stressed… I’ve learned the little tactics to get rid of that stress… reading books and meditation… helped me greatly.” (11:17, Carlos)

4. Navigating a New Industry Without Mentorship

• No Role Models: Unlike traditional sports, Carlos lacked mentors and had to pioneer his own path in esports.

  • “I never had a mentor as a player... I was, I mean, I was not literally the first player, but I was the first player, you know.” (13:10, Carlos)

• Learning by Trial and Error: His success and reputation are built on lessons learned through both wins and prominent mistakes.

  • “I had to build my own path… it’s just, it’s fun when you have to build a path that’s never existed before because… you learn to take fuck ups and failures as just another day in the office.” (14:13, Carlos)

• Risk-Taking Culture: Now as a business leader, Carlos fosters a culture where risk-taking and innovation are celebrated, rooted in his own experience as a pioneering player.

  • “...the one metric that everybody’s held accountable to—just try out things that haven’t been done before… If you fail at it, that’s okay… if you’re taking no risks, that is when… maybe not a good culture fit.” (14:53, Carlos)

Memorable Quote

“So many decisions were straight up wrong. Even in social media, just having a big mouth… it sometimes was great, sometimes was shitty… My brand is completely transparent, this raw guy that is just bantering with everyone, having a good time, and sometimes misses the mark. That’s pretty much me, you know. And I love it.”
Carlos Rodriguez (15:16)

5. Embracing Failure and Building Trust in Yourself

• Failure as a Teacher: Both Carlos and Scott agree that true confidence and adaptability come only from navigating failures.

  • “You can’t serve the wave unless you’re at the exact proper place in the wave. …Sometimes you will miss the mark… Sometimes you missing the mark is going to get you a lot of hatred, and you have to be okay with that…” (15:47, Carlos)

• Long-Term Mindset: The muscles for self-trust and resilience are only built by repeatedly pushing out of the comfort zone.

  • “If you can figure out and navigate all the good, the bad, and the… that happened to you, and you do it successfully once, you can do it multiple times... your career and your life is going to look different in another 20 years…” (16:19, Scott)

• No Fear of Small Failures:

  • “When something is out of the comfort zone… what if I do it and I don’t do it properly?... Just do it. What’s the worst-case scenario?... If anything, you get a €100 lesson. I always say that.” (17:01, Carlos)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Picking the Right Game:

  “What game should I play next? …the more people that play the game and watch the game, the more prize pool I will have access to.”
  (03:31, Carlos)

• On the Mental Demands of Esports:

  “Every game you play, you have to think about a thousand things… while you’re controlling your character… what your team is doing, what moves should the team do next… It’s just very taxing.”
  (05:18, Carlos)

• On Building a Culture of Experimentation:

  “The only thing that will be held accountable to is to try out things… If you fail at it, that’s okay... But if you get nothing new done… that’s when I start looking at you.”
  (14:53, Carlos)

Timestamps of Key Segments

• [01:44] Strategic Game Selection – Career pivots and the choice to pursue League of Legends
• [04:32] Daily Training Regimens and differences with traditional sports
• [06:20] Team and Solo Practice methods in high-level esports
• [11:02] The role of mental and personal development (gym, reading, meditation)
• [13:04] Lack of mentorship and being a pioneer in the industry
• [14:53] Building a risk-taking, failure-embracing culture
• [16:19] Trusting yourself through failure and uncertainty
• [17:01] Lessons from small daily risks and embracing discomfort

Conclusion

This candid conversation provides unique insights into the mindset and strategies of a true esports pioneer. Carlos Rodriguez’s journey highlights that sustained competitive success depends on strategic choices, relentless practice, personal development, and the ability to boldly experiment and learn from failure. His story and advice resonate far beyond esports for anyone striving for excellence in any emerging or fast-changing field.