Get A Leg Up
Manny Padro
You don’t have to be a genius or a visionary or even a college graduate to be successful. You just need a framework and a dream.
—Michael Dell
Each of us has a purpose—a reason for the decisions we make and the actions we take. Sometimes it only lives within us, unacknowledged and unidentified. Other times, our purpose is a force to be reckoned with. It drives us to set goals and accomplish them. It helps us build our own path. It enables us to recognize our success and celebrate it.
Being successful down the road means identifying your purpose—and values—now. In Get a LEG Up, Manny Padro shares how he’s achieved a life of happiness and fulfillment by learning to recognize his purpose and value system through behavior modification. Growing up in a low-income neighborhood, Manny relied on mentors to point him in a successful direction. Now, along with insight from dozens of other mentors, he’s sharing what he’s learned as a toolkit for young adults to gain a jump-start on a successful life. With exercises, anecdotes, and strategies for living each day with intention, this is the workbook you need to create healthy habits and commit to the future you want.
Press & Praise
In Get A Leg Up, Manny Padro outlines a plan and path for helping teenagers living in low-income or poverty conditions build a foundation of purpose. Manny chose this target audience because he was this target audience. The simple tools Manny provides in this book will help teenagers get out of poverty and embark on their journey to success.
Unfortunately, desire alone is not enough to improve one's situation. In Manny Padro's new book, Get a Leg Up, he outlines a how-to roadmap for teenagers and young adults to follow and change their lives as well as the lives of their families. His lifetime of experience while drawing on other noted leaders in the field can be a resource for anyone wanting to improve their circumstances.
Manny Padro has provided a great framework for students who want to better their lives, as well as for teachers who want to help students do just that. His personal story is inspiring, and his model of learn-earn-give is accessible, practical, and memorable. Filled with thought-provoking questions, engaging stories, and hands-on tips, this book is a must-read for teenagers and those who work with them. I found myself immediately thinking about how I could implement Manny's ideas in my own classroom-something that any educator who reads this book can do right away. Our students will be sure to benefit when we do!
