Perfect Mode

In this episode of "Beyond Motivation", we'll delve into the key strategies that will propel you toward your ultimate goals - don't miss out on this game-changing discussion!

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Creators & Guests

Host
JClay
JClay's music ignites a transformative experience, fostering spiritual growth, mindfulness, and a positive mindset through powerful and uplifting rap.
Host
Troy Washington
Real Estate Broker

What is Perfect Mode?

"Perfect Mode" invites you on a transformative odyssey to discover the extraordinary within the ordinary. Hosted by the dynamic duo of JClay, a rapper with a spiritual twist, and Troy Washington, a realtor with a mindset of abundance, this podcast is a sanctuary for those seeking to elevate their existence. Together, they explore the realms of personal growth, mental clarity, and spiritual enlightenment, offering unfiltered insights into living a life unchained by societal expectations. Tune in for your weekly dose of inspiration and embark on a journey to align with your highest self.

JClay:

If I reminded you that you are perfect, would you argue me down or step into into your perfection? Welcome to perfect welcome to perfect where there are no excuses, no expectations, with my cohost Troy Washington, your friendly neighborhood realtor. Let's be real. So let's be perfect. Perfect.

JClay:

Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.

Troy Washington:

Welcome to perfect mode. And first off, I wanna start by telling y'all that we love y'all. We're grateful for the opportunity to be anywhere sharing our thoughts and hopefully helping you realize that you are perfect. And the reason why I can say that unapologetically is because I know for a fact you are one of 1 numero uno. You cannot be replicated, duplicated.

Troy Washington:

And the only reason you'll be saying that I'm not perfect if I'm looking at this person on the side of me and saying, I'm not them. But guess what? You are you, and that's all you need. And we are here today to talk about beyond motivation, harnessing the power of pure enthusiasm. What up, Jay?

Troy Washington:

It's my boy, Jay Clay, spiritual rapper and teacher. And I you know, of course, you're truly Troy watching your friend neighborhood realtor. So what up, Jay?

JClay:

What up? Happy day. Happy perfect day to all my perfect people in perfect land doing the perfect thing at the perfect perfect place at the perfect time. All this perfectness all around. Appreciate y'all being with us on this beautiful Sunday day.

JClay:

Yeah, you know, we gotta get the get the announcements out the way. So tomorrow we are doing a water fast 24 hours or 24 hours when you last ate today. Join us. It's cool. Yeah.

JClay:

Got got got the water. Tastes good, everything. Also join our Patreon. Support your boys if you want to hear more content like this and join the community. It's a beautiful community.

JClay:

We get to share ideas, you get to vote on shows and all this. But yeah, man, I really want to talk about harnessing the power of pure enthusiasm, which is going beyond motivation. Yeah.

Troy Washington:

Yeah. So, funny enough, bro. Like, what so first of all, I was so enthused when the song came on. I actually got into it, and I almost forgot to bring us up because I was really into it. I tried to lock in to, you know, the whole thought process.

Troy Washington:

But, you know, a million things ran through my head when I thought about beyond motivation or beyond motivating or beyond the beyond the motivation that's given. And, you know, I I tried to really, you know, figure out what that really meant to me. And, the funniest part about it is I could not think of a definition. I could not, articulate verbally how I feel when I was trying to, you know, dive into this. And what I concluded was it's this feeling that you can actually feel at least that's how I felt in the moment.

Troy Washington:

Even, you know, when the show was starting up, I I felt like it was beyond motivation because it didn't take anything for me to be here. But but I went over what your thoughts were when you came up with this topic.

JClay:

They're they're not motivated. You know, when it when you have motivation, you're like, yeah. Let's get it. Let's do this. But then there's there's enthusiasm, which is a little bit different.

JClay:

You you you have that energy, you have that fire. And I I I looked up the the difference because I I wanted to see, like, what's what's the difference between motivation and enthusiasm. And basically, motivation is it's kind of based on external factors. But enthusiasm is where it's it's internal. It's that internal fire.

JClay:

Like you just, But enthusiasm is where it's it's internal, it's that internal fire. Like, you just like, man, let's ah, I'm I'm I'm enthused, I'm inspired, I'm ready to just I'm ready to get it. I'm I'm ready to do this no matter what anybody says. I'm I'm very enthused about this. And I I wondered if there's a way to even harness that, to to use it to our advantage.

JClay:

Like, you know, we we we might fill our lives with inspirational things so that we can be motivated, you know, be around motivational people. You are a motivational speaker. Now on but on the enthusiasm side, how can you have it? How can you always harness it where you don't have to rely on motivation as much?

Troy Washington:

So again, that's the tricky and the funny question. Right? Because, like I said, when I was when I thought about this and I was really trying to understand, funny enough, that my my thought of how I felt is exactly what your definition was. Because I told you it was something that I could not articulate. It was something that I felt.

Troy Washington:

But the funniest thing, I guess to start out is there have been things that I don't feel like I was motivated to do before, or I wasn't enthusiastic to do it either. And, I put on what I felt like was a fake enthusiasm. Like, where I was just like, I I I allowed it to bubble up in me. So I was like, I'm about to, you know, I'm about to be hyped no matter what. And so I had this, this yelling, shouting enthusiasm in me even though it wasn't real.

Troy Washington:

And funny enough, in some of these instances where I've done this before, I ended up being enthused for real or motivated after the fact. Now, again, I I know that there's kind of like, a a tugging pool here because, you know, I guess the topic thinking about it upfront is, like, well, why do I do I even have to go through this fake sense of enthusiasm in order to really, use the power of enthusiasm to kinda lift me to where I need to be. Right? But I only brought that up because there have been times where I haven't needed to be motivated nor enthused, and I created a fake level of enthusiasm, which however you do that. I don't know how to explain it.

Troy Washington:

But it kinda propelled me to the point where I was able to look back and be like, dang. This is fun or this is exciting or I do have the energy. And then once I determined that it was fun and I had the energy, I was motivated to do it. But go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

So yeah. I wanna ask about that because I know you said it's hard to articulate how to have fake enthusiasm, but that might be the gateway to having real enthusiasm. It sounds funny, but, like, can you go through that process? Is it is it you just going through the motions of what you think you would be like to be enthused about something? Is it is it something else you do?

JClay:

Is it movement? What is Right.

Troy Washington:

So so it's again, it's in my imagination what I feel like enthusiasm would look like. Right? Because I know and I say it that this way because I know that we all imagine things to be fun or exciting just depending on how our life is. But as an example, the best way that I can say it, even though I am always enthused to do our show, I'm always I I love being on this. Right?

Troy Washington:

But funny enough, before I show, when the theme song is on, before we come up, we always just be like we always excited. Like and, again, we don't have to do those things in order to come on and do what we're doing. But there is also a level of enthusiasm that's created outside of the enthusiasm that we already have because we started to dance. And so when we start to dance so when we come on, we were like, okay. Let's let's go ahead and let's go ahead and do this.

Troy Washington:

And so when I think about these other situations that, I I might experience where I'm not enthused or motivated to do it, I will create something like that. So I will start to look at it from, a magical standpoint. Like, oh, when this start, I'm about to go hypes, go harder. And I'm I get myself excited. And, again, it's not real, but what happens is as I get into it, I would the way that I I think about it, I feel like I open myself up to all the possibilities of whatever it is I'm doing.

Troy Washington:

And so I stopped being singular mind focused. And when I stopped being singular mind focused, I'm able to see other things that are interesting or other things that I can bring to the table, the the things that I feel like are the value in me that's gonna add to whatever I'm doing. And once I'm able to identify that, then my level of enthusiasm and motivation completely changes. Go ahead.

JClay:

So, before I respond, I wanna say to anybody watching, like, if you have examples of how you've harnessed enthusiasm or, you know, share that or where you tapped into it. But I'm glad you say what you said about the preshow, Troy, because people that are watching this, like, behind the scenes when the when the opening thing was on, we can see each other. So, like, I I like to start with movement too because I figured I could I could be in a more enthusiastic space if I just start with movement. Like just just sitting here I could be like, I see you doing it too. So now it like, something happens in me.

JClay:

Well, it's like, now I'm getting motivated by you. It's the outside force, but it's also building up this enthusiasm in me. And the thing is, like, if if if we can maintain a level of enthusiasm for whatever we're doing, we can always get stuff done. We can always do what we set out to do. I mean, like, the the the number one reason businesses fail or people just stop doing something is simply because they lost their enthusiasm.

JClay:

And if we can use the power of enthusiasm, like put it like this. I've had nights where I don't sleep, and then the next morning, I'm not tired. But it it's not because of anything wrong with me or I'm trying to stay up late or anything. It's just pure enthusiasm. I'm enjoying what I'm doing.

JClay:

I'm having fun. And it's like you can you can just go go go with with with no falling off in a sense. And it and I wanna just really like, I'm I'm I'm passionate. I'm enthusiastic

Troy Washington:

what our outlook is on whatever it is that we're trying to be enthusiastic or motivated to do. Because a lot of the things that we do in life are so routine that we start to look at them as I I don't wanna say beneath us, but we're always looking beyond the level that we're on. Right? And so we normalize stuff that shouldn't be normal. So, like, getting up and going to the grocery store, when you go to the grocery store on a weekly basis, it's just like, I'm gonna go to the grocery store so that way I can get my stuff.

Troy Washington:

So there's no enthusiasm to do it because it's a part of your routine. It's a mundane thing that you have to do in order to just get to the next thing in your life that you need to do. And I think that, you know, simple enough, if I perceive it as a journey or perceive it as a, you know, something that's going to be fun, then I can in turn open my mind up to now this is again me visualizing and saying, okay. The trip to the store is gonna be fun today because my kids are gonna be with me. I know that they're gonna try to grab everything in the store, and I'm gonna see how many times I'm a get be able to tell them now before we get out.

Troy Washington:

And my magic number is 200. So now it's like, okay. When I get to the store, I'm a start counting as soon as I get there. And so now it's it's no longer the routine that I'm normally used to, and there's a bit of enthusiasm because now I've opened up my world to see I've opened up my world to see more trees. I'm not saying that the only owl that I'm gonna go to is aisle 7 because it has the mustard, mayonnaise, and ketchup, and I don't wanna see anything else.

Troy Washington:

And, you know, just that, that that future outlook on it, I think, or reframing the way that we actually see the way that we do things is a big part of changing the enthusiasm to do them. Go ahead.

JClay:

Okay. I like that. So so it sounds like you're saying look for the fun in whatever it is you're about to do. Even if it's the most boring thing, just see if there's something fun in there to be enthusiastic about. Okay.

JClay:

And so something I wanna add, but I but I don't wanna say this because it's like it's almost like a lack mindset. Not a lack, but when you brought up the grocery store example, I was very enthusiastic to go to the grocery store last week I was very happy throughout that entire process even though we were fasting. Now when we were fasting, I didn't feel like I was hungry, like I was gonna die or like I wasn't gonna make it to the the allotted time that we set up our fast. But I I was still very enthused about eating and so it made that whole process great. Even coming home, putting up the groceries, everything was was I was very enthusiastic about that process.

JClay:

And and I'm trying to think, like, is it is it lack? Because it's not really lack, but it's something in that. But I I don't know what it is.

Troy Washington:

Well, I what I I'll add this too. Instead of saying look for the fun, I would say look for the uniqueness of the situation. I mean, because the reality of it is the uniqueness is, I think, what opens up the door for the other things. So the uniqueness of your situation for going to the grocery store was we were coming out of a fast. And because we're coming out of a fast, you were thinking, like, now I can because of my fast, I really could eat anything.

Troy Washington:

Now my doors are open to everything. What do I really wanna eat? And it caused you to be even more creative in your thought process of how you want to go about it. Do I wanna take my time cooking this? Do I want, like but not because now you're not you're the circumstances different, even though it's the same situation that you do all the time you go to grocery store all the time the same thing with me like driving my kids to school in the morning.

Troy Washington:

Like, when I take the same pathway every single day, it becomes boring. And and the crazy thing is I don't even have to say it out loud because there's a feeling in me like, I'm about to drive this pathway. Right? And so I told you I do these things in the car to change the dynamic of the the air of the car, and it's mostly because of me because how I'm feeling about, you know, my pathway. But something as simple as me changing the pathway that I went to school made me more enthusiastic about doing it.

Troy Washington:

And it's because number 1, I still coulda have identified the uniqueness and the pathway that I was going. But because I go it so much, I didn't want to look at it that way anymore. So I forced myself by taking a different pathway to have to look at different things. And then, you know, I'm able to witness a uniqueness. So I I and the reason why I I point at both is because I want to continue to push the the the the mindset that it it there's no like moments.

Troy Washington:

Every moment could be unique. And because we're not we've already deemed them to be the same as the one before, there's no uniqueness nor no enthusiasm in order to experience it. Go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

I love that. So yeah. So and you answered my question. Like so it's not that it's it's lack. It's just doing something new, doing taking the path less traveled just to do something different.

JClay:

So in the case of fasting, like, I I eat every day. I eat multiple times a day, but then to not eat for a specific amount of time, that's that's something new. Even though I've done it before, it's still its own experience. So it it garners that enthusiasm not only for

Troy Washington:

you can eat the same thing that you've eaten before a 1000000 times, but your level of enthusiasm for that thing is times 10. Yeah. Like, you're so enthusiastic, grateful, motivated, appreciative. It changes everything. And it could be the same burger that you ate or the same banana or the same popcorn that you've been eating, you know, for your for your entire life.

Troy Washington:

Go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

Yeah. No. It's true. Like, even with me planning meals, because like you said, I I can eat whatever I wanted to. I did want the the new stuff, but I was still excited when I finally made my rotation back to what I normally eat because there's a new appreciation of it.

JClay:

And in many ways, you can say that enthusiasm is following your passion in the moment. Because a lot of times we don't. Like like, you might you might see it when we given the driving example, you might see something or a path you wanna go down, but you never consider consider because you're like, well, I gotta go this way because of traffic. I gotta be here at this particular time. But who knows?

JClay:

It's probably its own adventure if you were to just turn right all of a sudden just off instinct because you saw something that looked funny going down the street or something. So yeah. Okay.

Troy Washington:

Look, bro. Not like real talk yesterday while we were out driving around, me and, me and Chardonnay, we celebrated our anniversary this weekend. So one thing we went to go do yesterday was we went to a a little outside spot where they serve, like, street tacos, barbecue, hamburgers, and things of that that nature. Right? And so, I always like to kind of map out my pathway that I'm going to drive.

Troy Washington:

I just kind of look on GPS and see where it's at. Right? And so, I told myself yesterday, I was like, okay, I looked it down here. Now I'm gonna try to drive here without looking at the GPS. I don't even want to look at that.

Troy Washington:

I'm gonna And so I drove. And, again, it's this is not a pathway that I haven't gone before. I've literally ate at this place before. I watched my GPS the whole time. But because something as little as me saying that I'm a try to get there without looking at the GPS, again, me verbalizing this is even funny in my head.

Troy Washington:

But I was motivated. I was enthusiastic to try to figure it out because I wanted to see if I can get there. Right? Same pathway, same places that we've been before, but level of enthusiasm is different. But not only that, when we were leaving, we were like, okay.

Troy Washington:

We're going to go to get some ice cream after we ate. Right? And so because I realized where I was at because of the enthusiasm that I had to drive there, I was like, well, this might be this street. So let me just try to see if I can go straight down this street and get me to where I'm trying to get to. And funny enough, it was where I thought we were at, And so I was even now imagine I'm really I'm I really was as excited as I sound right now.

Troy Washington:

Just to drive places that I've driven a ton of times. But just simply enough, me not relying on the GPS, which opened me up to more. Me saying, okay. Let me just try this. And, again, same path where I've drove a 1000000 times.

Troy Washington:

I literally was elated and excited about the journey. Go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

Okay. So so with that because I again, I I love that, and I agree. Like, just it's something new about that. I don't know if this just brings so much enthusiasm into it. What about something that, like, you prejudged as you just don't wanna do it, but it has to be done.

JClay:

Like, taxes are due tomorrow. I haven't done mine. I'm about to do it today. But taxes are due tomorrow. Something like taxes.

JClay:

How can you create enthusiasm if you're doing your own taxes? Or even if you have to go get them done, what would be the process? Could you follow the same thing? Could you look for the newness in it? Is there is there something extra that could be added to this equation?

Troy Washington:

See, this is tricky. Because and the only reason I say this is tricky, which well, first of all, to answer your question, I think that, yes, you can. But there's a level of it that I feel like, we don't feel like we have enough time to try to figure out. So what I mean by that is if I 100% told you that if you read through the entire tax form, you'll find some credits that you've never got before. Right?

Troy Washington:

And that you were gonna get more money. Now the deal is everybody would you would assume be excited to just be like, okay. I'm enthused to do this because I'm gonna get more money back.

JClay:

With the more money.

Troy Washington:

Right. Well, so so the this is the that's the part. That's the part that makes it challenging because there's no way to quantify that in a sense, number 1. And then number 2, there's little jargon that's going to pop up that's going to dissuade people from doing it. And so not being enthusiastic about expanding your knowledge is a thing.

Troy Washington:

It it's it's it's just it's it's just really a thing. And I get it. You know? You know, the mindset might be, you know, we have people around that do these things so that way we don't have to think about it. Yeah.

Troy Washington:

But it's something as simple as, you know, the you know, every year we get to protest our taxes on our home. Right? It is the simplest thing to do, bro. Like, it is literally the simplest thing to do. And I literally tell every single person that I know, like, hey.

Troy Washington:

Protest your taxes. Protest these mods. And, again, because I know what the paperwork is, and I've seen it a 1000000 times. It's nothing for me to go in there and sign my name, but people will not do it because of jargon and and and the only reason for me I do is because now every year, I'm enthusiastic on how much I can get them to lower my taxes. Right?

Troy Washington:

So but but but but that's also with me being able to overcome me not me thinking that I don't understand what the language is. Go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

Yeah. What what's funny is, I'm laughing because last year, I had asked you, like, what to say to, you know, to, dispute my taxes or to get it to be lowered. And you told me what to say, and I said it and I got them lowered. So this year, I didn't wanna bother you. So I, I went to chat DPT.

JClay:

I was like, man, this caused something to get them to lawyer. And they told me it was it's a house cost analysis or whatever. And I was like, damn, I went to the form. My realtor told me blah blah blah blah. And I just used the chat g p t, and I I felt good the entire way about it.

JClay:

And I I feel enthusiastic knowing that they are going to lower my, my my property taxes, which is which is cool. I love that. And and shout out to him real quick.

Troy Washington:

But but to your point though. Right?

JClay:

Yeah.

Troy Washington:

Imagine I know that you're a technical person. I know that you will figure stuff like this out. But think about the roadblock that you felt when you didn't wanna ask me. Right? That's number 1.

Troy Washington:

So number 1, I'm a tell you, you can always ask me, bro. Come on, bro. Come on. Like, you already know what it is. That's neither here nor there.

Troy Washington:

But nonetheless, think about the roadblock that you had when you decided, dang, I wasn't gonna ask me. Most people at that roadblock, whether it be taxes, whether it be, you know, protesting, you know, home taxes, that's when they stop. And so that's when there's no lack of there. That's when the enthusiasm completely goes out the door instead of saying, man, if I can push through this, I'm gonna save myself $10,000. You know what I mean?

Troy Washington:

And it's just, that learning, curve aspect of it is a big deal. Go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

Yeah. So, yeah, even with that, like, I I knew I could fall back by asking you. But it's one of those things where it's like, did you even try? And I was like, well, at least let me try to see if I can find what it's called because I knew that I could get the language. I could just make up some language from there.

JClay:

And and I found I was able to find it with ease.

Troy Washington:

And,

JClay:

yeah, I know I'm coming to you, but appreciate that. And so the the thing is I I I like what you said. If you could just pose another question to yourself, like, is there another way to look at this, or is there a way to get around this even in a fun way? Or it like, if it's something that you want, could you be willing to, like, just just try any like, throw a dart at it. Be like, oh, what's this?

JClay:

The most absurd thing that I can do to get this. Let's see if it works because I'm gonna stop anyway. So I might as well do something that doesn't burden me too much, but could have some fun to it.

Troy Washington:

Look, bro. I'm a tell you. Growing up, going to the club, I I talked to my wife about this all the time. Going to the club is not my thing. You know, it just it just really wasn't my thing.

Troy Washington:

We did it literally for business purposes, that, you know, as we were younger. And, the one of the reasons why it's basically going with a lot of people. One of the reasons why I was never enthused to go to the club is because I could never understand why people go to the club to just tell me later on whenever we're not here or whatever. But okay, nonetheless. So I was never enthused to go, bro.

Troy Washington:

I just would be like, I don't wanna go there to talk. I can talk to you at home. You know what I'm saying? So the the game that I used to always play with myself was I'm a see how many times I can say yes to people and not know what they're saying, and they'd be okay. So whenever I would be there and, again, I would be excited to do this.

Troy Washington:

I'll be like, mhmm. They'd be like, man. I'll be like, mhmm. And and and nobody could ever get it, but I it used to crack me up. So now whenever I went to the club, I was enthusiastic because I want to see how funny this it was going to be to me just to witness how people really don't even wanna talk to me in the clip.

Troy Washington:

They just wanna talk, period. Right? So, again, the change in the dynamic of what I thought about it kinda opened up my doors for me. Go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

Yeah. I wanna read what, M. Lyle said. Never forget your life goals.

Troy Washington:

Your top. Yeah. Your top. Shout out.

JClay:

I'm I'm thinking, can that play into enthusiasm? Because yeah. So so let me say this. So, like, right now, in this particular moment on this particular day, I'm filled with enthusiasm. And but but it's also because there was pre planning involved in this.

JClay:

Like like, today was a start day for me. Like like, last week, I kinda rested from a lot of stuff because I've been going hard all year, and I was like, just gonna rest. I'm chill this last week. One day, you know, going hard, one day not like, this was going to be my my super go hard thing, and it has been so far. I've accomplished so much in this only noon.

JClay:

So it's it's I'm I'm I'm grateful because it's easy to to talk about enthusiasm right now, but I I can't even I I don't know if I if I consider my life goals or I considered just where I am now. Like, what what the space that I wanna be in now. And I think that played more of a role than life goes. But, like, they kinda coincide. But that yeah.

JClay:

That's an interesting thought. Go ahead.

Troy Washington:

So I I'm a read what in the house said in just one second, but I want to add to the life goal conversation. Yeah. And the reason why I wanna add to it is because I like it, and I'm also kinda torn by it. And I'm a tell you the reason why. I like it because the reality of it is life goes tend to I wanna say generally, you you stay enthusiastic about them for a lot of the time because a life goal doesn't have a clear pathway all the all the time.

Troy Washington:

And figuring out the pathway sometimes, if you're open to figuring out the pathway when it's, I guess, it's fresh to you, a life goal, you're always enthusiastic because you're trying to narrow things down. It's just that once you actually narrowed it down to your pathway that you've decided on, which doesn't mean it's the only pathway. But once it's narrowed there, that's when the mundane that starts to come into play. Meaning, like, oh, I gotta do this the same way over and over again. So I think that as long as you can stay fresh in your life goal and realize that even though you've developed a pathway, that's not the only pathway you can pivot and change the duration by which you're going to get there.

Troy Washington:

I think that you can kinda stay motivated and enthusiastic along the way. That's just my thoughts anyway. And then to, what, and a half 15 said, motivation to me, motivation motivation to me, what I need to do. I need to go to work, but I am not motivated. But if it's the Friday for a 3 day holiday weekend, then I have enthusiasm enthusiasm.

Troy Washington:

Motivation is hard when results is unknown. I would so number 1, I 100% am with you when it's the motivation to go to work, and it's something that you've already deemed is not something that's funny. That's where I wanna go back to defining, what it is and what it looks like and why it looks that way to you. But I will also tell you that, enthusiasm, doesn't have a a a final description either, like, what it equates to. Because we don't we can't never need to tell what you know, when we're enthusiastic or motivated, what the results will be for something until we get there.

Troy Washington:

So I'll say that to say that. Now back to the being motivated and how you're defining it at work. I don't know how to encourage or tell somebody to define work as fun. But what I will tell you is when I was actually going into my corporate job on a daily basis, I didn't I would define work as not fun in the very beginning until I started to break down what it was that I didn't like. And so what I when I say that is I started to realize that number 1, I hated being in traffic.

Troy Washington:

So that was the start of my day of going to work, and I included that all in work. And so the first thing I had to do was I had to decide that riding in traffic was not something that I hated. And the way that I did that was I said, well, during traffic time, that's when I can make my calls. That's when I can do my Marco Polo. That's when I can react write my songs that I like.

Troy Washington:

That's when I can be a creative. Then once I got beyond the traffic and realized, well, dang, traffic is a time for opportunity. Now I started thinking about, okay. Well, I still don't like work because, my boss be tripping. That was the first thing that that came to my mind.

Troy Washington:

Then I had to really realize, okay. When I went to work the last week, what did my boss do to trip with me? Oh, well, he was mad because I took a extra break. So I took a extra break. Okay.

Troy Washington:

Cool. Well, what can I do in order to alleviate this situation? So that way I'm not mad at him for me taking another break. And so it's just all of these different layers until the point where I found out, well, damn, my work is really not hard. And the one thing I do love here is I love the people.

Troy Washington:

And so when I started to look at it like I love going to work again, traffic was not a problem anymore. I love going to work because I love the people. Then my entire day shifted because the first thing that I did when I got to work was I went and told everybody good morning. And why? It just because it made me feel good.

Troy Washington:

And then not only that, what I was giving out to people was reciprocated back to me because everybody wanted to talk to me. And so now that could be a, you know, a balance of how much work you're doing versus how much you're talking. But nonetheless, the enthusiasm for work for myself completely changed. Go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

Yeah. If I can remember back correctly, I don't know about it. Advise this for people because you can do this at your own risk. How how I made work fun was when I I I just follow I I did. Yeah.

JClay:

I started following my passion. I I follow what was fun. So for example, I used to get to work, like, early, like, 6 so I can leave at 3 and be out of there. But I started getting to work late, like, later and later. Sometimes 9, sometimes 9:30, sometimes even 10.

JClay:

Just because because I knew I had to go to work or whatever, that I just didn't feel like doing. I wouldn't do it in some kind of way. It will magically get done before I even needed the enthusiasm to do it. And I'm in but and again, the more I did this, I was like, how is this happening? Because I'm, like, the only one who can make this get done to to do this, but it it kept happening, which was, even at work.

JClay:

If there was a conversation I wanted to have, I would go have it. If there's something that I didn't like that I wanted to address, I would address it. If there's work I didn't wanna do, I just didn't do it. And it made work an enjoyable space so much so that I got I I actually enjoyed going to work. I was like, man, I like work now.

JClay:

It's strange, which happened to be the time when I could finally quit too. So that was cool. But, I wanna I wanna read what Hemla and say it real quick. A man dies for the first time the day he loses his enthusiasm. I know they or Onore del Bazak Balazak.

JClay:

Yeah. That's been

Troy Washington:

yeah, man. But but, again, the funny thing is about that that, that dying come in. You know what I'm saying? When I was riding to work all those mornings, that's how I felt.

JClay:

Yeah.

Troy Washington:

Like, no motivation, no enthusiasm, and literally just being pulled along like a zombie. I'm just going because I have to go. And, again, that goes back to the point of me saying that we, we start to devalue moments. Right? I I didn't realize how valuable the moments that I had in my car could have been to me.

Troy Washington:

So because I devalued with it value them or I I I didn't give them the appropriate amount of attention and love that I should have, I missed the opportunity to have, the the creative time for myself. I missed it. Like, it was oh, go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

But what would happen if you were like, okay. I don't feel like going to work. And you just turned around and went home. Like, what what what realistically would happen?

Troy Washington:

Well, I'm I'm gonna tell you. Yeah. What realistically was having happened because I had live had literally turned around and went home before. And the problem with it is if I was able to how you do anything is how you do everything. We're gonna start that right.

Troy Washington:

There was a behavior for myself of not appreciating moments. Right? Not being able to value moments. So what happened when I turned around and went home, I went there because I didn't wanna go do something that I didn't wanna do. But because I was guilting myself about not going or all the ramifications of not going, I still was not valuing the time that I had when I was at home.

Troy Washington:

I still devalued it with any value because I was too busy defining what me being at home meant. Now I'm a have to deal with my boss when I go back. Oh, I'm gonna have to have more work. I'm still gonna have to get in traffic tomorrow. And then if I watch this show now, I don't wanna be doing this thinking about this.

Troy Washington:

And so now the the the the amount of love that I should have for just being in that space had dissipated. Go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

Go ahead. I love that. So it's like no matter what you chose, you had no enthusiasm even to go home. The reason I asked that is because I've I've decided not to go sometimes to even midway. Like, I'm not going today.

JClay:

I had the time of my life, like, not not going to work, like, being at home or whatever. And it led to me being enthused about going the next day because it's like, okay, I gotta go now. So let me go ahead and go and and do this that needs to be done. But without me turning around and and choosing myself or choosing my passion in that moment, that enthusiasm wouldn't have been there. So is there in your story where you turned around and you still guilted yourself,

Troy Washington:

would

JClay:

it have been easy to just let go of the guilt or was there something drawn to it that kept you in that space?

Troy Washington:

And and that's and that's why I said that I don't know if it was just a, a practice and just routine because I was already in the wrong mindset. You get what I'm saying? I can tell you about a time when I had the enthusiasm and how it went. And so much so, I mean, if you woulda searched me on YouTube or something, there's a video where I did it. So one day, I went to work.

Troy Washington:

Just letting you know. Again, I always had this mindset of I don't wanna be here. My boss always mess up with me. I went to work wearing some Jordans. Right?

Troy Washington:

I know that I can't wear no Jordans. But because I'm just so unenthusiastic about doing anything, I'm just like, I don't care about nothing. Right? So when I got to work, my boss ends up coming to me midday. I worked far away, probably, like, 45 minutes away.

Troy Washington:

And he came up to me and was like, man, you look you can't wear those shoes up here, bro. Like, you gotta go home. You know what I'm saying? And change. You know what I'm saying?

Troy Washington:

So I was like, okay. Cool. And so now I'm real furious. I really hate this job. I'm real I have a reverse enthusiasm.

Troy Washington:

Right? I'm on some different stuff. Right? And then I told myself in that moment, I had to look at it different. In that moment, I was just recognizing, okay, Troy.

Troy Washington:

You know what? You really can't you really can't trip on him. You did wear the shoes. You can't trip on how far your your house is. You already knew how far the house was.

Troy Washington:

And so I told myself I didn't have to come back to work that day. I said, but you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna change shoes. I'm a stop making up reasons for myself to be upset.

Troy Washington:

This is what I told myself. I and I literally went and did a Facebook live, and I talked about not creating unrealistic things not creating you know these narratives that in turn don't motivate you or make you enthusiastic. So I said I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna change shoes, and I'm gonna go back to work, and I'm gonna do the good job that I know that I can do. Right?

Troy Washington:

And so in that moment, I was able to stop being mad number 1 because I was changing the gravity of the moment for myself And then I was enthusiastic to show myself that I was bigger than what I was acting. And so by me going home, changing shoes, my level of enthusiasm changed because I wasn't looking at work as a place that was not that was trying to harm me and so because of that, I was like, okay when I go back to to work and now this is the message that I'm about to give everybody now. I'm motivated and I'm enthused because I've changed internally how I felt about it. Go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

Yeah. And funny too. You you had enthusiasm before that about hating your job. Yeah. We don't realize the enthusiasm was there.

JClay:

It was just directed at something different. I I heard I heard a a quote or a short story by, Abraham Hicks. And if y'all know who that is, that's someone who challenges who who channels like a collective. But anyway, she was saying that the I don't know if this is in regards to enthusiasm or just momentum. Say it like a picture of a car on the hill and it starts to go down.

JClay:

Well, when it first starts, you could probably get in front of it and stop it. But if you wait till it gets down to the bottom of the hill and you step in front, you're probably gonna get ran over. No. And the the point she was making is start as early as possible. Start when you first wake up.

JClay:

Because when you when you first wake up, like, you have a clean slate, everything is clear, and you can get your mind right. Like, we talked about last week, affirmations, how you say, you know, you are amazing. Like, start, set your intentions when you first wake up, and you can get the momentum going in that direction so that everything has to just fall under it. Like, it get everything gets ran over by the momentum you set. But it it's a little bit tougher when you wait to the middle of the day when you find yourself in it, unless you consciously do what you did where you had, like, a a pause break and you really looked at things.

JClay:

And and I and I know from experience, that's not always easy to do when you're in it. But even perhaps you going home would gave you that time out space as well. So

Troy Washington:

and and and I'm gonna tell you about this past week. We literally just came off of a 3 day fast. And a 3 day fast, we only drunk water. And if you've ever done the fast with us before or even heard a conversation before, one of the things that I've kinda talked, or alluded to was your energy levels are different. You know, you you feel differently because you're not doing the same thing.

Troy Washington:

So you're supposed to feel different, but, you know, your energy levels are different. And so one of the things that I challenged myself at the beginning of the fans, because I'm trying to catch the car at the at the beginning of the hill, is one one thing me and my wife say all the time, don't be moody, and I always be energetic. I always be energetic. I always be ready for the challenge. And so, during this fast, on day 2, I told you, my wife, she hit me up on her way to go get the kids from school.

Troy Washington:

It was 3 o'clock. She had to be at school by, like, 3:20. And so we got, you know, multiple cars, of course, at the house. And I was like, she so she called me and was like, Troy, the tire went flat. And so my mind, I'm like, the tire went flat, like, now while you're, like, halfway to the school, or was it flat before you left?

Troy Washington:

Right? Tell me what's going on. She's like, well, I didn't feel it at first, but it's flat now. So here's where the mental challenge comes into play. I'm fasting, I've told myself I have more energy than I'm allowing myself to believe and I can do anything through this So now mind you, this is me being ahead of the time for things that might come up.

Troy Washington:

I will tell you, I added one more level of that. I was like, okay. The tire place is closed at 5. I have to be able to get here, change the tire, take the tire to the tire place, and go back and put it on by all of this time. And so now I have all this enthusiasm and motivation because of a preset cursors that I set for myself prior to the fast that I did it without hesitation.

Troy Washington:

I just literally got up, went to the place, jacked up the car, took the tire off, you know, did everything I need to do and got it back and got home with it by 5 o'clock. And not only that, I was happy about it. You know, I was, in love with myself because I was able to do something that I felt like I couldn't have done prior to me setting the stage for myself. Go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

Yeah. I I I love that too because, fasting can be hard if you don't have a a mindset that nothing's gonna bother me. I'm going to be alright. And and I I learned that from experience because I've had some tough fasts as well where that is just like a nail in the coffin. Like, man, this too?

JClay:

This no. It could it could go down a spiral. So but but I think the key thing is here that that I'm realizing too is enthusiasm is always there. It's always here, I should say. But it's how we're directing it and what what we're giving power to.

JClay:

Like, if we if we're giving power to something over us saying, this has the power to to control my mood. Will we have enthusiasm for that thing without even realizing it? And if we can direct it toward us and what we wanna do, then it could it yeah. If that's what it is. It's directed at something we don't wanna do versus what we wanna do.

JClay:

All we gotta do is redirect it, and it could change our move faster.

Troy Washington:

And so the question is, where is your enthusiasm directed? And then how do you redirect it? Or because, again, a part of it is recognizing that you have enthusiasm in a negative way. Right? Like I told you, going to work.

Troy Washington:

Like, you can be enthused to cut somebody off in traffic. You could be like, next person that do this to me is going down. I'm about to beat this. I I know this lane is ending up here at the front. I know it's ending.

Troy Washington:

So I'm you're not going they're not getting in front of me. I promise you, I'm a ride so close to this car in front of me so that way you cannot get out. You gonna have to wait. Like, that enthuse it. Like, you're right.

Troy Washington:

We do we will appoint enthusiasm in places that we don't need to. But, again, you don't even recognize you're doing that. Because even me given the scenario that I just gave, I've done that a 1000000 times. I've done that literally a 1000000 times. They're not getting over.

Troy Washington:

I can see how far ahead this mug is. Y'all gonna have to get behind me. And and I will be I will be excited to get to the front. It's not gonna happen today, player. It's not happening today.

Troy Washington:

So, you know, how do you, recognize that when you're just feeling like you're just living? Yeah.

JClay:

As as in so I I think the key thing is, one, notice you always have enthusiasm. Period.

Troy Washington:

Yeah.

JClay:

You always have it. And and I I've always had a question, right? Like, similar to this. What makes us tired? And and and I'll go into what I mean.

JClay:

Like, I've had times where my mind wasn't tired, but my body was tired. I had times where my body was tired. I mean, it wasn't tired, but my mind felt tired. And even when we go to sleep, like I dream. So my mind is always going.

JClay:

So it's like, what what is actually tired? And I think what when you get tired is when you have enthusiasm in places where it shouldn't be or in places that don't align with what you want. And again, to to use this example, I I told you during the fast, I probably only slept a total of 7 hours in the 72 hour fast we did. Felt great about it, felt good. But maybe, like, maybe I put undue pressure on the foods that I eat.

JClay:

So I had some things there that made me drain. And and because but but because at the same time that I I couldn't medicate myself with food, I was free to explore other avenues that I've never explored before. I'm not saying fasting is the way to explore these things, but I'm just saying keep in mind where you're putting your focus and energy and why you're doing certain things. Like, you could be doing certain things not feeling like I can do it. And I say all this to say that, no.

JClay:

Follow follow your enthusiasm in a sense. Follow it or or follow your passion, and let that ignite the enthusiasm within the fire within.

Troy Washington:

And I and again, I I will 100% cosign what Jay Clay says. Follow your enthusiasm, and then allow that to ignite the enthusiasm within. But what I would tell you is if you are not sure of the pathway, create some enthusiasm. And the reason why I say that is because it's kinda where I started out some at the at the very beginning. And and this is to say this is to come back and say number 1 that enthusiasm is always there, but it it's focused somewhere that you don't recognize.

Troy Washington:

So when I say create the enthusiasm or ignite the enthusiasm, it could be in something that you it could be something that you don't recognize that you have enthusiasm for. So give it enthusiasm and allow it to open up the pathway to ignite what would I would call true enthusiasm or move it from where it's currently directed. Because, again, riding in a car on the way to work in traffic, I could be the person to say I'm not letting anybody get over, or I'm a see how many people I can get over. And then allow that to be the game that I play with myself in order to see if I'm looking at things correctly. Because I I go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

So what would you say if, like, my life, I I have the same my all my days are the exact same. I do the same stuff, eat the same food, see the same people, do everything the same. I just accept that this is just what life is. I'm gonna do it. Like like, what would you say to that person who who wants to kind of break free of, like, they want to.

JClay:

They don't know that they want to, but they, like, what would you say to them?

Troy Washington:

Well, so I would say well, first of all, I think it's a thing at a time. Because if you feel like your entire life is the same and it never changes, it's I think that it's impossible to show somebody that's not willing to look that their life is different, that it's different. Right? So when I say take it one thing at a time, you do stuff like so you eat bananas every day? Let me put some salt on your banana.

Troy Washington:

Let me just put a little salt on your banana. Just today. Right? And let's just start eating salt on your banana every day. I know it's saying crazy, but I'm just saying, like, that's somebody that's not looking at anything around them anymore at all.

Troy Washington:

So I think the way that you do that is by starting to change the little things. Like I said for myself, I can drive the same way to school every day every day. There's 10 different ways that I can drive them to school. But if I drive the same way every day, I don't see that there's a Shipley's donut on Matlock. And the reality of it is somewhere in the back of my mind, I always wanna get a Shipley donut, but I just never got that mud because I never and and then not only that, I never knew there was one along the pathway.

Troy Washington:

So if I start driving that pathway every day, that doesn't mean that I'm a stop at Shipley, but guess what? I'm a think of stopping at Shipley. And then guess what I wasn't doing when I was driving the other way other way. I never thought about stopping the Shipley. So now my life has gotten a little bit more interesting.

Troy Washington:

Right? So I think that changing small things over time would be the way. And that way, you can actually start to open yourself up to something new. I was never gonna eat a tomato, bro, ever, until I started eating pico. I just I just wouldn't.

Troy Washington:

I hate tomatoes. And I ate pico one day and I'm like, well, maybe I don't like tomato. I mean, maybe I do like tomatoes. I don't know. I still haven't ate a tomato because I just think that eating a whole tomato is just not my thing.

Troy Washington:

But guess what? I do eat pico on a consistent basis. Go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

I'm plant based now, and I've been that way for, like, 10 plus years now. You know what led to that? My clipper is breaking, and I needed new clippers, which is the craziest thing that I think about because I went on YouTube. I was like, what clippers where I don't get razor razor bumps? And the person was like, it it it was a it was a guy shaved, black guy, and he had the smoothest skin I ever and I never ever noticed any man's skin ever in light.

JClay:

Yeah. How How does he have no bumps or nothing? He was like, it has nothing to do with your razor. It has everything to do with your diet. I was like, what?

JClay:

Bumps. And it it it was just it was very foreign to me, but that that little willingness to just try it out has led to this thing where I could probably shave with anything, with any instrument. I would never ever give razor bumps again. But it it it's just I just wanted to point that out to say, yeah. A small change can have a big impact, so I I love that you said that.

Troy Washington:

Bro, listen to me. It's so many things that have dominoed in my life because of small things. And, again, I I can use food as the example just because it's something that I think that we all have maybe been witness to at some point. But, like, one day, I decided to now mind you, there was a time where I had never ate a mango ever. I knew mangoes are fruit.

Troy Washington:

There's a lot of fruit that I haven't tried in my life. Right? But one day, I just decided, let me try this mango smoothie at McDonald's. Right? And then when I tried the mango smoothie, I was like, dang, mango's good.

Troy Washington:

So then I started I was like, okay. Well, let me try mango this. Let me try mango that. And then I started incorporating mangoes into what I was eating because I was now you I was never going to go get the mango fruit salad because I just didn't want no man I didn't know. I everything that I do is the same.

Troy Washington:

But the one thing that I changed opened up an entire door to a bunch of different things. It's the same thing with with with guacamole bro. I'd like somewhere when I was a kid, I decided guacamole was nasty. It's nasty. It just look nasty.

Troy Washington:

It's mushy. Just I don't know what it was. So that mug was not a part of my life. And it was never gonna be a part of my life. And then I think me and you is back when you first started going, you know, raw.

Troy Washington:

I think that I did something where I was only gonna eat, fruits and vegetables for, 45 days. Maybe a Daniel Fast or something. I don't know. And so I kept eating the same things every day, and I was like, I don't like eating the same thing every day. And so I literally got some guacamole from taco taco, bueno.

Troy Washington:

And I was like, I guess let me just try it today. And then I fell in love, bro, like, now mind you, fasting was not a thing. That was that was done, which opened up the door to me trying that, which was not a thing, which opened up the door to me trying a bunch of other different things because of me eating guacamole and pico now because it's getting outside of what you're doing and changing small things in order to be able to see it because you gain enthusiasm when you do that. Go ahead, bro.

JClay:

Yeah. So so okay. If we were to summarize because I know we're getting a long time, all the steps to to harness that enthusiasm is 1, recognize that you have it. Like, it is no way it'll fade. You always have that enthusiasm.

JClay:

You just might be directing it in the wrong place. 2, it's doing something new or making small changes from your normal routine. And I feel like it was the third thing we said. What what else did we say?

Troy Washington:

I don't know the third thing is, but this is I wanna add to those things. Don't judge your new decision. Don't judge your new decision. And the reason why I say that is and, again, I assume that people are like me. I don't know.

Troy Washington:

You know, the reason why we do this is because we are trying to understand our own perfection. But when I say don't judge, the new decision, there have been times when I decided that I was gonna do something different, and I didn't get the enthusiasm that I thought what I was gonna have I thought I was gonna have because I I judged my decision. Like, man, you're only doing this because of this. Or this is gonna be stupid. You know, people gonna look at it this way or, you know, just framing things in a way that are not beneficial to me.

Troy Washington:

If you're going to pass a judgment on something that you're doing different, give yourself all the opportunity to be something that you love. So that way you can be open to the enthusiasm. So, again, like, I'm riding in traffic today, but today is gonna be a better day because while I'm in traffic, I'm gonna be able to make all my morning calls and tell everybody I love them. And that way everybody's day can start out better, which in turn is gonna start your day out better. And then now you look go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

Like I said, I I remember the other two things. The the the first is start start when you first wake up. Like, prepare for, like, tomorrow when you first wake up, Get your mind right. Set your intention. Like, you're it's gonna make your whole day easier.

JClay:

And the the last thing or or the the other thing just start going through the motions like you have enthusiasm. And it'll trigger something that will make you have the real thing.

Troy Washington:

Look. When we was, going through, COVID, one thing I told you, that I was doing at that time was every single time we ate out, which we ate out a lot during cove COVID. Right? Every single time I ate out, whenever I ordered something from any fast food restaurant or restaurant, I always got something different. Now you can imagine going to Sonic for 20 years, eating the same thing.

Troy Washington:

There is no enthusiasm. You just do it out of routine and repetition. Let me get a Supersonic jalapeno cheeseburger. And, I mean, of course, I like it, but am I really enthused to eat it, or am I just eating it because that's what's there? And so what happened was I started looking forward to eating the places that I ate all the time.

Troy Washington:

Well, what what is it gonna be today? And I was enthusiastic about the food that I was gonna eat. I was even enthusiastic about going back to the thing that I ate all the time because I wanted to see the contrast to compare it to what, I was trying, you know, going forward. So, just go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

Quick question about that. Because I know sometimes people, they wouldn't do something new for fear that they wouldn't like it. Did you ever experience something that you didn't like? And how did I

Troy Washington:

did. I did. But, again, it made me appreciate the thing that I did like or the things that I did like because I I I would always feel like I wouldn't have never tried these things, these other things, had I had this mentality. Look. Another thing that I during COVID, I never I I ate a sourdough jack when I was a kid.

Troy Washington:

I never liked the sourdough bread after that. I just didn't like it. And then when we were on COVID, when I was saying I'm gonna give everything else a try again, they had the sour boat sourdough, like, queso sandwich. I this is one of my favorite sandwiches there now. You know what I'm saying?

Troy Washington:

So it was just it's just like, man. And I and and the the that comes because of my enthusiasm to see the world in a new light. The world that I currently live in. Go ahead, Dre.

JClay:

Yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. That is this brings us to the to the end. Yeah, you got enthusiasm, man.

JClay:

Like, and and we need to start using it in the way that we want instead of not, instead of not just for lack of better words. And I appreciate everybody rocking with us. I I I appreciate everybody that that's here today that shared their comments. If you come up with anything new, still leave it in the comments for those that's that's catching the the the reshow. Again, if you found this helpful at all, hit that share button, like button, share with the people, the people you know would love it.

JClay:

You got anything to say, Troy, before I think of everything?

Troy Washington:

Just remember that y'all are perfect. That's what I want you to know. And, you can craft this thing however you want to, and you can create in the the the fire, the the all of that inside of yourself and let it be. You gotta let it burn. Go ahead, Jay.

JClay:

Yeah. And just remember your perfect creation made by a perfect creator. So you might as well accept your perfection and enter perfect mode.

JClay:

If I reminded you that you are perfect, would you argue me down or step into your perfection? Welcome to perfect welcome to perfect where there are no excuses, no expectations, and we explore the world without limitations. I'm Jay Clay, rapper, and spiritual teacher, with my co host Troy Washington, your friendly neighborhood realtor. Let's be real. So let's be perfect.

JClay:

Let's be perfect. Perfect. Perfect.