Thug Motivation: Jay Morrison’s Jay Walk episode 5

Continuing with our commentary on Jay Morrison’s Jay Walk Youtube series today we talk about episode 5, “Thug Motivation”. (You can see the video here).

In this video he talks about dealing with adversity and the options we have for doing so. Jay says there are really only two options: fight or fold.

We will all run into setbacks sooner or later. There will be times when you lose friends, deals, lovers, money, you name it. Unexpected things will happen to disrupt your plans no matter how well you plan. It happens to the best of us.

Bad things happen to good people.

You are no exception.

You will have to decide how you’re going to face your trials and tribulations. Like Jay said, there are only two options:

Fight or fold.

Either you’re going to face adversity head on and fight through it or give in and fold like a piece of paper. Sometimes solving a problem just calls for you to grit your teeth and grind your way to a solution.

When things go wrong for you it’s tempting to give up. It’s easy to let a setback shake your confidence and lose focus. If you dwell on your problems for too long it’s easy to slide into depression and you can’t let that happen. That just compounds the effect of the bad situation and starts you on a downward spiral that’s hard to come back from.

Jay talks in the video about his drug dealing days and fighting cases in three different states. He was facing a potential sentence of fifteen years in one case alone. His future was looking bleak and caused him to get depressed.

He snapped out of it when he realized that moping around wasn’t going to solve anything. He got off the couch and took action. Jay was able to turn his situation around and make the best of it. Based on his video here are suggestions on dealing with adversity when it comes.

Remember why you’re doing this in the first place

You need to have a good reason for even getting out of bed in the morning and facing the world. It’s easier to handle obstacles when you’re working on a legacy instead of just trying to make money and pay bills.

When things are looking bleak you’re going to have remind yourself of your motivation for doing what you do. You’ll constantly need to revisit your why and ask yourself:

Why am I doing this again?

Make the best decisions you can with the hand that you were dealt

Even if you’re the one responsible for dealing yourself a bad hand. You can’t dwell on how you’re at fault for the situation you’re in. It will only make things worse.

You have to recognize how you contributed to your own demise and decide what you can do about it moving forward. Then move on as quickly as possible.

Make the best decisions you can with the hand that you were dealt. -@MrJayMorrison Click To Tweet

Take action

After you make a decision you have to make your best move and let the chips fall where they may as Jay states in the video.

Get moving, take action. It’s the only way to fix anything.

Make your best move and let the chips fall where they may. -@MrJayMorrison Click To Tweet

I remember about a year I was in a bad situation money-wise and I couldn’t see my way out. I had been watching YouTube’r Ericka Williams a lot at the time. She was always talking about doing side hustles like Uber to make extra income.

I was unsure on what to do but I knew I had to do something. Even though I was driving a gas-guzzling minivan at the time and had no idea if Uber made sense for me, I signed up anyway. My van was too old for regular Uber or Lyft so I had to sign up for UberEats delivering food.

Within a short time I was making $1,000 a month doing it part-time. I was able to get current on bills and keep myself afloat until I was able to raise my income at work. Stepping out into the unknown and driving for Uber turned out to be a great decision.

Everything worked out because I took action.

Everything won’t work out for you all the time no matter what you do but you still have to try. It’s the only way it will ever work out.

So remember

When it hits the fan, remember your why for doing what you do. Assess the situation and come up with the best solution you can come up with. Take action.

Comment below and let us know how you deal with adversity.