Today’s guest is unlike no other and we’re glad to have him on the show.
Dr. Troy Nash came up the hard way. He rose from a poor inner-city street kid living in public housing on welfare with no father in the home, to becoming a two-term city councilman in Missouri, traveling to nearly 40 countries around the world promoting humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchanges, earning six advanced degrees including a doctorate in education, an MBA, and a law degree, to becoming the first African American executive named partner/shareholder in a top commercial real estate firm in the history of the State of Missouri.
In this interview, you’ll learn the inspiring story on how education helped him to become who he is today despite his background, how he started changing his community starting with his three older brothers, and how to break free from your where you are now to a life of success despite the various barriers that may come your way.
Quotes from the interview
“The reality is, it (change) starts with you. You simply have to make up your mind, throw your arms out and say I had enough and take one little action and to understand life is not a straight line.” – Dr. Troy Nash
“It all starts with you. You have to put good stuff in your head in order to get good stuff out in life. There’s no other way” – Dr. Troy Nash
“You have to find that thing that is the essence of who you are; your passion.” – Dr. Troy Nash
Key Ideas from Dr. Troy Nash
[02:10] How important it is for people to invest in themselves to succeed
It’s the only way you can to succeed. Everything starts with YOU. Troy started to change when he got tired of ‘everything’.
[03:31] What did he do differently that allowed him to become what he is today despite his background
He challenged the conventional wisdom and he got tired of the stigma where an African American is associated with criminality. The US Airforce was his way out and being in the military taught him education. After being back from service, he along with his 3 older brothers converted his little ‘ghetto house’ into a school by helping his brothers with their GED scores. He enrolled his 3 older brothers to college for the very first time and recruited hundreds of people from his community.
[13:12] How to reprogram the mind to get in the direction you want
You must put in the conscious, deliberate effort to improve yourself. Part of improving yourself is surrounding yourself with people who have dreams, hopes, and ambitions. Sometimes, you’re gonna find yourself alone and if you can deal with it, then you’re on your way to success.
[16:00] How to focus in world that is socially distracting
“You have to write your own story”. He was given an opportunity and grabbed it! Anybody can do it, but the reality is there are barriers to it like racism, jealousy hate, envy, etc. that you must deal with on your road to success.
[18:42] How to overcome the fear of overcoming barriers that scares them like disapproval, biases, racism, etc.
According to Dr. Troy, it’s about manipulating your subconscious mind. He did it by changing the environment he’s in. He listened to inspirational things, surrounded himself with positive people.
[22:08] How to break free from ‘addiction’ so they can start manipulating your subconscious mind while ‘gravity’ is pulling them from the negative
Based on his limited experience, what worked for him is about thinking differently and changing his habits. Drenching yourself to change is necessary. He shared a story and the gist of it is about taking small steps and being consistent with it until it becomes a habit. Whenever the temptation kicks in, focus your mind on the negative or the pain that it will cause you.
[28:20] How to persevere in times of trouble when pain is the negative pain (like divorce, or betrayal which he went through)
When he was going through a divorce or other troubles he’d been through, seeking knowledge became his coping mechanism. He turned to reading books and it allowed him to escape in a world that’s beyond his physical environment. As he got older, he adopted the philosophy of “this too shall pass”. When things happened to him now, he enjoys it because it gives him an opportunity to challenge himself.
[34:57] How to become more honest with ourselves
You have to find your passion and not worry about what others will say.
[37:40] Dr. Troy’s daily ritual to keep him on track
The key here is consistency. He shared his daily routine where he starts his day with positive stuff by sharing positive messages on social media (He thought of sharing positive messages on social media for a year and it blew up and compiled it into a book and other opportunities). After that, he goes through the normal routine of an entrepreneur and a real estate business executive; and when he gets home, that’s when he does his passion projects.
[42:02] Book that he’s reading right now
He now he listens to audiobooks like The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and Think and Grow Rich: A Black Choice: Dennis Kimbro.
Connect with Dr. Troy Nash:
