For many darts players, a key question needs to be answered at a crunch period of their careers. Job or full-time arrows?
The Welshman spent many years switching between competing against the darting elite and working as a plasterer for Carmarthenshire County Council.
It was a work-life balance like no other but one that laid the foundations for his incredible rise to the pinnacle of the sport.
A wildcard for this year's Premier League of Darts, the 51-year-old was expected by many to finish bottom, let alone qualify for the finals at the 02 Arena on 28 May.
However, with four nightly wins - including back-to-back successes in the past two weeks - Clayton leads the way after 11 of the 16 pre-finals rounds.
Having previously won the event five years ago, BBC Sport considers how he got here - and whether the former decorator can be decorated again.
Clayton regularly cited his concerns over putting too much pressure on his darts if he was to permanently ditch the trowel for his arrows.
"I find when you're working, your mind is completely off darts so then you've got a work-balance of, you think of work and then you think of darts when you play darts," he said in 2022.
But his debut showing in the 2021 Premier League was arguably the biggest catalyst for change in his career.
It's easy to see why the former council worker has such an affection for the competition.
Having won the Masters in January 2021, his maiden individual televised Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) title, Clayton earned selection for the Premier League.
He won the tournament on debut, taking home a career-best sum of £250,000 in doing so, before returning to his day job of plastering.
He went on to win the World Grand Prix and World Series of Darts finals to cap off the greatest year of his career to date.
In 2022, Clayton topped the pile in the Premier League before going on to lose to Joe Cullen on finals night, although his continued success was sufficient to at long last justify a full-time switch to darts.
Underdog Clayton keen to prove Premier League point
In the official 2026 tournament programme, Clayton was the only player in this year's eight-man field to name the Premier League as his favourite part of the darting calendar.
"I love it. It's 16 weeks of the best players in darts," he said.
Clayton is now appearing in the Premier League for a fourth time, but for the first time since 2023.
The Welshman is firmly on course to extend his unblemished record of reaching finals night in each of his appearances in the showpiece event.
His 29 points, 17 match victories, four nightly wins and 125 legs won so far are all more than any other player in this year's Premier League.