3 proven strategies for DJs to finish the year mentally strong
As we are rounding up the year, we are all already looking towards the next. But, don’t try to get ahead too fast and fall into the empty “new year new me” trap. Before you turn up your nose at 2019 consider all the valuable lessons you can learn from your music career - the victories and failures. Then decide what you want to do differently next year and come up with a clear plan for your DJ career so that you can head into 2020 motivated, confident, inspired and ready to kick ass as a DJ. Here are 3 proven strategies to help you finish the year mentally strong!
Strategy #1: Fuck new year’s resolutions - instead, take an honest look back and review.
Most resolutions are made without the support and instruction you need to make a profound and lasting change in your DJ career and in life. Another problem is that most people make up their mind about what they want and then think they need to push and struggle and beat themselves up to make things happen - “make” and “get” mindset. Fuck the hustle mentality! It’s actually doing the opposite of manifesting good things into your reality.
So fuck new year’s resolutions! Instead, review your year.
Celebrate your wins in your DJ career! Look at things that went wrong and the lessons you’ve learned from it and thank the people who came into your life and supported you.
Look at your calendar, browse through your social media and flip through emails and messages and think about the following:
What was working in terms of DJing and what wasn’t? What new DJing skill did you learn?
What would you like to change in your life in general?
What would you like to let go of - a project, bad habit, toxic relationship, limiting story you tell yourself?
And how can you change things up so that you can get different, better results?
You need to realise that you can’t keep doing things the same way - the way you’ve been doing them so far, and expect your results to improve. Understand that, in order to create a better environment for you to thrive in as a DJ and a human, change begins with you.
Why it works?
While it’s easy to criticise or keep sharing grievances, it’s not productive to build future plans for your DJ career upon negativity. How can that ensure longevity in your career in music? How can you see actual progress and understand how to move forward if you’re not even willing to look back at what has happened and learn from it?
Looking back at some of the biggest turning points of the past year helps you finish off inspired, proud and on a positive note. That feels good.
Have we done enough for mental health in electronic music this past year?
I spoke to Tristan Hunt, Regional Manager of AFEM - The Association For Electronic Music, an organisation lobbying for a more positive, healthy work environment in the dance music industry, who has had mental and physical health on their agenda for years, to find out. Listen to the full conversation on this episode of Mind The Music and experience the power of looking back in order to move forward.
Would you rather take some time to look back, learn lessons and celebrate victories so that you can step into the next year with fresh insights, feeling motivated and energised and with a positive outlook - and consequently feel ready to make actual changes? Or, brush the past year under the rug as fast as you can because your ego is too big to face your failures - under the motto of some vague new year’s resolution that you’ll never, ever uphold anyway?
It all comes down to deciding how you want to feel. And your feelings are influenced by your thoughts. Your thoughts are creative, they create a reality around you and your feelings indicate whether or not you’re thinking about things that will make you happy, give you a blissful result and continue to make you feel good.
Follow your good feelings to enhance your quality of life. This is a vital part of your inner guidance system that leads to actual results in reality.
Strategy #2: Get over your lame excuses on why you’re not achieving your goals in music: Work out a a clear strategy with a realistic timeline.
Our excuses are those nasty little lies we tell ourselves from time to time that hold us back. We all do it! This is not about beating yourself up, it’s about recognising your excuses. If you want to live up to your full potential and create longevity in your DJ career - and I know you do, you must break free from that self-deceptive crap. It’s holding you back.
Here’s what a few of the most common excuses sound like:
“I can’t do it, I don’t have (enough) time”
“I can’t afford it, it’s too expensive”
“My technical skills aren’t good enough, I’m just not a techie person”
These all sound reasonable, but don’t fool yourself. When it all comes down to it, it’s not that you CAN’T do it, it’s that you WON’T. The “can’t-mentality” just gives you an excuse not to have to take action.
Action is the making of imagination.
Action is movement. Saying yes to something, deciding, is action as well, because making a decision is movement of thought. Inspired action is the ultimate form of movement. When we take inspired action, our thoughts, our feelings, our focus, attention and our movement are in harmony.
So focus on taking action and come up with a clear plan with smart goals and a realistic timeline. If doing this for a whole year feels overwhelming to you, start with the first 3 months.
Difficulty doing that on your own? I can help!
Set goals for your DJ career in 2020 and crush them with a personalised strategy to get you started.
In 60 minutes, we can come up with a strategy template for you so that you have a clear plan and actions steps for the first 3 months of the year.
A few of the things you can achieve during a strategy session are:
Determine your #1 most important goal for your music career (more if we are advancing well and have the time to do so),
Map it all out together,
Determine at least 4 actionable steps to get started on so that you’ll know exactly what to do,
Identify a clear, realistic timeline so that you’ll know exactly when to get things done.
This is for you if you’re absolutely ready to …
✔️ Learn practical tools to take your DJ career to the next level with confidence.
✔️ Improve your career in music and quality of life + learn to relax more.
✔️ Be f*cking proud of what you’re doing.
✔️ Understand what’s holding you back and face those (creative) blocks head on.
✔️ Get more DJ gigs.
✔️ Become dead serious about setting goals and committing to them!
If you find yourself feeling shitty about external circumstances at the expense of your wellbeing, you’ll want to reflect on how much you put the blame elsewhere (outside of your control) and learn how to cope.
The cool thing is, when you have a solid strategy for your DJ career, you can identify things you can control and things you can’t. And then act accordingly.
Strategy #3 - No more procrastinating: Keep your eyes on the prize with the help of an accountability DJ buddy.
If you’re prone to procrastination, you may consider getting an accountability buddy to help you stay on track - a DJ buddy, if you will.
Do you ever…
feel like you don’t have enough time for your music, for sleep, your life?
struggle to balance your day job and your music?
try to learn new habits but find it hard to stick to them?
need new perspectives on well-being but don’t know who to turn to?
get to a point where you just don’t know what to do and need someone to lay out the next steps for you?
just need someone to voice your doubts to?
If you said yes to one or more of the above statements, then consider finding your tribe.
I created mine in the form of an online coaching community for DJs called The Peacock Muster in 2018 due to a lack of such a community that goes beyond skill-sharing and swapping grievances.
It is open to DJs/producers from different backgrounds and aimed at providing collaborative support for artist well-being through free resources, webinars and and open conversations.
Why it works?
It provides a brave space where you can get vulnerable and you don’t feel isolated or alone with your struggles. You’ll find that being part of a strong supportive network can prove indispensibale to hold you accountable and keep you motivated when you’re having an off-day.
Besides personal support from me and each other, members of The Peacock Muster get regular visits from me, to present them with fun challenges, recommended reads and must-watch resources, guided meditations, audio trainings, mental notes, and much much more. An online community is one of the most amazing, (self-)empowering and accessible tools for support there is. Join The Peacock Muster >>>
Maintaining healthy mindstyle and operating from a positive mindset is a choice you make every single day! Just like with music, that takes work, grit, motivation and resilience. The more you put into it, the better you become at it, right?
For most people, not every day is the same. An irregular lifestyle can make it hard to commit to learning within a preset time frame. This coaching community makes it really easy - because it offers flexible structure and guidance so that you can learn and grow at your own pace, in your own time.
Now I would love to hear from you!
Which strategy do you like the most and how will you put that insight into action right now? Share in the comments below and let me know.