How to Guarantee Your Own Success & Happiness in the Electronic Music Industry
Nothing in life is guaranteed except the way you think. The way you view your journey in the electronic music industry will be the deciding factor of how you view your own success and happiness in it. The only thing that is guaranteed in this life is our thought, our self-perception, our mindset, and our attitude about everything that is put in front of us.
Being happy and content (peace/joy) while reaching success is what most of us are striving for yet through the pursuit of our own happiness and success, the opposite actually happens: The more work and effort is being put in but the result of you becoming a rockstar DJ, promoter, agent, or (insert industry title) is not showing in the limelight and that has made you feel unsuccessful. This can lead to the discontentment of one-self and that will eventually trigger anxiety and depression. After all, it sucks to know that your efforts are not translating into the external success and results you have aimed for, but is it really all that bad? Are you really a failure because you’re not the next Carl Cox? Deadmau5? Pasquale Rotella? Gary Richards or a big shot agent or industry person?
This is a common anomaly of our scene where people enter their journey expecting to be successful (and happy) through the work and passion they put forth. Only to realize (years later) how difficult this journey is and how little support there is for anyone pursuing their journey in the electronic music industry. Additionally, a few institutions only focus on the artist’s side of things and no one else.
Happiness and the feeling of success have been a topic masked by “mental health” issues in our scene, but why do we have mental health issues in the scene? The reason is that people in the industry are generally unhappy and a big part of that unhappiness and discontentment with oneself starts with the way they view their own success and happiness in this journey.
If you have been grinding for years now but “feel stuck,” please understand that you’re not physically stuck anywhere nor are your skillsets. What is stuck is the way you think about things and the way you view your electronic music journey as a whole. Happiness and feeling successful is a tricky one because only you can define that for yourself ultimately. You’re probably thinking “Great, another one of those mindset articles again?” Yes, that’s right. What do you think is going to change the way you think? Your midi controller? That bag of cocaine? No, it’s your brain.
You’ve been stuck thinking that happiness and success only come from external accolades and recognition. You’ve been stuck thinking that it’s everyone else’s fault why you haven’t reached the goals you have set for yourself. You’ve been stuck by the unrealistic deadlines you have set for yourself and putting unfair pressure towards your passion and your journey.
Let’s take a look in detail at some of the ways to “unstuck” yourself mentally to reaching happiness and success in the electronic music industry while steering away from negative and self-sabotaging thoughts about your own success and happiness.
Loving the Process (and the Progress), Not Just the End Results
Fascinating and only daydreaming about the end result (i.e getting that gig, throwing that big event, or signing a big artist to your agency) is the number one reason why people pursuing to be an artist or industry professional in this scene will never find the type of success that brings them true happiness (aka fulfilled joy). When you’re only focused on the end result to something (literally a means to an end) you’re always going to be chasing. It’s never going to be enough once you get it – this is a tale all too common.
In Robin Sharma‘s book, “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”, the main character lived a life of a big shot lawyer that always wanted bigger more exciting cases. While chasing all those cases led to his own version of external success (fame, recognition, financial gains) it eventually drove him to ultimate self deterioration that forced him to make a hard shift in life to find more meaning and purpose.
It doesn’t matter if you love the work that you do as do many of the artists, promoters, agents, and industry professionals that make up the scene. Most all will claim they love the work they do, but of those groups, you will find that those who truly just enjoy the process of the work instead of always wishing for the end result to happen. They are the ones who are going to approach their journey with a more clear intention. While everyone is trying to achieve something (and as they should), I believe it’s the demeanor, the approach, as well as timing that make the “chase” more meaningful. Everything becomes aligned instead of being forced which is what a lot of you do. Even in my younger days I definitely was the hardcore go-getter that often got nothing back for my efforts because of my intention of only expecting something back for the effort I put out and nothing more.
Oftentimes when we chase for the next (big) thing, the approach is never one that has true intention because you’re always “expecting” some sort of positive outcome. If it doesn’t sway your way (and let me tell you most of the time it won’t) you’re going to drive yourself to sadness. Ultimately you’ll get depressed not even realizing that it was the expectation you put into your own head that everything you work towards should be rewarded. Let’s change that, shall we?
A quick way to end this suffering cycle is to truly love the process (and appreciate the progress) of your work and not mentally tie it to some imaginary accolade you must achieve or else…or else you quit? complain? or else what?
Think about this for a hot minute here. Wouldn’t it be awesome to just enjoy the work you do? For example, I’m writing this piece because I enjoy sharing my perspective with the community who think this is fun or cool to read. To me, I don’t give a sh*t if nobody reads it because I am not attaching this work towards any end result I am seeking.
As a DJ, I would practice imagining the crowd in front of me, only to get booked for opening slots or dead-ass parties that would make me feel a bit sad when I was up there. As a promoter, I used to daydream how packed our events would be to only walk in the venue with a half-empty dancefloor. I used to only care about the end result of things and never appreciated the process of learning and growing. I was always busy complaining if things didn’t turn out the way I expected them to, and let me tell you, I complained a lot!
Learn to love the process because it is through those difficult moments that will make you appreciate your results. Even if the result isn’t to your liking at least you have learned to enjoy the process that allows you to keep going. As we all know, it’s the one that keeps on trucking along despite all the obstacles that will eventually reach towards their goals and ultimately reach the success they have set out for themselves. Those who focus on the progress and make it their true passion (aka I love the work I do) will go much farther than those who only wish to attain the end result without loving the true journey of going through the process.
At the end of the day, your happiness is tied to your growth and the progress you’re making no matter how big or small. Aim for that and you will instantly be in a much better mental state when thinking about the journey ahead. Remember, progress is what will propel you toward your goals, not wishful thinking about the end result.
Taking Ownership and Being Accountable (End the Blame Game)
I want to be the first to say that there are actually many (valid) excuses of why we feel or think we’re not reaching the result we are working towards. There are certainly many things we can all point the finger to as to why things are not happening but here’s the thing, Ummm…NOBODY CARES! The things or situations you’re blaming or pointing out as an excuse may be valid and factual to your perspective, but the reality is nobody cares and neither are the excuses you’re throwing out.
As an artist, you can blame many things such as the lack of money to buy gear, the lack of support from your friends and peers, blaming labels for not checking out your demo, or blaming the scene for what it is aka “This whole thing is bullsh*t!”.
As a promoter, you can blame the agents for never giving you a good booking, you can blame the scarce or limited venue situation in your city, or even blame the general community for their lack of support aka “Where is the love and support for what I’m doing!!!???”
As a label owner, you can blame PR and media companies for never responding to your emails about your upcoming releases. You can blame all the bigger labels for “ruining the scene” or “selling out.”
As an industry professional, you can blame the lack of professionalism in this industry. You can point fingers at people or groups who never gave you a chance to start your thing or give you that opportunity to propel your endeavors.
Are you getting the point yet? It doesn’t matter what direction you embark on in the electronic music journey. There are many things we can blame and point fingers at but if it’s true that nobody cares then why the hell are we so hung up about blaming others and making up excuses? The answer is because we all rather take the easy way out. Blaming something and pointing fingers at everything and everyone besides ourselves is much easier to do than to look inwards and see where we can adjust and adapt so we can better navigate the path ahead.
The sheer lack of ownership and accountability is the reason why so many industry people in the electronic music scene are pissed off all the time. I mean who wouldn’t be pissed off all the time if your mindset is defaulted to blaming things around you; Then using that as your excuse of why you can’t reach your goals or find your happiness doing what you claim to love in the industry? If you continue to believe that your success and failure rely on external circumstances then you’re in for more disappointing times ahead until you eventually give up and quit while always having a disgruntled feeling about “the scene”.
While I know not everyone can control everything around them, there are things you can control starting now. The best course of action is taking ownership of your journey while holding yourself accountable for making it happen and not blaming anyone or anything but understanding that this is just how it goes. It’s supposed to be challenging and difficult because reaching success in our passion is not something that will be given just because we “work hard.” Now, taking ownership and being accountable to yourself doesn’t mean blowing up people’s inboxes for gigs, bookings, or release opportunities but it means to understand that when things are not happening for you, instead of blaming others by saying “Why are people doing this to me?!!” try asking yourself, “How can I position myself better next time for the opportunity?” or ask yourself,”Who can I reach out to for help on this particular situation I am dealing with?” (p.s. you can always email me jia@6amgroup.com and I’ll do my best to help you out)
By simply asking yourself the “right” questions, it will put your mind into a solution-driven state instead of a zero-sum blame game. When you blame others and your external surroundings you give yourself no chance or hope to continue the battle because whether you know it or not, you have given yourself a negative ultimatum that things are just the way they are. Therefore, that’s the reason why you’ll never achieve the results you wanted. It may feel good temporarily to say those negative things to yourself as a defense mechanism but we know that ultimately the blame game and loaf of excuses is what drives many industry members of our electronic music community to misery, sadness, anxiety, and depression.
Flip the switch now and end the blame game or else you will always be trapped under this invisible force of self-sabotaging behavior. I always say this to my peers, for every finger you point out to the world there will always be three fingers pointing back at you. Start to understand who is driving your ship in this electronic music journey. Understand who is in charge of all the good and bad. Master this kind of thinking and you will instantly look at your own journey in a more positive light. After all, nobody wants to live a life where they feel like they don’t have any control. The moment you take ownership and accountability for yourself, that’s when you know you have regained control of your path ahead!
Not Tying Achievements And Milestones To A Strict Deadline
A good friend of mine labeled this thinking as giving yourself an imaginary timeline. Most of us have followed the hierarchy and orders of life which has been ingrained in us since we entered school as a child. Everyone at a certain age must be in this grade or else you will be cast out as someone who has fallen behind with no hope. As we graduate from high school and college and enter into the workforce in our 20s, the notion of where we should be in life relative to our age kicks in super hard and super fast because all of a sudden, we’re adults now right? Right…
We all want success to come sooner but just because you want it sooner doesn’t mean it’s going to arrive at your doorstep on Christmas morning. One of the biggest mental hurdles you have to overcome in your journey is to not tie your end goal or results to a strict deadline aka your imaginary timeline. There are a lot of people who set goals based on their age, “Before 20 I will do this, before 30 I will accomplish that”… and etc.
What we find is that most people are far from achieving their true potential and results by this age deadline they have set for themselves. Unlike school and academics, real life doesn’t have a timeline of when you walk away with your piece of paper saying “You did it!”- Sorry but life doesn’t work like that and neither does your electronic music journey.
Stop putting mental deadlines on yourself (and others). I am not saying to not set goals and milestones and work towards them- I am simply saying that you should not feel frustrated, sad, or depressed if you tried your best and came up short. Do not say to yourself “Well, since I didn’t hit that goal by the age of 32 so that’s it for me now” and then cry and die internally inside for the rest of your existence. Don’t do that! Instead, the solution is to keep going and keep trying again, never give up.
I’m currently 38 years old as I’m typing these words out. Let me tell you something, I wanted to be in my current position 10-years ago at 28 with all the recognition of the 6AM brand, the festival gigs, and building the current A-team that I am so blessed to have. I wanted all this shit 10-years ago. Had I put a strict deadline for me to achieve all this by 34 and quit if I didn’t reach it, I would’ve never been able to enjoy what was coming for me between the age of 35 to 38 where most of my “goals” were finally reached. Had I given up years ago because of some imaginary timeline, I would’ve lived my life never knowing that I was actually this close to hitting my next milestone and the goal I have set for myself.
This is a tale all too common. It’s the reason why your purpose needs to align with your passion. When your passion aligns with your purpose, the imaginary timeline will magically disappear as if a huge weight on your shoulder just got released. When you don’t feel pressured by age and time, you can finally continue the work you have set out for yourself in the electronic music industry with great peace of mind.
Go Do Something About It…Now.
Reading and agreeing to this article is cool and all, but the real point of why I’m writing this is so you can go take action on what you may have discovered! Don’t just be the type of person who only reads and agrees (the knowers) but doesn’t do jack shit with the information- Therefore, going back to the old ways and old habits of thinking and doing that will lead to nowhere. Please end that cycle now, doing something about it in this context means to really shift and re-wire the way you think and approach your journey starting today.
I know it’s easier said than done especially when human beings are hardwired to their habits and sometimes they’re not as easy to break even if you want to break them. If you need some help and outside support and accountability you can always reach me via email (jia@6amgroup.com) with the subject line “happiness & success”. My team and I will do our best to offer some perspectives and resources that can help you better navigate ahead.
The things I write aren’t just words I’m throwing out but things I have applied into my own journey and still apply them to this very day. Even though it’s been 14+ years for me now, I really feel like I just got started and the best is yet to come! With that kind of thinking, I feel very much at peace with my journey but more importantly, I feel very confident that everything I am setting out to accomplish will have its moment in time as long as I put in the work. Even if I fall short, I will not kick myself too hard but understand it’s all part of the process and progress of life.
