7 Reasons You're Feeling Stuck As A DJ

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Most DJs don't fail because they're not talented. They fail because they set a goal so big it overwhelms them, or they set no goal at all, and then they spend years quietly burning out, telling themselves it just wasn't meant to be.

I've watched it happen to thousands of people. And today I want to stop it happening to you.

This is a post I've wanted to write for a long time, because what I'm about to share with you isn't just about DJing. It's stuff I've lived through myself: over twenty years running nightclubs, teaching over ten thousand people to DJ, and figuring out, often the hard way, what actually separates the people who get unstuck from the people who stay circling the same spot for years.

So here they are. Seven reasons you're feeling stuck as a DJ. Some of these I learned the easy way. Most of them I learned the hard way. I genuinely believe they'll change how you approach this year behind the decks. Stick with me, this one goes deep.

1. Stop Comparing Yourself

If you want to feel like garbage about yourself and paralyse every attempt at progress, here's the formula. Open social media and start comparing yourself to people who are doing way better than you. Works every time.

Let's face it, most of us do it. But here's what you're actually doing: you're comparing yourself to someone who's been showing up for themselves for ten plus years. You know that iceberg thing, right, where you only see the tip and none of what's underneath? That's exactly this. You're seeing the result. You're not seeing the decade of unglamorous reps that got them there.

So flip it. Instead of comparing and getting demotivated, use it to see what's possible. And if something resonates in you when you watch someone else kill it, that's not jealousy, that's recognition. It already exists within you, you just have to trust yourself enough to go get it.

Here's the part people miss, though. The action has to come from love, excitement, passion, not from your wounds. Because if you're comparing yourself to others and then taking action from that comparison, you're acting from ego. You're trying to prove something instead of express something. Drop the ego, see the magic. Get inspired, trust yourself, and move because you want to, not because you feel behind.

I lived this myself. When I was twenty two I had an idea that really excited me: start a weekly nightclub event. For years I'd silently watched other promoters doing their thing, and instead of staying stuck watching from the sidelines, I actually felt there was a gap in the market and that I could do better. Everyone around me thought I was delusional. I had zero experience. I just had a big idea, and I trusted it.

The truth is, before launching that club I had no idea how any of it would actually happen. I just took the next step in front of me. Once I had the venue locked in, I hired DJ gear, taught myself to DJ, and played the headline set at the opening night myself. I went on to be the main resident DJ for that club, which ran every Friday night for twelve years, and off the back of it I launched several more clubs down the east coast of Australia.

Trust me. Momentum comes from self trust, and self trust comes from movement.

2. Momentum Comes From Movement

This is the biggest lesson I've learned this year. Momentum comes from movement.

Here's the trap most people fall into. You have a goal, but you can't force yourself to take action. When you finally do, you've got no motivation behind it, so you spiral into self doubt, which kills your confidence even further. The solution isn't more motivation. It's movement first.

It's setting aside time each day and showing up for yourself no matter what. Yeah, it'll start clunky. That's fine. The key is training yourself to show up, full stop. The more you show up, even thirty minutes a day, the more momentum you build. And here's the best part. The path only really becomes clear by walking it.

It's like driving at night. Your headlights only show you the next hundred metres of road, not the whole journey, not the destination. But that hundred metres is enough. You drive to where the light reaches, and then the next hundred metres reveals itself. You don't need to see the whole road to make the whole trip.

So let's say you want to be a festival DJ. You know the outcome, but you've got no idea how to get there. And because you take little to no action, you end up beating yourself up over the gap between where you are and how far you've got to go. My advice is this: just take the next visible step. Record one mix. Organise one playlist. Learn one transition. Through that small action you show up for yourself, that builds self trust, more ideas come, and the next stretch of road reveals itself.

That's it. Action creates motivation, not the other way around. Confidence comes from action. Action is literally the middleman between your ideas and manifesting them into physical form. You don't think your way into being a better DJ, you mix your way into it. So when you show up, even for five minutes, even when you don't feel like it, that's you building self trust, that's you turning up for yourself, and that's what actually builds momentum.

3. Give Yourself a Project

I've taught thousands of people to DJ, and the ones who make the biggest gains, the fastest, are the ones working towards something specific. Maybe it's a house party they're playing. Maybe they're the surprise DJ at their own wedding. It doesn't matter what it is. Having a goal to work towards is what lights people up and gets them moving.

The reason most people burn out is they just "practice." Practising in a vacuum with no direction is exhausting. There's no finish line, nothing to aim at. So instead, give yourself an actual project. Record a thirty minute mix. Build some world class combos and craft them into a high energy set. Build your dream festival set. Throw a house party and be the main DJ at it. Or make it about who you're becoming, someone who shows up and keeps the promises they make to themselves.

The truth is, life without goals is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle without the box top. You've got all the pieces, you just don't know what you're building. So pick a goal that excites you, and let that be your picture.

It doesn't have to be grand, either. Maybe your goal isn't to become a world famous DJ. Maybe it's to play your first club. To record your first mix you're actually proud of. To play your best friend's wedding. To make music that expresses who you are. Notice how all of those give you direction, and ideally something you can get excited about. I find certainty in self comes from moving towards something, not from achieving it. So sure, know where you're heading, but make it about the journey, because at the end of the day all we ever have is this moment. The goal is to make the most of it, and ideally be at peace with it and with yourself.

I honestly find making progress towards goals really fulfilling. You need to try it. So set some goals that excite you, because the opposite of that is practising randomly, constantly changing genres, doing the same transitions over and over, never pushing your comfort zone, not recording your mixes, not reviewing your mistakes. No prep, no goal to work towards. That loop is crippling, and honestly, it's exactly what's keeping a lot of you right where you are.

4. Commit for 40 Days

I did a video on this a while back and it got a huge response, and I know from the comments that this technique has turned things around for a lot of people. The concept is simple. You commit to forty days of taking some kind of action towards your goal. So let's say you want to master DJing. You flex your getting started muscle for forty consecutive days, and if you miss a single day, you start again.

The thing is, you don't have to do much. Even five minutes counts. If you're feeling lazy and you don't want to get off the couch, fine, spend five minutes finding music, or just finding two songs that go well together and putting them into an order. Any action is okay. This is all about flexing your getting started muscle.

And let me say it again. Commit to forty consecutive days. If you get to day thirty nine and miss a day, you start again. That's not me being harsh, that's just how habits are formed, and habits are honestly the basis of your success. Trust me, after forty consecutive days you could be a different person, the kind of person who shows up. And that's what builds self trust.

So set the commitment right now. Say it out loud if you have to: "I will make progress towards my DJ goals every day for forty consecutive days." The person who shows up for himself feels better about himself, and is far more likely to achieve his goals and his dreams.

5. Feel the Outcome

Okay, this next one is kind of the magic sauce that brings everything else together. I'm into a lot of spiritual teachings, and one that's had a big impact on me is Neville Goddard. His whole teaching is about feeling the outcome first. He draws on the Bible a lot, and there's that idea: when you pray, believe you've already received it, and it will be yours.

This is where most people get it backwards. We're taught "I'll believe it when I see it." But it's actually the opposite. It's not seeing is believing. It's believing is seeing. You have to believe it, even feel it, before it shows up.

So what does that actually mean for you and your DJing? First, pick a goal that feels natural to you. That's the big thing. If headlining Tomorrowland feels natural and exciting to you, awesome, go with that. But if it doesn't, don't force it. Find something that does. Maybe that's headlining a house party. Maybe it's people coming up to you afterwards going "man, I loved your set," and that turning into new opportunities and connections, and things really taking off for you. Whatever it is, ask yourself how would that actually feel. And then practice getting into that feeling now, before it's happened. Embody it. Let yourself feel like the person it's already happened to, and then take it a step further. Start thinking and behaving like the person who's already achieved their goal.

Think about it like this. If you started behaving like an alcoholic, drinking constantly, hanging around other alcoholics, chances are, you'd become one. Same principle here. If you start behaving like a successful DJ, hanging around other DJs, doing the work, inhabiting that identity, trust me, you're going to become one.

Because here's the thing about that successful DJ you're picturing. He doesn't have a problem showing up. He shows up because he's passionate, he knows what he wants, and he just goes for it. He or she is confident, grounded, in their power, and they've built self trust through showing up. So stop comparing yourself to him. Be him. Even Gandhi said it, be the change you want to see. Same idea here. Be the DJ.

To take this a step further, it's best to imagine these states when you're relaxed, or ideally in a state of meditation, because that's when you have the greatest influence on your subconscious. When you mentally rehearse a scene, get familiar with the outcome, feel it in your body, and then carry that feeling with you throughout the day.

6. Stay in Your Power

I've realised this year that the biggest thing holding me back wasn't my DJ skills. It wasn't my transitions. It wasn't my gear. It was how quickly I'd abandon myself whenever things didn't go my way. One bad mix. One bad comment. One video that didn't perform. And suddenly I'd question everything.

Your nervous system naturally wants to grip. Control. Micro manage. Fix. But the tighter you hold on, the further away you get from who you actually want to be. So instead of asking "how do I control the outcome," ask "how do I stay true to myself in this moment." Because the crowd might not react. The algorithm might not cooperate. You're going to make mistakes. But none of that has to take away who you are.

This year I've also been learning presence before strategy. When things go wrong, your instinct is to solve, think, analyse, fix it immediately. But you make better decisions from a regulated place than a panicked one. So before you reach for the fix, just be present with what's actually happening first.

And here's the thing about discomfort, the sadness, the comparison, the fear that shows up when a set doesn't land. Stop trying to make it disappear. Ask what it's trying to teach you. Feel it, learn from it, let it grow you.

Be like the bird that sings its song and doesn't care who's listening. It doesn't sing because everyone's tuned in. It sings because that's what birds do. Imagine if you played music like that. Not "will people like this mix," but "this is the music I love." That's where the real magic comes from. So stop trying to fit in, it's time to stand out. Sure, play for your crowd, but follow your heart and your intuition, because at the end of the day your worth doesn't increase when you succeed. More views, more money, more love, more certainty, none of that was ever going to make you feel enough. You're already enough before any of it. The work isn't proving your worth. The work is expressing it.

So that's what staying in your power means. Showing up. Giving your best. Learning from what happens. And when something doesn't go your way, instead of playing victim and feeding yourself self fulfilling prophecies like "I knew I couldn't DJ" or "I can't rely on anyone but myself," remember, if you're thinking it happened to you, you're abandoning yourself. The world doesn't happen to you, it happens for you, and what you're experiencing right now is exactly what you need to get to your goal. Trust in that. Trust in yourself. Know the universe is always responding to the nature of your song. Let go of control. Trust and believe in the process.

7. Gap vs. Gain

I found a big source of my anxiety over the years was focusing on the gap between where I am and where I need to be.

I come in with big goals, and that's actually a good thing, because big goals excite me, they drive me forward. But if I'm in a negative state and I look at those same big goals, they can completely overwhelm me. I start thinking about how far I've still got to go, how much there is still to do, and I start doubting myself, because I'm focusing on the gap. And that gap is crippling.

So the other side of this is focusing on the gain. Let's say I've got all these goals I want to achieve. To actually get there, I need to be in the right state of mind first. You know that quote, you can't fix a problem from the same state of mind that created it. So get into a positive state before you take any action, because if you're in the wrong state, that state alone will cripple you from making any progress at all, no matter how good the goal is.

So instead, I think back on how far I've come. I've built a career as a DJ for twenty years. I've run nightclub events that connected thousands of people. I've taught over ten thousand people how to DJ. And I'm doing what I love every single day, which has built real self trust. From that place, I believe in myself. And from that self belief, I can actually create.

State first, then strategy. If you build a strategy from a negative state, you'll never get there, the state will sabotage the plan before it even starts. So if you're staring at the gap between where you are and where you want to be, and it's freaking you out, stop. Go look at how far you've already come instead. Build the state first. The strategy comes after.

And here's the thing, this isn't a contradiction of feeling the outcome, it's the same tool from a different angle. Feeling the outcome is feeling forward, like you've already arrived. The gain is feeling backward, at how far you've already travelled. Both get you out of lack and into abundance. The gap is the only one that runs on lack.

Your Reality Is a Mirror

If you want to be successful as a DJ, or in life, or in anything, remember this. Your reality is a mirror, reflecting back what you're thinking about most, with a short delay. Everything happening right now is based on how you've been interpreting things up until this moment.

So the quickest way to attract success behind the decks, or anywhere else, is to start seeing everything as happening for you, not to you. That empty dance floor. That mix that didn't land. That gig that fell through. It's not proof you're not good enough, it's just information, showing you exactly what you're currently believing.

So if you notice yourself running the same old negative story, stop. Come back to presence. Choose thoughts and self talk that reflect what you want, not what you don't want. And even better, start embodying the change. It's not seeing is believing. It's believing is seeing.

Where That Leaves You

So that's it. Seven reasons you've been feeling stuck. You're comparing yourself to people ten years ahead. You're waiting for motivation instead of letting movement create it. You've got no real project to aim at. You're not giving yourself forty consecutive days before you judge the result. You've lost touch with why you started. You're letting one bad session knock you out of your power. And you're staring at the gap instead of the gain.

Fix any one of these and you'll feel the shift. Fix a few of them and honestly, you won't recognise where you'll be a year from now.

None of this works from the wrong state, though. So before anything else, get into a good one. Then take the next step. That's all this ever is, one step revealing the next.

We'll do it together. You've got this.

With a lot of love and gratitude,
Andrew