In this motivational vlog, Wendy Day draws on three decades of experience watching emerging artists to discuss how self‑sabotage, fear of failure and fear of success hold creative professionals back. She argues that blaming external factors—industry “plugs,” age, appearance, or the “Illuminati”—is a convenient excuse that prevents growth. Instead, she urges listeners to examine personal habits (chronically being late, missing appointments, neglecting calendars, disrespectful communication, avoiding networking, and dismissing collaborations) and to take concrete steps toward accountability. Day shares her own productivity system: nightly to‑do lists, scheduling dreaded tasks in a calendar, and committing to execute them despite low motivation. She emphasizes the importance of consistent effort, willingness to change teams or environments, and flexibility in redefining one’s role in the music business (e.g., moving from artist to manager or other industry jobs). The core message is that success requires intentional action, self‑reflection, and the courage to let one’s “light shine,” rather than remaining stuck in self‑defeating patterns.
Chapters
Hey guys, thanks for tuning in. Um, I've been watching, um, a lot of up-and-coming artists for almost 3 decades now, and the one thing that we never seem to talk about is mental health issues, and it seems to be plaguing um, the new generation of folks more so than ever. Um, but I'm not actually going to talk about mental health issues, um, but I am going to talk about artists that sabotage themselves and fear of failure, fear of success. Um, you know, so many times in life we don't do things because we're afraid of what other people are going to think about us or we're afraid of not being able to pull it off, or maybe we fear that we can pull it off and we just don't want to stand out. We don't want our, our light to shine through. And that's not something that I can just create a video and cure. Or fix, but it is something that I can talk about and just have you guys think about it as it relates to yourself or your team or the people around you that you love. You know, are you in a position where you could be doing more but you're doing stuff to fuck yourself up and screw yourself out of great opportunities? Um, and here's what I mean by this. Like, for example, You know, are you showing up late to stuff all the time? Not because you're busy, but because you just don't have a sense of time? Are you missing appointments because you haven't set up a Google Calendar to remind you when you've got really important stuff to do? Are you talking to people disrespectfully, or are you not Googling who people are when you meet them or before you meet them so that you know to interact with them, um, in the best way possible? Are you, um, missing opportunities to better your career because you're not going to events where you can meet other people, like industry people or other artists? Are you not doing songs with other artists because you think that they're beneath you or less popular than you or have less going on than you? Um, are you not doing stuff with people because they're not in your clique, or they don't wear the right colors on their clothes, or they're from different organizations or families than you are? I think sometimes we have to take a good hard look at ourselves, and instead of blaming others for why our careers aren't taking off, you know, maybe look at what you could do better or what personality traits you have that could be impeding your career growth and your success. Because it's not always opportunities. And I know that a lot of times artists are very quick to blame other people and say, yo, you didn't market me properly, or you didn't promote me properly, or I didn't have the budget that I needed, or I didn't have the opportunities that I needed, 'If I only had a plug or a cosign, I'd be on.' And the truth is that none of that shit matters, you know. I can sit here and tell you that you're too old or you're too young or you're too fat or you're too thin or you're not good-looking enough or you're too good-looking, and none of that shit matters. What matters is Do you have the talent for this? And are you willing to put in the work? And are you willing to be focused and do everything that you have to do in order to succeed? You know, or do you just not do what you need to do and then sit back and say, oh, the Illuminati runs the industry and I'm not willing to join the Illuminati, so that's why I'm not on. Or I don't have the proper plug in order to get my career to the next level. Or I don't have this, or I don't have that. You know, sometimes we tell ourselves this bullshit, and I do it to myself. Like, we tell ourselves these things, and the really fucked up part is that whatever you believe to be truth is truth because you believe it, and you're not able to get out of your own way sometimes. And I think that if we would all just kind of focus on what it takes to succeed and just do what's necessary to get to the next level, I just feel like we would all be doing a lot better and be in a better place. You know, if for me, for example, um, there's a lot of times where I don't feel like doing shit. You know, I didn't feel like making this video when I started making this video, but I know that the outcome will help so many other people and will help people get to the next level that it needed to be done. So what I do is, um, I do it two ways. I make a, a to-do list, a list of shit that I need to do every day. I usually do it the night before so that when I wake up I can hit the ground running. And then if there's stuff on that list that I really don't want to do and I know that it's going to be hard for me to get it done, I actually schedule it on my calendar. So If there's, if I have some free time, like between 10 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon, I might put on that schedule whatever it is that I've been avoiding and what I don't want to do, because then I know that I'm going to get it done. I'm going to focus on getting it done. And inevitably, once I start doing it, it's much easier than I thought it would be. And I always feel better about myself when I complete it. So for me, that's the incentive to get shit done, you know. And look at this video. This video is almost done. I didn't want to do it. I'm tired. It's a Saturday for me. I would rather be doing something else. I've got people in town that I want to spend time with, but I'm taking the 10 minutes out of my day to record this video, and then I'm going to take another 15 minutes of time to upload it to YouTube for tomorrow so that it posts. And, you know, here I am getting it done. And I think that you guys need to do the same thing. You don't want to be in a position where 10 years from now or 20 years from now you think, man, you know, what could it have been if I had just done this? Or if I just accomplished what I, what I set out to do? You know, it's, it's not difficult. It just takes the strength of being comfortable outside of the box, doing stuff that you don't know how it's going to turn out, and just taking a risk. You know, we sabotage ourselves sometimes, not just from fear of failure but from fear of success. Like, you know, it's, it's— and it's not like we walk around going, what if I succeed? It's, it's not that obvious or that simple. It's when we start doing stuff to sabotage ourselves where stuff just doesn't go right, and then we say, oh well, things aren't going right and it's not easy, so maybe I'm not supposed to be doing this. No, you're supposed to be great. You're supposed to let your light shine. You're supposed to be whatever your dream is that you want to accomplish. You're supposed to live it. And if you can't live exactly what your dream is, you want to get as close to it as possible. So maybe if you're not meant to be a rapper and you build a rap career, maybe you can manage an artist. Once you've already struggled and you've learned what it takes to become a rapper, maybe you manage rappers, you know. Maybe you go back to school and find another skill or another trade, you know. Maybe you become an accountant or an attorney for the music industry, you know. But whatever your dream is, you're the one that holds the key. Either you can make it happen or you can lose your dream. You know, it's, it's not anybody else. It's not up to others. If you have a team of people around you and you feel like you're not succeeding, change your team. But do what you need to do in order to have success in your life and have a good long look at yourself. Are you doing things where you're sabotaging yourself? Could you do better? You know, and if so, what are you going to commit to yourself in order to change so that you can do better? We all know one thing: if you keep doing what you're doing and you're not succeeding, you're not going to succeed. You've got to change up what you're doing. And I'm not talking about growth, I'm talking about when you're doing the same thing day in and day out and it's not leading to success. You know, what are you going to do differently so that you can succeed? Don't sabotage yourself. Live your dream. Like, the music industry is fucking amazing. I just don't know what I would be doing if I wasn't doing this. It's really cool. I get to change lives. I get to create millionaires. I get to help people fulfill their dreams. I don't know how else to say it, you know. And for me, that's worth everything. And I'm so glad that in the early years, I stuck to what I was doing and I didn't give up and I didn't sabotage myself and say, oh, I can't do this, or, you know, I'm white, I shouldn't be in a world of Black music, or I'm female in a male-dominated industry. You know, fuck that. You've got to do what it takes in order to be successful and live your dreams and feel great about yourself. And that's what this video is about today. I'm hoping that you'll take some time and really think about what you could be doing better, or where you could be stronger, or, you know, where you want to be this time next year. You know, where would you have been right now if a year ago you had had this talk with yourself? You know, and I'm just hoping that you guys will see the value in being infinitely successful and, you know, be wealthy and in great health and in great spirits and just be the best you that you can be. And that's what this video series is about. You know, take stock of where you are now and figure out where you want to get to. Go back and rewatch these videos from time to time. You know, let them be your strength when you don't have it in you. It's okay to have weak moments. It's not okay to be a weak person. Thanks for tuning in, guys.
