I’m a big fan of The Sopranos TV series. I’ve watched it more times than I can remember. It’s such a superbly crafted and written show that every viewing gives me new insights into myself. I’m a different person, so how I experience it changes, every time. A quote from that show has been with me the last week or so: “You’re only as good as your last envelope.” The direct meaning of that is...
For reasons I cannot explain clearly, my momentum on my book has stalled. I went from being excited and inspired, to days and weeks passing with no progress. Once I hosted my recent Zoom on my creation process (with the actual evidence held in my hands of my past books), something about the whole project evaporated for me. It’s clear to me a large contributing factor is that I’ve already...
Last week inspiration struck: I would create my next book and have it completed and for sale in 90 days. I had a few inspired days of clarity, and I announced my plans to my community. I got some work done, and then… the self-doubt started to creep in. I started to regret that I had announced it. What was I thinking? This is completely self-inflicted. However, that was exactly WHY I did it...
Recently, I watched an HBO documentary series called “The Anarchists” about an anarchist collective in Acapulco, Mexico. They thought they had the answers for all the world’s problems, as they saw them. My biggest take away came later in the series when one of the founders realized they were all a bunch of broken people trying to change the world and that they needed to heal themselves first. It...
You’re feeling frustrated. I can understand. It seems like you’re marching around in the dark trying to figure out which way to go. Every time you think you’ve made some progress you’re back to the same old habit of trying to figure out what’s next. Sometimes it feels like two steps forward, and two steps back. But is that really true? Take a look at where you’ve been, what you’ve done...
“Freedom” is a huge value of mine. For my entire life I’ve lived a life of freedom and possibility. I haven’t had a “job” since I was 20 years old. Since then, I’ve worked for myself, doing what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. Part of what motivated me was that I needed to make a living. I just happened to choose things that I was extremely passionate about. I lived on the edge and forced...
A little over a month ago Covid showed up in my home for the second time. The first time it showed up (from my oldest bringing it home from school), it wasn’t a big deal. This most recent time (my youngest bringing it home from school) was far more difficult. I was testing positive for almost 2 weeks, and dealing with flu symptoms which laid me out. My wife got it worse, with their symptoms...
A guest speaker at a function I was attending this past year reviewed my website and told me frankly, “You’d be an incredibly fascinating dinner guest.” His comment made me feel seen and reminded me of how far I’ve come. As recently as 2019, I was a guest at a friend of my wife’s house who was celebrating receiving tenure as a college professor. The house was filled with academics. I was as quiet...
I used a phrase in my last article, calling myself a “lifestyle entrepreneur”. I intentionally stated it, because I could feel the twinge of not wanting to. The most common definition of lifestyle entrepreneur is someone who creates the life they want first, and then a business to serve that. As opposed to most traditional businesses, where the business consumes everything (often at...
When the concept of an “Impossible Dream” was first introduced to me, it was my understanding that it be literally impossible. There’s no way to create 17 steps from here to there. It then becomes a place to come from, instead of a goal to get to. Who would I need to be, to be a person capable of this thing? And simply come from that place? One of my favorite exercises when talking...
This past week I received this private message from someone new to me. Upon receiving it, I realized this was the first time ever I had received a compliment directly for my work on the company I co-founded over 12 years ago, that has been used by tens of millions of people. I had made it impossible before that. This made me profoundly sad for the person I was for an entire decade. Initially, I...
If I’m honest with myself, I can see that much of the fear that holds me back today is not my fear of failing at something, but what would happen if it was successful. These are some of the voices currently in my head: I don’t want to create a formal program or offering because people might sign up for it and I’d be committed to running it.The more attention I bring to myself, the more people...
Robin and I are celebrating 25 years together this year (20 of those married). We often joke that we should write a relationship book, and I do think that will be a future book of mine. The early days of our relationship was documented in my memoir, and it was definitely a trial by fire. As young people with no support around them, we had to wrestle with Robin’s mental health crisis and...
I could tell I’ve been feeling in the doldrums lately and decided to take action. I put out a last-second invitation to my Frolic100 list to witness me using my most powerful tool, what I call my Statement of Being. Things began to change for me the moment I committed myself to this. I now had a date on the calendar (only a few days away). I knew it was more important to me to do it, and be with...
One thing that has become crystal clear to me is from my years of working through my imposter crisis is that I have an incredible understanding of “How” I best do things. I learned this because to overcome my crisis I had to switch from feeling like a fake to owning my successes. I learned how to identify my retroactively provable truths, some of which is documented in what I call my “Statement...
I’ve been dealing with a lot behind the scenes. One of the things I’m learning about myself is my natural habit of soldiering on in the face of huge adversity and not revealing to anyone else what is going on. I tend not to talk about the tough times in my life until they are in my past, and then they become stories I share. My challenge now is to share what I’m going through and allow myself to...
I’ve been getting better lately at recognizing some of the dark voices in my head. Recently, Robin and I were having a deep conversation, but Robin didn’t want to continue it. I felt Robin “pulling away from me” simply because Robin didn’t want to have a conversation with me at that very moment. I experienced this as a threat of withdrawal of love. And I realized in that moment, this...
I was recently involved in an exercise to introduce myself to a room of people by allowing myself to be seen in a vulnerable way and crafting a poem about who I am. I’m sharing this here, now, with you. I am Chris Frolic. I am audacious and goofy. I wonder how deep can I go within myself? I hear the theme song from Super Mario Bros. I see my wife’s face lying in bed looking at me. I want to...
I was recently invited and challenged to attend an event in San Diego this August. This triggers a lot in me. The short version of this is that over 20 years ago I was caught, detained and deported for working in the US without a visa as a DJ. This happened in 2000 (prior to 9/11 when we took the border much less seriously). The last time I tried was in 2005, when I was denied entry and held...
On my recent “Ask Me Anything” someone inquired about what I refer to as “deep work”. This is an abstract thought and term, and this morning I was inspired to write this article about it. I would describe it as a culmination of everything I’ve been doing these last 4 years. Of a journey looking inward. Of understanding myself. Of healing. Of learning what drives me, and why I do things. Of...
I’ve realized the words I have the hardest time hearing are the ones I want to hear the most. Of the impact I made simply by showing up and being me. Every day I find ways to do that, but I’ve begun to notice if you actually remark that you were impacted the way I wanted, I have a hard time hearing it. I have a very re-enforced habit of self-validation. I don’t need anyone to tell me I’m being...
My youngest, Connor, had a pretty clear idea of how he wanted to dress for Halloween this year. An anime inspired “Cat Maid”. My wife, Robin, helped him create the costume. And then in was time to take it to school for Halloween this past Friday. Connor was happy and excited to wear it, and of course there’s the risk of what can happen at school around the other kids. Later that...
This past month I was volunteer part of a team putting on a large personal growth event. “Chris, you’re an amazing speaker. When you’ve spoken in the past, you’ve always had the biggest turnouts. You said you want to increase your impact at the event so we’ve come up with an opportunity for you to do that by coordinating the speakers for this event”, I was asked. Yes, “on paper”, it makes sense...
(Chris’ note: This article was hard for me to write and share. I’ve realized I can be vulnerable about all sorts of challenges in my life, past and present, but the one thing I get scared to do is talk about my successes. I know this is fueled partly by my complex relationship with money, how I value myself, and societal lessons that no one likes a braggart. And at the same time I...
This summer my family was invited to stay for a weekend at the summer camp my oldest kid normally goes to. Because of covid they’ve been unable to operate as normal for 2 summers. As a way to do something, they invited a handful of families to enjoy their property, in a socially distant manner. I haven’t done anything or gone anywhere since covid has started, so this was a really nice offer that...