Anyone who knows me or follows what I’m up to in the world knows I regularly use fear as my compass. I’ll often ask myself “What scares me?” and then, if possible, literally do that thing. Well, a couple of months ago my answer to “What scares me?” was “Don’t write for your blog”. It’s been a weekly practice, starting in 2018, that has...
A trap I still regularly fall into is the idea that I’m the one that needs to change. Despite my 50 years on this planet, the conventional successes I’ve had in multiple fields, as well as my own personal achievements of success I keep trying to change how I do things. Why? Because there’s a voice inside of me telling me to. That I’m (still) not good enough. Whose voice is this? I believe it’s a...
I have a belief, informed from my first-hand experiences, that to know where we’re going we must first look at where we’ve been. For most of us, we skip the most interesting parts. What if becoming a student of your own self-mastery, studying the life you’ve already lived, was the piece you were missing from making your next chapter your greatest chapter? What if by being willing to share...
My friend, Shermain Melton, and I hosted the first meeting of Accomplished Misfits. Inspired by Shermain’s mission of solving loneliness, we came up with the idea of the particular kind of lonely that happens from succeeding in all the wrong ways. We had everyone share their answers to these four questions: What is your “weird”? What is your “accomplished”? What is...
The Island of Misfit Toys was part of the story of the 1960s perennial Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Christmas special. During his adventure, Rudolph is brought to this island, where unwanted toys are brought to be together. It’s a powerful metaphor about the community misfits can find with one another. I remember a good friend of mine using it to describe the community that formed around my...
Accomplished Misfits create industries, whole new categories, and their success may look inevitable in hindsight, but seemed impossible at the outset. Accomplished Misfits also feel lonely in their methods. My friend Shermain Melton and I are hosting a free Zoom on this topic as we continue to create our once-in-a-lifetime Toronto event: Weird, Successful, Lonely, with Unfinished Business. An...
Last week I created a challenge for myself and invited anyone who wanted to hear me pitch an event I’m collaborating on in Toronto with my friend, Shermain Melton, where all we have is a date so far and a commitment from both of us that it will happen. Instead of figuring out what it is first, we’ve decided that working together is the most important part and that the ideas will come after...
I love breaking rules. I love taking risks. I love risking failure. As part of the “scary conversation” series of chats I had this week, I challenged Frolic 100 member Leslie to pitch me on her current program. I was proud of her for stepping into her courage and doing so. But then she unexpectedly turned the tables on me and asked me to pitch her on my October program, which at this time was...
I live to tell stories, and when someone says something to me like “What a story!” I know I’ve accomplished something incredible. It’s even more powerful when I can catch that I’m living through a story, or that one is in front of me – if I just say “Yes” to it. Here are the elements of what makes an incredible story. One where you change, and the people that hear the story change as well. This...
If there was one single piece of advice I’d have to give anyone, it’s to “follow the energy”. Earlier this week I had registered a webinar, by an author whose books I own, on a topic of personal interest to me. I thought I’d try to expand my circle a bit so I clicked “Attend”. But, if I’m being honest with myself, there was definitely some...
Do you have an insidious voice that lives rent free in your head always telling you nothing you do is enough, nothing you have is enough, and you’re never enough? I do. Today I decided to write to an earlier version of me, from seven years ago. A letter I have all the authority in the world to write, because I know the truth, having lived it. The letter is below: Dear 2018 Chris from 2025...
Just over a week ago I challenged myself to come up with a topic that could put me on any stage in the world as an AI Expert. Leaning hard into my strengths, story, and interests, I came up with this title: A Rave Legends Guide to How to Be More Human in an AI World The thing is, I felt very confident in summarizing a bunch of thoughts, philosophies, best practices I have and present on this...
My New Years Resolution is that 2025 will be my year of failure. And I’m going to fail BIG. I’m going to take big swings with no net. I’m going to launch things and ideas before I’m ready. I won’t try anything I KNOW will work. I won’t use comfortable and true methods. I will fail publicly. My attempts will be done in full view. Perfect is the enemy of good, so...
As part of putting myself out there more I was a recent guest on a LinkedIn Live with my good friend Rita around my experience of turning self-doubt into a superpower. We had a lively discussion touching on how to turn unconventional paths into extraordinary success, how authenticity can benefit both personal and professional relationships, and the power of hope in overcoming challenges. Check it...
Action is the defining element I see most when I look at people who get anywhere and those that spin their wheels. However, it’s a specific type of action that matters. Many people create busy work to avoid doing the real work that will actually change things. Dreaming and scheming means nothing without action. Often, it’s an amazing little amount of action that is needed, when it’s the right one...
Once upon a time I had a LinkedIn profile. It wasn’t great. I was ashamed of myself and my story when I had created it. I downplayed all of my accomplishments, in a weak attempt at trying to appear more “corporate”. My imposter syndrome at the time also had its hands around me like a choke hold, and I didn’t even list my webinar company, StealthSeminar, by name. I listed myself as some sort of...
The webinar business I co-founded over 14 years ago just completed due diligence and closed its sale to a $100 million private equity fund that specializes in SaaS (Software as a Service), and now that particular part of my life is done. Even though I exited an active role with the company several years ago, I still retained 50% ownership and monthly dividends from that. It feels good to have...
During the peak of my DJ career, back in the year 2000, I was banned from entering the US after being caught entering to work as a DJ without having the required paperwork (Longtime followers of mine are very familiar with this story, and I wrote about it extensively in my memoir). I spent many years regretting my actions that led to that. This ultimately led to my eventual retirement from DJing...
I love “boredom”. I love playing with what are seen as negative words, and twisting them on their ear. Boredom to me is creating space for inspiration and creativity. If I fill my days with busywork, I remove the possibility of those “eureka” moments. Some of my most profitable and successful innovations were made walking to the store in my neighbourhood and simply walking without distracting...
I’ve had multiple distinct professional chapters in my life (the “what do you do?” question). Less spoken about, but very significant and formative to me was the eight year span I worked for a franchising video game retail chain. I started working for this company when I was only 12 years old, and spent 8 years there. For as much as I talk about my lack of paper education, this was an...
A good friend of mine, Shermain Melton, asked me a simple question last week: What do you stand for? What comes up for you when you think it? To take a stand means to believe in something. To defend something. To fight for something. Taking a stand means it’s worthy of you getting up in the morning and working towards it. It means you care enough about it that you want others to have...
(The following is an excerpt from my memoir, Requiem for My Rave. I’ve been asking myself lately what lessons I can share from this time in my life with audiences today.) It was March 2000. Robin, my girlfriend at the time and I were in the middle of making dinner. It was a night no different than any other. Robin was cutting some tomatoes, and I was working the stove with tilapia. It sizzled in...
Earlier this year I announced my 2024 book project, I made some progress, and then… something wasn’t right and I decided to listen to myself and put it aside instead of push myself through it. Four months later I was inspired again, and I realized that’s a big part of it… inspiration. It’s important for my process. It’s also the most common word used when people describe what they receive from me...
“But what if we’re caught? It will be humiliating”, was the fear in my head. Thirty minutes before this moment, my wife and I went out for a spontaneous walk in our neighborhood. Where I live, in Toronto, is near the factory for Bombardier Aerospace. They make passenger jets. On this particular Saturday afternoon we could tell there was something happening, with lots of people...
Here’s a powerful tool that I’ve created to help myself deal with some of my feelings lately around success and guilt. The point of it is to bring clarity in, and get out of the amorphous haze of letting the emotions run roughshod over you when they’re simply not even true and certainly not deserved. This has been modeled on previous tools I’ve created, except this time focused on the particular...