That’s been the reaction to most of my life.
High school dropout. World-famous DJ. Got banned from the US. Went bankrupt. Built a multi-million dollar tech company. Hypnotized 5000+ people on stage. Wrote 4 books. Took on climate change because why the hell not.
Now? I’m chasing serendipity instead of goals. Waiting to be in the room when something impossible becomes inevitable.
350+ articles and 7 years of figuring this out in public are here if you want them. So is my story.
I used to carry so much shame about my failures. I never spoke them. I hid them from the world. I projected my strengths and hid my weaknesses. I only spoke about my victories. Yes, that sort of works, and it will impress some types of people, but at some point it just wasn’t working for me anymore. It fed my imposter syndrome. My list of failures I carried like the chains the character Marley...
I was sharing with someone this week some advice. If I had to share only one thing, it would be these 3 words: “What scares me?” That prompt is responsible for so many of the big stories in my life. I did the scary thing, and something incredible happened. And here’s the actual scary truth of it: Once done, that thing ended up being no big deal. It’s amazing how big a...
I can’t remember when I first had the idea for my memoir, Requiem for my Rave. I realized at some point I had such a unique story and so much mayhem, it could fill a book. I think it was only as my DJ career was winding down did I realize I had an “ending” now and could start thinking about the book. In 2005 I spoke publicly about it for the first time, of my intention to write it. I started the...
Every time I get caught in a thinking trap about what I’m thinking I “should” be doing or am supposed to be doing, it’s because I’ve fallen into comparing myself with other people. I’ve never sold a company. I don’t know how to “exit”. Everything I’ve ever done in the past I ran until I was complete and I moved on and did something else. I abdicated instead of delegated and reduced my role...
At the worst of the depths of my imposter syndrome I felt like Bernie Madoff. I had fooled the world, or at least that is what I thought. It was only a few years ago, as I looked for things to do with myself, I didn’t even feel qualified to judge a high school business competition. Seeing those teenagers in their suits and ties, future MBA students, and here I was, the high school drop out...
I recently was watching the movie Kill Bill on Netflix. I saw it when it was new and was enjoying revisiting it. There was a scene that jumped out at me with new gravitas. It was a scene between “Bill” (played by David Carradine) and “The Bride” (played by Uma Thurman). This is a transcript of the monologue from that scene. Bill As you know, l’m quite keen on comic books...
I’m really practiced at gratitude. It’s with me all the time. I took an entire year to practice gratitude and that lesson has stayed with me in an automatic way. These past couple of weeks there’s been a lot of articles and discussions marking the anniversary of when everything changed from covid. My local newspaper had a headline that I found particularly striking:...
After writing for my blog for over 3 years and 170 articles, I have come to some truths about myself. I value peace and freedom in my life above everything.I’m in a privileged place where I don’t have to do anything (I recently started thinking of myself as “retired”).I live a decelerated life.I like using technology, but try to avoid being used by it. That means I don’t use any social media...
By 2012 my life was on a trajectory I hadn’t experienced before. Real financial stability. I had huge monthly dividends arriving, had moved out of my apartment, had a bank account flush with cash and for the first time in my life nothing to worry about. There was one fly in the ointment though – my brain was so conditioned to worry, to my precarious life, to living on the edge, that...
“I’ll work for free” was how I got my first job. At age 12 I walked into a newly opened computer and video game store and somehow had the courage to ask for a job. When I was turned down, working for free was my solution. They accepted. I worked for free for the next several months, then below minimum wage (because I wasn’t even at legal working age). I was paid $3.00 an hour, when minimum wage...
There are 92 people on the email list for this blog. Of that, approximately 35% open each email. That gives me a weekly readership of 32 people. By any standard metric that seems tiny. Email lists are generally measured in thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions. Followers on social media sites are measured the same way. 32 people reading what I have to say barely...
During the years I felt like an imposter, I was under tremendous fear of my ideas being ripped off. I would go through such lengths to hide and obfuscate my innovations. At the time I believed it was the only thing I had. That if someone copied it, I was useless/worthless/replaceable. Recently I watched someone share in public their business building strategy. I know this person, have spoken to...
Some time ago a coach I knew shared a story with me about the year he spent volunteering in a homeless shelter. One day this homeless man came in, with absolutely no possessions except 3 plastic bags. He had been robbed at a park, all his meager possessions were stolen. His one remaining possession was an old cell phone. The robbers had taken it, it dropped on the ground and the battery fell off...
I was recently watching The Chef Show on Netflix. It’s hosted by Jon Favreau (Movie director of Iron Man, Lion King, The Jungle Book, actor). He was visiting Wolfgang Puck’s steakhouse in Las Vegas, and was grilling steaks in front of Wolfgang. He then handed one of them off to Wolfgang to inspect. Wolfgang cut it open, saw the perfect medium rare, and then they had this exchange: Wolfgang: Jon...
Disclosure: Today’s article came about from asking myself these 2 writing prompts: 1) What do I need to hear most right now? 2) What scares me? And then I was inspired to write about my Impossible Dream. I did a quick search of my blog and I see it’s never been written about before. So something in me has held back sharing it openly. I’ve written in the past how a favorite...
“Woah… I stopped hearing anything you said after that first sentence”, said my friend on Zoom. I was sharing the outline of what might be my next book, about my crippling Imposter Syndrome and how I learned to get over it and love myself. “Which one? That you can’t feel like a fake unless you’ve done something?” “Yes. Holy crap, my life just shifted. You know those moments of insight when they...
I have decided 2021 will be the greatest year of my life. How that will be exactly, I don’t know. It will be incredible because I will make it incredible. I will control the things I have control over, and like the AA prayer, accept the things that I don’t and the wisdom to know the difference. I will live aligned with myself and who I am. I will create from that place. I will do things that...
I started this blog exactly 3 years ago. This will be the 160th article I’ve written for it. When I started it, I was in a dark place and starting the blog was my attempt at trying to figure out “What’s Next?”. I was making millions of dollars and feeling like a fraud. I was really unhappy. I have lived experienced that money does not buy happiness. I knew the status-quo was untenable, and began...
I was inspired to create this tool by how I’ve been choosing to see 2020 as one of the best years in my life, and how I might be able to share that with others. I know a lot of people can’t wait to get out of 2020, but what if it were possible to transform how you see it? I also realized how creating lists has been such a powerful tool for me. To be staring at the overwhelming evidence in front...
I’ve had an incredible 2020, there is no getting around it. On every metric – personal, financial, business, mental, family, health, happiness, everything has come together this year in a way I’ve never experienced before. I don’t claim perfection, everyone will have their challenges, but I do practice focusing on the positives and this year has been an incredible one for me. That...
Chris Frolic · The Scariest Thing I Did This Year If 2019 was “My Year of Gratitude”, 2020 was my year of “What Scares Me?”. I continued to put myself in hot situations, specifically doing the thing that scares me. It has gotten a lot easier over the year, and now because of all the benefits of each of those actions I’ve become addicted to doing the exact thing I’m frightened of. Only good comes...
I enjoy doing things never done before. I enjoy doing things BECAUSE they’ve never been done before. Something about making the impossible seem possible really fires me up. I can sense the joy it sparks in me. I like to state it as: I eat the words “It can’t be done” for breakfast. I love my role in sharing that with others. One of my favorite “easy” tricks is to ask someone...
It’s easy for me to get things done by myself. To power through, to not count on anyone, to not ask for permission. To just take action, accountable only to myself. Most of my great stories all start that way. A lifetime of relying on myself has made me who I am. Now I’m seeking new challenges in places that are not easy for me. What made me who I am, and what I’m capable of was created from a...
“I’m out of here!”, my 12-year-old shouted. “Kevin, there’s a freaking pandemic going on, we’re in lockdown!”, I responded back. “I don’t care”, he replied. “Kevin, I love you and will support you”, were the last words I said to him. Kevin put on his jacket and walked out of the house. I had no idea where he was going to go. Kevin had reached his...
I recently hosted a Zoom titled “I’m not a coach”, for coaches who want to create businesses as unique as they are. In preparation on the day of, I chose to cut my news diet down from an already very small daily amount. Normally, I allow myself 7 minutes to scan my local newspaper websites for news of interest for me. I don’t use social media and don’t consume much news outside of regular...