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My Story
It’s 2010. My company, The Christopher Howard Companies, is a global brand that has generated over 100 million in sales. I live on the road 45 weeks a year speaking to large audiences at my transformational events. I regularly do million-dollar sales days, and I have an ever-expanding team of trainers around the world licensed to share my content. When I’m off the road, I live on the 15th-floor in my condo overlooking the ocean in sunny Marina Del Rey, California.
In 1997, I set it as my mission to put the tools of transformation in the hands of everyone on the planet. By 2010, I’d easily spoken to a million people, and I imagined myself on the verge of retiring rich.
But as Denzel Washington warned, “At your highest moment, be careful – that’s when the devil comes for you.” Trouble came for me. I’d been partying a lot to let off steam from all the business pressures.
And then one day my business partner says, to me, “Go to rehab Chris.” He’s an A.A. guy, and he thinks I’ll benefit from the 12 steps.
I’d stopped partying months before, but I check myself into The Betty Ford clinic because something inside me is off.
Something inside me doesn’t feel right.
In Betty Ford, I finally get time to pause and reflect. I’d been partying too much. What had started as “work hard/play hard,” slipped into excessive living which caused me to lose my inner edge. But the time in Betty Ford is helpful and makes me ready to get back to work with renewed force.
But while I'm at the clinic,
my partners on four continents make secret moves to remove me from my business. They rip the company apart, file for bankruptcy in the U.K., and sell off all the assets.
I went into rehab rich. I come out broke.
I lost millions.
I lost everything.
Even the 15th-floor condo.
I have no legal recourse because I’d stupidly signed many documents that gave away my control in our company while growth was fast and furious.
I am so angry at my partners. I feel stabbed in the back. I feel
betrayed.
I don’t know what to do with my life. But I remember a conversation I had with Richard Branson back in 2006. We were together on his Island and I asked him how he handles stress. He said, “I have no stress, if the Virgin companies fell out from underneath me today, I’d move to Bali.”
So that’s what I did
I moved to Bali and, for two years, went from a human doing to a human being.
Bali was a rest, recalibration, and a deep reconciliation.
Deep reflection showed me that I’d lost something far more critical than money.
On my way to the “top”, I’d lost my power.
More accurately, I’d given it away to many things.
I’d given my power away to partying with drugs and alcohol.
To an overdemanding schedule.
Partners that I trusted with the financial controls of my business.
Promotors and trainers that managed my brand and my content.
My ego.
So when I started to look at all of these things, I could see my responsibility in my downfall. My narrative changed from “They did this to me,” to “These are the ways I harmed myself.” I began systematically taking 100% responsibility for my counter-productive actions.
And this set me free.
I realized that if I could give my power away, I could also reclaim it.
Working from
my parent's house
where financially I needed to be for a while, I determined to turn the worst thing that ever happened to me into the best thing that ever happened for me. The caterpillar becomes the butterfly, and carbon becomes a diamond.
That’s what I did. By applying the transformational tools to myself that I taught to millions, I elevated my thoughts, actions, and behaviors.
I emerged the new me, Chris 2.0.
And just like that, the phone started ringing again with invitations to do my work in the world. When you shift, reality shifts.
Today, I coach, train, and consult with a greater level of spiritual awareness about what’s truly important, and a mature perspective on building and achieving big dreams and lofty missions.
I lost millions because I thought I was invincible, but I’ve learned lessons worth hundreds of millions. One of which is:
Be bold, embrace your dreams, and know that you’re capable of accomplishing anything. Really listen to your heart. And most importantly, keep your power; never give it away to anyone or anything else. And should you ever realize you’ve given your power away, remember it’s never too late to reclaim it.
© 2023 by Christopher Howard