homeless again
However, in the last two months, he has made more financial wealth than he used to in 20 years. Sitting in his luxurious penthouse on the Sunshine Coast, he reflected on how things were for him in 1998. “I had walked away from the movie industry,” he said, “and here I was homeless again. One thing that happened is that I did a mental calculation. I watched my father’s life. My father is my number one hero of all time. He is the hardest working man with the highest integrity I have ever met. I love my father very much and yet I saw my life of my father, and I finally found out the truth: that my father was lied to”.
The lie was that he thought his hard work would pay off and it didn’t. “He was struggling at the end of his life financially and with his health, and I realized that at 38, he needed to make a right turn now. My dad was much more efficient than I was, a much better worker, a better saver with money and all that stuff and didn’t have the results to prove it.
a change is required
“I knew I was out of luck unless I did something dramatically different. That’s when I applied everything I teach to my own life and consistently. That’s the key. You have to be consistent. You don’t go to the gym once, work and you will be in shape for the rest of your life, it is about being constant.
“I went from zero to hero pretty quickly. It’s been like my head was stuck in a funnel. My career has been building so fast.”
The successful trainer is now a billionaire who proudly calls Kawana Waters on the Sunshine Coast his new home. He still struggles like the rest of us, but it’s his ‘attitude of gratitude’ and his winning strategies that have helped him get ahead.
scammed and dumped
Despite his rapid rise to fame, last year he faced some of his biggest battles to date. “The promoters we’ve been working with in New Zealand for the last four years have literally scammed me out of tens of thousands of dollars,” he reveals.
Then his wife of eight years, Marie, left the marriage, and his father died of cancer at age 75. With three types of cancer, they gave him six months to live and he made it three days.
While Kurek was initially devastated, he overcame obstacles by asking the question, “What’s so good about this?”
On his wife the answer was: “Well, I had eight great years with Marie, we are ending everything in peace and love. I still have a great friend outside of that. We had magical experiences, so I am grateful for what I did.” had instead of upset about what I’ve lost.
“Look, that’s how love responded and it’s been a huge transformation because the helicopter crash wasn’t as devastating to me as my wife leaving me and yet the crash took me two years to get over it, and my marriage took me a few weeks to move on.”
Not much time
As for his father’s death, Kurek appreciates the fact that he was the last person to speak to him on the phone before he passed away. “I said, ‘Dad, I’m Kurek. I know we don’t have a lot of time right now, but I just have to tell you that I will always love you. I will always make you proud. Give up, give up the fight.’ and go to peace.
“My dad smiled, he knew it was me, he closed his eyes and a few moments later, he passed away. Again, the first thing I asked was ‘What’s so good about this?’ At least my dad died when I was 44 and not 4, 14 or 4 months old.”
Putting it in another context, he says: “Some soldiers in Iraq never get to see their children. My father and I had a great relationship where at least I was able to say those last words to him and say goodbye to him.”
Other advantages were that he did not suffer: that if he had survived six months, all three types of cancer would have been excruciatingly painful, and Kurek’s stepmother and the love of his father’s life was with him in the final moments.
“Then I also realized that my mother is still alive, so I cried at my father’s funeral and instantly took my mother out, pampered her, and now I talk to her every day.”
disaster strikes
The helicopter crash Kurek is referring to was in the movie Delta Force 2, where he starred opposite Chuck Norris in the Philippines in 1989. He had a group of mates aboard a helicopter in one of the scenes when the engine failed and he fell. plummeting 800 feet down the side of the mountain toward the trail at the bottom of the hill.
Kurek had gotten off the helicopter just before it got on, saving his life. “I was the first to reach the wreck, running downhill at high speed,” Kurek said. “I came to find that there were bodies all over the inside of the wreck. One by one, I started pulling people out. More people were coming down the hill to help. When I was able to get to Mike (one of his best friends, Mike Graham) that he was still strapped to the floor of the helicopter because the helicopter had fallen, now it seemed as if he was levitating because he was glued to the wall.
flaming hell
“When I got in to get him out last, the helicopter went up in flames. Mike was on fire and I climbed up to get him out. By the time I was able to get him out, because his seatbelt finally burned, his whole body was shot up.
“When I got him out, they hit him with fire extinguishers, they tried to skin him. The cameraman was now trapped, flat and dead under the helicopter. He fell and the helicopter landed on him, so I reached down and picked him up.” just long enough for us to get him out, and then Kenny Gibson, Chuck’s stunt double, tapped me on the shoulder and asked if he knew CPR. I said yes and he said, “I think Mike really needs you right now.” .”
“So I went up to him, he was naked and charred, and I put him in the back of the car and gave him CPR for the next 45 minutes on the way to the hospital. Then he died in my arms, thrown into the driveway, and we lost four more friends in the next day and a half.
357 depression
The accident was so horrible for Kurek that it led to severe depression and suicidal tendencies for the next two and a half years. “He had a gun in his mouth every night, a 357 Smith & Weston pistol; pumped 3.5 to 5 grams of cocaine through his nose every day; smoked joints and cigarettes; drank like it was going out of style. Just he was trying to get weak enough to finally pull the trigger, and then one day he woke up and said, ‘Either shoot yourself, be done with this, stop playing, or change your life.’
“It was that defining moment when I was right on the line and I said, ‘Okay, which one are you going to do? Do you pull the trigger or are you going to turn it around?’ Well, obviously, I turned it around.”
He was 29 years old at the time and there is no doubt that Kurek has changed his life. “All your dreams come true when you make the decision to make them come true,” she said. He went on to make 38 movies as an actor and 500 movies as key and dolly grip, working behind the scenes as a crew member.
powerful motivation
He teaches powerful motivational and empowerment seminars in 13 countries, traveling 300,000 miles a year. She successfully coached the Australian women’s Olympic beach volleyball team of Natalie Cook and Kerri Ann Pottharst, which won a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She also worked with the Brisbane Broncos, a professional rugby league soccer team, helping them win the premiership in the 1999/2000 season.
On 22 November 1998, Kurek broke the world record for the longest firewalk, where he walked 266 feet (81 m) over 600 degree coals at the Brisbane RNA Showgrounds.
in the fire
It teaches people that we all have unlimited potential and that we can do whatever we want when we focus and take action. Kurek is the CEO and founder of Kurek Ashley Success International Pty Ltd in Australia. He is one of the world’s best firewalking instructors and leads thousands of people through the coals safely.
Kurek is full of life, passion and energy and inspires everyone he comes in contact with. He turned 46 on April 8, 2007 and life couldn’t be better. He gets up at 4:00 am every day, meditates, reads, listens to audio programs, writes, and hits the gym, usually all before he starts his workday at 9:00 am!
Before bed, between 10:30 and 11:00 pm, enjoy lying under the stars on your private moon deck.
love answer
He has a new book to publish, How Would Love Respond?, and the TV show series, The Transformer, in the works.
Its current product line includes Fire Up Your Life, a six-CD audio program on creating your own compelling future and making lasting change; Power’s in the House DVD: A two-hour live seminar on leveraging your idle resources and performing at a higher level; and Massive Momentum: seven DVDs covering individual programs on Mindset, Goals, Health and Fitness, Wealth, Communication and Presentation, Relationships, and Sales.
“My most popular program is Life Success Club,” notes Kurek, “where I coach people through a new CD they receive every month on building ‘success muscles’ (habits), for just $39.95 a month “.
branson teens
The club also has a number of other benefits, including networking events with high-profile people like Richard Branson, Rachel Hunter, and Susie O’Neill. The new XL Life member will launch the Step Up Foundation in the United States later this year, and will continue to grow his own foundation in Cincinnati, funding teens with a high dropout rate to complete college.
Believing that the key to achieving success is to ‘create balance in all areas of your life’, Kurek enjoys driving his new BMW and Harley, swimming in the ocean, spending time with friends and family. “Life is one hell of an adventure and I feel like Indiana Jones,” he says.
“I’m still a big kid, everyone is. You realize that as you get older, you don’t really know anymore. You have more experiences. Hopefully, you’ve evolved. You don’t know what tomorrow will bring.” You have no promise.
“I was happy when I was poor, but I just realized that I am much happier when I am rich.” Kurek has learned that money doesn’t give you happiness, but not having money ‘certainly gives you pain’.
“I’ve learned that I enjoy it, the people in my life and the way I get to live my life. I’m excited every day. I wake up every day in an attitude of gratitude. It’s just that I have another day of life. Everything else is gravy. The hardest thing you have to do is wake up. Ask anyone who hasn’t! If you wake up, you’re a total success. The rest is easy.”