Meet Art
What background and abilities qualify Art Turock to lead you on a heroic journey to achieve your heartfelt yet uncomfortable goals? AN ELITE PERFORMER IN TWO FIELDS FOR DECADES-COACH/SPEAKER & PENTATHLETE.
Art Turock
COMFORT ZONE DEMOLITION EXPERT
What qualifies Art to lead you on this heroic wakeup call to achieve your heartfelt yet uncomfortable goals?
Art Turock, Comfort Zone Demolition Expert, has the distinction of being an elite performer in two fields, business and sports. Over three decades, he’s delivered speeches and coaching for 125 Fortune 500 companies, one of the highest totals all-time in the speaking industry.
To spice up his exercise program, Art took up sprinting at age 55. He continues to enjoy a career in masters track and field. In 2015 and 2016, his pentathlon scores at the USA Track & Field Masters Championship earned a silver and a bronze medal plus #8 world rankings for his age group. These athlete achievements are more remarkable because of Art’s birth defect that restricts normal blood circulation.
Since 2016, Art has conducted over 1200 self-experiments to demolish comfort zones and develop his ability to take extreme accountability for achieving breakthrough results.
In 2018-2020, he orchestrated the Extraordinary Freedom Experiment to empower high achievers in business, military, consulting, and track athletes to field test his 6 Freedom Mastery Practices in pursuit of their heartfelt goals.
The conventional self-improvement methods-like goal setting, time management, and holding people accountable–are watered down to conform to the comfort zones of most users.
As a result, he wrote his latest book, Demolish Your Comfort Zones: 6 Unconventional Practices to Crush Your Hidden Limitations.
Art has published books in the categories of self-help and business. His first book, Getting Physical: How to Stick With Your Exercise Program, sold 70,000 copies only in retail stores. For business readers, Art Turock wrote Invent Business Opportunities No One Else Can Imagine and Competent is Not an Option: Build an Elite Leadership Team Following the Talent Development Methods of Sports Champions.
His ideas have been featured in USA Today, Fortune, Success, CNN, Bloomberg News, Reader’s Digest, and two books, Peak, and Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work. Art’s definition of the term “commitment” appeared on millions of Starbucks cups in “The Way I See It” series.
For six years, Art served as a jet engine mechanic. He’s been a faculty member for the Honor Foundation, which prepares military special operators for private sector careers.
Art Turock graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Union College (BS) and earned a Master of Education degree from the University of Florida.
In 1981,he taught one of the first women’s body building classes in the United States for the University of Washington Experimental College.
TOP LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: On three occasions, Art talked people out of committing suicide. His prior volunteer work at crisis hotlines paid off decades later.
PLENTY OF COMFORT ZONES GET DEMOLISHED
IN 5 HOURS OF PENTATHLON COMPETITION
Art Turock competes in masters track and field in pentathlon, including five events: long jump, 200-meter dash, javelin, discus, and 1500-meter run.
In 2015, his pentathlon score won a bronze medal at the USA Track & Field Masters Championship and earned a world ranking of #8. In 2016, Art won the silver medal and earned a #8 world ranking.
Members of the Media
Click below to download Art Turock’s bio and high-resolution photos.
Now you’re aware of my expertise and achievements. It’s an ideal time to assess your own strengths and areas to improve with a self-assessment tool I’ve used with corporate clients.
Download your free resource, Self-Assessment: Are You Giving Your Best Effort, plus a bonus set of practice guides to achieve your heartfelt yet uncomfortable goals.
WHY I DO WHAT I DO?
MY 3 PASSIONATE VALUES
Besides sharing my accomplishments, I want you to know me at a level deeper–my source of motivation to master comfort zones and achieve goals that truly matter. Here’s how my three core passionate values-Extraordinary, Freedom, and Courage–are revealed in memorable life experiences.
EXTRAORDINARY
When I returned from seeing the premiere of Rocky in 1976, I immediately went for a jog on snowy roads adjacent to cornfields in Coralville, IA. Time was 2 am. Temperature was 20 degrees below zero. My wife thought I was absolutely crazy. Actually, I was just overwhelmingly inspired.
Obviously, I was not alone. The Rocky story line hit a nerve for millions of people who witnessed a local club fighter going the distance against the world heavyweight champion—a truly extraordinary achievement.
FREEDOM
In the most memorable impactful conversation of my college years, classmate, Tim McGill, listened for ten minutes, and tossed me a book, Escape from Freedom, by Dr. Eric Fromm. After digesting Fromm’s mind-blowing insights about freedom, I knew my destiny--at least for next quarter. I would major in psychology. What did Fromm mean by “escape” from freedom?” This quote captures the essence of his life-altering message:
“Modern man lives under the illusion that he knows 'what he wants,' while he actually wants what he is supposed to want. In order to accept this it is necessary to realize that to know what one really wants is not comparatively easy, as most people think, but one of the most difficult problems any human being has to solve. It is a task we frantically try to avoid by accepting ready-made goals as though they were our own.”
COURAGE
In the 1980s, marketing was done by phone and mail. To launch my speaking business, I telephoned meeting planners while sitting at my red table. Since I was starting out, I had zero references to endorse my speaking abilities. I knew would hear lots of “No, not interested” responses from meeting planners. I dreaded facing personal rejection when every call is a cold call. Picking up the phone took courage.
After six months, I got my first booking, and circumstances changed very quickly. After my speeches to national trade associations, audience members hired me to speak to their companies. Speaker bureaus were eager to represent me. I developed unique expertise to combat a new competitor emerging in the supermarket industry--Walmart. And never made a cold call again. Courage to master comfort zones is life-altering.