Julian Dirou Used Scientology to Transform His Life

It wasn’t just fate or good luck that helped Julian Dirou alter the course of his business and family life.

Julian Dirou left his native New Zealand for Australia back in 2000, the year of the Sydney Summer Olympics. But he wasn’t hoping to win any gold medals—he was simply looking for a little direction, a way to focus his youthful energies and learn how to better communicate with his fellows and interact with the world.

As the new century dawned, Dirou had about 200 bucks in his pocket, a dream in his heart, and an inclination to learn. As it turned out, that was enough.

“I was at the end of university,” he recalled. “I had no idea what I was going to do and it didn’t look bright at all.”

Dirou was confronted with the same dilemma that many Kiwis faced at the time—job opportunities were few. So he headed across the Tasman Sea to a new country and a new life. “Like a lot of New Zealanders, when they finish university there’s not a lot of work there so they head across ‘the ditch,’” he said. “Unfortunately, if your head’s not in the right place, you don’t really get where you want to go in Australia, either.”

Fortunately for Dirou, he got his head on straight, learned a trade and earned his license. He started to make a living, established a construction company specializing in roofing, got married, had kids and “basically started to live the dream,” he recalls.

But it wasn’t just the move to Sydney that Dirou credits with his change of fortune, it was also his embracing of Scientology—a journey that began one day when curiosity and a sense that there was something he needed to change about himself inspired him to visit a Scientology Church. He walked in for a personality test and exited with a copy of Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health.

“I’ve found that if you live an honest life,
good things just come.”

“I noticed something different about these people,” Dirou remembers. “The Scientologists were super friendly, super nice—and they seemed to understand something.”

That “something” was a smoother means of communicating—a skill that had long eluded him. He started his Scientology training with a course that helped him understand and master the components of communication. Looking back, he finds this was the turning point for him.

“Relationships were a bit of a disaster for me,” he admits. “And it doesn’t matter what business you are in, you are dealing with people. It wasn’t that I didn’t have the know-how, it was the confidence. When I was finally able to communicate properly, I was then able to successfully start my own business, grow that business, talk to my future wife, have children, help my children—different things that I wanted to do.”

Having kids changed Dirou’s life in ways he never anticipated.

“They’re like little miracles every time you have one,” he says. “And you’re constantly learning when you have kids. I think being a Scientologist has definitely helped me to be a better parent. I'm much more patient and I take the time to make sure they understand things.”

 

Despite his busy life, Dirou makes time to coach his son’s rugby team and to go after and achieve his dreams. He’s surprised that it didn’t require more effort.

“I’d just decide to do something and it would happen,” he says. “I didn’t set out to actually be as successful as I am. I just wanted to be happy. But I’ve found that if you live an honest life, good things just come.”