After turning the last page of “Jump: Take the leap of faith to achieve your life of abundance” by Steve Harvey, I had to pace around the house for a few minutes. It’s because the powerful message contained in this poignant guide by the New York Times best-selling author can hardly leave you without reaction…
The book was actually born on January 13, 2016, when the inspirational mogul gave a six-minute inpromptu speech at the end of his Family Feud show which went viral, garnering over 58 million views worldwide. In his very spontaneous remarks back then, Harvey made a compelling point: that we’re all born with special gifts, and in order to be successful, we need to find these and operate in them.
Jump by Steve Harvey – Photo credit: amazon.com
“When you see people in life … when you’re standing on the cliff of life … and you see people soaring by. You see people soaring, going to exotic places, you hear about them doing wonderful things … maybe you look up the street and your neighbor just gets a new car every year, every two years? You go, ‘How is he doing that?’
“Have you ever thought, ‘Maybe this person right here has identified their gift and is living in their gift?’” Steve Harvey, Jump.
From this viral six-minute speech, came this amazing book, and the astounding #Jumpchallenge and revolution that followed. And let me tell you, it’s not just because comedian and TV host Steve Harvey can literally turn anything into a source of inspiration (and laughs). It’s because in this book, and in that short viral speech, he hit a nerve. A sensitive, tender nerve in so many people out there…
Let’s be honest, how many people have you heard talk about their jobs or lives with undeterred passion and commitment? Not many…And it’s not to throw shade around, but the reality is many, if not most people, are not only not living the life of their dreams, but seriously settling for so much less than what they’re capable of…
I remember sitting around with my bestie in Senegal at all hours of the night, plotting our futures. Talking about how we’d change the world one day. How much we would travel, and how famous/influential we’d be. I was going to be wealthy, live in a condo and travel the world. She would be a renowned doctor saving lives all over…
You know you’ve done it too..Dreaming out loud about the life you had always imagined, and then life, the “real” one, kinda happened, bills started piling up, kids came along,etc..,And before you know it, you had succeeded in silencing the natural urges/voices in your head, if only temporarily…
Reading Steve Harvey’s book will not only remind you of those voices/dreams/aspirations. It will actually awaken them, louder than ever…
It was so humbling and uplifting at the same time to read about Steve Harvey’s life. To listen to his hilarious accounts of failure and success, laced with the honesty and integrity of a legend. It’s almost as if you were sitting across from him at some cozy cafe, listening to him doling out golden nuggets of life advice…
There are way too many lessons from this book to list them all. Yet, if I had to recount the ones that marked me the most, they would be:
The only way to experience real success is to jump.
I strongly believe you define your own meaning of success. Which also means it strongly varies from individual to individual…
But I also believe that to experience the fullness of our purpose, we must continually stretch ourselves. Whether it’s by learning something else, starting a course, doing something different or quitting our full-time jobs to build our businesses…
And really, stretching is jumping, parachute and all…
The process takes time and may even hurt. But you must trust it.
Every time you decide to jump, to stretch yourself to do more, be more, and accomplish more, you’ll take risks. You’ll face opposition. And the process will seriously suck at some point or another…
Some may lose everything in the process, others may have to pay a dear price to achieve their dreams. But we must know that on the way up, the air gets really thin and pain is par for the course. But we must trust it and keep going…
But if you stick to it, you will make it.
Through examples of his own life and others’, Steve makes a promise to us: that despite the discomfort, the pain and even the trauma that jumping can create, if you stick to it, you will make it! You will succeed, on your own terms…
Have you read Jump? What other lessons have you learnt through the book?
To Your Success,
The Corporate Sis.
