Jump;
Take the Leap of Faith to
Achieve Your Life of Abundance
By Steve Harvey
Harper Collins
196 Pages
"That moment of crisis isn't happening to you---it's happening for you."
Steve Harvey is a household
figure and a television icon, but he’s one of those “celebrities” who snuck up
on you. He’s been around a long time, you
know about him, but you may not have known his entire story which he lays out
in his new motivational memoir, Jump.
Before I get too far into this review, I have to say I’m
a little jealous. Harvey’s book is a
model for the book I’m writing, entitled Defy
the Immediate. In some way’s he’s
“stolen my thunder” but I also have many unique stories which hopefully you’ll
be reading soon. I'm not as high profile, but my stories are just as compelling. I’m in search of an
agent and publisher and I can use this book to help get mine out there. In many ways his book is perfectly timed to
parallel mine and something I can use as a model and great example! Harvey doesn’t know it, but he’s given me
something to shoot for.
I’ve come to know Harvey through television and his
public persona. I really didn’t know
much about his background until reading this book. I discovered we are both Mid-American
Conference brethren, he went to Kent State and I went to Central Michigan. He tells the story of his less-than-stellar
performance at KSU where he eventually “flunked out” but that experience opened
other avenues and galvanized his faith to pursue his real dreams of someday
being on television.
Faith
in God, confidence and self-motivation toward his destiny “jumps” out of this
book. He unashamedly lays out his
witness to the power of God which took him from flunking out, losing a good job
with Ford Motor Company, working several others dead end jobs, then “jumping”
to pursue entertainment and comedy. He
lived from gig to gig in his car until things started to fall into place and
God led him to his destiny and he realized his “gift” that everyone is born
with. It wasn’t easy and he didn’t
become a celebrity overnight.
Harvey
waffled in and out of jobs and was selling insurance when the dream of
entertainment and comedy forced him to jump.
He went from an unfulfilling existence to pursuing his dreams with an
unbridled passion. As he quoted
Einstein, “Imagination is Everything,” it’s a preview of the future.
He
shares stories of pursuing comedy and taking any gig, anywhere. Often, he would drive hundreds of miles and
sleep in his car. He was often tired and
hungry, but his drive was overpowering.
He’d make enough in a show to get some food and gas for the car and move
on to the next gig. He set up a phone
line in his parents’ home connecting it to an answering machine which he checked often. That was his “home” office.
One
day he was in the South he got a call to do a show at the Apollo Theater in
Harlem which would be televised with other major stars performing. This was to be his big break and what he’d
been shooting for. Unfortunately, he
didn’t have enough money to get a plane ticket to New York and not enough time to
drive. Fortunately, he got a gig in a
club in Florida that night which paid him enough to get a plane ticket to New
York the next day and he made it to the theater where he got his big television
break. Things greatly improved after
that.
Along
with success came responsibility and hard life lessons. Newly married and after a series of great jobs
and successes when things were going well in all aspects of his life,
financially, professionally and beyond, he learned his accountant died
suddenly. He was deeply grieved at first
to learn of the death of one his closest advisors. However, the death revealed a terrible secret
he never saw coming or knew about. His
accountant had failed to file and pay Harvey's taxes in more than seven years.
Harvey was devastated. He owed more than eight-figures in back taxes
and penalties when they figured it all out.
His new financial advisor deduced it would take at least twelve years
get out of that hole. As a person of
great faith, Harvey went to work immediately, working harder than he ever had,
living under the fear of losing everything and possibly going to jail. He took every contract that came along, even
if it was less than what he was worth. Everyone around him feared he would burnout, but he was driven. He humbly regressed to his days of living from
paycheck to paycheck out of his car, but his faith in God carried him through
and he made it back.
Throughout
his career, he had been an entrepreneur.
He invested and built comedy clubs for aspiring comedians and wisely
made other good investments. The
opportunity came to sell some of those assets and that put him within reach,
not entirely getting out of debt. The remainder of the debt was
manageable. God lead him though this
dark time again and he never doubted God’s plan in all this.
He goes into a great deal of detail on his experiences
and humiliation with the Miss Universe pageant where a team mistake messed up
the crowning of Miss Columbia when she was actually first runner up. It created a social media firestorm and Harvey became the butt of late night jokes and even faced death threats. But, he took full responsibility for that mishap,
even though others would have “handled” it later. He summoned the courage to do the right
thing and take responsibility for mistake on the spot. He couldn't have lived with himself if he hadn't. The furor that ensued for weeks would have
destroyed a lesser man. He alienated the
entire Latin world by setting it straight after Miss Columbia “won” but his
tenacity got him through it and everyone is better off for what happened. It is a great life lesson in courage,
humility and honesty.
The
title of his book Jump, is his personal philosophy. In order to reach our destiny and use our
gift, we have to jump and take chances even when it doesn’t feel right. We cannot stand on the cliff of life and
watch it go by. If we don’t jump, our
parachutes will never open. Everything
that happened to him was a jump of faith.
He lays out the case that you cannot move forward in life by standing
still, whether it’s leaving a job you hate, getting out of a bad relationship
or dealing with a life event out of your control. You have to jump if you want to truly live
and not just exist.
Jump is
full of motivation and life stories that will make the reader truly Jump after
reading it. It gives you a whole new
perspective of someone who now appears to “have it all.” His story and message is riveting. He is not where he is today by luck or
chance. He worked hard and stayed
faithful to his passion and idealism.
Something that runs counter to today’s “I want it now” mentality.
I
first learned of his Jump message in a viral video he did with his Family Feud
audience following a show taping in early 2016. I’m really not sure if it’s a carefully planned and crafted promotion for his book or a spontaneous
talk which led to this book, but it really doesn’t matter, his message does. I encourage you to watch this video and read
this book. If you don’t Jump at some
point in your life you are not living, but merely existing.
Take
the Jump and read this book. It’s the
motivation you need for the difficulties you are presently facing. Few books have inspired me more than this one
has.
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