Here Are The Principles You Need to Know to Help You Act and Think Like A Success (Part Three)

In September, Steve Harvey released the book titled “Act Like A Success, Think Like A Success.” He partnered with Strayer University to produce the Act Like A Success conference which took place in March.

As we expressed in part one of our recap series, if you grew up in the ‘90’s you likely associate Steve Harvey with his sitcom and his Kings of Comedy fame. However, today, he’s emerged into more than we could have ever imagined. The man we saw every week on our televisions walking the halls as Mr. Hightower now has a presence on every media platform from the small screen to the big screen and then some

[Read part one of our recap here. Read part two here.]

But the rise didn’t come without hardship. He lived in his car for a few years and was homeless during his effort to make it as a comedian. On top of that, even after his rise to fame, in 2005 he lost it all and had to essentially start over with just $1,700 in his bank account. Before that moment, he had six million dollars in savings, but it was all embezzled, and he lost his home in a divorce settlement.

Yet, he still managed to get it all back and then some.

“I lost the guilt of how I’m living now. I worked hard for this. I go to work every day,” he said during a press conference after giving the keynote at the Act Like A Success Conference.

“I give honor to God for that. For that grace and mercy that he has exhibited in my life to allow me to come up and get over. If He can do that for me how you can’t imagine it can happen for you? You ain’t even done the dirt I’ve done.”

Although he does mention and acknowledge his past, he admits he’s not one to dwell on it. This includes both the good and the bad. Once he’s done something, he’s done with it. He admits he’s only watched his talk show twice, and he’s never watched an episode of Family Feud ever in his life.

“You can’t drive your car looking in the rearview mirror. I’ve got somewhere to go,” Harvey told us.

“That’s why the windshield on your car is this big, so you can go. The rearview mirror is this small, and its just so you can look up there to make sure you’re clear to switch lanes. That’s all it’s for. You ain’t supposed to stare in it and wish you were back there, you’re going to crash. If you keep looking in the rearview mirror you’re going to crash your car.”

Harvey says once you learn the principles of success you can apply it to anything. But what holds most people back is that they’re not willing to put in the effort. The work you have to put in to be successful not easy.

“I don’t know if they’re afraid of success more than they afraid of the effort that’s required to be successful. ‘You mean I can’t get no more sleep? I gotta do everything? I can’t drink…everyday? When do we chill?,’” Harvey explained to a crowd who knowingly responded with laughter.

“When you tell people its very little of that, ‘nah I ain’t finna do all that.’ It’s the same reason people don’t eat right. It’s the exact same reason. Because something tastes so good, they not going to give up that taste for a few extra years on the planet.”

Harvey shares his motivation with a side of humour because he says comedy is his gift and he can’t stop using it. He believes laughter helps people learn. That’s something he says he learned from his mentor and friend Bill Cosby who he said has been a mentor and a friend (and added “I don’t know the other stuff.”)

“I’m just a country dude who figured out the principles and I’m just trying to share it with people in my own way. I don’t have the best grammar I don’t have the best education. That’s cool. But I know how to get there, and if you give me a minute I’ll show it to you.”

For part 3 of our recap of the “Act Like A Success Conference” we’ve outlined a few highlights from Steve Harvey’s keynote:

Steve Harvey came out and admitted as he gets onto any stage he gets nervous but he’s not afraid. He let the audience know he would simply speak from the heart.

“I wanted nothing more than to be rich. I’m a college drop out I’ve been divorced twice. At the end of 2005, [I] lost it all. How did it get here? Some of the stuff I’m about to tell you I just figured out last year.”

Of course, being the comedian he is, he expressed to the crowd a sarcastic declaration: “it’s your season!”

• We want that to be true. We know people want to hear it’s your season. There’s some shocking news I’m about to give you. If you give this donation it’s you season. But it’s your season for what? To get a season you’ve got to harvest something.
• For a majority in this room and a majority of people watching it ain’t your season.
• The fact that you wake up in the morning, that’s just grace.
• The fact that you got a job and you got your education that’s just grace.
• Where are you going to get a harvest and you ain’t done the planting?

He went on to express as others did in the sessions before that you can’t line your ducks up in a row before your start.

• If you knew fro A-Z how to get there you wouldn’t need God. Just start the journey! That’s what faith is. Faith is the belief in things you cannot see.

• The dirt is necessary. The nutrients are necessary there is no progress without opposition. When you plant, the dirt has the nutrients for you to push through!
• If you’re tired of working your 9-5 you must be prepared to hustle 24/7.
• Being rich was my goal from the time I discovered I was poor…I had dreams.

• If you don’t have the things you want in life written somewhere it’s not going to happen.
• Everything I wanted is written.
• Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it. – Habakkuk 2:2
• Put something on your screen saver so every time it causes you to run.” (Steve Harvey has his vision board on his screen saver).

• The dream is absolutely free the hustle is sold separately.
• When you write it down it embeds itself in your subconscious.

• If the things you are aiming for are within your reach and grab, it’s not big enough. Your dreams have to be so big that you have to have God’s help.
• This is the only way to get rich.
• Your life is already mapped.
• Your decisions have altered that great plan for you. You’re unhappy with your job you went down there to fill out the application.
• Here is the secret. The bible says ask believe receive. He only gives you what you believe. What your faith asks for. He doesn’t give you what you want. I wanted to be in the NBA but when I ran with the basketball I couldn’t run.
• When you ask God for something that’s easy. To believe is easy. To receive it you just act as though you already have it. That’s the part you’ve been missing.
• Statistics are something created by people to justify why they’re not the one.
• Statistics are for losers. 1 in 25 ____ well why can’t I be the one?
• You have to dream so big that not achieving it is unimaginable. Then you start going for it.

[Read part one of our recap here. Read part two here.]