Steve Harvey Explains The Harsh Sacrifice You Have To Make To Reach Your Highest Potential

The Harsh Sacrifice You Must Make To Reach Your Highest Potential

"In order to get to the next level, you have to break through a glass ceiling."

This is what was Steve Harvey learned about success from Bishop T.D. Jakes. Having gone from homeless college dropout to stand-up comedian to book author to television host, Harvey says he has known what it's like to stare down his own glass ceiling each time he wanted to take the next step in his career. He could see through the ceiling to the next level of success, but as Harvey reveals during an episode of "Oprah's Lifeclass," it would take true personal sacrifice to make it shatter.

"When you break through glass, there's going to be bloodshed," Harvey says in the above video. "And the blood you shed is going to have to be something you care deeply about. If you're not willing to let go of some things you care about, you can't get what's next for you."

He looks at Oprah as an example. "If you don't leave 'The Oprah Winfrey Show'... you don't have your own network," he says. "If I don't retire from stand-up, I can't do the TV show. I can't become a motivational person."

In order to advance in his career and fulfill his utmost potential, Harvey did what many successful people have done in similar situations: walk away from what he knew and loved to reach even higher.

"I had to let go of the thing that I loved the most and that I did the best," he says, speaking of stand-up comedy. "It's not an easy task... People want to hang on to it."

"You can't hang onto it," Oprah agrees. "Because what is inevitable is change."

A new episode of "Oprah's Lifeclass" with parenting expert Dr. Shefali Tsabary airs Sunday, September 21, at 9 p.m. ET on OWN.

Before You Go

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