Smooth Running Weird: Punchy Wisdom for Everyday Life

By Steve Knox

Life is strange. Surprising. And, challenging at the very best of times. This little book is a collection of daily readings to help you navigate the twists and turns of life with courage, wisdom and a bit of personal swagger. Think of it like a cup of coffee for your soul mixed with a loving punch in the face.

No matter where you’re at in life, this book will help you rethink how to make the most of today. I’ve picked 66 different topics to tackle in hopes of shedding a bit of light on:

- How to increase your EQ and likability.
- How and why self-awareness is the key to personal happiness and fulfillment.
- Why the future belongs to storytellers and how you can better know and share yours.
- How to overcome fear and design a life you’ll love waking up to.
- And, heaps more daily readings on life, wisdom, courage, confidence and personal productivity.

Life can beat you up and burn you out, if you let it. This book will give you a daily spark of hope to make the most of it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Jul 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9780648130031

Steve Knox

Steve Knox is an expert on Leadership and Team Culture. Through assessment, coaching and consulting, Steve has impacted over 300+ organisations and 250,000+ people over the past 15 years. They include Fortune 500 companies, small businesses and not-for-profit organisations throughout the world.As a facilitator, Steve has the rare ability to engage and equip an audience with powerful insights and practical tools for creating lasting change and providing individuals with a better way to live and work.He holds an MA in Entrepreneurial Leadership and is the author of two books, including The Asymmetrical Leader: Embrace Your Weaknesses, Unleash Your Strengths. In 2017, Steve co-founded imprint—the world's simplest personality assessment tool. To date, 10,000+ individuals have been assessed, and 50,000+ have experienced imprint online.Discover how you are wired to lead at imprinttest.com.Have a question?Continue the conversation with Steve here:[e-mail]@knox_orbitingwww.steveknox.us

Book preview

SMOOTH RUNNING WEIRD

Punchy Wisdom for Everyday Life

Steve Knox

© 2019

This is an IndieMosh book

brought to you by MoshPit Publishing

an imprint of Mosher’s Business Support Pty Ltd

PO BOX 147

Hazelbrook NSW 2779

https://www.indiemosh.com.au/

Copyright 2019 © Steve Knox

All rights reserved

Licence Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the author and publisher.

Disclaimer

Although the author has made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at press time, the author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

THANK YOU

Thank you to all the readers who open my daily posts around the world. This book exists in large part because of you. Thank you to Meghan for always encouraging me to write (and for editing me) you are hands-down the best partner-in-crime I could ask for or imagine. Thank you to my clients who have given me the inspiration and insight to tackle relevant subjects found in these pages. Thank you to my inner circle of friends who let me be me and still love me for it. And, thank you to my father-in-law, Phil, who gave me the title for this little book some 16 years ago. Your wisdom, life, and friendship have inspired me in countless ways.

A WORD BEFORE

Life is strange.

Surprising.

And, challenging at the very best of times.

This little book is a collection of 66 daily readings to help you navigate the twists and turns of life with courage, wisdom and a bit of personal swagger.

Think of it like a cup of coffee for your soul mixed with a loving punch in the face.

‘Smooth Running Weird’, is a phrase of Texas slang I picked up from my father-in-law, Phil. I think it accurately describes the beautiful mess of our shared human experience.

Life is crazy – weird, wonderful, and chaotic even – yet somehow it keeps moving forward, running forward.

Life is Smooth Running Weird.

WHO IS STEVERINO?

Two years ago, I began writing under a pseudonym I affectionately call Steverino.

I created the persona for two reasons:

I wanted to take a tongue and cheek approach to the whole self-help guru conversation currently raging across the planet.

I also wanted to not take myself so seriously.

The first thing I did was break up with everyone who was currently on my weekly email list. Some 13,000+ people.

Crazy?

Maybe.

Radical?

Definitely.

My goal was to cull the hangers-on from my readership. I wanted to connect with and inspire the people who were genuinely on the journey with me. My tribe.

So, I made anyone interested resubscribe. And, essentially I started all over again.

My little tribe is slowly growing again. They send me topics and I tackle them every weekday. From dealing with grief to time management and avoiding takers, I share wisdom via this strange and funny character I created.

And, this book you hold in your hands is the result.

I hope you come to love his voice as much as I have.

Grateful,

Steve Knox aka ‘Steverino’

If what you’re doing isn’t making you a better human being or the world a better place, then you might be on the wrong path.

1 | From success to significance

Hej ven you gracious and strong legend … You’re smart, and you already know this:

Small daily actions lead to massive life-changing results.

Individuals at the top of their game understand any good intention without disciplined follow- through is just wishful thinking.

Stop wishing.

Start acting. Like now.

Your life would improve overnight if you committed to a few key actions:

Adopt a mindset of abundance: be honest, open and willing to learn from other people and embrace new opportunities.

Let go of the past: stop carrying resentment and anger from past hurts and hurtful people.

Trust the process: work hard and let the results take care of themselves.

Go first: stop waiting for permission to live a bigger life – practice kindness, compassion, honesty and generosity today.

Face your fears: commit to doing something that scares you in the next 30 days – I’m signing up for yoga (you can laugh at me as it’s gonna be awkward).

Pay it forward: look for opportunities to serve and encourage at least one person every day this week.

Ask for help: stop going it alone and let those closest to you help you – you’ll be better for it and so will they.

Give ‘thanks’: before you go to bed tonight, write a letter, email or text to a mentor who impacted your life.

I believe in your giftedness, your talent, your capacity for good.

But my belief in you means nothing if you don’t believe in yourself. And, especially if you don’t act on the truth you know.

Pick one of the actions above and start there.

I promise you one thing, if you stick with it and make it a daily habit, three months from now you’ll be a better human. And, a different one.

Here’s to making small changes amigo …

2 | Don’t ‘fake it till you make it’

Hello again you capable and generous human you …

Confidence comes from the 15th century French and Latin word meaning, ‘to trust within’.

I’ve learned your ability to trust yourself in challenging times directly affects how confident you feel in the moment.

Confidence is about self-belief. Confidence isn’t arrogance, which is ego-driven and hollow. No, confidence is about faithfulness, consistency and responsibility.

It’s backing yourself when circumstances seem bigger than you are and learning how to stay the course. This is where the positive character attributes of grit and resilience come in handy.

The most resilient people I know went through some horrific emotional, physical and relational pain. Yet, somehow they came through stronger and wiser – more confident.

Confidence is choosing to live by faith instead of fear. Both can coexist, but one is the driving force in your life.

Faith is the spiritual word for ‘trust’.

Trusting yourself is about being honest, open and willing to move towards difficult and uncomfortable situations …

A simple equation for developing confidence is:

Competence

(knowledge, skills and experience)

+

Challenge

(a difficult task that calls out your best self)

=

Confidence

A few quick insights about confidence:

Comfort is the enemy of confidence. You’ll never grow unless you face the music. Hard work is good for your soul. So go to work on yourself and struggle a little bit. Arrogant people only play games they can win. It’s okay to struggle, in fact, it’s the only way to become wise.

Confidence is not developed in a vacuum. You can read a hundred books about confidence. That’s just information. You’ve got to get out there and test the waters. Challenge yourself this week by taking on a task or obstacle bigger than you are.

Confidence is about progress not perfection. I was introduced to this life-changing mantra from some of my pro fitness clients. It sums up the path to building confidence. You’re gonna fall down a time or two or two hundred. That’s part of this beautiful journey called life. Just get back up and figure out a better way to move forward.

Confidence is both an art and a science. I know that it can be learned in a sequential, step-by-step way. I also believe that it is more caught than taught.