Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life E-Book

Larry Winget

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Seitenzahl: 384

Beschreibung

Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life was immediately hailed as "not your average self-help book" and demanded attention and praise right out of the gate. It is now considered one of the icons of the personal development movement. Now, Larry Winget is back with his signature caustic, no-nonsense, hilarious style, which earned him the titles "Pitbull of Personal Development®" and "World's Only Irritational Speaker®." Winget's "get off your butt and go to work" approach to self-improvement boils success down to a simple formula: Everything in your life gets better when you get better. * Get tangible advice from one of the world's most successful speakers and the author of five bestselling books and television personality. * Learn the keys to turning your life, money and business around. * Stop making excuses, stop blaming others and take responsibility for your life and your results The brutal advice he offers has changed the lives of millions of people and increased sales for countless businesses. In this Second Edition of Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life, Winget takes the same principles and expands the lessons with brand new examples, stories, and added wisdom. It may sound ruthless, but your life is your own fault and if you shut up, stop whining, and take action you can create a better life.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Preface

WARNING: CLICHéS AHEAD

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Introduction

BEFORE YOU START

Chapter One: Shut Up!

SHUT UP AND LISTEN

Chapter Two: Stop Whining!

IT'S EVERYONE'S FAULT BUT MINE

STUFF IS GOING TO HAPPEN

THE REAL DANGER OF WHINING

I UNDERSTAND PROBLEMS

Chapter Three: Get a Life!

READY, WILLING, AND ABLE

THREE MORE REASONS PEOPLE AREN'T SUCCESSFUL

TIME TO GET STARTED

Chapter Four: Live by Design, Not by Default

CHANGE YOUR THOUGHTS

CHANGE YOUR WORDS

CHANGE YOUR ACTIONS

THE SECRET IS A TOTAL LOAD OF CRAP

BUT HOW DO I CHANGE?

STOP TRYING

NOTHING IS NEUTRAL

DESIGN YOUR LIFE

YOU GET BY GIVING UP

Chapter Five: Slaughtering the Sacred Self-Help Cows

YOU HAVE BEEN LIED TO!

ATTITUDE AND MOTIVATION

ATTITUDE IS ONLY PART OF THE SOLUTION

FEELING GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF VERSUS BELIEVING IN YOURSELF

OTHER MOTIVATIONAL MYTHS

THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS, ONLY OPPORTUNITIES

Chapter Six: The Enjoyment Factor

STOP DOING THE THINGS YOU DON'T ENJOY DOING

Chapter Seven: Your Beliefs Determine Your Results

WHAT I BELIEVE

Chapter Eight: Fitness, Fatness, and More

PEOPLE ARE STUPID

BELIEVE IN HEALTH

NOW LET'S GET REALLY UGLY ABOUT YOUR HEALTH

Chapter Nine: Everyone Screws Up

BEAT YOURSELF UP… BUT NOT FOR LONG

Chapter Ten: Get Smarter

HOW TO READ A BOOK

Chapter Eleven: Money Rules!

MY STORY

Chapter Twelve: Relationships—Friendship, Marriage, and Other Calamities

FRIENDSHIP

MARRIAGE

Chapter Thirteen: Kids Are a Pain in the Butt

IT ISN'T THE KIDS’ FAULT

DISCIPLINE IS A MUST

THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR WORD

THEY GROW OUT OF IT

STAY INVOLVED

GIVE THEM THEIR PRIVACY, BUT KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON

BE COOL, BUT NOT TOO COOL

BE REALISTIC—KIDS MESS UP

TEENAGERS

Chapter Fourteen: Sex: Gotta Love It

SEX WITH YOUR CHOSEN PARTNER

Chapter Fifteen: Criticism Happens

WHEN OTHERS CRITICIZE YOU

Chapter Sixteen: Sometimes Work Is Just Plain Work

WORK ISN'T ENOUGH

WHY BUSINESSES EXIST

Chapter Seventeen: You Are Out of Time

TIME MANAGEMENT IS A JOKE

Chapter Eighteen: Change—Get Used to It

Chapter Nineteen: Hot Topics

CHILL

STRESS: WHO NEEDS IT?

Chapter Twenty: What's Really important?

Chapter Twenty-One: Hard Lessons to Learn

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Test for Success

GET READY FOR THE ROLLER COASTER RIDE!

Chapter Twenty-Three: A Final Thought

Copyright © 2011 by Larry Winget Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada.

Comic panels are printed with permission from SmarterComics, LLC and Writers of the Round Table Press Inc.; illustrations by Shane Clester.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Winget, Larry. Shut up, stop whining, and get a life : a kick-butt approach to a better life / Larry Winget. – 2nd ed., rev. & updated. p. cm. ISBN 978-1-118-02451-5 (pbk.); ISBN 978-1-118-07813-6 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-07812-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-07811-2 (ebk) 1. Life skills–Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Conduct of life. 3. Success. I. Title. HQ2037.W57 2011 646.7–dc22 2011001513

I lovingly dedicate this book to all of the crap that ever happened to me. It has made me who I am today. It caused me to read, to search, to pay attention, to learn, to listen, to accept, to grow, to take responsibility, and to create a life I am proud to call mine.

Without all of that crap, I would be like 99.9 percent of the world: leading a life of mediocrity, full of blame, resentment, and whining.

I needed every bit of that crap to happen to me because, without it, this book wouldn't exist for you to read and there would be no reason for you to listen to me.

PREFACE

“Just have a positive attitude and everything will be okay.”

“As long as you feel really good about yourself, everything will be terrific!”

“The key to happiness and success is to be yourself.”

“You can attract all of the success and money to you that you will ever need.”

Heard that stuff before? Of course you have. All over the world you find people shouting that drivel from books, stages, and the airwaves. The Internet is full of it! All of the gurus will tell you just be happy, be yourself, and sit back and think your way to success and prosperity. What a happy load of crap!

My message isn't like that. I'm not into cute little sayings or platitudes or much of the other stuff the motivational gurus/ bozos are saying. I don't care whether you have a positive attitude or a negative attitude. In fact, I'm more in favor of the negative attitude, as you will soon discover. And I don't care if you feel good about yourself or care much about how you feel about anything. Feel, feel, feel—doesn't anybody do anything anymore? Not really.

People buy into all of this happy crap because the people sound good, and they make you feel good. The problem is, they don't produce many tangible results. Then folks get frustrated and disillusioned and end up abandoning their pursuit of being more, doing more, and having more. They become complacent and settle for less than they have to. Some even become bitter and just quit trying. Sound familiar?

Here is my bottom line message. The message you need to understand going in.

Your life is your own damn fault!

Welcome to my world. No excuses allowed. Just go to the mirror, look yourself in the eye, and say to your own face, “This is all my own damn fault!”

No real success can be achieved until you accept the fact that your life is your own fault. You are responsible. Your thoughts, words, and actions created the life you are living. Even on the outside chance that something horrible happened to you that you had nothing to do with, how you react to that event is still your fault. What you do about it is your fault. It's always your fault. Once you understand that and take responsibility for your life at every level, you will begin to achieve success.

That stance is what makes my approach different from others in the personal development industry. (That plus the earrings and the shirts and the boots!) I don't believe in blaming or making excuses, and I won't listen to your whining, complaining, or pointing the finger of blame anywhere other than your own face. You may think that is a mean, heartless approach but I assure you it isn’t. It's an approach that is rooted in caring and truth and reality. I care enough to tell you the truth so you will face reality.

That's why I wrote this book and why I am so excited that you are reading this new revised edition of my first bestselling book. This Wall Street Journal #1 bestseller is the book that started it all for me and set me apart from all of the warm and fuzzy pat-you-on-the-head-and-tell-you-it’s-all-going-to-be-okay motivational books on the market. The success of this hardcore self-help book led me to write four other bestsellers: It's Called Work for a Reason; You're Broke Because You Want to Be; People Are Idiots and I Can Prove It; and Your Kids Are Your Own Fault.

My goal in writing this book is not to make you feel better. My goal is to remind you to go to the only place in the world where you can lay blame: the mirror. And it will give you a simple, easy-to-follow plan that can point you in the direction of success, happiness, and prosperity.

The book is divided into three parts:

Shut Up! Chances are you are talking too much and need to listen. Or as my Dad used to tell me: “You're broadcasting when you ought to be tuned in.”

Stop Whining! Wallowing in your problems doesn't fix your problems so stop complaining, blaming, griping, bitching, moaning and groaning, and take responsibility for your life.

Get a Life! Create the life you want to have by living by design and not by default. Make a decision, create a plan, and then go to work to make that plan come to life.

Simple? Of course! Easy? Not always. Worth it? Absolutely.

This book is tough. It's meant to be. I want to shake you up and wake you up. I want to make you mad. I want to make you sick of accepting less than the best for yourself. I want you to become disgusted with your life, and I want to create in you an intense desire to have more, do more, and most of all, become more. I want you to see that you can create the life you want. I want you to have it all. But in order to do that I may have to kick your butt and tick you off a little along the way.

For some of you my approach may seem harsh, but some of you will barely be disturbed. It just depends on where you are in your life. If someone is deeply asleep, sometimes you have to shake that person very hard to make him fully awake. If he is just dozing, a little nudge will be enough. For some of you this book will be your nudge. For others, it will be a rude awakening—a slap in the face—a kick in the butt.

My style is confrontational. You've probably figured that out already. I am caustic and abrupt and call it like I see it. I don't have time to be tactful. You don't have time for me to be tactful either. However, my confrontational style by itself would only make you mad. Now let's get clear on this: I'm not afraid of making you mad. In fact, I enjoy that a bit. Because if you get a little mad, that means you are willing to be challenged. And while you are being challenged, you can consider my suggestions for how to live a better life. While the style of writing is confrontational and in-your-face, my motive is to make you mad enough that you will do whatever it takes to accomplish whatever you want in life. Then I'll tell you what it takes.

This book isn't going to be like the other self-help books you have read, unless you have read other books by me. The personal development marketplace wouldn't tolerate this kind of abuse as a rule. I think most of the books on the market today just help people suffer in comfort. They are a pacifier for the most part. They want you to believe that regardless of how much your life sucks, that is okay; there are plenty of conditions that were beyond your control that led you to that condition. Those books sometimes do nothing but help you coat yourself in a shell that serves no purpose except to make it harder for the real truth—I mean the ugly truth—to get in. My goal isn't to help you suffer in comfort. My goal is to break through that shell to offer you some truths that will change your perspective, make you think, and alter your results. The way I do that is by getting in your face and shaking you up a bit in order to wake you up from the sleep of mediocrity.

It's pretty much like the mule and the two-by-four theory: You have to get the mule's attention first with the two-by-four in order to get him to do something. Consider this book to be the two-by-four in your life.

I don't want to mislead you by seeming to be high and mighty or by pretending to have mastered everything it takes to be successful. I haven’t. I don't know it all. There was a time not so long ago when I did think that I knew it all. That was just plain stupid. Now I am fully aware that the more you really do know, the more you realize you don't know. So like you, I'm still learning too. I haven't even truly mastered all of what I talk about in these pages. Unlike others who write books and give speeches saying they have mastered all they speak of and write about, I would rather be honest and just tell you I am a mess like everyone else in this world. I am just doing the best I can with what I have learned until I can learn a little more and then do a little better. Actually, that's all I am suggesting you do as well. Learn a little from this writing and do the best you can with it until you learn a little more and can do a little better.

Therefore, I openly admit to you right now I don't know everything there is to know about being successful or getting rich or being healthy or anything else, really.

But this book isn't about what I don't know; it's about what I do know. I am absolutely sure of the things in this book. The things I talk about in this book are the result of thousands of hours spent reading thousands of books and listening to others on CD and DVD, and many years of gaining personal experience by living life the hard way—by screwing up and, every once in a while, doing things right as well. This is real world stuff. This stuff works.

This book isn't an end-all be-all book. It's just a starting place. In fact, consider this Book One in my series of books. I can't cover everything in just one book. So for those of you who read this book and want to know more about any of the topics covered, the good news is you can. But, don't be too concerned that you won't get what you need out of this one; this book has plenty. It has everything you need to do an assessment of what you are and help you determine where you want to be and then give you some information on how to get there.

I have written this book for you. Maybe just for you. At least you are the one who is reading it right now. You are here because you need to be here. Either you bought it, or someone gave it to you, or you stole it. The bottom line is, here you are, book in hand, ready to get going. Take advantage of this time with me. Let me rough you up a little bit. Let me tell you the truth as I have discovered it. Let me show you a way to get what you want out of life. You deserve it. So read the book and do what it says.

WARNING: CLICHéS AHEAD

The truth hurts.

Heard that one before? It's true. Some clichés are really true. In fact, this is one of my favorites and has become the basis by which I measure the truth: If it hurts, it's probably the truth. So if someone tells you something that doesn't bother you at all and makes you feel all warm and fuzzy and sounds just so sweet and too good to be true, you can bet it's a lie.

The truth will set you free.

Another oldie but goodie in the cliché world. In fact, that one is even in the Bible, which for some of you will guarantee that it must be true. But while true, I think it's incomplete. Yes, I have the audacity to think I can improve on a Bible verse. Actually, I am going to let Werner Erhard improve on it:

The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.

That's what this book might do to you. In fact, maybe it already has. If that's the case, then good. We are already making progress.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To my wife, Rose Mary, who has put up with more than any person should ever have to put up with in order to learn how to be in a relationship with me. I am not an easy person to live with or be around most of the time—I know that and so does everyone who knows me—but she knows and understands that better than anyone and loves me in spite of it all. She deserves a prize for putting up with me, my eccentricities, my rage, my passions, my energy, my intolerance, my silliness, my boundless ego, my noise, and my stuff. Bless her.

To my boys, Tyler and Patrick. No two siblings could be as different and yet similar in so many ways as well. They have given me a ride on a rollercoaster of emotions that I wouldn't trade for anything. I am proud of them in every way and grateful to them for becoming men who are my two best friends.

To my friends, and there aren't many. This includes my speaker buddies and the other few personal friends I have, as well as some other individuals who appeared quite anonymously along the way to guide me when I needed help, and gave me encouragement and chastisement. Each helped me more than I can ever say in their unique and different way.

To Matt Holt of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Matt was the first guy willing to step out on a limb and publish an edgy, confrontational book that went against the grain of the entire self-help genre. He took a chance on me, an unknown in the publishing world. Look how well it worked out for both of us!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Caustic. Irreverent. Edgy. Controversial. Sarcastic. Refreshing. Hilarious. All words used to describe bestselling author and television personality, Larry Winget. Larry is a philosopher of success who is unique in every way. No one says what he says or looks like he looks. He is a true one-of-a-kind in a sea of same ol’ same ol’.

Larry is a five-time New York Times/Wall Street Journal bestselling author. His books, translated into 14 languages, include Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life; It's Called Work for a Reason; You're Broke Because You Want to Be; People Are Idiots and I Can Prove It; and Your Kids Are Your Own Fault. Larry is also a television personality who has hosted his own series on A&E, appeared in national television commercials, been featured in two CNBC specials, and had his own PBS special. He has appeared on many national news shows and appears regularly on Fox News and Fox Business. He is a member of the International Speaker Hall of Fame and is considered a financial/personal development/business/parenting guru to people all over the world. For more information go to www.larrywinget.com and follow him on both Facebook and Twitter.

INTRODUCTION

I'm a simple guy. I have simple ideas. It's true. I believe that everything it takes to become more successful either personally or professionally is simple. Idiot simple, in fact.

Want to lose weight? Eat less—exercise more. Simple.