Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life: A Kick-Butt Approach to a Better Life
Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life: A Kick-Butt Approach to a Better Life
This is not your typical self-help book. You won’t find any of your typical motivational platitudes or cute little business parables here. This is more of a “your results are your own damn fault, no one cares about your problems, get off your butt and go to work” approach that can help you achieve more success, make more money, improve your business, and have more fun.
Larry Winget doesn’t pull any punches here. He believes that business gets better when the people in the business get better–sales improve when salespeople improve; customer service improves when the people delivering it improve; and employees get better when their managers get better. It works the same way in your personal life–husbands and wives improve each other when they improve themselves and kids improve when their parents do. In other words, everything in life gets better when you get better, and nothing gets better until you get better.
This book can make you better. However, it will tick you off. Winget is direct, in-your-face, caustic, and controversial. You won’t like or agree with everything he has to say. Yet his advice is full of wisdom and truth that can’t easily be argued with.
Words from Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life that prove that this book is anything but typical:
“If you don’t have much going wrong in your life, then you don’t have much going on in your life.”
“When you work, work! When you play, play! Don’t mix the two.”
“What you think about, talk about, and do something about is what comes about.”
“When it quits being fun–quit.”
“Time management is a joke.”
And that’s just the beginning!
This is a one-of-a-kind book, from a one-of-a-kind author, that will help you live a one-of-a-kind life.
User Ratings and Reviews
1 Stars Save Your Money
He starts with: Before you Start. And tells us: If you don’t like the book, then please do not feel compelled to share that with me. “I do not care.” “I am not interested in your criticism or your ideas or your feedback.”
Then on page 3, he tells us: “Listen to your customers.”
Why would anyone want to read a book giving the unwashed masses advice that doesn’t apply to the Jackass behind the typewriter?
You can do better than this. Go on to the next author. Give this guy a pass. He doesn’t deserve your hard earned dollars.
3 Stars Stiff arm
This is a stiff arm approach to taking responsibility for your life. Really??
Of course we need to take responsibility, but let’s not get brow beaten.
I think people prefer more positive books like Full Throttle: how to supercharge your energy at work by Drgreggsteinberg.com
It shows how to take responsibility in a positive format
5 Stars It just does that
It does what a lot of other books fail to get you do: Shut up, stop whining and get a life! Other books don’t put it as it is. They put it so nicely, they don’t sound too serious. Other books are still valuable but I found this one specially unique. In this confrontational book, even though some of information are familiar and at some points repetitive, it is presented in a different way, that helped me face myself. And believe me different approach to the same stuff, makes a difference. There are also some new material I had never heard in many other books, and they were amazing. I think it is worth going over, over and over again. I found his three other books also very useful. I think to really acknowledge his style you must have read at least 50 other books on the same subject. Good job Larry!
4 Stars Enlightening idea & a refreshing style - a great read.
For all the bravado, this is actually a lovely book. It’s full of little nuggets of enlightened thinking. The style is quite refreshing, in that Winget is bold, self-deprecating and happy to be unpopular, but the ideas all ring true. Firm but fair. I enjoyed reading this and learnt much from it. It’s funny, too. Would recommend.
3 Stars Yet another book based on common sense…
Larry will tell you that he has listened to or read over 1000 self help book. Let me tell you, it shows.
This entire book is pretty much recycled thoughts that you have heard many time over. And I was hardly offended by his ‘in your face’ style. It;s simply and act to differentiate him self from the self help crowd.
I was only really offended by some of the content.
- I respected my dad because when he said said he was going to whip me, he did! Wow, that’s like saying I respect Hitler because he always followed through on his plans!
- My mom and I used to have migraines, but one day we decided not to have them anymore, so we didn’t! So Larry seems to know know more that the Mayo and Cleveland Clinics combined! Maybe he should be talking there!
- I’m gonna tell you about how I hurt my marriage by cheating on my wife. WHY did I do i? None of your damn business. Gee Larry, thanks for HALF the story. Is it any wonder he is on his second marriage and had very few friends?
- Finally, I am always wary of people whose only really successful thing is telling other people how to act. As far as I can tell, the only business experience he has was running a one time successful company into the ground!
All that being said, this is not a terrible book. It has some good points and quotes and the whatnot, but again some of the content is really questionable.
Filed under: Personal Finance Book Reviews