Saturday, June 1, 2013

Shut Up, Stop Whining and Get a Life


 
Larry Winget
As a rule I usually do not read self help books.  I don’t know why, I just don’t. In fact, the only reason I picked up this book at all is because of the title PERIOD! All of you who have read my blog before know that titles are important to me. Turns out the guy has a lot to say or I was just in the mood to listen.
He is not your typical motivational speaker. In fact, I didn’t find this book to be really motivating. I don’t need someone to get me all fired up.   You all know the kind I am talking about; I am ok, you are ok.  You can do anything you want to do all you need to do is have a good attitude and work hard.  Or the people who like Jiminy Cricket say when you wish upon a star your dreams come true. I would love to be a model but even with my good attitude and great work ethic I will never be a blonde 5’8” model with a kickass body.  No matter how hard I try and how hard I work I will only be 5’. Ok 4”11 1/5 but I am blonde. But that is not what Larry (the author) says. He believes you can be whatever you want to be within the limits of your capability and if you make an effort.
He starts off saying that the book is a make you mad, confrontational, in your face kind of book as opposed to one that sympathizes with you because your life sucks.  I am not so sure how confrontational it is.  Maybe I have a high tolerance level.
He also freely admits that he is still trying to figure things out himself, in other words he too is a work in progress.  I must say, reading that made me a little concerned or maybe a little suspicious after all he is writing a self help book allegedly because he knows that what he has to say will help you.  As with any self help book, most of the book is really common sense.   I guess I just needed it spelled out for me.
One of the pieces of advice he gives is to shut up.  You need to shut up and listen, I mean really listen which I have not always done well in the past. If you aren’t quiet you can’t hear. So I have really started to do this.  Another piece of advice is to stop complaining or stop whining. Lately I have come to the realization that I do a lot of complaining and I can’t stand it anymore. So I will be working on this as well. And the third is make changes in your life so that you have a life with things and people that you enjoy.
This is the short version of the book.  You need to read the book to get your own take aways. Like with all self help books some of the things you read are meaningful and some really are not.  This book is no exception. I got some stuff out of it and if you read it, hopefully you will too.

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