People Are Idiots and I Can Prove It!: The 10 Ways You Are Sabotaging Yourself and How You Can Overcome Them (Hardcover)

by Larry Winget (Author)
Key Phrases: Larry Winget, Larry Wnget, Can Prove (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A bald-headed, cowboy-booted combination of Will Rogers, Norman Vincent Peale and Vince Lombardi, Larry Winget is an American treasure."
—James Bradley, New York Times Bestselling Author, Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys

"Larry Winget takes a tough love approach to helping you improve your life with this book but you'll be glad you read it. He doesn't mince words yet his advice for making more of yourself is spot on."
—Mark Sanborn, bestselling author, The Fred Factor and You Don't Need a Title to be a Leader

"Larry's frank, brutal, tough and sometimes even obnoxious! But you know something? He has a big heart and an even bigger gut for how we can avoid big mistakes."
— Neil Cavuto, Fox News

“His advice . . . is so blunt and so true that it might keep you sane until you retire.”
— Bloomberg News

Product Description
We talk a lot about the things we want.

I want more money.
I want a better relationship with my spouse.
I want good responsible kids.
I want a promotion.
I want to be healthy.
I want to be smarter.
I want to retire.
I want, I want, I want…

But do you know what people really want? They want what they’ve got. It’s a simple formula: You have what you want because your actions produced your results. Not your words and certainly not your wants.

In his signature caustic, yet loveable style, Larry dishes out straight talk on what he calls “life’s messes” and offers up his advice topped with a dollop of common sense. We all know that people do stupid things to sabotage their success, and we can all think of areas in our own lives where we are just plain being idiots! So here is what Larry is proposing: Recognize where you are being an idiot and then take action to stop being an idiot. He takes on business, family, health, being fat, being stupid, success, money, and more, and tells us step by step what we need to change. He tells us to take responsibility for our words and our wants and put them into action.

Why Larry? We have seen him do it as an expert on TV, coaching people on taking control of their money. We turn to him for business advice and kick-in-the- pants motivation. But why ask Larry for advice on things like relationships and parenting? Larry says the answers to most problems, whether personal or professional, go hand in hand. What it takes to be a great leader is what it takes to be a great parent. The principles it takes to be a good salesperson are the same principles it takes to get along with others. The principles of personal success are the same principles of business success and financial success.

This book is a little mirror you can hold up to your life to reflect back to you your areas of stupidity. A mirror that has a little action plan taped to the back of it. A little bit of business. A little bit of personal development. A little finance. A little parenting. A little health and wellness. And a whopping dose of common sense!

The Pitbull of Personal Development ® and New York Times bestselling author Larry Winget brings us advice on the dumb things we are doing to sabotage our success.

Larry Winget is back, and this time he’s telling us that most people are idiots! And that seems harsh. But in fact this is Larry’s most positive book yet because he believes that what people really want is to be told the truth. And usually the truth isn’t pretty. When you have had it with hand holding and making excuses for why you are not doing as well as you could be doing, when you are ready to hear someone tell it to you like it is, tell you exactly what you are doing wrong and how to fix it, Larry is your man.

Do you have a plan for success? Why not? It’s time to cut out the endless chatter about the things you want, the things you wish you had. It’s time to stop wasting your time with excuses and explanations for why you aren’t quite where you need to be. This book is the swift kick you need to cut out the bad habits that are keeping you from your goals. Figure out what you really want, not what you say you want, and get started on your action plan for success.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Gotham (December 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592404375
• ISBN-13: 978-1592404377
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #38,539 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Larry proved it., January 2, 2009

By	Steve Burns "Life long learner" (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

People are idiots. (He did not have to prove it to me, I have worked in retail for over 20 years). If you want an author who will get in your face and challenge you to quit whining and making excuses and change, then this book is for you. If you are overly sensitive or love being a loser, then you will likely find the author to be rude and crude. You will also be offended by his rants. For me I enjoyed his sense of humor and agree with the principles in his book to take 100% responsibility for your life and make changes if you want different results. The truth is we have created the circumstances in our life through our actions. We spend our time on what is most important to us. We have in our life what we were willing to pay the price for. Every decision we make takes us either closer to our goals or farther away from them, choose wisely.
If you sit up and pay attention this book will show us all how we act like idiots sometimes. We sabotage our lives when we are ignorant, stupid, lazy, don't care, lack vision, have low expectations, don't recognize the consequences of our actions, have bad habits, have poor role models, and have no plan. The author shows how to overcome all of these challenges through sound principles and common sense. This is not rocket science but it is solutions to problems that some readers may not even know that they have. You will find principles in this book that will change your life. Don't be an idiot, buy the book and learn something new.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Often the most valuable advice is what we don't want to hear..., December 30, 2008

By	Scott McKain (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I finally got to sleep this morning at 6AM. "People Are Idiots" literally kept me awake all night. Not just because it's a "page turner" (which it IS), but also because it had me thinking so much about my life that I couldn't stop writing notes, pondering the future, and contemplating Larry's advice.

I'm always wary of reviewers who write a long treatise here. It seems they have an axe to grind -- positive or negative -- and that their position is more about them than it is the book. So, here's the bottom line: If you want to get fuzzy inspiration, this isn't the book for you. If, however, you want a book that shows you how to get your act together, quit sabotaging yourself, and have a better year in 2009, regardless of the economy, stop reading reviews and start buying (and reading) this book.

You may -- or may not -- like HOW Larry makes his points. However, WHAT he says will change your life. It has mine. Sometimes the most valuable advice is the stuff we don't want to hear.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Idiots and (Pseudo) Intellectuals Will Trash This Book, January 3, 2009

By	Michele Cozzens "www.michelecozzens.com" (Cloud 8) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Fortunately, I'm neither and I found this book, People Are Idiots and I Can Prove It, highly entertaining. Presented as a how-to book in a series of in-your-face presentations by author and media personality Larry Winget, pop psychologists and even serious behavioral experts will chalk this up to a series of rantings (and the author does indeed label many of his passages about idiot behavior as "rants,"). But if you're looking for a straightforward, very funny look at our society and appreciate a wry and brave point of view, this book holds a hundred laughs. It also holds about as many solutions to life's perceived problems in the form of "action lists."

For example: To avoid problems Winget writes, "You can't. Problems are part of life. The only people with out problems are dead." Not quite the Pollyanna approach . . . instead, the self-proclaimed "pitbull of personal development" just puts it out there with a frank and refreshing point of view. Anyone raising a teenager, who constantly has to reach for the clichés we sometimes like to call wisdom, will appreciate having a few of these nuggets in their back pockets. Again, very funny. "To quit smoking," he writes, "stop putting cigarettes in your mouth." Or "To win every argument, you can't. Sometimes you lose. It happens. Deal with it."

The author definitely makes his case AND point, and those who are not threatened by universal common sense will surely agree that this is entertaining stuff. Meanwhile, I'm going to take Larry's advice, which is to "stay fit, stay fun, and kick a$$ til you die."

Michele Cozzens is the author of It's Not Your Mother's Bridge Club.