What's Wrong with Damn Near Everything!: How the Collapse of Core Values Is Destroying Us and How to Fix It

By Larry Winget

The Pitbull of Personal Development® Takes on Damn Near Everything!

Larry Winget does not mince words, and in this latest addition to his straight-talking brand, one of the most iconic leaders of the personal development industry puts down in black and white, What's Wrong with Damn Near Everything!

If you think the world is a mess, you already have a lot in common with Larry. The genius and power of his simple approach to turning around the parts of your life that need it has transformed people and businesses all over the world. Now, in this wildly entertaining and informative diagnosis and prescription, he narrows down the singular virus sickening the four most influential aspects in our lives: the people around us, our education system, business, and government. The illness rotting them all out can be blamed on people ignoring their core values.

That's personal, and Larry goes there and then some, and that's why countless people have been converted into followers by watching him on television as he regularly appears on varied news programs and by buying enough of his books to put him on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. His shocking opinions and belly-laughing honesty all come unfiltered. If he offends you—good! You're engaged and really thinking about what's important to you. This single resource enables you to:

• Take real action to improve what's wrong with your business, family, and life.
• Get advice you can understand from a non-stop powerhouse coach.

What's Wrong with Damn Near Everything! tells you all the simple truths to troubleshooting everyday problems in life and business.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Jun 20, 2017
• ISBN: 9781119417071

Larry Winget

Larry Winget is a professional motivational speaker, bestselling author, television personality and social commentator.

Book preview

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

This Is Another Larry Winget Book

Preface

Chapter One: The Collapse of Core Values

What Are Core Values?

Finding Your Core Values

Why Have People Stopped Being Bothered?

Want to Know Why This Stuff Bothers You? It's Simple

Get Ready for Life to Be Much Easier for You!

A Test for Knowing Whether Something Is a Core Value

You Can Always Spot Someone's Core Values

Chapter Two: What's Wrong with People

From Today's News

People Cater to the Lowest Common Denominator

Let's Keep Digging into This

People Have Lowered Their Standards

People Are Self-Absorbed

People Either Can't, Don't, or Won't Manage Their Money

Why Most People Believe They Don't Have Money

Become Committed to Your Commitments

People Are Either Too Gullible or Too Skeptical

People Use Bad Grammar and Can't Spell

People Let Their Emotions Rule Their Lives

People Follow Their Dreams Instead of Going to Work

Starting Your Own Business Is Not a Dream, It's a Nightmare

Why Do Most Businesses Fail? Lack of Preparation

People Are Entitled

Entitlement Is the Enemy of Self-Reliance

The Government Is Feeding Entitlement Mentality

People Are Full of Excuses and Blame

People Are Dishonest and Lack Integrity

We Have Become Way Too Tolerant of Dishonesty

People Are Mean

Business Has Become Mean

People Are Lazy

People Are Disrespectful and Uncivil

Respect and Racism, Sexism, Ageism, Wealthism, and Homophobia

Respect Is Not Just about Respecting People

People Are Offended By Damn Near Everything!

Luckily Some People Are Speaking Up Against This Stupidity

People Allow Technology to Rule Their Lives

Chapter Three: What's Wrong with Business

Why Do Businesses Exist?

The Biggest Challenge Facing Business

Employees Must Constantly Add Value

Fiduciary Responsibility

Chapter Four: What's Wrong with Education

Parental Involvement

Failure Is an Option

Beyond School Systems

Chapter Five: What's Wrong with Our Government

Welcome to Helicopter America

Dear Government: Mind Your Own Business!

We Have Too Many Laws

Politics and Politicians

Chapter Six: The Big Question: Are We Able to Turn All This Around?

In Your Business

In Your Family

In Your Own Life

Are You Willing to Live By These Core Values?

You Can't Change the World

About the Author

End User License Agreement

What's Wrong With Damn Near Everything!

How the Collapse of Core Values is Destroying Us and How to Fix It

Larry Winget

Wiley Logo

Cover Design: Michael J. Freeland

Cover Image: Courtesy of Randall Bohl

Copyright © 2017 by Larry Winget. All rights reserved.

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

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom.

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Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Names: Winget, Larry, author.

Title: What’s wrong with damn near everything! : how the collapse of core

values is destroying us and how to fix it / Larry Winget.

Description: Hoboken : Wiley, 2017. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2017010800 (print) | LCCN 2017033664 (ebook) |

ISBN 9781119417040 (ePDF) | ISBN 9781119417071 (epub) |

ISBN 9781119417026 (hardback)

Subjects: LCSH: Social values. | BISAC: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS /

Motivational. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Careers / General.

Classification: LCC HM681 (ebook) | LCC HM681 .W56 2017 (print) |

DDC 303.3/72–dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017010800

This Is Another Larry Winget Book

If you are a fan of my work or have read any of my six best-selling books, listened to or watched my speeches or online videos, or follow me on social media, then much of what I say in this book is not going to be new to you. When it comes to some of this stuff, I am a broken record. That's one of the reasons I am called The Pitbull of Personal Development®; I grab on and don't let go—just like a pitbull.

That's because what I talk about and write about comes from my core values, my experience, and my research. These things don't change much from week to week or even year to year. They don't even change too much over a lifetime—some, but not much—and that is why all of it shows up in all that I do and say and write. So, if you are a fan, you are going to see some familiar ideas. But you are going to see a lot of new stuff here, too. Grittier stuff. More I can't believe he said that stuff. At least I hope so. I didn't hold back on any of it.

On the other hand, if you are completely new to my work, you are going to find out pretty quickly that I have very strong opinions, I don't mince words, and I say exactly what I believe without apology. And you will disagree with me a lot. To that I say, good. If you disagree, then you are engaged. There is nothing better than becoming engaged by new and different ideas. Embrace it. Enjoy it. Even when you hate what I've said and end up hating me because I've said it, that's okay because you will have more clarity about what you believe by reading what I believe.

By the way, if you are one of those hypersensitive, smiley-face types who gets offended by blunt, straight talk that steps on your fragile little toes, you are in for a really rough ride.

Okay…giddy-up!

Preface

The first time I announced the title of this book to a group of people, there were a few who said, Why do you have to be so negative? Why can't you write a book called, What's right with darn near everything"? I laughed. That wouldn't be my style at all. Most importantly, it's not what's right that is our problem; it's what's wrong that we aren't doing a damn thing about that is our problem. In this book, I'm not going to spend much time on what's right, instead I'm going to spend my time talking about what's wrong, why it's wrong, and what we can do about it.

Face it: things are a mess. I bet you will find it hard to argue with that statement. Our government is a mess: it's too big, it costs too much, and for the most part, it's ineffective. You can top that off with the fact that people have completely lost confidence in it and the politicians who run it. Recent polling says that 68 percent of people believe we are headed in the wrong direction.

It's not just government; businesses are a mess, too. Many have forgotten that businesses exist to fill a need, solve a problem, serve their customers well, and be profitable while doing it. A strong work ethic in employees has become a thing of the past. Too many leaders confuse leadership with popularity.

Families are no exception, either. Too many parents are indulgent, overprotective, and don't communicate or teach morals, ethics, or values. They are raising narcissistic brats who have no respect for others or for themselves. And while the economy is a mess in our country, it's simply a reflection of the disastrous way we handle our own money as individuals and in our families. People spend money they don't have buying things they don't need to impress people they don't like.

Individuals blame instead of taking responsibility. They rationalize their behavior. They are personally offended by almost everything even when it has nothing to do with them. They demand things, believing they are entitled to them instead of earning them. We even have a huge segment of society that has moved back in with their parents instead of sucking it up and figuring out how to make it on their own. They put more thought and more money into their grande half-caf Mochachino Frappuccino Crapacino than they do their savings accounts. They distract themselves with social media instead of working. I could go on and on and on, and every one of you reading this could add 50 more statements that would be true about what a mess people have become.

Education might be the area where it is the worst. College campuses are now full of safe zones where grown men and women can run and hide to protect themselves from the hurtful words of others. And yes, 18 years old is grown. We have 18-year-old men and women dying while defending our country so I consider 18-year-olds grown. Colleges have become bastions of uber-liberal ideas that charge exorbitant amounts of money to nurture oversensitivity instead of challenging thinking and encouraging growth.

Some of us wake up every day and read or watch the news and barely recognize the world we live in. And some of us never read anything and only watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians or The Bachelor or other drivel and are totally clueless about the world we live in.

Is all of what I've said here a series of broad, sweeping generalizations? Of course! But that doesn't make the statements any less true. They don't apply to everyone but they apply to more than enough. I recognize there are exceptions to each of these points. Not all leaders, families, businesses, schools, or government officials are a mess. But those are the exception and not the rule. I hope you are one of the exceptions to every one of the statements I've made. However, whether you are the exception to these statements or whether you are the epitome of one of these statements, you are going to have to admit that I'm right: things are a mess!

To be very, very clear: I am not saying that nothing is going right. I am not ignoring or discounting all of the good in the world. I see it. I acknowledge it. I applaud it. But that is not what this book is about. This book is not about what is going right. This book is about what is going wrong and what we must do to fix it. I am a firm believer that it is impossible to fix a problem unless you recognize and identify your issue as a problem, then go to work to fix it.

And we are already making some efforts to fix these things. But I believe that for the most part, we are going about fixing things backward. We are working at fixing things from the outside in. That rarely works and it is typically a temporary fix at best. You almost always create long-term change when you fix things from the inside out. But that requires more time and energy and sweat than most people are willing to invest.

We are building walls around our country to keep the bad guys out. And while I think that is a fine idea, we have bad guys we have created right here that are doing us just as much harm simply because parents are teachers and society didn't take the time to do the

Reviews for What's Wrong with Damn Near Everything!

[foof2you · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Larry Winget is definitely opinionated, no doubt about that! This book is his opinion with what is wrong. He pulls no punches and some may flinch at his blunt and unapologetic honesty. In many ways it a book of common sense put bluntly. The sad fact is that many who should read this book will probably come nowhere near it.