Everyone Is Difficult
The Psychology of Bad Behaviour and the Art of Not Making It WorseBy Peter Vennor
Length6h 46m
About this audiobook
Everyone is difficult.
A colleague turns a simple question into a courtroom drama. A partner insists nothing is wrong while making it clear that everything is wrong. A manager asks for initiative, then supervises every breath.
The obvious conclusion is that other people are the problem. The uncomfortable truth is that, under the right pressure, so are you.
With sharp humour and psychologically informed insight, Peter Vennor explores the hidden forces behind defensiveness, control, avoidance, status battles, and conversations that worsen with every attempt to fix them.
Learn to recognise what difficult behaviour is protecting, reduce conflict without surrendering your position, choose better words, set firmer boundaries, and notice when the difficult person might be you.
A practical guide to becoming easier to live with without becoming easier to push around.
Audiobook details
GenreSelf-Help, Psychology
Length6 hrs 46 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateJun 26, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Opening Credits
15Chapter 11: Safety, When Disagreement Feels Dangerous
2Prologue: The Last Reasonable Person in the Room
16Chapter 12: Capacity, The Human Being with No Remaining Tabs
3Part I: How Humans Become Hard Work
17Part III: The Art of Not Making It Worse
4Chapter 1: Everyone Else Has a Personality. You Have Reasons.
18Chapter 13: Read the Pressure, Not the Performance
5Chapter 2: The Five Moves of a Difficult Moment
19Chapter 14: Lower the Threat Without Surrendering the Point
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter 3: Threats That Do Not Look Like Threats
20Chapter 15: Say Something the Other Person Can Answer
7Chapter 4: Bad Behaviour Has a Context
21Chapter 16: Repair Is a Verb
8Part II: What People Are Protecting
22Part IV: When Understanding Is Not Enough
9Chapter 5: Control, The Manager of Everything
23Chapter 17: Difficult Is Not the Same as Harmful
10Chapter 6: Certainty, The Emergency of Not Knowing
24Chapter 18: The Difficult Person in the Mirror
11Chapter 7: Status, The Conversation That Became a Competition
25Conclusion: Easier to Live With, Harder to Push Around
12Chapter 8: Dignity, The Impossibility of Being Wrong
26Using the Four Tools
13Chapter 9: Belonging, The Politics of Being Included
27Note on Sources
14Chapter 10: Fairness, The Person Keeping Score
Forever Inside UsBruno Sennett8h 21m$2.99
The Dating App DelusionTheo Veyran8h 8m$2.99
The End of the Fixed PriceNero Quist8h 32m$2.99
The Race for What No One OwnsTobias Veylen7h 8m$2.99
The No-Exit ProblemAdrian Rell7h 29m$2.99
The Half-Energy MethodLeonard Oppe10h 40m$2.99
Press Zero for NobodyTalin Brinck6h 10m$2.99
The Bet Never SleepsConrad Ames5h 6m$2.99
The AI MirrorVera Lumen5h 9m$2.99
Forever BoyKate Swenson9h 27m$29 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m$29 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m$7 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m5 (1)$29 · $0.00
Spiritual AnatomyDaaji Kamlesh D. Patel9h 47m$29 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m$20 · $0.00
Birdie & HarlowTaylor Wolfe7h 50m$26 · $0.00
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the HorseCharlie Mackesy58m$11 · $0.00
Ghetto BastardK’wan7h 37m$20
Legally YoursManasi Chaudhari8h 52m$29 · $0.00
CrossroadsKaleb Dahlgren7h 56m$26 · $0.00
Life on the BridgeKaelynn Partlow5h 40m$24 · $0.00
From Questioning to KnowingLisa Barnett5h 34m$17
Keep Your Love OnDanny Silk9h 4m$10 · $0.00
Parents And ChildrenCharlotte M. Mason13h 8m$2.30
The Tao of Joy Every DayDerek Lin10h 24m$20 · $0.00
UndividedVicky Beeching9h 2m$29 · $0.00
Level UpRob Dial7h 42m$26 · $0.00
Burn the HaystackJennie Young, PhD9h 30m$29 · $0.00
Good InsideBecky Kennedy9h 55m$29 · $0.00
Hour of the HeartIrvin D. Yalom, Benjamin Yalom8h 19m$26 · $0.00
The Thomas Sowell ReaderThomas Sowell14h 51m$25
So You Want to Talk about RaceIjeoma Oluo7h 41m$17
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m$29 · $0.00
Level UpRob Dial7h 42m$26 · $0.00
As a JewSarah Hurwitz8h 36m$26 · $0.00
The North American Indian (Illustrated Edition)Edward S. Curtis, Frederick Webb Hodge6h$2 · $0.00
Burn the HaystackJennie Young, PhD9h 30m$29 · $0.00
Good InsideBecky Kennedy9h 55m$29 · $0.00
Du Bois: EssaysW.E.B. Du Bois6h 23m$1 · $0.00
Valley of the BirdtailAndrew Stobo Sniderman, Douglas Sanderson10h 1m$29 · $0.00
Lies My Therapist Told MeGreg E. Gifford9h 3m$29 · $0.00
Nobody Knows My NameJames Baldwin5h 49m$17
Start Here Start NowLiz Kleinrock4h 20m$20
The Collected Works of Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud112h 54m$2 · $0.00
Man's Search for MeaningViktor E. Frankl5h 44m$20
Abolition. Feminism. Now.Angela Y. Davis, Erica Meiners, Beth Richie, Gina Dent5h 4m$15
Becoming AbolitionistsDerecka Purnell14h 24m$23
Consent Laid BareChanel Contos7h 11m$24 · $0.00
The Collected WorksW. E. B. Du Bois34h 37m$2 · $0.00
You may also like
The Power of Your Subconscious MindJoseph Murphy8h 20m$8 · $0.00
Move TowardJenna Riemersma, LPC2h 39m$15
Stop Being Toxic And End Trauma BondingVincent McDaniel5h 15m$2.99 · $0.00
Childbirth preparation with hypnosis - for HIMDr. Nidal Moughrabi37m$10
Mommy BurnoutSheryl Gonzalez Ziegler8h 49m$29 · $0.00
The Mind and the BrainJeffrey M. Schwartz, Sharon Begley14h 28m$33 · $0.00
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from VenusJohn Gray1h 32m$16 · $0.00
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, Expanded EditionSteve Harvey6h 5m$24 · $0.00
AwkwardTy Tashiro6h 57m$24 · $0.00
Critical ThinkingHarrison Walton1h 41m Only with Ultra
How to Be HeardJulian Treasure12h 28m$20
Inside OutCharlie Unwin8h 10m$20
Once Upon a StrangerDr. Gillian Sandstrom8h 31m$26 · $0.00
Guide For Understanding Autistic Children Emotional And Behavioral Understanding Guide For Children With AutismIzanilda Pereira Da Silva Psychologist38m$9 · $0.00
Dr. Montessori's Own HandbookMaria Montessori3h 33m$2 · $0.00
Tintenklecks Dreams: AUDIOBOOKMichael Draksal20m$6 · $0.00
All Night Sleep SoundscapeSoulful Sleep Soundscapes1h 53m$8 · $0.00
Plays Well with OthersEric Barker6h 55m$24 · $0.00
The Jane Austen DietJane Austen, Bryan Kozlowski6h 27m$20 · $0.00
Having relaxed visits at the dentist's through hypnosisBauer Michael45m$35 · $0.00