# Beyond Growth > Careful, sourced criticism of the self-improvement industry. Beyond Growth publishes long-form, sourced criticism of the self-improvement industry: its claims, its products, and the figures who sell them. Every load-bearing figure is traced to a primary source — the study, the court record, the official statistic, or the person's own words — and cited at the point in the argument where it is relied on. Where an effect is real but small, the essays give the effect size and the limitations rather than only the conclusion; where the evidence is genuinely mixed, they say so. Beyond Growth is independent and takes no payment from anyone it covers. ## Articles ### Guru criticism - [Tony Robbins and the Cult of Aggressive Positivity: Does the Method Hold Up?](https://beyondgrowth.net/guru-criticism/tony-robbins-and-the-cult-of-aggressive-positivity-part-1/): Tony Robbins built a roughly $600m empire on state, belief and the firewalk. A fair, sourced look at what he actually teaches — and where the evidence for it runs thin. - [James Arthur Ray's Sweat Lodge Deaths: What Happened at Spiritual Warrior](https://beyondgrowth.net/guru-criticism/james-arthur-rays-spiritual-warrior-event-kills-2-injures-19-in-sweat-lodge-fiasco/): In October 2009, three people died at James Arthur Ray's 'Spiritual Warrior' sweat lodge near Sedona. A sober, sourced account of the ceremony, the deaths, and the negligent-homicide conviction that followed. ### Lifestyle design - [17 Steps to Instant Success as a Lifestyle Designer](https://beyondgrowth.net/lifestyle-design/17-steps-to-instant-success-as-a-lifestyle-designer/): A deadpan, satirical field guide to the lifestyle-design genre — the 4 a.m. alarm, the beach laptop, the manufactured origin story, and the course about selling courses. ### Personal development - [Meaninglessness, Nihilism, and the Landmark Forum](https://beyondgrowth.net/personal-development/meaninglessness-nihilism-and-the-landmark-forum/): The Landmark Forum walks every participant to the same scripted realisation on day three: life is empty and meaningless. What that technique actually is, and what happened when it went wrong. - [Get a Growth Mindset (Or: What the Research Actually Shows)](https://beyondgrowth.net/personal-development/get-a-growth-mindset/): Growth mindset became a billion-dollar idea in schools and workplaces. The largest studies ever run on it found an average effect so small it barely moves the needle. ### Positive thinking - [Tony Robbins and the Cult of Aggressive Positivity, Part 2: How Positive Thinking Can Make You Depressed](https://beyondgrowth.net/positive-thinking/tony-robbins-and-the-cult-of-aggressive-positivity-part-2-how-positive-thinking-can-make-you-depressed/): Repeating an affirmation left low-self-esteem participants in a worse mood than saying nothing. What the research says about the cost of being told to feel great. - [Is Manifestation Real? The Evidence Runs the Other Way](https://beyondgrowth.net/positive-thinking/is-manifestation-real/): Manifestation promises that picturing an outcome brings it closer. The experiments that measured it found vivid fantasy drains the energy to chase it. - [The 4-Minute Mile and the Myths of Positive Thinking](https://beyondgrowth.net/positive-thinking/the-4-minute-mile-and-the-myths-of-positive-thinking/): Self-help's favourite parable says belief broke the four-minute mile. The real story — decades of records and training science — says otherwise. ### Social criticism - [The Pavlok: A Shockingly Bad Idea](https://beyondgrowth.net/social-criticism/the-pavlok-a-shockingly-bad-idea/): Pavlok sells a wristband that shocks you out of bad habits, on the strength of 'proven' aversion-therapy science. Its own creator got called a con artist on live television for that exact claim. ### Technology of the self - [Does grounding (earthing) actually work? What the evidence really shows](https://beyondgrowth.net/technology-of-the-self/earthing-silliest-health-scam-ever/): Grounding claims that skin contact with the earth floods your body with healing electrons that cure inflammation and fix your sleep. Here's what the actual studies — small, unblinded and largely funded by the people selling the mats — really show. ## About - [About Beyond Growth](https://beyondgrowth.net/about/): what the site argues, who publishes it, and how it is funded. - [Methodology & Standards](https://beyondgrowth.net/methodology/): how claims are sourced, how topics are chosen, and how corrections are handled.