Why Steve Pavlina is WRONG!

Uh oh, I said it. Some of you may have heard about this guy, Steve Pavlina, because of his successful blogging ventures but more importantly because he is the author of a book which hit Barnes & Noble shelves a while back known as Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth. Now, do not misinterpret my respect and love for Steve – I think in many different areas the guy is an absolute genius. He has over a million readers and there is a reason he does: he provides a huge amount of value to readers all over the world who find benefit by reading his articles.

This particular blog entry, however, is about how Steve Pavlina is wrong about a number of different things.

Raw food and vegetarianism – One of the primary topics that Steve talks about in his blog is vegetarianism, which he had seemed particularly proud of when he first started writing about it, and raw food. He claims that not only has he felt better and been more healthy but that if you consume the same diet as he does you will feel better and be more healthy too! Not so, folks. And there is a few different reasons why.

• Vegetarianism and its benefits, or especially veganism, have been grossly over-exaggerated. In fact, according to some, vegetarian diets will actually harm you because you are not getting essential vitamins.
  • Raw food is also a bad idea, no matter what the raw food community is trying to tell you. Steve has also said that people from the raw food community “seem nicer” than that of other communities. He may not mean bad by saying such a thing but to me that is a bit pompous.

The problem, which Steve has hinted at, is actually in the foundations of how modern food is prepared and processed. A much more credible sort of work on the problems with modern meat processing might be the documentary Food, Inc. or a very delightful read I had the opportunity to experience during a vacation of mine: Twinkie, Deconstructed. I would also highly recommend the work on Al Sears MD.

To get a handle on what foods we should consume we should really examine the diet of our native ancestors and how the most healthy of them survived. The best hunters ate plentiful portions of meats, vegetables, fruits, and while yes – some of it was raw – they also enjoyed cooked meals over an open fire. A lot of advocates of raw food diets like to preach that raw food somehow is what we need because of nutritional value when in reality: the real culprit is food processing, sugar, preservatives, chemical additives, high fructose corn syrup and an excess of corn products, and other simple problems that have only emerged in their worst form during the past century.

Sorry, Steve, but the fact of the matter is that the majority of people who consume a raw food diet not only will not stick with it – they will not think it tastes very good either. On the other hand, if you let me have my grass fed beef with green beans and my daily multivitamin I will be very happy.

In fact, his entire attitude is pompous by his site’s motto: “Personal Development for Smart People.” Who the heck does he think he is? So if you are not smart, then apparently you will not be reading his site. To his credit, he often responds to this anecdote with a good deal of humor, wit, and charm. He has a big problem with his overall ending response, though, when he claims that anyone who “doesn’t get it” or disagrees with it is somehow not among the ‘smart people’ he is writing for. Steve, the doctoral degrees and some of the biggest experts in the field would say that a lot of what you are writing about is complete rubbish. One reason he could write a lot about things that are so sensational, of course, is that it probably generates a good buzz and brings in a substantial number of readers. Still, Steve: the doctoral degrees know a thing or two as well.

The guy’s an ex-Scientologist for crying out loud… In fact, that could be a bit of an understatement.

• If you dive deep enough into Steve Pavlina’s history, you find out he is an ex-Scientologist. Not only does he not regret the decision, he also claims that it was a beneficial time of his life. The amount of stuff that is just absolutely nutty and crazy with Scientology and the horror stories of the cult-way in which it has taken advantage of its members is enough to get me to steer clear from reading even a single word of L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics.
• The fact that Steve supports this and then goes so far as to say he actually buys into his now ex-wife’s psychic abilities says enough about his intellectual integrity to me.

Of course, the ironic part is that even while Pavlina completely ignores rational thought processes he still manages to give some extremely sound advice that people not only listen to but many actually find tremendous benefit from. I think guys like Pavlina and other big industry gurus who are pushing the Law of Attraction, however, are giving people unrealistic hopes and dreams.

If you know me personally, you know that I have absolutely no issues what so ever with the idea of thinking BIG! I do it all the time myself and I also follow my ideas with an intense drive and motivation that few other people I know have – the problem lies in how he is telling people to get there. This trend of “think about it and it will happen” type of mentality needs to end and Steve Pavlina has done little to actually help end its existence. Instead of turning to scientific thought processes people are turning to more abstract, almost pop-culture like philosophies preached by guys like Pavlina. Even in his book, he is not giving rational strategies for practical things that can aid you in the real world but is instead telling you abstract concepts that you must somehow figure out HOW to apply.

All the while he is leaving some sense of vague uncertainty in the readers’ mind but manages to present it in a way that is appealing enough that it keeps you reading entry after entry. Some time ago, I actually stopped reading Pavlina’s entries because they all grew to sort of repeat themselves about the same general concepts. He has also, as much as he has tried to avoid it, hit the problem of trying to make his website one that appeals to multiple different markets while still dropping everything he writes about under the category of “personal development.” Sometimes, the stuff he is writing about is arguably nothing to really do with personal development itself at all. Perhaps he only wants the term to be broadly defined.

On the other hand, there are a lot of people that would argue that Steve Pavlina “invented” personal development in the same sense that people liked to say that Al Gore “invented the internet.” Obviously, I disagree with even this sort of a metaphor.

A good friend of mine, Bill Perry, who I have often worked with on various different research projects, wrote a review of Steve Pavlina’s book here. Steve, if you’re reading this, I admit that I will soon purchase a copy of your book and read it the book in its entirety – it seems the stuff that you are putting out onto store shelves is a bit more valid and well constructed than certain things you have touched on in your blog. Congratulations on your success.

As for others, I highly recommend you at least read some of the best, popular articles that Steve has written. If you are just now diving into a journey of personal change I think he is a wonderful guy to start with. But for those who are serious about wanting to push past their long term sticking points and to come out on top in a way they have never done before, we need someone a bit more scientific in their approach.