The Chimp Paradox: The Acclaimed Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence and Happiness

by Steve Peters

Expressing emotion means saying exactly what you think, no matter how irrational it may be and doing this for as long as it takes. Remember that the Chimp is irrational, so just let it express its feelings and then when it has finished let the Human select the sensible things that have been said and ignore the nonsense.

Using facts, truth and logic we can continue to calm the Chimp down and reason with it. This reasoning by the Human is called ‘Boxing the Chimp

Here is an example of a distraction banana. Imagine you are finding it hard to get out of bed in the morning. The moment you wake up, your Chimp immediately starts the dialogue: ‘I can’t get up, it’s warm in here, I’m still tired, my body is heavy, just five more minutes…’ The problem in this circumstance is that you are allowing your Chimp to think and this is not helping. In order to distract it you can

override it by saying: ‘We don’t think before we are on our feet.’ So when the alarm goes off, immediately say firmly to the Chimp: ‘We don’t think, we just get up on the count of five… five, four, three, two, one and feet on the floor.’ If you prepare yourself the night before and go straight into this programme with a rapid countdown, you will be on your feet before the Chimp has the chance to discuss things with you. For this to work you must prevent the Chimp from thinking. So the distraction is by counting and moving at the same time.

on five you would immediately (without thinking) draw back the sheets, on four you would sit up on the edge of the bed (without allowing any thoughts), on three you would stand up, on two you would walk to the bathroom and on one you would congratulat...

Establish your troop Redefine your troop. Think carefully about who is really in your troop and make sure that the Human has chosen these people. List the members of your troop. Importantly, recognise who is not in your troop and whom it is unwise to rely on or open up to. Clarify the roles of the members of your troop Think about what each person in the troop is offering you and what you are offering him or her. Try to recognise when you are asking a troop member to fulfil a role that is not suitable and find someone appropriate to meet your needs. Writing out your needs first is a good starting point. Invest in the troop Once you know who the members of your troop are, prioritise your time to engage with them. Look after your troop, as neglected people often leave. Ask yourself what you have recently done for each member.