THE CHIMP PARADOX
BY STEVE PETERS
The Mind Management Program to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence, and Happiness
Contents
What’s it about?
How the mind works
The chimp brain works with feelings; the human brain works with facts
Differentiating between the two brains and managing the chimp brain
The chimp brain’s drives cannot be changed, they can only be managed
Manage the chimp using exercise, boxes, and bananas
Utilize your computer brain to manage the chimp brain
Understand how the chimp brain interprets situations to manage it better
The chimp brain and the human brain see success differently
Planning is not enough; you must follow through
Set goals, not dreams; then do your best
Final summary
Now read the book
What’s it about?
The aim of The Chimp Paradox is to reveal to readers exactly how their mind works and thereby offer a new model for self-development. People are often burdened by internal questions, such as how do they become the person that they would like to be. How do they become happy? Why do they feel judged? Or how do they control their anger? If you have such questions in your mind, this book might be just what you are looking for.
The book introduces us to the Chimp model for mind management. This model states that our thinking process is a mixture of thoughts from three different parts of our brain—the frontal brain, the limbic brain, and the parietal brain (the human brain, chimp brain, and computer brain, respectively).
The chimp brain is emotional and irrational and usually the first one to send out thoughts. The human brain is rational and calculating, but is often overridden by the hasty chimp brain. The computer brain cannot analyze at all. It is just a repository of memories and pre-learned actions.
In order to achieve success in life, you must train yourself to start listening to your human brain and not the chimp brain. The book lays down a number of techniques and tips to teach you to train the chimp brain and gradually shift your thinking to the human brain.
How the mind works
The chimp model for mind management is built around three parts of the brain called the frontal or “human brain,” the limbic or “chimp brain,” and the parietal or “computer brain.” These correspond to actual areas of the human brain, albeit a very simplified version.