Professor Steve Peters: Chimps, Champs and taming imposter syndrome

We sat down for a conversation with psychiatrist and author of The Chimp Paradox, Professor Steve Peters. With over 20 years of experience in psychiatry, he has shared his knowledge through the books he's authored which explore the nature of the mind and help readers become healthier, happier, and more successful. His most recent book, A Path through the Jungle, further explores self-development and explains complex neuroscience in a digestible way. We speak to Professor Steve Peters about how to retrain your mind, why imposter syndrome can be a good thing, dealing with chronic stress, and why working from home isn't necessarily healthy for us.

Here's what we discussed:

• You recently published your new book A Path Through the Jungle – in the first phase of the book your mention that all of us are composed of three teams or systems – human, chimp or computer. For those of us that aren’t familiar with this – can you tell us why this is and how they can manifest themselves? (004:45)
• How could business leaders improve by reading your book? (03:47)
• As humans – can we essentially re-wire or re-train our minds and how long does this take? (05:20)
• If people had a difficult upbringing and it affects the person they are today, can they re-wire their brains to change their behaviour? (07:46)
• Can you tell us what you think resilience means in life and in a high-stress business setting? How does somebody know they are resilient? (08:54)
• You’ve touched on the chimp and how it can hijack somebody’s thoughts, but can the chimp ever be positive? (11:53)
• Many of our listeners are successful entrepreneurs and some tell us they suffer from imposter syndrome. Why does the brain do this? And do you have insight into how leaders can work with this better? (13:16)
• How can business leaders focus on work best when they have experienced a significant life event not linked to work? (20:42)
• When thinking about the athletes and high performers that you've dealt with, are there any particular common traits that you think contribute to their success? (28:10)
• How can people better cope with stress in their lives and work? (30:09)
• You mention in the book that many people might be experiencing chronic stress and feel that what they are experiencing is a normal state. How can they unwind this/ prevent it and what should they look out for? (36:15)
• What does your typical day look like Steve? (39:06)
• Have you worked with political figures? (40:50)
• Do you feel like there's still a stigma around struggling with mental health? (41:30)
• What was your reaction to the announcement of the first lockdown in March 2020? (43:22)
• Do you believe home working is good for you long-term? (45:16)

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