Exercising the Chimp
Let the emotion out fully and out loud, decide whether it can be addressed, then make a plan — in that order.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 90%
Peters' standard three-step routine for handling an emotional hit. Step one is to exercise the Chimp: express the emotion, out loud, without editing. This is not just catharsis — the mechanism is that we tend to speak from the Chimp but we listen with the Human, so hearing your own words is what brings perspective and reality to the table. Step two is to work out whether the situation can actually be addressed. Step three is to make a plan to move forward, grounded in reality. Peters also allows a fourth register: sometimes the Chimp does not need challenging, it needs TLC and reassurance — but with a boundary, because unlimited TLC tips into self-pity.
Origin
Peters developed it on himself. Living in the Peak District, he had an hour's drive to British Cycling, and would tell his Chimp on the way in that he did not want its opinion or interference, but that it could talk on the way home — with a specific point entering the Peaks where he would let it out.
Core principles
- 01We talk from the Chimp, but we listen with the Human — so speaking out loud is how perspective enters.
- 02Expression can be emotional or entirely unemotional; it just has to be said.
- 03Not every Chimp outburst needs challenging; some need reassurance.
- 04TLC has a stopping point, because past it you are in self-pity.
- 05The Chimp gets bored of its own voice once it has genuinely finished.
How to run it
- 1
Exercise the Chimp — let it out, out loud
Express the emotion or the feeling in words. It does not have to be high emotion — it can simply be 'I think what just happened was unreasonable' or 'this person has damaged me'. Peters does this in business team meetings: he tells people to talk from their Chimp and let them talk and talk.
Pro tip Do it out loud rather than in your head. Peters told Bartlett it works precisely because the listening is done by the Human.
Watch out Peters notes he would not do it out loud with people around.
- 2
Notice how little of it you still believe once you have heard it
After people have got it off their chest in a meeting, Peters asks how much of it they actually believe — and the answer is often nothing, it is rubbish. That is the processing happening: the more you talk out loud, the more you process from the Human and bring perspective and reality in, which the Chimp cannot do.
Pro tip This is also why talking to a friend helps — it is the listening, not just the venting.
- 3
Work out whether it can be addressed
Separate what is inside your control from what is not. Peters uses reputational damage as the test case: your reputation sits in other people's hands, you often cannot respond, and the more you try to defend it the worse it gets — so you have to suck it up.
Watch out Trying to correct something outside your control actively makes it worse.
- 4
Make a plan to move forward, anchored in reality
Bring facts to the situation. Peters' reality check is that nobody is immune to attack — he says if an angel from heaven fell to Earth it would be attacked. If you cannot please everyone and something terrible has happened, the plan is to go to your friends, your partner, your family: the people who know who you really are and who forgive you when you have made a mistake.
Pro tip Peters calls the close group the troop — when you genuinely cannot change something, falling back on them for support is the plan, not a failure of the plan.
- 5
Choose the register — challenge, humour, or TLC — and time-box it
Peters knows his own Chimp responds to sarcasm, so he asks it whether it wants to be upset for a minute, an hour, or the rest of their lives, which makes him laugh and disarms it. Laughter is the one thing he says reliably defaults the brain into Human mode, because the Chimp's job is alerting you to danger and genuine laughter leaves it with no job. But when he is not feeling resilient he does the opposite — he tells his Chimp it has good reason to be upset.
Pro tip Learn which register your own Chimp actually responds to; Peters says he does not know why sarcasm works on his.
Watch out You have to learn when to stop the TLC, because past a point it tips into self-pity.
In the wild
Driving the hour from the Peak District to British Cycling, Peters would tell his Chimp before arriving that he did not want its opinion and did not want it to interfere, but that he would let it talk on the way home. On the return journey, at a particular point entering the Peaks, he would say 'okay, your time' and let it complain about how unreasonable people had been.
→ He says his brain almost went into Computer Mode on the way in — 'not the right time yet' — and that on the way back the Chimp would get bored of its own voice, finish, and be fine. He acknowledges people may think he is nuts, and that it will not work for everyone.
Peters sits in team meetings and invites people to talk from their Chimp, letting them talk at length without interruption. Then he asks how much of what they said they actually believe.
→ The answer is frequently that they believe none of it and that it was rubbish — because in saying it out loud they processed it with the Human system and perspective arrived.
Common mistakes
Suppressing the Chimp instead of exercising it
The Chimp's approach to a problem is to remove it rather than solve it — ignore it, displace it, pretend it did not happen. Peters says that is not ideal because it tends to come back and bite us.
Telling yourself to get over it when the Chimp needs TLC
Peters says be reasonable with your Chimp — do not down it and say 'come on, get over it' when what it actually needs is reassurance. There are many circumstances where TLC is the appropriate response.
Defending your reputation
Reputation sits in other people's hands. Peters observes that the more you try to defend it the worse it gets, so the honest plan is to accept you cannot change it and fall back on the people who know you.
Is it for you?
Best for
People who either bottle emotion until it erupts, or who ruminate internally without ever putting the thought into words where it can be heard and tested.
Not ideal for
Situations that genuinely require immediate action rather than processing, and anyone who would use the expression stage as licence to offload on others.
From the transcript
“we exercise the chimp we let it out let it out express emotion or express feelings or express it in words”
“the more we talk out loud the more we process from our human and bring perspective in which the chimp can't do”
“if you can laugh at yourself or a circumstance ... we know that's the only time the brain seems to default into human mode”
“you have to learn when to go enough because it tips to self-pity”
From the episode
The Mindset Doctor: The Secret Man Behind The World's Top Performers: Steve Peters
The Mindset Doctor