Dr Steve Peters, the experienced psychiatrist behind the winning Great British Olympic Cycling Team, including Victoria Pendleton and Sir Chris Hoy, explained to Year 10 pupils how their minds work, as a part of a ‘Be the Best You Can Be’ event at Burgess Hill School for Girls.
Dr Steve Peters, who has worked with the Great British Olympic Cycling Team for years, shared his successful mind management programme with the students. He explained how they could be the person they wanted to be, by using his ‘Chimp Model’, which explains how the mind works. The ‘chimp’ in people’s brains reflects their emotional side and the ‘Human’, their rational side. There are various emotions; good and bad, however Dr Peters explained how the students could learn to use the rational part of their minds to overrule unwanted emotions.
He described how impulsive behaviour can have a negative effect on many aspects of life and how, by managing the struggle that takes place within the mind between ‘the human’ and the ‘inner chimp’, people can reach their full potential and control their emotional impulses, just as Victoria Pendleton and Sir Chris Hoy did in the Velodrome.
Georgina Little, Year 10, said, “This whole experience is going to help me think more positively in the future; not just in academia, but in extra-curricular activities and everyday life.”
The event was open to 14 to 15 year old girls from various schools in and around West Sussex, including Warden Park School and Oakmeeds Community College, as well as the host school, Burgess Hill School for Girls.
Dr Steve Peters’ book ‘The Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence and Happiness’ is published by Vermillion, priced £11.99.