1. The conditions of being human: learn to love your caveman brain
- Alexis Booth
- Apr 14
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 23
In Episode 1, Kori Linn - a career + life coach I’ve had the pleasure of working with for over 3
years - joins me to kick off Season 1 of the Breakout Booth podcast!
We share powerful insights on several human responses we inherited from our caveman ancestors, which often hold us back in our modern day lives.
In this post, I highlight 3 topics we discuss - but there’s plenty more for you to listen in to! I hope you’ll check it out! Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Inline player below ⬇️
👉 Stress Response: Your Body's Ancient Survival Mechanism
Have you ever felt like you “froze” in a high-pressure situation, or wanted to run away from it altogether? You are not alone - in fact, the human body is naturally wired with four primary responses when a stressful situation occurs.
Fight: Becoming aggressive or confrontational
Flight: Running away or avoiding the situation
Freeze: Playing dead or becoming unresponsive
Fawn: Appealing to others to avoid conflict
While these responses were crucial for the survival of our caveman ancestors, they often don’t serve us in modern-day life. But by knowing about them, you can more effectively navigate stressful situations and make active choices about what to do next - rather than letting your body take over.
🎯 Practical Tips: The next time you notice yourself experiencing a stress response, try to:
Take a pause, or step away from the situation while you are in an agitated state
Accelerate completing the stress response cycle through activities like exercise, meditation, finding social connection, finding a creative outlet, and getting a good rest.
👉 Negativity Bias: Why the Bad Sticks More Than the Good
Our brains are like "Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones" - I love Kori’s visual from our conversation!
Humans are hard-wired to pay attention to negative information - it’s an evolutionary adaptation that kept our cavemen ancestors alive. But nowadays, negativity bias means we tend to dwell on negative feedback or experiences, even when our lives are filled with positive ones.
🎯 Practical Tip: Actively pay attention to your progress and wins - and celebrate them!
Alexis and Kori discuss creating a positive group habit, with a “Celebrations, Wins and Delights” channel. Consider starting your own - with your friends in a group text thread - or with colleagues in a Slack channel!
If you’d rather “do it alone” - unleash your inner child and make a star chart or a pom pom jar, visually recognizing all the progress and wins you achieve every day!
I recommend recognizing even the smallest steps you make - there are so many things we overlook every day that are worth celebrating.
👉 The Arrival Fallacy: The Myth of "Once I Reach My Goal, I'll Be Happy"
Many of us imagine that when we finally achieve a specific goal - especially one that takes a long time to achieve - we’ll feel a lasting sense of satisfaction.
Unfortunately, science has found that while we may experience joy when we reach the goal, it tends to be short-lived and we quickly adapt to our new circumstances. The lingering feeling of dissatisfaction often leads us to find new goals to chase, and an ongoing cycle of feeling like we’re not enough.
🎯 Practical Tips: Look for ways to enjoy your journey, don’t just fantasize about your future.
Learn to enjoy your imperfect life now, while you are working toward your goals. There are likely many things to celebrate and practice gratitude for in your present moment.
Give yourself permission to change your mind about goals you set previously. If you realize it’s no longer what you want, or it’s not worth the effort, it’s OK to pivot and focus your attention on the things that will bring you satisfaction. In fact, I’d encourage it!
👉 In this Episode
My amazing coach Kori Linn joined me to add her expert insights
We explore stress responses and the 4 F's, and how they impact our daily lives
We discuss the negativity bias and how to counteract it
We touch on the arrival fallacy and the importance of present moment awareness
And if you find Kori’s advice as useful as I do, be sure to subscribe to her newsletter!
💥 Break Out!
