About Guide to Self & The Evolved Caveman
Guide to Self was founded in 2004 by Dr. John Schinnerer to help people reach their potential using practical, science-backed tools drawn from neuroscience, advanced psychology, positive psychology, and proven Eastern practices like mindfulness and lovingkindness.
In 2019, Dr. John launched The Evolved Caveman Podcast (on all major podcast platforms) — to support men in retiring the Man Box: the outdated rulebook that turns emotions into problems and relationships into puzzles. The upgrade? Emotional ease, real confidence, better success—and a home life you actually want to come back to. Guide to Self is also home base for Dr. John’s executive and high-performance coaching in California’s San Ramon Valley. Dr. John recently started a second podcast with his beautiful and talented wife, Joree Rose, LMFT, for couples seeking to improve the quality and happiness of their relationship - Love Isn’t Enough.
Dr. John Helps Men:
Across both sites, the mission is simple: combine neuroscience + positive psychology + spirituality to help people overcome their biggest internal hurdles and live with more purpose, clarity, and emotional strength. Our programs are built on research and best practices from world-class psychologists, researchers, and neuroscientists.
We believe people who rise to their potential share a few core commitments: they live by their values, they train their minds and hearts, and they hold themselves to higher standards—consistently. That’s the bar we hold for our work, too.
About Dr. John Schinnerer, PhD
Dr. John Schinnerer provides science-supported executive coaching and organizational consulting designed to help people perform at their best—personally and professionally. Trained at UC Berkeley with a PhD in educational psychology, he has distilled decades of research into practical methods for reducing anxiety, managing anger, strengthening relationships, and building a happier, more purposeful life.
Dr. John served as one of three expert consultants to Pixar on the Academy Award–winning film Inside Out. He is a nationally recognized speaker and award-winning author who has shared stages and conversations with leaders and experts across psychology, performance, and well-being. He has consulted with organizations including UPS, Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health, and others, and has been featured in national media such as SELF, U.S. News & World Report, and Reader’s Digest. He was also featured in the documentary Skewed (Paola Bossola), which explored anger in media and culture.
Dr. John has hosted 200+ prime-time radio shows in the San Francisco Bay Area on positive psychology and self-improvement, hosted over 270 podcast episodes on The Evolved Caveman, authored numerous articles, and written multiple books. His first book, Guide to Self: The Beginner’s Guide to Managing Emotion and Thought, was named Best Self-Help Book of 2007 and later revised and retitled How Can I Be Happy?
His expertise spans anger management, high-performance executive coaching, emotional intelligence, stress resilience, positive psychology, and the psychology of sustained change. In 2008, he created the Anger Leadership Course (and revised it in 2026) which has helped over 25,000 people reduce anger and regain control.
Dr. John’s vision is straightforward: make the world better one person at a time—helping people become less angry, more fulfilled, and more capable of living and loving well.
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