Meet Dr. Dan Lathen

Neuroscientist, Lifelong Learner, Coach
A little about me

Credentials

  • Neuroscience Ph.D., University of Utah
  • Neuroscience B.S.; Statistics minor
  • 10 total yrs. Neuroscience education
  • 5 yrs. researching addiction
  • 4+ yrs. brain coaching, including as a Superhuman Academy Certified Learning & Memory Coach
  • Co-author of The Superhuman Playbook
  • ~3 yrs. various other coaching, mentoring, and teaching roles, including on-the-ground addiction recovery work at Odyssey House

Other passions

  • Personal development
  • Psychology
  • Foreign languages
  • Bike mechanics
  • Breakdancing
  • Learning to beatbox
  • Quality time with family

Want to see how I can help you?

My story

Why I Committed to this Company Instead of a Career in Science

Change is hard. Especially change in yourself. How many goals have you not hit? How many weaknesses persist no matter how hard you try to improve them? How many bad habits just won’t go away? How many good habits fizzle out? 

I’ve been there. It can be such a slow, frustrating process. 

I used to hate anything related to “self-help.” It all seemed like woo-woo, feel-good nonsense that wouldn’t actually do any good.

However, after 10+ years of studying and researching neuroscience and all the amazing ways that our brains can change, I gradually realized a crucial fact: personal development wasn’t the problem. 

In fact, personal development can and should be an effective and joyful process that makes life easier, happier, and more fulfilling. And the more people do it, the more the whole world improves, too.

It took me over a decade of learning, growing, and healing to understand this. Now, self-improvement is my biggest passion.

What was the problem, then?

About Cortex Evolution

Why We're "Self-improving, Together"

Our History

Cortex Evolution, LLC began in late 2019 when I became one of the first Certified Learning and Memory Coaches through Superhuman Academy. Since then, I’ve helped 60+ coaching clients build better brains, habits, and lives. Our complementary self-improvement community, the Strive Hive, launched in Jan. 2021 as the “Reformers.” (That name captured the attitude of someone wanting to improve themselves and the world, but it turned out to have too many pre-existing historical and religious connotations.) Our amazing community has fostered positive, improvement-focused connections for dozens and dozens of members.

The Problems We Solve

Even for psychologists, positive behavior change is hard. Slow progression, no progression, and regression often lead to deep pain and frustration, as you’ve probably experienced. People consistently fail to change their behavior for the better, especially when they try to do it all alone or when they follow bloated self-help advice not founded on sound scientific research showing what actually works.

Our Mission

My mission is to make personal development more enjoyable, systematic, and effective in order to cultivate greater personal and societal growth, success, and happiness. I strive to positively impact the world by changing individuals through neuroscience-based coaching and behavioral change programs and through a community where people passionate about self-improvement learn from an expert and from each other how to better learn, think, and act. As our slogan states, we’re “self-improving, together!”

Have questions about me or about our programs?

Contact me and let's have a conversation!

Contact Me