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You may be wondering why this is called “Shut the Duck Up!” A fellow Life Coach friend of mine at one time worked with a famous sportsman, who once spectacularly lost his temper and attacked a spectator during a match.
In their session, my colleague tried to work with the athlete, to help him understand his actions. It wasn’t happening; the sportsman looked confused by talk of inner voices and dialogue. But, suddenly, it clicked:
“Ah… you mean the duck in my head?”
The man genuinely believed he had a duck living in his head, “quacking” away at him all the time and telling him what to do. And that’s, unfortunately, true to many people’s inner voice. It’s not a supportive, kind stream of consciousness; it’s often harsh and can even give you bad advice, as with our sportsman.
The question is, “do you have a duck in your head?” Do you have an unhelpful inner voice?
As a life coach I am fascinated by our beliefs, thoughts and emotions and how they can profoundly affect what we say to ourselves, the questions we ask ourselves, and therefore, the attitude we have toward any situation in our lives. The perceptions we form in our inner world determines what actions we take (or fail to take) in our outer world.
So, if we desire a different result in any area of our lives, we need a different dialogue in our head. We also need to ask a different question. So here’s a question for you:
What three things do you believe are costing you greatly in multiple areas of
your life?
The beliefs that direct our lives are either conscious or unconscious. Some are true, and some are false; some make us feel good, some serve us and others hurt us.
Sometimes the question is not whether a belief is true or false, (as often that’s far too subjective to answer with absolute objectivity), but rather, is this belief useful? Does this belief make my life better in any way? Or, is it causing me pain, frustration and limiting my quality of life, work and relationships? Clearly, if the consequences of a belief reflect the latter, we would be better served with one that is more aligned with whom we want to be.
The only guaranteed constant in our lives is that change is constant in our lives.
This axiom grows truer every day. How we respond and adapt to change, as well as our ability to create change, may well be the key to, (or lock on), our quality of life.
It’s our attitude to change that contributes to much of the struggle and frustration many people have with it; whether that be changing their body or any aspect of their lives that they deeply desire.
By shutting your duck up, you’ll eliminate much of what has frustrated your efforts to make changes in your life so far.
Pete Cohen
Pete Cohen is one of the worlds leading Life Coaches, Motivational speakers and Health and Fitness Professionals. Pete is highly qualified in many different areas of psychology, personal development. He has an incredible understanding of people and the limitations they have which prevent them from living more productive and happy lives. His fun motivational techniques and strategies are used in a way to help people control their own well-being and realise their full potential.
Pete is the author of 18 best-selling books.
For more info on Pete and his life coaching visit