Shadowing-Übung: One Journaling Method to Replace Doomscrolling - Englisch Sprechen Lernen mit Video

I want to start this video by saying something super important.

Today, I'm not going to try to convince you to start a journaling habit.

Because if you've never journaled before, chances are adding another thing on your to-do list is going to make you feel super overwhelmed.

The idea of sitting down every morning with a notebook and writing three pages might feel like a lot.

I get it.

And your brain is already exhausted from all the doom scrolling and all the work things you need to do.

So here's what I'm actually going to show you today.

One method that you can use starting today, even if you've never journaled a single day in your life.

This method will help you get off your phone, not by using willpower, but by understanding why you pick up your phone in the first place.

Because once you understand that, journaling starts to feel very simple.

Before we get into it, I want to invite you guys to join my free weekly newsletter called Aligned.

I send an emails every single week where I share all the different lessons I'm learning.

It's completely free and the link to join is in the description.

Alright, so let's start and talk about the first reason why we doomscroll

because my full journaling method is built around the science behind understanding this bad habit.

We often assume that we doomscroll because we're lazy, because there's something inherently bad about us,

that we lack self-control, there's something wrong with us, and there's nothing we can do.

But here's what's actually happening.

Reason one, there is no friction.

Picking up your phone often requires absolutely zero effort because it's right here.

It's literally next to you all the time.

There's no decision to make.

There's no energy required.

And your brain loves this.

It loves the fact that it's easy, that it's fun, that you're going to be entertained, and that there's no friction.

Reason two, you're trying to regulate an emotion.

Most of the time when you're picking up your phone,

you're doing that because you're experiencing some kind of feeling that makes you feel uncomfortable and you want it to stop.

And so the easiest way to do that is by picking up your phone and doom scrolling.

Maybe there's a task you're avoiding.

You don't want to do something because it feels like too big and too challenging and really overwhelming.

So you grab your phone instead.

A hard conversation you don't want to have.

A feeling you don't want to sit with.

And there's something that I always talk about.

Procrastination is not a time management problem.

It doesn't mean that you have to, you know, look at your calendar, and analyze your time and be even more strict with how you spend your time.

It is an emotion regulation problem.

You're not scrolling instead of doing something, instead of working on your goals or working on your project.

You're not doing it because you're bad at managing your time.

You're scrolling because scrolling helps you escape the discomfort of doing something,

the discomfort of working on a specific project, that is comfort of working on achieving your goals and understanding that,

that it's not a time management problem, it's an emotion regulation problem,

it's a completely different conversation and it requires a different method if you want to get into journaling.

And reason three, you can't sit with boredom.

Right now, so many of us feel uncomfortable when it's quiet, when there's no stimulation, when there's nothing to do.

The second there's nothing to do, we pick up our phones and scroll because we constantly want to be entertained, we want to be stimulated.

We lost this ability to exist in a moment that doesn't have any content in it.

And so anytime there's a small little gap, like waiting for a coffee, sitting in the car, the five minutes in bed before you fall asleep,

we fill it with something immediately.

Something that doesn't have a lot of friction and usually something that's always with you and that is your phone.

So if you want to stop doom scrolling, you can't just remove your phone.

I mean, obviously you can try, but we also have to address all the three things, all the three main reasons why we doom scroll.

The fact that there is no friction, the fact that you're trying to regulate an emotion, and the fact that you can't sit with boredom.

And my journaling method is going to address all three things.

And actually speaking of friction, I want to show you something that's been in my hands this whole video.

This video is sponsored by Paperlike and here's why I think it's super relevant.

We just said that one of the biggest reasons we reach for our phones is because there is zero friction.

It's right there, it's easy, it feels good to use.

And if you want journaling to compete with that, the whole process of journaling has to feel good as well.

That matters so much.

I journal on my iPad and for a long time the thing

that I didn't like was that writing on glass often feels slippery.

Your Apple Pencil just glides around in a way that doesn't feel satisfying.

It doesn't feel like writing.

It feels like dragging something across a screen.

Paperlike fixes that.

It's a screen protector for your iPad and what makes a difference is the Nano Dot Surface.

A microtexture that gives your Apple Pencil just enough resistance so it feels like you're using a pen on paper.

This sounds like a small thing but it changes so much about how you feel when you sit down to write.

They also redesigned how you apply it, which if you've ever tried to put a screen protector on and ended up with bubbles everywhere,

you will appreciate this.

The new butterfly application system comes with a helper tool, an interactive guide

that walks you through the whole thing right on your ipad screen it seals the surface

so dust doesn't get in during application keeps everything aligned

and you end up with a clean install on the first

try it comes as a pack of two screen protectors

so you always have a spare and there is a 100 day money back guarantee

so that you can actually try it

and decide the link to check out paper like is going to be in the description below all right

so now let's move on

and talk about why discipline doesn't always work here i want to quickly explain the habit loop

because it helps us understand doom scrolling through the science of habit formation

because doom scrolling is a habit too

when we talk about habits we can't only talk about all the good amazing habits we're trying to build

and track We also have to address all the bad habits.

So many of us have bad habits too, and that is completely okay.

And a lot of the times when we talk about achieving our goals and dreams, the conversation is often about subtracting,

reducing the number of bad habits we have in our daily lives.

All right, so every habit, good or bad, runs on a three-part cycle.

Something that triggers the behavior.

Then there is a routine, the behavior itself.

And then there is a reward, the thing your brain gets out of it.

Cue, routine, reward.

That's the habit loop.

And again, this habit loop is true for every single habit.

Good habits and bad habits.

So for doom scrolling, the loop looks like this.

The cue is often some kind of psychological discomfort.

100

You feel bored or let's say you're working on a task

101

that just feels super challenging or you're trying to fall asleep

102

but falling asleep without being on your phone feels uncomfortable and unfamiliar.

103

So that's the Q, the psychological discomfort.

104

Then the routine is obviously you picking up your phone and doom scrolling.

105

And the reward you get out of this is a psychological relief.

106

The cue was the psychological discomfort and the reward is you feel some form of relief,

107

a tiny hit of dopamine that makes all the uncomfortable feelings go away, at least for a few minutes.

108

Alright, and now here's the important part.

109

You can't just remove the routine.

110

I remove the routine and what do I have?

111

I still have all of my cues and my brain is still craving the reward.

112

So I have to substitute the routine with something else.

113

And that something else is going to be my journaling method.

114

Because the cue still fires, the craving will still show up, your brain is still looking for a reward.

115

And without something to replace the routine with, we give up.

116

It is absolutely natural.

117

And what actually works is keeping the same cue and the same reward, but swapping the habit with something else.

118

Now, I gotta be honest and say that oftentimes, if we decide to swap the habit,

119

the reward is not gonna feel as good because it's not gonna give you cheap dopamine hits.

120

Doomscrolling is a super normal stimulus and journaling,

121

let's be honest, it doesn't feel as satisfying because it doesn't give you cheap dopamine hits.

122

It's completely normal.

123

But long term, it works so much better than doom scrolling.

124

And I'm not saying this to discourage you and click off this video.

125

I'm saying it to be honest.

126

There are things in our life that are called super normal stimuli.

127

This concept in behavioral science comes from animal research.

128

Scientists discovered that if you show a bird an artificially giant version of its egg,

129

the bird is going to abandon its real egg and choose the artificial giant version instead.

130

Because an exaggerated version of something triggers a stronger response than the real thing ever could.

131

And social media is a supernormal stimulus for your brain.

132

It's not just naturally interesting.

133

It's been engineered to be more powerful than any kind of social connection ever could.

134

And your brain was never designed for that level of stimulation, but obviously it adapted.

135

Your baseline has now shifted, and so now we're craving more and more dopamine hits just to feel normal.

136

So when you put your phone down and pick up your journal, you start writing something, what you're thinking about,

137

what you're feeling, that will feel super boring in comparison with doom scrolling.

138

But here's what I want you to think about.

139

Journaling obviously isn't worse than scrolling, it's actually better for you.

140

But it feels that way because your dopamine system has been artificially recalibrated.

141

And what you do when you choose journaling instead of scrolling is slowly bringing it back to normal.

142

The discomfort you feel in those first sessions when you're trying something new isn't a sign that,

143

you know, you can't do it, it's not for you.

144

It's a sign that your brain is recalibrating, that something is changing.

145

You're getting used to a more sustainable way to get your dopamine, a way that is going to get you closer to your goals,

146

a way that is going to help you understand yourself better.

147

Because this is what journaling is for me.

148

Alright, so now let's talk about the method.

149

We can call it your dopamine journal.

150

The reason why I like to call it this way is

151

because the journaling prompts are hopefully gonna help you get the dopamine

152

while you're answering all of these questions because you're gonna be daydreaming, thinking about something nice.

153

So hopefully it's gonna make you feel so much better after you answer all of these questions

154

compared to when you choose to doom scroll for hours and hours.

155

At least I can tell you guys that it works amazingly for me.

156

It really helps me understand myself better

157

and it helps me stay focused on my life instead of just watching everyone else on social media.

158

So the way it works is every time you feel that cue, you feel the urge to scroll, you're gonna replace that with journaling.

159

You can, you know, use your notebook or

160

if you're journaling on your iPad or you can even record a voice note

161

if you want to talk instead of writing everything.

162

The cue is the same, right?

163

You're feeling boredom, maybe some kind of discomfort, but we're changing the routine.

164

Instead of scrolling, we try to understand our behavior a bit better and hopefully we get the same reward.

165

So question number one is, what am I feeling right now and what am I trying to avoid?

166

This is a great question to understand what you're feeling in the moment.

167

Are you feeling bored?

168

Are you feeling some kind of like discomfort?

169

Maybe you're hot, maybe you're tired, maybe you're hungry because there's actual research behind it.

170

It's called effect labeling.

171

A psychologist, Matthew Lieberman, showed that when you put a name to an emotion, it literally reduces its intensity in your brain.

172

If you say, I'm bored, if you write it down, if you journal about it, it's immediately going to make you feel so much better.

173

It's immediately gonna make you feel less bored.

174

I spent the last week answering this prompt every single day when I feel that urge to scroll.

175

And what I've been noticing the most is that I tend to zoom scroll when I feel tired mentally.

176

Like after working for many, many hours, I just feel like my body is numb

177

because I've been sitting in front of my computer for many hours my mind is tired like I feel wired

178

and tired and everything at the same time and

179

so obviously the easiest thing to do in

180

that moment is to doom scroll

181

but in reality what actually makes me feel better is

182

when I go

183

and exercise that's why I normally prefer to exercise after I finish my work in the evening

184

because it actually gives me that energy back

185

and obviously not working myself to a point where I just feel numb

186

and I can't function and I can't think about anything.

187

So question number two that you can ask yourself is this.

188

What's one thing I'm genuinely looking forward to today?

189

This question targets anticipation and it matters so much because dopamine doesn't spike when you get the reward.

190

It doesn't spike when my phone is in my hand and I'm doom scrolling and having a great time.

191

It spikes right before it.

192

When I'm reaching for my phone and I'm thinking about how great I'm going to feel while doomscrolling.

193

That's why writing about something good coming up is gonna make you feel so much better.

194

I'm getting goosebumps just saying it because this morning I actually paid for my participation,

195

my bib, to run a half marathon later this year.

196

And when I journal about that that just makes me so excited.

197

It makes me so excited thinking about my training plan, how many times per week I'm going to run,

198

and just the whole experience of running a half marathon.

199

Your brain lights up the same way it does when you're scrolling and looking for something exciting,

200

like the next hit, except you're actually generating it from within, from the inside, instead of outsourcing everything to an algorithm.

201

Question number three.

202

What's one thing I did today that I haven't celebrated yet?

203

This targets your progress because oftentimes we're not even noticing all the great things we're doing every single day,

204

like little wins that our days are full of.

205

For example, this morning I had a Spanish class and I really love my teacher.

206

I love learning Spanish.

207

and when I think about it, when I think about the fact that I'm moving towards my goal of being able to speak Spanish fluently,

208

it just makes me so happy and so satisfied.

209

Question number four.

210

What's something I've been curious about lately that I haven't explored yet?

211

This targets novelty and curiosity, which is exactly what your brain is looking for when you're reaching for your phone.

212

You want something interesting because you feel bored, you feel tired.

213

So you want something to entertain you, something to make you laugh.

214

This journaling prompt gives you exactly all the curiosity and novelty you were looking for.

215

But again, you're getting all of this from yourself, from your brain, from your own thoughts and experiences instead of outsourcing everything to an algorithm.

216

And honestly, once you start journaling in this fun way,

217

using prompts, you realize that your own thoughts are so much more interesting than you gave them credit for.

218

So for me, something I've been curious about recently is an interview I saw on YouTube

219

and I just saved it to my watch later playlist.

220

So I feel like I should actually dedicate some time to listen to this interview

221

because I'm very curious and instead of saving it and forgetting it, I should just actually go and do it and watch this interview.

222

And question five.

223

If this week went really well, what happened?

224

This prompt targets visualization.

225

Visualizing what we want our life to be is so powerful.

226

It helps you think about your values, about your direction in life,

227

and whether the actions you take on a daily basis are aligned with the visualizations you've created for yourself.

228

So for me, if this week went really well, I finished planning my half marathon training, I went to my dance class,

229

and I made a delicious pasta recipe I've been craving lately.

230

So now I want to talk about why I believe that this method works even for people who have never journaled before.

231

If you don't have this habit yet, but you feel like you really want to get into journaling, I think it will work amazingly for you and here's why.

232

I'm not asking you to build a completely new habit from scratch.

233

What I'm asking you is to replace an existing habit, doom scrolling.

234

You feel something and instead of choosing your phone and social media and scrolling,

235

you replace it with something that is going to make you feel more aligned with who you are,

236

something that is going to make you feel fulfilled something

237

that is going to help you understand yourself better the trigger is already there you feel the urge to scroll

238

so many times a day and instead of going

239

and doing it you do something else

240

and honestly you don't have to go through all of the journaling prompts obviously

241

if you have time and if you want to you can

242

but you can just pick one let's say i don't know i I feel really tired, I feel bored, and I don't really want to do like a long journaling session,

243

or I don't even want to write.

244

All I want to do is talk to AI about what I'm feeling in this moment.

245

That's okay too.

246

You can still use all of these journaling prompts.

247

And because I've shared actual prompts with you, they're gonna help you not experience this state

248

when you're just staring at a blank page and you don't know what to write.

249

It's like when you want to start working out.

250

If you've never worked out before and you don't know what to do, it's really nice to follow a specific plan.

251

Maybe have an instructor who can explain everything to you.

252

So it's the same thing with journaling.

253

It's great when you already have a habit and you can just sit down and write three pages of your free-flowing thoughts.

254

But if you feel like it's a little bit hard for you, like that initial friction is hard, we can always make it easier with prompts.

255

That's absolutely okay.

256

And to be honest, sometimes when you just, you know, sit down to journal every single day and you're just writing everything that's on your mind,

257

at some point it starts to feel boring and you want to spice things up.

258

You want to add joy back into the habit of journaling.

259

And so it's nice to use prompts.

260

And so over time something really interesting happens.

261

you start to associate that urge to scroll with actually getting to know yourself more.

262

You stop yourself in the moment and say, okay, I feel bored right now, or I feel tired, or the project I'm working on is really hard, so I want to procrastinate,

263

and I'm choosing to use my phone instead.

264

Why?

265

Maybe there's something else I could do instead.

266

Maybe I need to drink some water.

267

Maybe I need to go drink a cup of coffee

268

or maybe eat my favorite snack so that the habits I actually have in my life feel sustainable.

269

They feel good.

270

They feel like something that makes me happy, that makes me feel fulfilled.

271

The craving doesn't go away, but it starts to point at something different.

272

And that is exactly how we change our habits.

273

Not through discipline and relying on our willpower, but through repetition and replacement.

274

Alright, so now let's bring this all together and finalize today's video.

275

You doom scroll for three reasons.

276

No friction, emotional regulation, and boredom that you don't know how to sit with.

277

And willpower cannot fix any of these things long term.

278

Yes, you can rely on it for a day or two, but then you just feel like you're going against yourself.

279

It doesn't feel good anymore.

280

And I really hope

281

that all the journaling prompts I shared in today's video are going to help you address all three reasons.

282

Because all of these prompts work with your existing habit loop instead of trying to fight it.

283

I really want you to understand that to be able to do that, you don't need to be a journaling person.

284

You don't need to do this every single morning.

285

You don't need to do this every single day.

286

You just need to do it the next time you feel that urge to pick up your phone.

287

And instead of doing that, because you know that you're tired of it, you want to change something, you choose to understand yourself better.

288

That's the whole entry point.

289

In this video, I've been talking a lot about your dopamine.

290

So if you want to go deeper on this topic, I highly recommend watching this video next where I talk about how to build your dopamine menu.

291

Thank you so much for watching.

292

I really hope you liked today's video and I'll see you in my next one.

293

Bye!

📺 Gleicher Kanal

✨ Empfohlenes Video

63 Sätze

advice from a girl who quit scrolling (and got her life back)

University StudentsBusiness English+1

90 Sätze

How to Journal (Like a Philosopher)

University StudentsBusiness English+2

24 Sätze

How Cell Phones Impact Our Relationships

University StudentsBusiness English+2

84 Sätze

Give Me 6 Minutes. I’ll Change The Way You Use Notebooks.

University StudentsBusiness English+1

103 Sätze

6 Tiny Habits That Train Your Brain to Feel Happier Every Day

University StudentsBusiness English+2

336 Sätze

How to Break Bad Habits | Everyday English Conversation | Intermediate | Daily English

University StudentsBusiness English+2

19 Sätze

How to (Mostly) Never Run Out of Things To Say

University StudentsBusiness English+2

126 Sätze

how to reset when you have no motivation (from a type a/b person)

University StudentsBusiness English+2

298 Sätze

Forget Your Reading Journal, Do This Instead

University StudentsBusiness English+1

138 Sätze

my anti-brainrot everyday carry 2026

University StudentsBusiness English+2

347 Sätze

How to actually get smarter (again)

University StudentsBusiness English+2

Was ist die Shadowing-Technik?

Shadowing ist eine wissenschaftlich fundierte Sprachlerntechnik, die ursprünglich für die professionelle Dolmetscherausbildung entwickelt und durch den Polyglotten Dr. Alexander Arguelles populär gemacht wurde. Die Methode ist einfach aber wirkungsvoll: Du hörst englisches Audio von Muttersprachlern und wiederholst es sofort laut — wie ein Schatten, der dem Sprecher mit nur 1–2 Sekunden Verzögerung folgt. Anders als passives Hören oder Grammatikübungen zwingt Shadowing dein Gehirn und deine Mundmuskulatur, gleichzeitig echte Sprachmuster zu verarbeiten und zu reproduzieren. Studien zeigen, dass es Aussprachegenauigkeit, Intonation, Rhythmus, verbundene Sprache, Hörverständnis und Sprechflüssigkeit signifikant verbessert — was es zu einer der effektivsten Methoden für die IELTS Speaking-Vorbereitung und reale englische Kommunikation macht.

Shadowing-Technik: die vollständige Schritt-für-Schritt-Anleitung lesen →

Shadowing-Übung: One Journaling Method to Replace Doomscrolling - Englisch Sprechen Lernen mit Video

5 Non-Negotiable Systems That Protect My Energy From Chaos

5 Unfair Advantages You Can Build This Year

How I Plan My Week Strategically (My Full Planning System)

15 Slow Dopamine Habits That Lowered My Baseline Stimulation

How to Create a Life You Love (one week at a time)

Things I Quit in My 20s to Heal My Overstimulated Brain

How to Become Addicted to Being OFF Your Phone

Why You Dream Big but Never Start (and how to fix that)

7 Dopamine Habits That Saved Me From Brain Rot

Scrolling Is Ruining Your Ability to Think (here’s what I do instead)

4 Principles to Upgrade Your Life With Neuroplasticity

My Top 7 Healthy Habits I Started and Quit in 2026

How to Get Smarter in One Summer (a step-by-step guide)

advice from a girl who quit scrolling (and got her life back)

How to Journal (Like a Philosopher)

How Cell Phones Impact Our Relationships

Give Me 6 Minutes. I’ll Change The Way You Use Notebooks.

6 Tiny Habits That Train Your Brain to Feel Happier Every Day

How to Break Bad Habits | Everyday English Conversation | Intermediate | Daily English

How to (Mostly) Never Run Out of Things To Say

how to reset when you have no motivation (from a type a/b person)

Forget Your Reading Journal, Do This Instead

my anti-brainrot everyday carry 2026

How to actually get smarter (again)

Das Szenario: Wenn Doomscrolling unsere Gewohnheiten bestimmt

Nützliche Chunks & Collocations zum Merken

Deine Shadowing-Herausforderung: Sprich mit der Video-Stimme mit!

Was ist die Shadowing-Technik?