Shadowing Practice: How I Manage My Time - 10 Time Management Tips - Learn English Speaking with Video

All right, so over the past 10 years,

I have read basically all of the books around productivity and time management.

And in that time, there are 10 things that I still use in my life,

genuinely use to help make my time management more efficient.

Let's talk about them in this video.

Tip number one is that we absolutely own all of our time.

Now, this is like a big one.

When I first had this realization,

my life genuinely changed because I used to think I don't have time to do stuff.

And I don't know where I read it,

but I came across this like,

probably like a fortune cookie somewhere,

which said something like, at any given moment,

you are doing what you most want to be doing.

And that was a very empowering thing for me because I was obviously in need of empowerment.

And it helped me realize that my time is entirely within my control.

Like right now I'm filming this video because I want to be.

Earlier today, I spent six hours playing World of Warcraft because that's what I wanted to do.

I could not have said,

I don't have the time to work out today.

Instead, it was a case of,

I'm actively choosing not to make the time to work out today.

And so when it comes to time management,

like step one is always to recognize that we are always in control of our own time.

Yes, you might have a boss.

Yes, you might have parents telling you what to do,

but fundamentally you are in control of your own time and you can choose to do whatever you want with that time.

If you don't have the time to do something,

that something is just not a priority,

which is fine, but don't pretend like the reason you're not doing it is because you genuinely don't have the time.

Point number two is the title of this book by Derek Sivers,

Hell Yeah or No, What's Worth Doing?

Now the vibe here, Hell Yeah or No,

it kind of says it all in the title.

When we're young and we don't have very many opportunities in our lives,

we should probably say yes to the majority of things that are coming our way.

But as soon as we get to a point where we're starting to get more inbound leads than we have time available,

we start operating with a hell yeah or no maxim.

And the idea there is something is either a hell yes

or it's a no. And so if I get an email from someone saying,

hey, do you wanna do this thing?

And I'm thinking, maybe it sounds kind of all right.

Then my default position is gonna be no. If I get an email from someone saying,

hey, do you wanna do this thing? and I'm like,

hell yeah, then I'm gonna do the thing.

And I'm trying to get better at using this principle in my life because even now,

my calendar is full of a lot of things where I'm like,

huh, yeah, kind of, rather than hell yeah too.

And I always regret doing it when it comes down.

So hell yeah or no,

just like learning to be okay with saying no to stuff is another really important principle of time management.

Thirdly, there's a tip I picked up from this book called Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky.

And this tip is called the daily highlight.

This is like deviously simple.

Basically, the idea is that every day we decide this thing,

this one thing is gonna be my highlight of the day.

This is the only thing I need to get done today.

And on the days where I set a daily highlight and I try and do this every day,

I always get the thing done and I'm always really happy at the end of the day.

But if I have a day where I don't set my daily highlight,

then I kind of drown in my to-do list and I have this just image in my head of like,

oh yeah, I need to do this and this and this and that.

And it's a lot harder to get stuff done.

Whereas on days where I have the daily highlight,

I have that just one thing that I'm focusing on,

you know, this is the most urgent or the most satisfying or the most fun thing I have to do today.

And then it just really,

really helps with my time management.

Tip number four for time management is to use a to-do list.

And these days I use a physical to-do list with this analog by Ugmonk, it's very nice.

And it's like, you get these like note cards

and then you get this like wooden thing

and you like put the note card in the thing and it looks like this.

And that means like every morning once I figured out what my daily highlight is,

I make a list of the other stuff that I have to do

that day and I shove it on a list

and then I tick them off and cross them off with physical pen as I go throughout my day.

It doesn't really matter what system you use for a to-do list,

but again, there's a general principle of productivity,

which is that our brain is for having ideas, not for holding them.

And a big part of why we let stuff slip through the cracks

when it comes to managing our time and managing our productivity is because we haven't written them down.

And so anytime I need to do something,

I write it down into an app.

These days I use Roam.

But then when I figure out my daily to-do list,

it's all based on this analog system by Ugmonk, which is very nice.

And it's kind of cool having a physical to-do list in front of me

that I can cross things off of and it just feels nice.

And yeah, even at work,

when I'm working as a doctor,

I use physical to-do lists to manage my patient list,

to manage my list of tasks.

There's something incredibly satisfying about crossing something off,

which you just don't get when you use an app.

Principle number five for time management is the concept of time blocking.

Apparently, this is something that Elon Musk does all the time.

And basically the idea there is anytime we need to do something,

we put a block for it in our calendar.

100

So I don't like doing this for absolutely everything because I'm a bit of a waste man.

101

And I think the more time I spend managing my productivity system,

102

the less time I spend actually getting stuff done.

103

And then it's just all completely pointless.

104

But the one thing that I always schedule into my calendar at the start of the day is my daily highlight.

105

So if I've decided my daily highlight is filming this video,

106

usually equal,

107

I'll try my best to schedule it into my calendar at the time where I know I'm gonna film the video.

108

If my daily highlight is call my grandma,

109

I will literally scroll schedule it into my calendar.

110

If my daily highlight is make changes to my website,

111

I will schedule it at like for a block in my calendar.

112

And that's like really nice and reassuring because it means that that one thing that I've decided is really,

113

really important is always gonna get done because it's always on the schedule.

114

And then if I need to move it around,

115

I'll move it around if something comes up,

116

but at least it's there on the schedule by default.

117

And this thing where you combine the daily highlight with time blocking it in the calendar is just incredibly useful.

118

Everyone always kind of thinks that like,

119

oh, but only one thing a day,

120

don't you have to do more than that?

121

And yeah, you do kind of have to do more than that in most of our lives.

122

But imagine if every single day for the next year,

123

you could actually do the one thing,

124

the one most important thing to do that day,

125

you'd make a hell of a lot of progress over the course of the year,

126

and it would just be absolutely game-changing.

127

Principle number six is related to something called Parkinson's law,

128

which is that work expands to fill the time that we allocate to it.

129

So if I have to film a YouTube video in a day,

130

and I give myself the whole day to film that YouTube video,

131

inevitably, it's gonna take all day to film the YouTube video.

132

Whereas if I only give myself half an hour or an hour to film the YouTube video,

133

and I fill my day up with other things,

134

then inevitably I get the video done in that small amount of time.

135

And so the actionable advice here is to leverage artificial deadlines,

136

even when it's something like filming a new course.

137

Like, you know, I'm working on a course for YouTube for beginners,

138

where I kind of film and talk you to everything about my YouTube video production process.

139

And this doesn't really have a deadline,

140

like I could literally do it whenever I want.

141

I don't have to do it,

142

it's a purely optional project.

143

But I've set myself the goal that,

144

okay, you know what, I'm going to film all of this course next weekend.

145

And I've blocked out time in my calendar next weekend to film the course.

146

And that's an artificial deadline,

147

which means the course is going to get done.

148

Whereas if I just had it in my mind or in my to-do list without a deadline,

149

without a schedule, it would just inevitably never ever get done.

150

Point number seven is one I've started applying recently and that is having protected time.

151

When you are an entrepreneur and you're like working for yourself and all that kind of stuff,

152

you end up basically being able to set whatever schedule you want.

153

But like if you're like me and you're like making connections and making friends with people all around the internet,

154

you get to a point where your day is filled with lots and lots of Zoom calls.

155

And I realized that for me,

156

I need to keep my mornings completely free of any obligations or any Zoom calls.

157

And this has been an absolute game changer because in the morning,

158

that means I can wake up whenever I want.

159

Usually it's half past eight these days.

160

And it means that for a solid like four hours at least,

161

I've got uninterrupted time where I can do whatever I want.

162

So these days I'm working on writing my book.

163

And so the morning is my protected time for writing.

164

But even on days where I'm not working on the book,

165

it's just genuinely so nice to have

166

that like time slot where I can think about the business

167

or plan some more videos or do the things that help move me forward in my work career.

168

And sometimes if I'm not really feeling it,

169

I'll just decide, you know what,

170

I'm gonna use this protected time to play World of Warcraft

171

or to just kind of relax and read a book on the sofa.

172

So if you're interested in better ways to managing your time,

173

I would recommend figuring out what your protected time is gonna be,

174

time that is just for you and you alone,

175

or World of Warcraft, and not for anyone else where no one is allowed to book something in your schedule.

176

All right, principle number eight is delegation.

177

Now this one is a little bit weird because normally when you say the word delegate,

178

people imagine that, oh, well,

179

I can't afford to delegate something.

180

I don't have enough money to delegate to hire someone.

181

And sure, that's probably true,

182

but the way that I think of it,

183

even when this YouTube channel wasn't successful,

184

was that like, what is actually the dollar value of my time?

185

How much is my time actually worth?

186

And when it came to running my business,

187

I decided that, okay, my time is worth 20 pounds an hour or $25 an hour.

188

And that means that anything I'm doing that I don't enjoy,

189

that I can outsource to someone,

190

that I can delegate for less than $25 an hour,

191

I absolutely should do that.

192

And that principle of delegation has encouraged me to get a cleaner,

193

which has been great, because now we have someone who comes in to clean the house every other week,

194

which means I don't have to do it myself.

195

And back in the day when I was building my businesses from the ground up

196

and there was lots of things that needed to be done,

197

like data entry or things like that,

198

I was able to delegate those to freelancers in like the Philippines or in Bangladesh or in India through upwork.com or fiverr.com.

199

And like paying them like $7 an hour is an amazing like wage for someone for work in the Philippines.

200

But it was fantastic for me because it freed up my time to do things

201

that were adding more value to the business and to my life than doing data entry, for example.

202

And so whatever your circumstances are,

203

I'd encourage you to think about what is the dollar value of your time and potentially,

204

if you want, can you delegate stuff that's cheaper than that to other people potentially.

205

Tip number nine for time management is to try and automate scheduling as much as possible.

206

Now that we're in the world of like Zoom calls and like chatting to people over the internet basically every day,

207

I found I was wasting a lot of time in scheduling back and forth where I'd be like,

208

hey, I want to talk to you,

209

but like, are you free this time,

210

Pacific time, this time Eastern time,

211

this time British standard time,

212

all this kind of stuff.

213

And And we'd go back and forth with emails for like a solid 10 days before anything would get done.

214

But then I discovered an app called Calendly and Calendly is great.

215

It's free for like the free version.

216

I pay for the pro version these days,

217

not sponsoring this video or anything like that.

218

Unfortunately, Calendly, if you're watching this, let me know.

219

But the idea behind Calendly is you can literally send someone a link

220

and it has like all of your availability and they can just book a slot in your calendar.

221

Now this feels a little bit weird to do initially.

222

It feels like a bit of a power move that,

223

hey, book a slot on my calendar.

224

But anytime I get a Calendly link from someone,

225

I'm like, oh my God,

226

I'm so grateful because this has literally saved me 20 minutes of my life,

227

time that I'm never gonna get back in not having to worry about scheduling back and forth emails.

228

Even sometimes these days, when it comes to like catching up with friends,

229

I just send them a calendar link and I'm like,

230

look, so hey man, I'm really sorry,

231

but like, you know, here's a calendar link.

232

I know we're never gonna talk because the schedules are never gonna align,

233

but if there's a time that works for you,

234

click on this link and he books a time and we have a call.

235

And it's nice, because I've caught up with

236

so many more friends in the last few months through using

237

calendar links than I did in the last like three years of having to schedule back and forth with WhatsApp messages.

238

And finally, principle number 10 for time management.

239

And this is something I've only recently started to appreciate,

240

which is that like, when you're like a productivity nerd and you're interested in like efficiency and getting more done,

241

it's very easy for us to get to the end of the day

242

and to just feel chronically dissatisfied with what we've accomplished.

243

Like at the end of the day,

244

it's like, oh, well, I filmed one video today,

245

but I could have filmed five videos.

246

What's wrong with me?

247

I'm such a waste man and kind of internally beating ourselves up about this.

248

But one thing I've started to kind of tell myself recently is

249

that I can choose to be satisfied at the end of the day.

250

At the end of this day,

251

I'll have filmed this video.

252

I was planning to film three more videos,

253

but I didn't get around to doing those.

254

That's fine, I filmed one.

255

I can choose to be satisfied with what I've done,

256

and that's all good.

257

And it doesn't change how much work I've done by me beating myself up about it.

258

It just makes me feel bad.

259

And therefore, I can choose to feel good with how I've managed my time.

260

If you're interested in more strategies on how to manage your time,

261

I actually have three whole online courses themed around productivity and time management that are hosted on Skillshare.

262

No, they're not sponsoring this video,

263

but if you hit the link in the video description,

264

there'll be a link that gives you a free trial to Skillshare where you can check out my three classes on productivity.

265

One of them is about the fundamentals of productivity.

266

One of them is about the productivity equation,

267

which is my personal mental model for productivity.

268

And the third one is one that I released very recently,

269

like last week, around productivity for creators and how we manage our time,

270

doing this like creative high side hustle entrepreneur type stuff.

271

So check that out with the links in the video description.

272

And if you want more tips for time management and general productivity,

273

you should check out my book review and summary of the book,

274

Make Time, which is one of my favorite productivity books of all time and that will be linked right over there.

275

So thank you so much for watching.

276

Have a great day, and I'll see you in the next video.

277

Bye-bye.

📺 Mismo canal

Focus on one thing per quarter to succeed faster - click link in bio for my new app :)

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

8 Simple Hacks to Improve Your Health

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

If you’re ambitious but lazy, watch this

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

I Asked 5 Business Owners How They Got Their First Client

Business EnglishInterview EnglishWorking Adults

If you’re ambitious but inconsistent, please watch this

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

What I Actually Do When I’m Not Making YouTube Videos

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

If I Was a Student Again, I'd Do This

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

My Top 3 Journaling Prompts

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

How to Not Waste Your Life (Stop Getting Distracted)

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

i am begging you to try harry potter fan fiction

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

How to Find a Career You Genuinely Love

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

My INSANELY Productive Morning Routine

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

How I Ranked 1st at Cambridge University - My Secret

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

The Cost of Getting Rich

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

✨ Recomendar Video

306 oraciones

Life is Short: Here’s How to Make Time for Everything

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

37 oraciones

How to Find Fulfilling Work

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

119 oraciones

Leadership Is What You Do When No One Is Watching | Robin Sharma

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

183 oraciones

This Book Changed How I Read

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

Organize Your life - Motivational speech

508

12 oraciones

Organize Your life - Motivational speech

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

455 oraciones

Watch this if you feel like you’re behind in life

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

168 oraciones

HOW TO MAKE TIME FOR EVERYTHING (seriously): anti-procrastination routine, time management

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

244 oraciones

How to Manage Multiple Interests

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

236 oraciones

How I Consistently Study with a Full Time Job: My Scheduling Formula

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

240 oraciones

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐓𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐭, 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

305 oraciones

The Secret to Finding Perfect Timing | Daniel Pink

Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Esta lección de conversación de nivel C1 se basa en el vídeo “How I Manage My Time - 10 Time Management Tips”. Este vídeo tiene 277 frases y 3081 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 11:46. El 85 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Las 15 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
delegate sustantivo	/ˈdɛlɪɡət/	delegado, delegada
satisfy verbo	/ˈsætɪsfaɪ/	satisfacer
inevitably adverbio	/ɪˈnɛvɪtəbli/	inevitablemente, indefectiblemente
slot sustantivo	/slɑt/	ranura, hendidura
analog adjetivo	/ˈænəlɔɡ/	analógico
delegation sustantivo	/dɛlɪˈɡeɪʃən/	delegación
entrepreneur sustantivo	/ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ/	emprendedor, emprendedor comercial
sponsor sustantivo	/ˈspɒn.səː/	patrocinador, patrocinadora
actionable adjetivo	/ˈæk.ʃə.nə.bəl/	accionable
allocate verbo	/ˈæl.ə.keɪt/	asignar, adjudicar
automate verbo	/ˈɔ.təˌmeɪt/	automatizar
chronically adverbio		crónicamente
dissatisfied adjetivo	/dɪsˈsætɪsˌfaɪd/	descontento, malcontento
freelancer sustantivo	/ˈfɹiˌlæn.səɹ/	freelancer, free-lancer
outsource verbo	/ˈaʊtˌsɔːs/	externalizar, tercerizar

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
figure out verbo		averiguar, captar
check out verbo		investigar, chequear
come across verbo		pasarse a
come up verbo		salir a relucir
end up verbo		terminar, ir a parar
wake up verbo	/ˌweɪk ˈʌp/	despertarse, recordar

Frases que vale la pena repetir

Frases cortas y completas del vídeo que puedes reutilizar en la conversación diaria:

Let's talk about them in this video.
I don't have the time to work out today.
I can't afford to delegate something.
How much is my time actually worth?
What's wrong with me?

Gramática en este vídeo

Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:

Estructura	En el vídeo
Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora	have read · haven't written · I've decided
Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace	is called · is related · is filled
Oraciones de relativo who / which + oración — información extra sobre una persona o cosa	Ugmonk, which is · someone who comes · Time, which is

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

El hablante usa 97 contracciones y formas reducidas, como I'm, don't, I've. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.

Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: delegation /dɛlɪˈɡeɪʃən/, actionable /ˈæk.ʃə.nə.bəl/, reassure /ˌɹi.əˈʃʊɹ/, realization /ˌɹɪə.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/, shave /ˈʃeɪ̯v/
Palabras largas — cuida el acento: inevitably /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbli/, delegation /dɛlɪˈɡeɪʃən/, entrepreneur /ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ/, actionable /ˈæk.ʃə.nə.bəl/, dissatisfied /dɪsˈsætɪsˌfaɪd/

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
Haz shadowing frase por frase a velocidad normal, repitiendo cada una hasta que tu ritmo coincida con el del hablante.
Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como delegate, satisfy, inevitably.

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?

Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.

Técnica de shadowing: lee la guía completa paso a paso →

Shadowing Practice: How I Manage My Time - 10 Time Management Tips - Learn English Speaking with Video

My Typical Tuesday

Day in the Life as a Doctor

How I Manage My Time - The Trident Calendar System

How to change your life by journaling in 2026

Study Tips - How to learn new content

If I Wanted to Make My First $100K in 12 months, I’d Do This

Focus on one thing per quarter to succeed faster - click link in bio for my new app :)

8 Simple Hacks to Improve Your Health

If you’re ambitious but lazy, watch this

I Asked 5 Business Owners How They Got Their First Client

If you’re ambitious but inconsistent, please watch this

What I Actually Do When I’m Not Making YouTube Videos

If I Was a Student Again, I'd Do This

My Top 3 Journaling Prompts

How to Not Waste Your Life (Stop Getting Distracted)

i am begging you to try harry potter fan fiction

How to Find a Career You Genuinely Love

My INSANELY Productive Morning Routine

How I Ranked 1st at Cambridge University - My Secret

The Cost of Getting Rich

Life is Short: Here’s How to Make Time for Everything

How to Find Fulfilling Work

Leadership Is What You Do When No One Is Watching | Robin Sharma

This Book Changed How I Read

Organize Your life - Motivational speech

Watch this if you feel like you’re behind in life

HOW TO MAKE TIME FOR EVERYTHING (seriously): anti-procrastination routine, time management

How to Manage Multiple Interests

How I Consistently Study with a Full Time Job: My Scheduling Formula

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐓𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐭, 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬

The Secret to Finding Perfect Timing | Daniel Pink

Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Frases que vale la pena repetir

Gramática en este vídeo

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?