Shadowing Practice: 03.a Solve a Problem - Effortless Business English - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Solve a Problem I have long been of the opinion that if work were such a splendid thing,
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the rich would have kept more of it for themselves.
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Henry David Thoreau To become successful quickly,
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become an expert at solving a certain type of problem.
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Don't diversify.
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Become an expert at solving that one type of problem, and people will come to you.
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Then, if you are good and trustworthy, you will reach your financial fast track more quickly.
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Robert Kiyosaki As we discussed, simplicity is the first step to effortless success.
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The next step is to become an expert at solving a particular type of problem.
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It's very important to think in this way.
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We are trained to think in terms of having a job.
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We get up.
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We go to work for eight or more hours.
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We come home.
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To be more successful, however, we must do something different than a job.
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Most people focus on what they do at work.
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We must focus on solving a particular problem.
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For example, I have a friend who is a massage therapist.
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She wants to leave her job and create her own massage business.
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When I asked her to describe her business, she said, I give people massages.
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This is typical job thinking.
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I told her, no, you don't.
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You help people relax and you relieve their muscle pain.
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She focused on what she did.
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I taught her to focus on the problem she solved.
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So how do you decide?
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What problem should you solve?
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Make a list.
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Make a list of things you are passionate about.
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What do you love to do?
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What are you good at doing?
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List job -related activities.
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List hobbies.
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List anything you enjoy and are good at.
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Next, pick your two favorites.
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My friend, for example, is good at massage and yoga.
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So those are her two passions.
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Once you know your passions, you must identify problems related to those passions.
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Problems you can solve or can learn to solve.
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Back pain and high stress are the problems my friend chose to solve.
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You can even do this at your job.
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Instead of being a normal, boring employee, become a problem -solving expert.
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Pick a common problem at your company and become an expert at solving it.
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Don't be normal. Be remarkable.
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And don't try to do everything.
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You don't need to work 50 hours a week to be successful.
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You don't even need to work 30 hours a week.
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Success comes from being an expert problem solver.
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In other words, success comes from working smarter, not longer.
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I did this with my own teaching.
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When I started to teach English many years ago,
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I quickly realized that speaking fluency was the number one problem for students.
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Most students had studied a lot of grammar in school.
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Most could read well, but few could speak or understand quickly and easily.
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I decided to be an expert at solving this problem.
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To do this, I knew I had to focus.
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I deliberately chose not to teach writing.
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I enjoy writing.
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In fact, I'm a freelance writer and I have a degree in journalism.
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But I needed to focus and speaking was the number one problem I wanted to solve.
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So I became an expert at helping people speak English easily and fast.
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Sometimes I got in trouble at jobs because of this.
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Bosses wanted me to teach grammar, but I knew that grammar study did not help.
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so I ignored my bosses.
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My goal was not to be a good employee.
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My goal was to solve my student's problem in the best way possible.
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As a result, I often had problems with bosses, but I was very popular with students.
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I became an expert, started my own business, and became successful.
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None of this would have happened if I had played it safe and done my job like everyone else.
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Focusing on a specific problem and becoming an expert at solving it was my key to success.
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It is your key too.
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That's the attitude you must have.
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You must decide that solving a problem is more important than making your boss happy.
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You must decide that your long -term success is more important than following the rules.
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Speak English easily and fast.
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Get our complete original Effortless English lessons at www .effortlessenglishclub .com.
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The original lessons have over 40 lesson sets, each with vocabulary, audio articles,
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mini -stories, point -of -view stories, and text.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “03.a Solve a Problem - Effortless Business English”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: expert, solving, solve, focus, success. This video has 78 sentences and 747 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:26. The speaker talks at a steady 116 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| solve verb | /sɒlv/ | To find an answer or solution to a problem or question; to work out. |
| massage noun | /məˈsɑ(d)ʒ/ | The action of rubbing, kneading or hitting someone's body, to help the person relax, prepare for muscular action (as in contact sports) or to relieve aches. |
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| passion noun | /ˈpæʃən/ | A true desire sustained or prolonged. |
| grammar noun | /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ | A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general. |
| ignore verb | /ɪɡˈnɔː/ | To deliberately not listen or pay attention to. |
| audio adjective | /ˈɔ.di.oʊ/ | Focused on audible sound, as opposed to sight. |
| mini adjective | /ˈmɪn.i/ | Miniature, tiny, small. |
| muscle noun | /ˈmʌs.əl/ | A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement. |
| relax verb | /ɹɪˈlæks/ | To make something loose. |
| remarkable adjective | /ɹɪˈmɑɹ.kə.bl̩/ | Worthy of remark; notable; interesting. |
| yoga noun | /ˈjoʊ.ɡə/ | Any of several Hindu or Buddhist disciplines aimed at training the consciousness for a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquillity; especially a system… |
| journalism noun | /ˈd͡ʒɝnl̩ˌɪzəm/ | The aggregating, writing, editing, and presenting of news or news articles for widespread distribution, typically in electronic publications, broadcast news… |
| passionate adjective | /ˈpæʃənɪt/ | Fired with intense feeling. |
| deliberately adverb | /dɪˈlɪb.(ə.)ɹət.li/ | Intentionally, or after deliberation; not accidentally. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| get up verb | To move in an upward direction; to ascend or climb. |
| have over verb | To host (a visiting guest) at one's house. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I told her, no, you don't.
- What problem should you solve?
- What do you love to do?
- What are you good at doing?
- That's the attitude you must have.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 7 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: therapist /ˈθɛɹəpɪst/, trustworthy /ˈtɹʌst.wɜː.ði/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: massage /məˈsɑ(d)ʒ/, passion /ˈpæʃən/, passionate /ˈpæʃənɪt/
- Long words — get the stress right: deliberately /dɪˈlɪb.(ə.)ɹət.li/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, simplicity /sɪmˈplɪsɪti/, diversify /daɪˈvɝ.sə.faɪ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like solve, massage, lesson.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.