Shadowing Practice: 15 Questions Every Adult Should Answer - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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You know, every couple of years, we stop and ask ourselves a few uncomfortable questions.
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Think of it as a reality check.
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Some of them are about money, some are about relationships, some are about the future you're building without realizing it.
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None of them have perfect answers, but that's not really the point.
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The point is that every adult should be able to answer them.
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So today, we're passing those questions on to you.
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Welcome to ALUX.
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Number 15.
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What would happen if your income stopped tomorrow?
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Imagine waking up tomorrow and discovering that your income is gone.
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Maybe the company downsized, maybe your industry changed, maybe a health issue forced you to step away from work.
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The question is simple.
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What happens next?
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For millions of people, that answer is frightening.
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Bills continue to arrive, rent is still due, the car payment doesn't care about the circumstances.
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Financial stress begins immediately because the entire system depends on money continuing to flow in.
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This is why financial security is not measured by income, but by resilience.
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Emergency funds, multiple income streams, valuable skills, investments, and strong professional relationships all serve the same purpose.
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Buying time.
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Because when income disappears, time becomes the most valuable asset in the world.
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And speaking of assets, the next question has less to do with money
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and more to do with something you spend every single day without even noticing.
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14. Who actually benefits from your daily habits?
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Every habit creates value.
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The real question is, who receives it?
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Most people assume their habits are their personal choices.
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A morning coffee, a few minutes of social media, a late night Netflix binge, a quick food delivery after a long day.
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Entire industries are built around understanding human behavior and encouraging repetition.
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Now, that doesn't automatically make these habits bad.
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The deeper question is whether your habits are creating value for you at the same rate they're creating value for someone else.
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Take a moment and look at your average day.
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Which habits are building your health?
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Which habits are increasing your skills?
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Which habits are improving your finances?
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Which habits are strengthening your relationships?
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Every repeated action either compounds in your favor or compounds against you.
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The effects are invisible at first, but then obvious years later.
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Your future is rarely shaped by one dramatic decision.
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No, it's usually shaped by what happens on an ordinary Tuesday.
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And that brings us to another question most people avoid, even though it's costing them far more than they realize.
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Number 13.
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What is the most expensive thing you pretend doesn't matter?
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Researchers have repeatedly found that chronic health issues, loneliness, and financial stress are among the strongest predictors of lower life satisfaction and reduced longevity.
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And for some reason, these are usually the things that most people skip.
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A skipped workout, a neglected friendship, a stressful job that slowly erodes your health, a skill you keep postponing,
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a marriage that receives leftovers instead of attention.
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Most adults are careful with visible costs.
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They'll spend 20 minutes comparing prices before buying a kitchen appliance.
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They'll drive across town to save a few dollars on gas.
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Then they'll casually ignore something that costs them thousands of dollars, years of opportunity, or even decades of quality life.
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So do yourself a favor and fix at least one of those things in the next 12 months.
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12. If someone copied your life exactly, would you feel proud or concerned?
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Most people judge their lives based on intentions.
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But imagine someone decided to copy your life exactly, not the version you describe to people, not the version you plan to become next year, the version that exists right now.
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What kind of future would they create?
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Would you be friends with that person?
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It's an uncomfortable thought because it removes excuses.
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Future plans no longer matter, good intentions no longer matter, only patterns matter.
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You see, adulthood is largely the accumulation of repeated behaviors.
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Most outcomes are surprisingly predictable.
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If someone spends more than they earn for 10 years, the ending is usually clear.
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If someone invests consistently for 10 years, the ending is usually clear.
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If someone prioritizes their health for a decade, the results are rarely surprising.
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The same principle applies to relationships, careers, and personal growth.
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Because the life you're living today is constantly teaching lessons.
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The question is whether those lessons are worth copying.
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Number 11.
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What problem are you qualified to solve?
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Most people focus on the reward rather than the reason the reward exists in the first place.
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Ask a kid what they want to become when they grow up and they'll probably say doctor, lawyer, or astronaut.
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But if you ask a kid what they actually want to do all day, the answers get weird pretty quickly.
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Build rockets, train animals, explore the ocean, take apart machines.
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The focus shifts from status to curiosity.
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Somewhere along the way, adulthood reverses the process.
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Instead of asking what we're naturally drawn toward, we start looking at which paths offer the highest rewards.
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Higher salaries, better titles, more prestige, more status, more security, and because we live in a market-driven world, that's understandable, right?
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The problem is that many people spend decades pursuing rewards attached to problems they don't actually enjoy solving.
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And the thing is, the people who earn the most are often the ones who
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developed an unusual tolerance for solving a specific type of problem over and over again.
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10. What are you optimizing for right now?
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A surprising number of people are working incredibly hard toward goals they never consciously chose.
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They wake up early, answer emails, attend meetings, pay bills, make plans, stay busy from morning until night… but if you ask them a simple question,
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many wouldn't know how to answer it.
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What are you optimizing for?
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Because every decision is an optimization problem, every yes is also a no, every gain comes with a trade-off.
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The entrepreneur working 80 hours a week is probably optimizing for growth.
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A parent who turns down a promotion to spend more time with family can be optimizing for relationships.
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None of these are wrong, the danger comes when your actions are optimizing for one thing while your heart wants something else.
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Because life has a way of delivering exactly what you're optimizing for.
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If you're optimizing for comfort, you'll probably get comfort.
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If you're optimizing for growth, you'll probably get growth.
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If you're optimizing for freedom, you'll have to sacrifice something else to get it.
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The question isn't whether you're optimizing, you already are.
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The question is whether you're doing it intentionally.
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And if not, a tool like the Alux app can really change the game for for you entirely.
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The app is essentially an ecosystem for high performers.
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There's expert mentorships from industry insiders, daily coaching lessons from us here at Alux, as well as an exclusive private network where you can chat with your peers about goals,
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sacrifices, strategies, problems you're facing, celebrating milestones, heck, you might even find a new partnership in there.
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You can download the app and start a 7-day free trial at alux.com slash app, but if you're ready to commit, scan this QR code for 25% off your yearly membership.
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I'll see you on the inside, but in the meantime, let's get back to it.
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Number 9.
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Which decision from the last 5 years changed your life the most?
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Now, from our experience, the life you live is shaped in two ways.
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First, from repetition.
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Or in other words, the things you do every day.
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Because how you live your days is how you live your life.
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But secondly, life is also shaped by direction.
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There are moments in life where the path itself changes.
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A new city, a new relationship, a decision to stay, or a decision to leave.
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These are all direction shifts, you can't really tell where they'll take you in 5 years.
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What makes this fascinating is the major decisions rarely announce themselves as major decisions.
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At the time, they often feel ordinary.
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Only later do you realize they quietly altered the trajectory of everything that followed.
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You're most likely in the place you are now because you said yes or no to something five years ago.
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Number 8.
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What part of your life depends on luck?
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Most people don't like talking about luck, some pretend it doesn't matter, others blame everything on it, but reality sits somewhere in the middle.
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Being born in the right country is luck.
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Meeting the right person at the right moment is luck.
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Growing up with supportive parents is luck, avoiding a serious accident is often luck.
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Being in the right place when a major opportunity appears can absolutely be luck.
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But the question is, which parts of your life depend on luck today?
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Because good genetics are luck, but exercise and nutrition are choices.
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You see, both good luck and bad luck are always going to be a part of your life, you can't really eliminate it altogether.
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But what you can do is reduce how much power luck has over your future.
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Number 7.
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Who Can You Call When Things Go Wrong?
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Most relationships are easy to maintain when life is going well.
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The real test comes when it isn't.
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When you're celebrating a promotion, buying a house, or sharing good news, people tend to show up.
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Success attracts attention like that, but failure reveals reality.
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As people get older, they often discover something very surprising.
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Building meaningful relationships can be really hard because they require actual investment.
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Time, attention, trust, consistency, some of the most valuable assets in life don't appear on a balance sheet.
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A friend who answers when you call, a mentor who gives honest advice, a partner who remains steady during difficult seasons.
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A small circle of people who genuinely want to see you succeed.
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Those things become increasingly valuable as life becomes more complex.
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Number 6.
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What would your future self be angry about if you ignored it?
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You see, future you is probably not asking for perfection.
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But they will probably ask you why you waited so long.
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And that's a really tough question to answer.
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Most people imagine regret incorrectly.
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They think regret comes from bad decisions, but in reality, regret often comes from delayed decisions.
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Something you didn't do, or at least didn't do at the right time.
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The strange part is that very few people wake up one morning and decide to sabotage their future.
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What they do instead is convince themselves they have more time.
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It's extremely hard to picture yourself in the future because it feels so far ahead, And one day you wake up,
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you're 45, and wondering where two decades have gone.
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Number 5.
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What can you do that AI cannot easily replace?
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Every new generation has to deal with a major technology that completely changes how life works.
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For your parents, it was the internet.
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For us, it's probably AI.
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But this time, it might be the most significant shift yet because it appears to be affecting almost every industry.
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So the question of what can you do that AI cannot easily replace becomes dangerously viable.
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We honestly are not sure how this whole thing will play out in a couple of years
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because what we do know for sure is that what we have right now is the worst version yet.
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It'll only get better.
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So it's worth considering how this will affect your own life.
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It might be nothing to worry about, but realistically speaking it probably will.
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The way we see it, there are two scenarios.
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Either AI takes control over the world and we all have to figure out how to deal with it, or AI fails miserably and the whole market crashes with it
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because pretty much everyone is invested and will have to deal with that.
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Either way, it might be smart to keep this one on your mind.
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Number 4.
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What are you unwilling to sacrifice for success?
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Every couple of years, your own definition of success changes a little bit.
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It usually starts out pretty dramatic, but as you get older, you realize you don't really care that much about a bunch of things you used to consider important.
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What doesn't change, though, is the fact that any kind of success requires either extreme dumb luck,
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which is exceptionally rare, or a fair amount of sacrifice.
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The most common thing that usually gets sacrificed by anyone is a head start to a more traditional path.
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If you spend your 20s and 30s trying to make something happen and that thing doesn't actually work out,
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well, you're now a bit behind if you want to switch lanes and get a normal job.
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That's pretty much a given to anyone who walks a different path than the norm.
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We all kinda quietly agree to this, but we don't really talk about it.
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But the deeper you go, the more it's required from you.
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It starts with uncertainty and that's quickly followed by constant stress.
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Your tolerance to those things dictates the rest
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and you'll get to a point where the sacrifices start to be a bit tricky.
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Time away from your family, unexplored hobbies, forgotten friendships.. the list goes on.
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At some point, you have to ask yourself, where do you draw the line?
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Number 3.
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What would make this year a failure?
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To-do lists are pretty great, but have you ever heard of a not-do list?
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You see, not every year has a clear end goal.
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Some years are for maintenance or for buying enough time for something else to happen.
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And those years don't have a big, clear win.
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And when there isn't a clear to-do list, the next best thing is the reverse.
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What shouldn't you do this year?
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And we promise you, spend 5 minutes with this question
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and you'll find a surprising number of things that will fill out the list.
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As a matter of fact, take those 5 minutes right now, make the list and see which one scares you the most.
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Number 2.
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If you got everything you currently want, what happens next?
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This question helps you to understand where exactly you are in your journey.
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If your answer is, the grind never stops, the sky's the limit, then you're probably at the very beginning.
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If your answer is, then I can finally take a break and rest, then you probably still have a long way to go.
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You see, this one's a bit counterintuitive, but the closer you get to what you want, the more you realize that nothing really is going to change because you already live the life you want,
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and the focus changes from getting more to protecting and securing what you've already gotten.
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But you cannot force this realization into existence.
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It just comes naturally at some point.
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And number one, how do you want to be remembered?
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When you're old and you look back at your life, what do you want to see?
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This sounds like a question about the future, but in reality, it's a question about the present, because the answer is already being written by the way you spend your days.
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So, here's some knowledge for you.
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Asking old people what they regret the most at the end of their life is a bit irrelevant
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because their relationship with risk is completely flipped.
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It's easy to say you should have taken more chances when there are no longer any chances to take.
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It's easy to say you should have worried less when the things you worried about are already way behind you.
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But what stays consistent and relevant is how the story looks from beginning to end.
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Some chapters matter more than others, so when you look back at your own story one day… what do you hope stands out?
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Alright, that's a wrap for today, Alexer.
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Thanks for watching, we'll see you back here next time.
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Until then, take care.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “15 Questions Every Adult Should Answer”. This video has 215 sentences and 2663 words to shadow. The speech runs for 15:51. The speaker talks at a natural 168 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 86% 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
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| optimize verb | /ˈɑptɪmaɪz/ | To act optimistically or as an optimist. |
| alux noun | A kind of sprite in the folklore of certain Maya peoples. | |
| repetition noun | /ˌɹɛp.əˈtɪʃ.ən/ | The act or an instance of repeating or being repeated. |
| adulthood noun | The state or condition, for humans and other animals, of physical and psychological maturity: being an adult. | |
| tolerance noun | /ˈtɑ.lə.ɹəns/ | The ability or practice of tolerating; an acceptance of or patience with the beliefs, opinions or practices of others; a lack of bigotry. |
| intentions noun | /ɪnˈtɛnʃənz/ | Desire to court, marry, date, woo or sleep with someone. |
| quietly adverb | /ˈkwaɪ.ɪt.li/ | Producing little or no noise. |
| compound noun | /ˈkɑmpaʊnd/ | Anything made by combining several things. |
| uncomfortable adjective | /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/ | Not comfortable; causing discomfort. |
| appliance noun | /əˈplaɪ.əns/ | An implement, an instrument or apparatus designed (or at least used) as a means to a specific end, especially |
| counterintuitive adjective | /ˌkaʊntəɹɪnˈtuɪtɪv/ | Contrary to intuition or common sense. |
| dangerously adverb | In a dangerous manner; so as to cause danger. | |
| downsize verb | /ˈdaʊnsaɪz/ | To reduce in size or number. |
| fascinate verb | /ˈfæsɪneɪt/ | To evoke an intense interest or attraction in someone. |
| frighten verb | /ˈfɹaɪ.tən/ | To cause to feel fear; to scare; to cause to feel alarm or fright. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| fill out verb | /fɪl ˈaʊt/ | To complete a form or questionnaire with requested information. |
| get back to verb | Return to (an activity) | |
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. | |
| show up verb | To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically. | |
| stand out verb | To jut out, protrude (from a surface etc.). | |
| start out verb | To emerge suddenly; to jump out. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What would happen if your income stopped tomorrow?
- Who actually benefits from your daily habits?
- Which habits are building your health?
- Which habits are increasing your skills?
- What shouldn't you do this year?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | If someone copied your life exactly, would you · If you're optimizing for comfort, you'll probably · If you're optimizing for growth, you'll probably |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is not measured · are built · is shaped |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who earn · friend who answers · people who genuinely |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have gone · you've already gotten |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 55 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, doesn't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/, altogether /ɔl.tuˈɡɛð.ɚ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: repetition /ˌɹɛp.əˈtɪʃ.ən/, intentions /ɪnˈtɛnʃənz/, accumulation /əˌkjuːm.jəˈleɪ.ʃən/, sabotage /ˈsæb.əˌtɑʒ/, optimization /ˌɑptəmaɪˈzeɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: repetition /ˌɹɛp.əˈtɪʃ.ən/, uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, counterintuitive /ˌkaʊntəɹɪnˈtuɪtɪv/, longevity /lɒnˈd͡ʒɛv.ɪ.ti/, incorrectly /ˌɪnkəˈɹɛk(t).li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like optimize, alux, repetition.
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.