Shadowing Practice: 4 Mental Techniques to Improve Your Time Management | Brian Tracy - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Excellent time management is a source of energy, enthusiasm, and a positive mental attitude.
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Hello, I'm Brian Tracy and today I want to talk to you about four time management techniques
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that can help change the quality of your life.
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Time management behaviors are very much a matter of choice.
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You choose to be efficient or you choose to be disorganized.
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You choose to focus and concentrate on your highest value tasks, or you choose to spend your time on activities that contribute little value to your life.
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You choose to be positive or you choose to be negative, and you're always free to choose your quality of life.
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This is one of the most important lessons I ever learned.
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The starting point of overcoming your previous programming and eliminating the mental blocks to time management
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is for you to make a clear, unequivocal decision to become excellent at the way you use your time.
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Everything follows from that.
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You must decide right here and now
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that you are going to become an expert in time management to improve your quality of life.
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Your aim should be to manage your time so well
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that people look up to you and use you as a role model for their own work habits.
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Here are four time management tips that you can use to program yourself for peak performance to improve your entire life.
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My first tip is to harness the power of positive affirmations.
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Positivity will change your quality of life.
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It is the first of those methods for programming your subconscious mind called positive self-talk,
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or the use of positive affirmations.
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Now these are commands that you pass from your conscious mind to your subconscious mind.
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Positive affirmations are statements that you either say out loud
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or you say to yourself to yourself with the emotion
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and enthusiasm that drives the words into your subconscious mind as new operating instructions.
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Begin by repeating positive affirmations over and over to yourself, such as, I am excellent at time management.
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I am excellent at time management.
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Or, I manage my time well.
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I manage my time well.
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Any command or positive affirmation repeated over and over in a spirit of faith,
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acceptance, and belief will eventually be accepted by your subconscious mind as a command
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and you'll begin to live in harmony and consistent with the command.
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My favorite time management affirmation is, I use my time well, I use my time well, I use my time well.
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When you repeat positive affirmations over and over, they're eventually accepted by your subconscious mind.
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You will then find
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that your external behaviors will start to reflect your internal programming to improve your work-life balance and quality of life.
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One of the great miracles of success psychology is that you become what you say to yourself over and over again.
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The second technique that you can use to program your subconscious mind is through visualization.
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Mental pictures most immediately influence your subconscious mind.
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In self-image psychology, the person you see is the person you will be on the outside through positive affirmations.
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to see yourself as well-organized, efficient, and effective in time management.
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Recall and recreate memories and pictures of yourself when you were performing at your best.
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Think of a time when you were working efficiently and effectively and getting through an enormous amount of work.
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Play this picture of yourself over and over again on the screen of your mind until it's accepted as your new reality.
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The third time management method is simple.
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First, you sit or lie in a quiet place where you can be completely alone in the silence.
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Through positive affirmations, imagine yourself going through an important upcoming experience,
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such as a meeting, a presentation, a negotiation, or even a date that would improve your work-life balance and your quality of life.
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As you sit or lie completely relaxed, create a picture of the coming event and see it unfolding perfectly in every respect.
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See yourself as calm, positive, happy, and in complete control.
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See the other people doing and saying exactly what you would want them to do if the situation was perfect.
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The fourth mental technique is to imagine that you are already excellent at time management.
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Imagine that you have been selected for a role in a movie or stage play.
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In this role, you are to act the part of a person who is extremely well organized in every respect.
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As you go through your daily life, imagine that you are an actor who is playing this part, who is already very good at time management.
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Act as if you are already using your time efficiently and well.
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Pretend that you're an expert in personal efficiency and time management.
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When you pretend that you are excellent in time management, eventually the action, which is under your direct control,
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will develop the mindset or the belief in your subconscious mind of a highly efficient person.
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Before we wrap up, I'd like to leave you with a thought to share with your friends and followers.
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It is this, excellent time management is a source of energy, enthusiasm and a positive mental attitude.
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Now, I love to hear from you.
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So my question today is, how can you apply one of these techniques or maybe more than one to your life?
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Leave a comment below and I'll be sure to follow up with you.
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Thanks for watching and remember, if you want to change your future, take action and take action now.
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To learn more time management tips like these, click the button on the screen or in the description to get my free Eat That Frog transcription.
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If you enjoyed this video and feel it was valuable, subscribe to my channel, like this video and share this video with your friends
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or anyone else who you think might benefit from this information.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “4 Mental Techniques to Improve Your Time Management”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: management, positive, affirmation, subconscious, excellent. This video has 67 sentences and 991 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:52. The speaker talks at a steady 144 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 88% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| affirmation noun | /æfɝˈmeɪʃn/ | That which is affirmed; a declaration that something is true. |
| subconscious adjective | /sʌbˈkɑn.ʃəs/ | Occuring in the part of our mind that we are not normally aware of. |
| enthusiasm noun | /ɪnˈθuziæzəm/ | An intensity of feeling; an excited interest or eagerness. |
| efficiently adverb | In an efficient manner. | |
| organize verb | /ˈɔɹɡənaɪz/ | To arrange in working order. |
| disorganized adjective | /dɪsˈɔːɡənaɪzd/ | Lacking order or organization; confused; chaotic. |
| positivity noun | /ˌpɑ.zɪˈtɪv.ɪ.ti/ | The condition of being positive (in all senses); positivism; optimism. |
| unequivocal adjective | /ˌʌnɪˈkwɪvəkəl/ | Unambiguous; without equivocation or ambiguity; singularly clear, unmistakable, or unquestionable |
| unfold verb | /ʌnˈfoʊld/ | To undo a folding. |
| visualization noun | /ˌvɪʒ.ʊ.ə.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/ | The act of visualizing, or something visualized. |
| recreate verb | /ˈɹɛk.ɹi.eɪt/ | To give new life, energy or encouragement (to); to refresh, enliven. |
| transcription noun | /tɹænˈskɹɪpʃən/ | The act or process of transcribing. |
| follower noun | /ˈfɒləʊə(ɹ)/ | One who follows, comes after another. |
| harness verb | /ˈhɑɹ.nəs/ | To place a harness on something; to tie up or restrain. |
| negotiation noun | /nɪˌɡəʊ.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/ | The process of achieving agreement through discussion. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| get through verb | /ɡɛt ˈθɹu/ | To overcome; to endure. |
| look up to verb | To show respect or admiration for (someone); to see (someone) as a role model. | |
| wrap up verb | To cover or enclose (something) by folding and securing a covering entirely around it. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be disorganized · be accepted · have been selected |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | person who is · action, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 7 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'd, I'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: affirmation /æfɝˈmeɪʃn/, subconscious /sʌbˈkɑn.ʃəs/, visualization /ˌvɪʒ.ʊ.ə.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/, transcription /tɹænˈskɹɪpʃən/, negotiation /nɪˌɡəʊ.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: enthusiasm /ɪnˈθuziæzəm/, disorganized /dɪsˈɔːɡənaɪzd/, positivity /ˌpɑ.zɪˈtɪv.ɪ.ti/, unequivocal /ˌʌnɪˈkwɪvəkəl/, visualization /ˌvɪʒ.ʊ.ə.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/
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 affirmation, subconscious, enthusiasm.
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.