Shadowing Practice: 7 Rules To Success | Brian Tracy - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Here are seven rules you can apply to any challenge that you face in achieving anything you desire.

Rule number one, the most important key to achieving great success is to decide upon your goal and then launch.

Get started.

Take action. Do something.

Move.

A 12 -year study at Babson College concluded

that the act of taking the first step is what separates the losers from the winners

or the winners from the losers we set out at the

age of 20 with 300 each to cross three continents

and travel 17 000 miles from vancouver on the west coast to johannesburg in southern africa

and we made it in just under 12 months

but the most important step was the first one all the rest followed from

that number two once you've launched towards your goal never consider the possibility of failure.

The Germans have a saying, it's immer vorne, nie zurück.

Immer vorne, nie zurück.

And it means always forward, never backward.

Always forward, never backward.

Never consider the possibility of failure.

Every person here is here because they refuse to quit when the going got rough.

Your ability to persist in the face of setbacks

and disappointment is vital to all great achievement and it's always a decision that you make.

It's not the external environment it's always the internal environment number

three the biggest goal in the world can be accomplished

if you just take it one oil barrel at a time thomas carlisle once wrote

that our great business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance

but to do what lies clearly at hand the only time you will ever have is now

if you live every day every hour the best you can

the rest will take care of itself as the bible says

sufficient unto the day are the cares thereof number four watch

out for the naysayers the negative people around you are always telling you

that you'll die in the desert get around positive people get

around winners like people in this room fly with the eagles

and refuse to listen to objections and reasons why you can't succeed someone once said

that if every possible objection must first be overcome nothing will ever get done

and truer words were never spoken number five welcome obstacles

and difficulties as valuable

and inevitable steps on the ladder of success remember the difficulties come not to obstruct

but to instruct difficulties come not to obstruct

but to instruct our trip to africa was one problem after another we ran out of money over

and over we strained every muscle of our bodies trying to ride bicycles across france

and spain our land rover broke down again

and again we suffered from dysentery and heat stroke and exhaustion

but when it was time we were ready for the sahara crossing in retrospect we saw clearly

that without the lessons

that we had learned from our mistakes we would have surely died in the desert

and when you look back on any achievement you will find it was preceded by many difficulties

and many lessons they are the price that you pay for your success

and no success is possible without them number six be clear about your goal

but be flexible about the process of achieving it be willing

to change to try something new keep your mind open

and fluid and flexible be willing to accept feedback from your environment

and correct your course this is a key quality of peak

performers they're not rigid they're flexible remember it's not what you have

but what you do with what you have

that separates winners from losers it's not what happens to you

but how you respond to what happens to you

that counts in the final analysis your response to the adversity

of life is the real measure of who you are

and what you're made of the Greek philosopher Epictetus once said

that circumstances do not make the man

or woman they merely reveal him to himself

when you find out who you really are when you face adversity

and remember number seven the last rule is nobody does it

alone at every step in our journey across Africa people helped us with advice

and with food and with assistance and with money

but especially with warmth and with kindness and with generosity

when life is over it will be the people that we lived

and laughed and loved with that we remember more than anything else

so don't be afraid to ask for help from others it's a mark of strength and courage and character

and don't be reluctant to give of yourself to others generously it's the mark of caring

and compassion and personal greatness the reason the sahara story was

so relevant for me was that because after the sahara i never felt

that there's anything i couldn't do i felt programmed for success

for life although it took me many years to understand it

and the reason why this story may be of interest to you is

because i believe

that everyone has a sahara to cross perhaps more than one

many of you are crossing your own saharas right now everyone

eventually goes through periods of great difficulty their own private hells their dark nights of the soul

but it is by facing whatever life gives us with courage and determination that we grow more surely.

toward the stars let me leave you with the last verse

of carry on there are some who drift out in the deserts of doubt

and some who in negativity wallow there are others i know who in piety go

because of a heaven to follow but to labor with zest

and to give of your best for the sweetness

and joy of the giving to help folks along with a hand

and a song why there's the real sunshine of living carry on carry on fight the good fight

and true there's big work to do believe in your mission

greet life with a cheer there's big work to do

and that's why you're here carry on carry on let the world be the better for you

so at last when you die let this be your cry carry on my soul

carry on ladies and gentlemen ladies and gentlemen

if you will resolve whatever life ends you to carry on there is nothing

that can stop you from achieving the greatness for which you were created thank you

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “7 Rules To Success”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: carry, sahara, success, achieving, difficulties. This video has 94 sentences and 1089 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:01. The speaker talks fast, about 181 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 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

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
difficulty noun	/ˈdɪfɪkəlti/	The state of being difficult, or hard to do.
desert noun	/ˈdɛz.ɚt/	A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland.
flexible adjective	/ˈflɛk.sɪ.bəl/	Capable of being flexed or bent without breaking; able to be turned or twisted without breaking.
loser noun	/luzɚ/	A person who loses; one who fails to win or thrive.
lesson noun	/ˈlɛs.ən/	A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided.
refuse verb	/ɹɪˈfjuːz/	To decline (a request or demand).
achievement noun	/əˈt͡ʃiːv.mənt/	The act of achieving or performing; a successful performance; accomplishment.
courage noun	/ˈkʌ.ɹɪd͡ʒ/	The quality of being confident, not afraid or easily intimidated, but without being incautious or inconsiderate.
gentleman noun	/ˈd͡ʒɛn.təl.mən/	Any well-bred, well-mannered, or charming man.
objection noun	/əbˈd͡ʒɛkʃən/	The act of objecting.
backward adjective	/ˈbækwɚd/	Situated toward or at the rear of something.
greatness noun	/ˈɡɹeɪtnəs/	The state, condition, or quality of being great
suffer verb	/ˈsʌfɚ/	To undergo hardship.
muscle noun	/ˈmʌs.əl/	A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement.
reveal verb	/ɹɪˈviːl/	To uncover; to show and display that which was hidden.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
break down verb	To stop functioning.
find out verb	To discover, as by asking or investigating.
get around verb	To move to the other side of (something, such as an obstruction) by deviating from a direct course or following a curved path.
go through verb	To travel from one end of something to the other.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 10 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, they're, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: warmth /wɔɹmθ/, thereof /ðɛˈɹʌv/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: objection /əbˈd͡ʒɛkʃən/, sufficient /səˈfɪʃənt/, determination /dɪˌtɜːmɪˈneɪʃən/, sunshine /ˈsʌnʃaɪn/, accomplish /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ/
Long words — get the stress right: difficulty /ˈdɪfɪkəlti/, determination /dɪˌtɜːmɪˈneɪʃən/, inevitable /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/, disappointment /ˌdɪsəˈpɔɪntmənt/, philosopher /fəˈlɑsəfɚ/

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 difficulty, desert, flexible.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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