Shadowing Practice: How to get out of creative block (today) - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
124 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
Okay, today I'm gonna help you get out of a rut.
2
Maybe you're a creative or an ambitious person who's fallen off.
3
Probably you fall into these vicious cycles all the time of self -improvement
4
and then self -destruction where you like get your life together
5
and build the perfect workout program and exactly what you want out of your life.
6
You stay consistent with it for like a week or two
7
and then you fall off and you spiral back into cheap dopamine, binging.
8
I get it, I've been there.
9
I've done that many times myself
10
and I've gotten really good at getting out of the rut that forms when you fall into this pattern.
11
So all we're going to do today is just break down the process into a series of simple steps you can follow.
12
What I want you to do is get a journal, a piece of paper, something you can write on.
13
I want you to get a pen, and we're just going to think through this together.
14
And then you're going to take some action.
15
This is very simple.
16
It's nothing you haven't heard before.
17
All I'm going to do is try to give you a helpful voice in your head
18
that then makes you actually want to do it.
19
So the trick is this.
20
We have to recondition your brain to get satisfaction from doing difficult things.
21
If you have fallen off and you're in a rut, probably your brain is really addicted to getting that quick hit of pleasure
22
or satisfaction from scrolling or vaping or smoking weed or drinking or binge eating or watching porn, any number of cheap dopamine substances.
23
I get it.
24
Again, no shame, no guilt.
25
You're a human being.
26
Those things tend to be awesome when you're in a really bad state.
27
So I get it.
28
We have to get your brain to be like, oh, I enjoy meaningful progress.
29
I enjoy moving towards a goal and I enjoy facing challenge in order to get closer to that goal.
30
So this looks like working out.
31
This looks like writing.
32
This looks like doing the dishes, putting on clean clothes, going to the store to buy groceries, to do some of these things.
33
You understand the deal.
34
And none of it is glamorous when you do it.
35
But over time, your brain's going to be like, yep, I like this.
36
I like this.
37
I feel like I'm stacking up points.
38
It's more about getting into this state where you are seeking those things out
39
and it just takes a little bit of coaxing, okay?
40
Because right now in the rut, it feels impossible.
41
And then whatever creative ambition or passion in life you wanna pursue feels definitely impossible, right?
42
Because it's just like, how could I possibly do something difficult right now when I can't get myself out of bed?
43
So we're just gonna coax you into a state of doing that, okay?
44
And understand the power of momentum is that
45
if you do get your feet on the floor and then stand up and then put on clothes, take a shower, put on clothes,
46
do the dishes, is make yourself a single egg and then eat that and then go for a walk around the block.
47
If you can just stack up like 10 of those things, immediately you're going to start feeling better, right?
48
Now, and then over the course of the week, you're going to slowly remove the cheap dopamine substances so
49
that your brain naturally gets excited by the difficult challenge or by the writing practice.
50
If you want creative work to replace your consumption addictions, you have to remove the consumption addictions so that it becomes interesting, right?
51
In a world where you're distracted all the time, writing, performing music, whatever your passion is, is just not going to be that fun, right?
52
Or it won't be fun if your brain is overloaded with cheap dopamine you didn't earn.
53
You know this, I know this, we're just reviewing it again because it's good to talk about.
54
The real thing we need to get into is understanding the force that causes that fall -off effect, which is entropy.
55
Entropy means chaos.
56
It can also mean resistance.
57
Resistance as defined by Steven Pressfield in his book, The War of Art.
58
Resistance, or entropy, or chaos, whatever you really want to call it, is just all the shit,
59
internal and external, that gets in the way of you doing what you want to do, or that makes it hard.
60
Internal resistance, internal entropy is self -doubt.
61
It's the desire to be distracted.
62
It's the desire to do something besides what you know you should be doing.
63
External resistance is just all of the inconvenience of life.
64
It's extreme weather events.
65
It's having to do stuff for your job.
66
It's family drama.
67
It's all of the difficult stuff that demands your attention that you don't really want to do.
68
We have to learn to navigate all of this stuff.
69
This is a crucial skill of being a creative in the 21st century, of being a human being in the 21st century or any century.
70
We have to be able to face the inevitable chaos of life.
71
And the mistake is thinking that we can somehow not deal with chaos.
72
When you fantasize about your perfect locked in existence, you're very rarely factoring in all of the inevitable entropy,
73
when you can't sleep because you had too much caffeine during the day,
74
or when you have a throat infection and have to go to the doctor
75
and that gets in the way of your perfect dialed robotic routine.
76
You rarely account for these things when you're imagining, when you're fantasizing, when you're mentally masturbating about your future life.
77
So now we're going to get real and we're going to say these things happen and we need to somehow stay aligned,
78
stay connected to our more aligned identities when the inevitable chaos presents itself, because it is inevitable.
79
What happens when you fall off is you let entropy sweep you away.
80
This is my experience, at least.
81
I've had so many experiences where I get really locked in and I get really dialed in my lifestyle.
82
I start writing, I'm working out, I feel really, I feel like I'm connected to that locked in version, the future that I want to live.
83
And then entropy rears its ugly head, internal or external.
84
Internal being, oh, I get distracted
85
And then now I don't feel like I'm, um, who I said I was or external entropy.
86
I get sick.
87
I get a throat infection.
88
I get a gut infection that happened to me this summer.
89
I'll tell you some other time, but like crazy.
90
And then suddenly you're like, oh, I'm not perfect.
91
The whole system is going to collapse.
92
I am.
93
I am.
94
I can't do this.
95
I can't be perfect.
96
So I'm not going to do it at all.
97
And this typically happens gradually.
98
But you see the problem, right?
99
It's like this this isn't going to work for us.
100
The real skill we have to build is being able to ride the wave of entropy, chaos, inevitable discomfort, inconvenience, blah,
101
blah, blah, blah, blah, without losing ourselves and being able to engage with the system imperfectly.
102
So what I'll invite
103
you to do is I'd like you to take the pen on the piece of paper you took out,
104
and I want you to write down just exactly what happened the last time you fell off maybe this was today, maybe this was last week.
105
I just want you to write out the sequence of events that led to it.
106
And I want you to look for the pattern in there.
107
Notice where the entropy comes in.
108
Was it internal or external, right?
109
Was it something that happened that was outside your control that then made you give up on yourself?
110
Or was it something internal?
111
And then you kind of bought back into the narrative of being not locked in, of being undisciplined, of being weak, a shameful, addicted creature.
112
You see how these narratives inform our actions, right?
113
When we believe that we are addicted, helpless, we tend to do those things more.
114
When we believe that we are locked in, that we're disciplined, that we're powerful creatures that can do amazing things,
115
we typically engage with the meaningful challenge a little bit more.
116
And the way that you influence that narrative is through the action.
117
Forget about the imagining who you want to be and just do the things.
118
Action rewires the whole narrative.
119
And that's the power of doing a million small things.
120
Not a million, but like a hundred small things.
121
Get out of bed, put on clean clothes, take a shower, do a workout, go for a walk, listen to music,
122
listen to a song that makes you feel like yourself.
123
Write down every single thing you can about what you're struggling with.
124
And then you start to feel like a human being again.
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
Same Channel
B11
How to take back control of your mind through journaling
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B22
How to write every single day (even if you have no ideas)
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B2How I got addicted to creative writing (instead of scrolling)
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B22
How I trained my mind to create instead of consume
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B25
How to write like a human being, not a robot
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B29
How I write for 4+ hours a day with no distractions
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2How to replace doomscrolling with creative writing
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2How to become a smart human being in the age of AI
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
B210
49 sentences
Doing These 5 Things Every Day Will Rewire Your Brain
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B2126 sentences
how to reset when you have no motivation (from a type a/b person)
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
277 sentences
Why You Can't Do Hard Things
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
240 sentences
The Art of Systems | James Clear
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
217 sentences
If You’re Creative But Lazy, Please Watch This
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
159 sentences
Please get addicted to thinking everything will always work out for you
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
367 sentences
12 Micro Habits That Will Improve Your Life in the Next 6 Months
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
114 sentences
The Weekend Trap Keeping You Average (This Is How the Years Disappear)
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B22
178 sentences
This Is How I Reduced My Screen Time (I Made a Dopamine Menu)
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B11
131 sentences
How to Find Yourself Again
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B11
190 sentences
If you're ambitious but lazy, please watch this video...
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “How to get out of creative block”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: entropy, internal, chaos. This video has 124 sentences and 1522 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:13. The speaker talks fast, about 211 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| chaos noun | /ˈkeɪˌɑs/ | The unordered state of matter in classical accounts of cosmogony. |
| inevitable adjective | /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/ | Impossible to avoid or prevent. |
| narrative noun | /ˈnæɹ.ə.tɪv/ | The systematic recitation of an event or series of events. |
| cloth noun | /klɒθ/ | A fabric, usually made of woven, knitted, or felted fibres or filaments, such as used in dressing, decorating, cleaning or other practical use. Sometimes… |
| infection noun | /ɪnˈfɛkʃən/ | The act or process of infecting. |
| distract verb | /dɪˈstɹækt/ | To divert the attention of. |
| addict noun | /ˈæd.ɪkt/ | A person who is addicted, especially to a harmful drug. |
| passion noun | /ˈpæʃən/ | A true desire sustained or prolonged. |
| rarely adverb | /ˈɹɛəɹli/ | Not occurring at a regular interval; seldom; not often. |
| skill noun | /skɪl/ | A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate. |
| connect verb | /kəˈnɛkt/ | To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object. |
| engage verb | /ɪnˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/ | To engross or hold the attention of; to keep busy or occupied. |
| consumption noun | /kənˈsʌmp.ʃən/ | The act of eating, drinking or using. |
| throat noun | /ˈθɹoʊt/ | The front part of the neck. |
| substance noun | /ˈsʌbstəns/ | Physical matter; material. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| fall off verb | To become detached or to drop from. | |
| get out of verb | To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of. | |
| work out verb | /ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/ | To calculate. |
| write down verb | To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something. | |
| break down verb | To stop functioning. | |
| stand up verb | To rise from a lying or sitting position. | |
| take out verb | To remove. | |
| think through verb | To fully consider, so as to understand all the consequences of. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I get it, I've been there.
- It's nothing you haven't heard before.
- I feel like I'm stacking up points.
- It's having to do stuff for your job.
- I'll tell you some other time, but like crazy.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've been · I've done · I've gotten |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is really addicted · is overloaded · be distracted |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 50 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: cloth /klɒθ/, throat /ˈθɹoʊt/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: infection /ɪnˈfɛkʃən/, passion /ˈpæʃən/, consumption /kənˈsʌmp.ʃən/, dish /dɪʃ/, satisfaction /sætɪsˈfækʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: inevitable /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/, satisfaction /sætɪsˈfækʃən/, inconvenience /ɪnkənˈvinjəns/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, momentum /ˌmə(ʊ)ˈmɛntəm/
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 chaos, inevitable, narrative.
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.