Shadowing Practice: How to Reinvent Yourself 💫 Transform Your Life in 2026 - Learn English Speaking with Video

Hello, my loves. Welcome back to Lavendaire.

It's Aileen.

Today, I'm excited to kick off a new series on this channel called Transform Your Life.

So I typically post new year content around this time, but this year I've decided to do a sequential flow of videos that fit together in a series to help us prepare for 2025, and the whole goal of the series is to help you transform your life in all the areas, and just get a really powerful start to your new year.

And we're starting to post before the new year because I know a lot of us like to do a lot of prep work and get a head start.

So this series will be pretty interactive.

Each video will have actionable takeaways and guided prompts.

I'll even share Notion templates for you to do the exercises and journaling prompts along with it.

So I'm excited to get into it.

We're gonna be posting new videos for this series every Wednesday on this channel, starting today until the end of January.

So make sure you're subscribed, and you click that notification bell, so that you get notified of all the new videos.

Here is a preview of the topics we have coming up.

The series is inspired by our Artist of Life Workbook, our bestselling guided journal to help you reflect on your life, clarify your goals, and create your best year yet.

If you haven't seen it yet, you can check it out at shop.lavendaire.com.

All right, so today our first topic in the Transform Your Life series, we're gonna talk about how to reinvent yourself and essentially become your ideal self.

So I chose this as the first topic because it all begins with intention and clarity.

You need to know what you are aiming for.

So who do you want to become and what intention are you setting for yourself?

So there's this saying that I heard recently that really stuck in my mind because it applies to so much in life.

"Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing." So I'll repeat that again.

"Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing." So that means if there's anything that you are unhappy with in your life, if you're not changing it, you're choosing it.

And I know, you know, some of you might think that's a little too harsh, but it applies to, I would say, most areas of life.

Let's just keep it at that.

Keep it simple.

But the whole point of that saying is it all is based on your intention and your choice.

And in order to know what to choose, you have to get really clear about what you want.

So today, I'm gonna guide you through all the steps from envisioning your ideal self down to literally what's the next action step you should take, and it's gonna be an interactive exercise with six steps, and like I mentioned earlier, there will be a Notion template you can download.

I'll leave the link down below, or you can also do this in your own journal if you don't want the template.

Alright, let's dive into step one, envision your ideal.

So let's start with just brainstorming.

Who do I want to be and how do I want to feel?

So those are two questions.

The first one is who do I wanna be, which is just being specific in describing who this ideal self is.

Just start with whatever comes off the top of your mind, whether it is a physical thing, whether you're describing your environment, describing your day.

It could be anything.

Just see what comes out of it.

The second question in this is how do I want to feel?

So if you are that ideal self, what is that ideal self feeling?

Like, this could be general feelings, like about your life as a whole, or it could be feelings that you have in your everyday, right?

Do you wake up with gratitude?

Are you proud of yourself?

Just try to put yourself in the shoes of that ideal person, and list out everything that you can.

Be as specific as possible.

Because the more specific you are here, the easier it is to kind of break things down later on.

All right, if you're done with the first step, please share down below what are three traits of your ideal self, because I'd love to know what you wrote down.

Step two, design the identity and energy of this ideal self.

So this is where you go into this ideal self's mindset, beliefs, way of being.

I wasn't sure the right term for this, but hopefully it makes sense when I say identity and energy.

Like, what does this person identify themselves as?

What energy do they show up to their days with?

Like, how do they show up in the world?

How do they show up for themselves, for the people in their lives, at work?

Because everybody carries like a different energy, a different essence.

You can call it personality, or you can call it mindset.

I don't know.

You guys hopefully get what I'm saying.

There is like a internal operating system that we all operate on.

Everyone's system is different.

So what internal operating system does your ideal self operate on?

Are they very confident?

Are they very compassionate?

Are they kind?

Are they very active?

Like, there's so many factors.

So identity and energy, just try to go into it.

Step three is to set the intention of showing up with this new identity and energy.

So the beautiful thing about kind of envisioning the ideal energy and identity of this ideal self is that all of these things are energetic and internal, meaning you can choose to integrate them into your life and into your current self now, and that is just the most amazing thing 'cause you are basically raising your level to match the energy, vibration, and identity of this ideal self, which will attract that self and bring in all those opportunities to create that new self.

So there are so many ways you can do this, but the first step was just being aware and identifying what are the beliefs, the mindsets, the energy of this person.

So after you like look at what you wrote in step two, start to form like positive affirmations or new beliefs that you want to begin to ingrain.

So essentially you're beginning to shift your mindset from your current mindset to this mindset of the future ideal self.

And another part of this is also like knowing the way of living and the energy of this ideal self is starting to embody that now in whatever way you can, right?

If you wrote, "My ideal self wakes up with courage and wakes up with gratitude," then set that intention for you to wake up with courage and wake up with gratitude, and it's an intention, but there's so many actionable things that you can do to help support that intention.

Like, maybe you put affirmations on your phone wallpaper, maybe you put it on a post-it note, write it on your mirror, like, maybe you record yourself saying affirmations and continue to listen to them, to ingrain them.

Maybe you wanna journal it out.

Maybe every morning you start to do gratitude journaling, and like courage journaling where you just tell yourself, "I am brave." "I am powerful." There are so many ways to implement these things and to kind of retrain our brain.

If you wanna get into it, I have so many resources on my channel, but this is like a crucial start, to just set the intention to start being that person through the identity, through the energy.

All right, step number four is to address the obstacles.

So what are the things that may be holding you back or stopping you from fully embodying and becoming this ideal self?

List out anything that comes to mind.

And for everything that you list out, ask yourself, "How can I overcome this" "or smooth out the process somehow?" You might not have the perfect answer for every obstacle, but the point here is to just list them out and then try, right?

See if you can think of any solutions, because most of the time, we don't even realize what the obstacles are, so we can't overcome them.

So the first step is addressing them, being aware of them, and then after that, it's just problem solving, right?

Some obstacles might be internal, and so there are ways to overcome that.

Some obstacles might be external, right?

Like, oh, I wanna be this person, maybe you wanna start a business, but I don't have the money right now.

I don't have investment money.

So then, how do you problem solve that, right?

Everything is a problem that has many solutions, many options, so this is your chance to explore that.

Moving on, step number five, design the lifestyle.

So what are the actions and habits that support this new identity, that this new ideal self would do?

So brainstorm, okay, if the ideal self is this person, this person is a person that works out regularly, that eats healthy, that blah, blah, blah, like write your whole list of actions.

They could be recurring habits, or they could just be like values, how you choose to live your life.

Like, oh, this person prioritizes family over work, or whatever it is for you.

Write it down. Like, what is the lifestyle?

What are the actions?

What are the habits?

Once you've identified the habits and actions of this ideal self, then it makes it easy for you to really see, okay, what can I start to implement into my life, and start taking action on, so that I can become this ideal self?

So there's this quote that I love.

"You are what you repeatedly do." So what does this person repeatedly do?

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Because the more you do something, the more it becomes your identity.

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So you might not feel like this person now because you're like oh, I'm a lazy person.

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I never exercise, but my ideal self exercises weekly, like few times a week, then just start doing it.

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And by faking it in the beginning, you eventually start to make it.

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You eventually start to become this identity.

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And the more you do it, the stronger this identity becomes in your mind.

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Like, you truly start to believe that you are that person.

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That's the magic of taking action the way that your ideal self would.

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Final quick tip is to literally put it in your calendar.

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Build it into your routine.

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Because even though you say you're gonna do something, are you really going to do it?

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Like, are you the type that it needs to be on your calendar scheduled in for you to see it and be like, oh, like I have to do this today.

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So whatever works for you, like, whether you put it as a reminder, set notifications, or put it into your calendar, literally do all the steps you can to make sure that you do take that action and that you don't procrastinate on it.

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The final step for today is to set your next goal.

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So looking at your ideal self, of course, a lot of it has to do with habits, actions, mindset, and the things that you can implement now, but there are also things that are going to take some time, you can't transform overnight.

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So what are those longer term goals that you wanna hit in order to fulfill that vision of the ideal self?

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So there might be a lot of goals here, but your job now is to prioritize what is the one top goal that I should focus on now in order to bring me one step closer to this ideal self?

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Some goals are like big goals, like, 10 years down the line goals, and some goals are smaller, like one-year goals, six-month goals, three-month goals, right?

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So the point here is to set the next goal.

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So whatever timeframe, like, works for you, maybe it's three months, six months, or a year, I would say no more than a year, but what is the next goal that you should be prioritizing to take that big step closer to your ideal self?

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The point here is that you can't transform everything at once, but you can focus your energy on the most important thing, and start identifying what are the next small steps that I need to take?

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And from there, you basically have an action plan for what you need to do in order to become your ideal self.

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So today, we went over how to envision your ideal self all the way down to what are the next steps, like the next habits, the next goals to focus on, and this literally gives you like a picture of the micro and macro goals that you should be working towards to become the ideal self.

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And just taking one baby step today is already a huge step to reinventing yourself.

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So I hope that you take a step today.

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I hope that you enjoy these prompts.

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Let me know what you think, and I will see you in the next video next week.

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Make sure you come back on Wednesday.

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Next week's topic will be on life design.

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So it's a little bit similar, but it really...

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Like, I love both topics.

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One, today is designing yourself, and next week is designing your life, and all the factors that go into figuring out what you want.

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If you'd like to watch more of the series, I'll also have a series playlist linked here and down below.

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And then final announcement is if you were not aware, on our Instagram, @shoplavendaire, we've been having weekly challenges and monthly giveaways for the Artist of Life Workbook.

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So they're really easy challenges to do.

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Sometimes it's just like leave a comment or tag a friend, but they're really fun.

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So if you'd like to join in on those challenges, they're happening weekly at the shoplavendaire Instagram until the end of the year.

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Also, I'll be hosting a live new year planning event on December 6th.

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I'll leave that info down below.

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But basically we're doing a live online planning session where I'll be guiding you through reflecting on the past year, planning for the new year.

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If you love journaling and planning your year in detail, I recommend you check that out.

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You don't have to be available for the live.

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You can get a ticket and watch the video afterwards, but it's also really fun to journal with everybody live.

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So if you're interested in that, I'll have the link down below.

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All right, that's it for today.

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I'm super excited for the series, and I can't wait to see you again.

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See you in the next one. Bye.

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(bright music)

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 Practice: How to Reinvent Yourself 💫 Transform Your Life in 2026 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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What is the Shadowing Technique?