Shadowing Practice: I’m Begging You: Replace Scrolling With These Habits - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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To change a bad habit you need to make the good ones easy to do and the bad ones hard to do.
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To change a bad habit you need to make the good ones easy to do and the bad ones hard to do.
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The thing most get wrong about this is that they move too fast.
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They pick something, they go hard for 2-3 weeks and then they quit.
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And then they feel worse before they even started.
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This is because they never tied that habit to their identity.
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And they never changed their environment to support what they wanted to do.
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Here are 13 habits you can choose from to fix your dopamine addiction.
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I use several of them myself and I work years in mental health
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and I'm all about reclaiming your attention and building something real that will last.
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And I've saved the most important one for last
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so make sure you see the whole video to get that one as well.
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And it's actually the one people never managed to really do right.
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Let's start with the first one.
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Walk without distraction.
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Okay so leave your phone at home.
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We want zero input.
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You know there's a network in the brain
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that is called the default mode network this is where your
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brain process your life your thoughts your ideas scrolling keeps
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that network permanently off
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and a walk without distraction switches it back on I started doing this deliberately
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and the first few times I felt I didn't feel really cool I did feel like I was wasting time
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but after a while I did notice something that was shifting and so I did get ideas.
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I kind of thought about problems and they kind of solved themselves.
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And so now I love to walk without distraction.
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I do it all the time.
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And it really is one of the simplest thing you can do on this list.
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And it is also one of the most underrated ones.
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Okay, let's go over to number two.
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Number two is write daily,
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just for yourself, whatever is on your mind, unfiltered alone.
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So I have kept a journal for over 10 years,
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and it has been one of the most important things for me to get mental clarity.
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And by doing so, I become more articulated,
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I get more ideas, I process my emotions and thoughts and lives a lot better.
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Because when you write, you also force yourself to slow down.
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And you have to process what's inside you to articulate it,
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to find the words for it.
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And research backs this up.
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It shows that excessive writing,
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it reduces mental noise, and it increases your cognitive clarity.
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So writing is, you can look at writing as a detox for your brain.
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And I have to remember that you don't need to be a good writer to write.
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You don't need anything actually,
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you just need to open a notebook and you have to start writing.
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One minute, three minutes, five minutes.
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If you want to level up yourself and become more articulated,
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writing is one of the best places to start and it is a place that's entirely yours.
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But I would also say that writing only works if your brain focuses long enough to process what you've written.
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And this is where most people is actually losing.
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And this brings us to number three.
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Number three is read with deep focus.
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Okay, you can read a book from start to finish.
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You don't need to read the whole book straight ahead.
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Start with one page, put your phone in another room, and just read.
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The thing about scrolling is that it fragments your attention.
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But reading does the opposite.
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It does train your brain to stay with something for an extended period of time.
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And this is actually called sustained attention.
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And that quality is becoming rare.
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Number four.
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When you scroll, you get dopamine without earning it.
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When you lift, you earn it.
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Number four is strength training.
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Research confirms that strength training increases dopamine in the brain.
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And over time, this helps to recalibrate the reward system that scrolling has dulled down.
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And so strength training improves your baseline.
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When you strength train if you especially have been scrolling excessively for years you will feel
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that real life starts to feel
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more rewarding again so i have been lifting for years
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and the discipline it builds is something that spills into everything i do
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because when i show up for the gym even on days i don't want to
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I get the feeling of finishing what I started.
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I get a feeling of agency over my life.
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And I do learn that this comfort leads somewhere.
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Because I can see the results in the mirror.
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And this is something that sets you up for a long and fulfilling life.
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This is the opposite of what scrolling does to you.
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Number five.
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Run, do aerobic, do cardio.
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Aerobic exercise is one of the most well-documented ways to stabilize your mood and to improve your baseline.
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A 2024 study published by the Journal of Psychology found
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that dopamine plays a key role in why cognitive performance improves with exercise.
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It improves reaction time, it improves focus,
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and it improves how rewarding everyday life feels.
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You don't need to go hard.
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A 30-minute run at a pace where you can keep a conversation going is enough.
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And remember that consistency matters over intensity.
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To a 20-minute run, a 10-minute run,
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just start with the amount that you can do and build from there.
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This increases and builds a body and mind that handle discomfort.
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Number six is all about learning a hard skill.
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Learning a hard skill is about something that requires real focus, real effort.
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For me, it's been all about learning how to edit videos.
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It's been about learning how to be a good writer.
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Maybe for you, it can be about the same,
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or it can be about learning how to code.
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Vibe coding is all the new trends right now.
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It can be a language, an instrument.
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Okay, let me just say,
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here is why that works.
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Research shows that dopamine acts as a teaching signal to the brain and it fires precisely when you learn something new,
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reinforcing the connections that help you improve.
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This is earned dopamine.
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You can sign up for a class or something you've been curious about.
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This gives you structure, it gives you accountability and it gives you a chance of building new connections along the way.
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Learning a hard skill gives you stimulation and progression.
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Pick one thing, go deep,
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stay with it, and make it as frictional as you can.
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Making a new skill naturally makes you more curious.
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But most people sabotage that every single morning without knowing it.
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Number seven will help you stop that.
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Number seven, fasting from the news.
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Okay, not forever of course,
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but I will say just take a deliberately long break.
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Most news is designed the same way as social media unpredictable, urgent, emotionally charged.
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There's breaking news, notifications, always another thing to react to.
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Remember that your nervous system doesn't know the difference between a real threat and a headline.
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Your nervous system responds the same way.
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I've actually made a video about it
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and you can see it in one of those corners right now if you want to check that out.
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There is research published in 2025 that found
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that news avoidance can actually have a positive effect on mental health and mental well-being.
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I wouldn't say that it's because staying informed is a good thing necessarily,
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but because compulsive news consumption is driven by anxiety and it does make things worse for you.
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So I would say just pick one day a week where there is no news
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and maybe eventually you can pick a whole week without news
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and you'll be surprised at how little you actually missed and how much calmer you will feel.
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Number eight, create something, anything,
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whatever it is from scratch.
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This is all about output over input.
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Scrolling is pure consumption.
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You take in, you take in,
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you take in, and you produce nothing.
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Over time, this creates an imbalance in your brain.
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Eventually, it can lead to a feeling of being passive in your own life,
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like you are a spectator.
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But creating things flips that.
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We have been creating things for centuries we actually evolved into creating tools to gather to hunter you can do
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that by writing for scripts you can do
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that just by journaling you can do that by building you can do
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that by cooking it doesn't matter what it is it just matters
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that you do the act of making something forces your brain to produce instead of consume
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and that shift changes how you see yourself So for me,
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I started making YouTube videos and the process of writing a script
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and Shooting those videos putting up the light
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and making everything as flawless as I could not perfect I am evolving every day,
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but that feeling yes It is hard,
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but it gives me something scrolling
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and consuming never has it gives me a sense of agency like I am in control of my own life
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and a sense of actually doing something with my time here on earth and remember
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that you don't need to be good you just need to
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do number nine play strategy games there is chess there is poker there is trivial pursuit
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or wherever anything that requires slow deliberate thinking something
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that keeps you off a damn phone
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so i have arranged a lot of game nights for me my friends
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and there is something that happens when you sit across from someone and you actually have to think about your next move,
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just you and the problem ahead.
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There is a study about this.
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A 2024 study published in Frontiers in Psychology found that chess activates and supports decision making,
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problem solving, working memory and sustained attention.
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Cognitive function that scrolling actively erodes playing this actually forces you to be more present.
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You can't half play a game of chess while also scrolling.
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Playing strategy games demands something from you and that is exactly the point.
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It trains you to think slower
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but the next habit actually trains you to hear yourself and most people have never done that.
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But to evolve you need to do and to understand this let's look at number 10.
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Record yourself speaking.
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It may sound strange, but you have to try it.
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I did this a lot before I started making videos for YouTube and it was really interesting.
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You just have to pick one topic that you're interested about or know something about.
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It can be whatever it is.
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Press record and then just talk for two to four minutes.
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And then you close your eyes and you listen back.
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The thing is most people never truly hear themselves.
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Think out loud.
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But when you do, you start noticing your own patterns.
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You start noticing where your thinking is clear.
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You start noticing where it is not and where you're just filling silence with whatever noise you came up with.
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This is actually called metacognition,
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thinking about your own thinking.
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And this is actually one of the most underused tools for building mental clarity.
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You don't have to share it with anyone.
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You just have to do it.
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Look at this as a mirror into your own mind.
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Okay, we're almost done now.
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If any of this resonates with you, please hit subscribe.
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All it takes is a drop of curiosity to change your life.
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It starts with taking back your attention.
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Let's start that conversation.
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Number 11, social interactions without your phone.
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A lot of people feel that they can't walk outside without their phone.
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They feel like they can't be with friends without their phone.
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But we need real human connections with eye contact,
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with the feeling of being present.
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There is actually a study that shows that eye contact is now becoming rare.
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Between 2019 and 2024, one behavioral medicine center recorded a 908% increase in Gen Z seeking treatment for social anxiety,
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with the research suggesting that heavy social media leads people to see themselves as static images rather than living,
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present human beings.
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This is all about when you spend your time on screens, performing, liking, commenting.
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Being truly seen by another person in real life can feel scary or uncomfortable.
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But when you're with people and your phone is in another room,
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there is a shift happening in the brain.
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You're forced to actually listen.
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And so it means that the conversation goes somewhere.
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And then it leads to a build up of resilience.
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And here's what I've noticed doing this when I'm fully present with people,
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I feel a lot more connected and I feel better with myself afterwards.
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Put the phone away, make eye contact, show up.
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That's it.
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Okay, number 12, cook from scratch.
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I really, really love this.
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This is just about no phones,
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no screens, no podcast, nothing.
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Just you, the ingredients and the process.
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A 2025 review of cooking therapy studies found that Cooking promotes mindfulness,
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self-expression and mental well-being.
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The act of preparing food from scratch is one of the most accessible forms of present moment awareness available to us.
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Ok, just think about it.
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You know the smell of onion and garlic hitting the pan?
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The rhythm you get from chopping onions or chopping vegetables?
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The texture of dough?
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Every step when you make food pull you into
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that moment you can't scroll and cook at the same time not really
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and the thing is and the thing about this
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when you're done you have actually created something real something
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that you can eat i would say
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that do at least one full of meal a week no phone no screens no nothing just you
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and the food number 13 the last one one of the
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most important ones this is boredom training this This is all about sitting still and doing nothing.
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No input.
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I've actually made a video about it.
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I will link it in the description.
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This is the most direct antidote toward scrolling.
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And this is one of the most things people struggle with.
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Every time you reach for the phone in a quiet moment,
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you are training your brain that silence is something that needs to be filled.
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Boredom training does the opposite.
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I do boredom training regularly now.
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five ten minutes here five ten minutes there
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and it really does make me feel more alive more connected
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and more present with life i would say that
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if you want to go deeper into why boredom is
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so important and how it works check out the video i referred here until next time stay curious
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Why Practice Speaking with This Video?
Engaging with this video offers a valuable opportunity for English speaking practice. The speaker effectively communicates personal habits, making it relatable and easier for learners to mimic. By practicing speaking along with the content, you can enhance your fluency and articulation. This context encourages you to think deeply about everyday actions—like walking without distractions or writing daily—which can improve both your language skills and personal habits. Using the shadowing technique, you can repeat phrases as the speaker talks, helping to solidify your understanding and usage of English in real-life situations.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
Throughout the video, the speaker utilizes several engaging structures that create a conversational tone. Here are some key expressions to focus on:
- “To change a bad habit, you need to...” - This conditional structure is useful for describing cause and effect, perfect for English learners to express thoughts about habits.
- “I started doing this deliberately...” - This simple past tense expression serves to discuss actions taken in the past, ideal for storytelling.
- “You don’t need to be a good writer to write.” - This negative formation can help learners express concepts of ability and necessity effectively.
- “It shows that excessive writing...” - The present simple tense here illustrates general truths, expanding your ability to share facts and opinions.
Common Pronunciation Traps
As you practice speaking, pay attention to the pronunciation of certain words and phrases used in the video. Here are a few common traps:
- “Articulated” - This word may be challenging; ensure you emphasize the "ar" sound correctly.
- “Distraction” - The placement of stress on the second syllable can be tricky; practice saying it slowly at first.
- “Mental clarity” - The combination of these words can make it difficult to connect smoothly; focus on linking them as you practice.
Using the shadowspeak method, you can refine these aspects of pronunciation. Repeating after the speaker allows you to practice not only what they say but how they say it, enhancing your speaking skills.
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.
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