Shadowing Practice: Mel Robbins: Stop Checking Your Phone First Thing in the Morning - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
208 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
A lot of my audience is in that 35 to 44 range with outliers on either end, of course.
2
But the content that I put out that seems to really resonate with them is how to reinvent yourself,
3
how to change, how to get out of being stuck.
4
And I feel like a lot of people are in
5
that age range where they might not be living the life that they want to live.
6
They're living the life that's maybe expected or maybe they're not exactly where they thought they would be.
7
So I want to start there and talk about your story a little bit.
8
First, I want to say something about being stuck.
9
Being stuck is, I think, one of the most universal experiences in life, and it is profoundly misunderstood.
10
When you are stuck, it does not mean things are broken.
11
It means it's time for a change.
12
And you can go through years of your life on autopilot, feeling discouraged and checked out.
13
But there comes a moment where you start to say the word stuck.
14
I feel stuck.
15
And what that means to me is you just woke up
16
and you are starting to realize that there is more that you want out of life.
17
This is another huge insight that really changed my life.
18
You know, I would look at everybody else's life, especially when I was struggling, and I would think, oh my gosh,
19
why didn't I marry a guy in finance?
20
You know, I married this dude who cares about people.
21
Like, why didn't I marry somebody that was chasing money?
22
Like, why didn't I, why I made all these mistakes?
23
Like, I want her life.
24
I want that life." And, you know, I was chasing what I thought other people's life looked like.
25
I wasted so much time doing that.
26
And I missed for years the answer, which is the person
27
that stares back at you in the mirror every single morning is the one person you spend your entire life with.
28
That's the person that needs to be proud of you.
29
That's the person that's going to change your life.
30
And you change your life not by thinking about the big things.
31
Here's how you change your life.
32
Think about the average Tuesday.
33
If I were to follow you around on a Tuesday, what would I see?
34
You would see, let's see, I work out.
35
What time do you get up?
36
Usually between 6 .30 and 7.
37
Great.
38
I will.
39
What's the first thing you do?
40
Honest.
41
Oh, no. Yeah.
42
I go, I talk about this all the time.
43
I've tried the sunlight in the eyes.
44
I've tried the meditating before I look at my phone.
45
I just can't.
46
I look at my phone.
47
Hold on.
48
Hold on.
49
Hold on.
50
Hold on.
51
Oh, okay.
52
Won't.
53
I won't.
54
Yeah.
55
You won't.
56
Okay.
57
So, so let's be honest about that.
58
And as you're listening or watching, everywhere you say can't, I want you to insert won't.
59
Okay.
60
So I, I won't, but I don't find that it has negative consequences for me.
61
I disagree with you entirely.
62
And I think you know that.
63
You look embarrassed right now.
64
I do?
65
Yes.
66
I think because...
67
Because you're lying.
68
You know that this is not a habit.
69
And I want to applaud you for going here with me because the person listening and myself included,
70
I struggled with this for a long time.
71
And I want you to really unpack this.
72
Because if you want to feel like you come first in your life,
73
the way to do that is to wake up in the morning for yourself
74
and to make sure the input that goes into your brain or through your ears or through your eyes,
75
that the input first thing in the morning is for you
76
and there is nothing on that phone that is more important than you and your mindset,
77
your body regulation, your intention during the morning,
78
your spiritual practice, which is not about religion.
79
It's about you aligning yourself with a bigger vision for your life
80
and truly waking up in a way that you put all of that before the world.
81
Because what's on the phone is everybody else's stuff.
82
And the second that you look at it, I don't care how much resetting we do or walks or everything else.
83
It already imprinted first thing in the morning.
84
I don't want you to do that.
85
I don't.
86
I'm going to be defensive for one second.
87
I'm going to make my argument. Do it.
88
I have tried.
89
Are you actually going to argue with me about the fact that you think on a wellness podcast,
90
looking at your phone first thing in the morning?
91
I'm so honest about that.
92
This is like my vice.
93
Okay.
94
But for me, the reason that I do it is because I feel like I do all my things.
95
I have my meditation.
96
I do my recovery readings.
97
I do my journaling and everything.
98
After you look at your phone.
99
I find that I have, I really struggle with like that monkey mind of like,
100
okay, I have to do this and then I have to do that and da, da, da, da, da.
101
So for me, if I wake up, I just make my to -do list, get it all out, brain dump it.
102
And then I put the phone away and then my mind is a little bit less cluttered.
103
And then I'm like, okay, let's lock in.
104
I do my readings, I get in that spiritual place, I do my meditation, and there's less friction for me.
105
So yes, that is something that I could absolutely change.
106
Can I make a recommendation?
107
Yes.
108
Okay.
109
I love that you're open to this.
110
You're very cute when you're embarrassed.
111
I would love, love to see you have a notepad.
112
Oh, yes.
113
I do believe in pen to paper.
114
I would love to see you have a notepad.
115
Okay.
116
And, you know, for you listening or watching, I'm going to advise you to do the same thing.
117
And there's two reasons why I want you to do this.
118
Number one, there's very interesting research about sleeping and falling asleep.
119
that when you go to bed at night,
120
if you have a pad of paper next to you and you do a brain dump before you go to sleep,
121
the research shows that it helps your mind close those open loops because you've dumped it out of your head onto paper.
122
And I believe we'd have to look this up to be sure.
123
And I'm working on memory.
124
And as a 58 -year -old menopausal woman, sometimes the dots aren't connecting.
125
But I believe that the research showed
126
that people fall asleep faster by making a to -do list on a piece of paper
127
and doing a brain dump than with a sleeping aid.
128
And it has to do with your mind not having to keep these unfinished tasks open.
129
It's like open tabs.
130
Yes.
131
In the morning, if your mind is racing,
132
I would prefer, based on all the experts that have been on this show and my show,
133
I would prefer that you have a piece of paper.
134
And let me tell you why.
135
I think there is a subconscious hard wiring that our mind
136
and body has about holding the phone and what the phone represents,
137
because there's this really interesting study that they did related to the power of the phone on the subconscious mind.
138
I don't remember who did the study, but when I explain it to you, a lot of people have talked about this,
139
so you might be aware of this as you're listening.
140
In the study, they had you and I talking, no phones around, okay?
141
And they mapped our brains, you could see brain activity, da -da -da -da -da -da.
142
The researcher comes over and puts his or her phone on the table, not my phone, not your phone,
143
the brain activity completely changed in both our brains simply by having the phone present.
144
And it was the researcher's phone.
145
And so I believe that you would experience something at a deeper level if it wasn't even in your bedroom,
146
that you created that space for yourself.
147
And for you listening, I want you to think about this.
148
Don't you deserve five to 15 freaking minutes in the morning before you let your freaking boss
149
and your friends and all the memes and all the AI crap into your brain?
150
If you want to know why you're waking up with anxiety,
151
it's because you lay in bed and pour this negativity into your mind and then expect somehow to breathe it out.
152
It doesn't work that way.
153
You have to start to create space for your brain to exhale.
154
You have to create space so that whatever input you're conscious about.
155
See, when I wake up in the morning, I don't look at that.
156
I'm such an addict, I can't have it on my body.
157
I can't have it on my dresser.
158
Like, it might as well be an eight ball of cocaine on my dresser because you just reflexively reach for it.
159
And so if you want to create new habits, one of the fastest way to do it is change your environment.
160
Make the thing that you're trying to not do, put it out of sight.
161
And so if you would like better boundaries with your phone, if you would like to wake up and not have panic attacks and crushing anxiety,
162
if you would like to have a little space in the morning
163
so that you could have a slower morning and you could be more intentional about what is your intention for the day?
164
What is the best way for you to wake up? because
165
if you are waking up anxious looking at your phone you've already lost a day it's gone
166
you're in catch up for for the rest of the day why would you do that to yourself
167
Why not try giving yourself five to 15 minutes before you look at your phone?
168
And for those of you that are anxious about the fact that you have a job that may need you,
169
or you have family that needs to reach you, no problem.
170
Here's what you do.
171
You say to everybody, hey, I'm really trying to have better boundaries with my phone.
172
And I'm not going to have my phone near me when I'm sleeping.
173
It's going to be plugged in.
174
The ringer is on.
175
If you need me, call me.
176
But don't text because I'm not going to look at it.
177
And I'm probably not going to look at it until about eight o 'clock in the morning.
178
You will be shocked how many people do not call you.
179
But people will text you all night long.
180
And you've been dummy there responding.
181
And then you're like, well, why am I so anxious?
182
Oh, I don't know.
183
So I would love to see what happens in your life
184
if you were to do that for just two or three days.
185
I'm going to report back.
186
Please do.
187
I'm open to that.
188
Because I also think you're going to find that you're more creative.
189
Yes.
190
Oh, absolutely.
191
Yes.
192
And I was thinking of something my ex used to always tell me because he did have infinite wisdom.
193
And he was a creative and he always told me, if you want better outputs, you need to change your inputs.
194
And that totally aligns with what you're saying.
195
Let's hover here for a minute, because I think that's a really important takeaway.
196
If you start to really analyze the average Tuesday through input and output,
197
and what are you allowing in?
198
Because think about all the amazing wellness trackers.
199
We track calories.
200
We track the amount of steps that we walk.
201
We may track the macros in the food that we eat.
202
We may track how many days in a row we have a streak.
203
We track our sleeping stats.
204
We track all of these things related to health.
205
The single biggest one that would probably change how you feel day to day is tracking what input are you allowing. And one hack
206
that helps me a lot is I think a lot about the way I want to feel in my life
207
and then I really control my environment to set me up to be able to make healthier choices
208
and I have massive boundaries with who and what is allowed into my mind and who and what gets my attention.
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
B22
847 sentences
Reinvent Yourself At Any Age: Ina Garten Shares the Secret to Transforming Your Life
Business EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B2104
12 sentences
Your Routine Isn’t the Problem. Your Identity Is.
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
87 sentences
6 Minutes To Get Ahead Of 99% Of The World
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B230
11 sentences
Mel Robbins Reminder You NEED To Hear Everyday | Motivational Video
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B22
32 sentences
The Single Biggest Financial Decision | Mel Robbins #shorts
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B2301 sentences
How to Get Organized and Stop Starting Over Every Week
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
14 sentences
When You Notice This, Your Life Changes
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
197 sentences
Transform Your Mornings into Unstoppable Momentum| Priyanka Chopra Motivational Speech
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
423 sentences
Romanticize your life
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B2263 sentences
7 Habits That Changed My Life After 30 (Wish I Started Sooner)
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B28
821 sentences
Change Your Mindset ft. Mel Robbins | Khloé in Wonder Land Episode 3 | Khloé Kardashian
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B2121 sentences
Leaving America Changed the Way I See Everything
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Mel Robbins: Stop Checking Your Phone First Thing in the Morning”. This video has 208 sentences and 2116 words to shadow. The speech runs for 12:10. The speaker talks at a natural 174 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| input noun | /ˈɪnpʊt/ | The act or process of putting in; infusion. |
| dump verb | /dʌmp/ | To release, especially in large quantities and chaotic manner. |
| boundary noun | /ˈbaʊndɹi/ | The dividing line or location between two areas. |
| anxious adjective | /ˈæŋkʃəs/ | Nervous and worried. |
| anxiety noun | /æŋˈzaɪ.əti/ | An unpleasant state of mental uneasiness, nervousness, apprehension and obsession or concern about some uncertain event. |
| chase verb | /t͡ʃeɪs/ | To follow at speed. |
| output noun | /ˈaʊtpʊt/ | Production; quantity produced, created, or completed. |
| marry verb | /ˈmæɹi/ | To enter into the conjugal or connubial state; to take a husband or a wife. |
| spiritual adjective | /ˈspɪɹɪt͡ʃuəl/ | Of or pertaining to the spirit or the soul. |
| asleep adjective | /əˈsliːp/ | In a state of sleep; also, broadly, resting. |
| intention noun | /ɪnˈtɛnʃn̩/ | A course of action that a person intends to follow. |
| habit noun | /ˈhæb.ɪt/ | An action performed on a regular basis. |
| embarrassed adjective | /ɪmˈbæɹ.əst/ | Having a feeling of shameful discomfort. |
| meditation noun | /mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/ | A devotional exercise of, or leading to, contemplation. |
| align verb | /əˈlaɪn/ | To form a line; to fall into line. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| come over verb | To affect in a sudden, unprecedented or surprising manner; to overwhelm a person's ordinarily contrary impulse. | |
| get out of verb | To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of. | |
| get up verb | To move in an upward direction; to ascend or climb. | |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| put out verb | To blind (eyes). | |
| work out verb | /ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/ | To calculate. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- That's the person that's going to change your life.
- Here's how you change your life.
- What time do you get up?
- What's the first thing you do?
- Can I make a recommendation?
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 tried · have tried · you've dumped |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | being stuck · be plugged · will be shocked |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | answer, which is · practice, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 60 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: anxious /ˈæŋkʃəs/, intention /ɪnˈtɛnʃn̩/, meditation /mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/, shock /ʃɔk/, regulation /ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: anxiety /æŋˈzaɪ.əti/, universal /ˌjunəˈvɜɹs(ə)l/, regulation /ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, intentional /ɪnˈtɛnʃənəl/
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 input, dump, boundary.
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.