Shadowing Practice: One Journaling Method to Replace Doomscrolling - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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I want to start this video by saying something super important.
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Today, I'm not going to try to convince you to start a journaling habit.
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Because if you've never journaled before, chances are adding another thing on your to-do list is going to make you feel super overwhelmed.
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The idea of sitting down every morning with a notebook and writing three pages might feel like a lot.
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I get it.
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And your brain is already exhausted from all the doom scrolling and all the work things you need to do.
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So here's what I'm actually going to show you today.
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One method that you can use starting today, even if you've never journaled a single day in your life.
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This method will help you get off your phone, not by using willpower, but by understanding why you pick up your phone in the first place.
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Because once you understand that, journaling starts to feel very simple.
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Before we get into it, I want to invite you guys to join my free weekly newsletter called Aligned.
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I send an emails every single week where I share all the different lessons I'm learning.
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It's completely free and the link to join is in the description.
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Alright, so let's start and talk about the first reason why we doomscroll
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because my full journaling method is built around the science behind understanding this bad habit.
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We often assume that we doomscroll because we're lazy, because there's something inherently bad about us,
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that we lack self-control, there's something wrong with us, and there's nothing we can do.
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But here's what's actually happening.
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Reason one, there is no friction.
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Picking up your phone often requires absolutely zero effort because it's right here.
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It's literally next to you all the time.
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There's no decision to make.
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There's no energy required.
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And your brain loves this.
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It loves the fact that it's easy, that it's fun, that you're going to be entertained, and that there's no friction.
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Reason two, you're trying to regulate an emotion.
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Most of the time when you're picking up your phone,
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you're doing that because you're experiencing some kind of feeling that makes you feel uncomfortable and you want it to stop.
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And so the easiest way to do that is by picking up your phone and doom scrolling.
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Maybe there's a task you're avoiding.
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You don't want to do something because it feels like too big and too challenging and really overwhelming.
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So you grab your phone instead.
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A hard conversation you don't want to have.
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A feeling you don't want to sit with.
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And there's something that I always talk about.
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Procrastination is not a time management problem.
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It doesn't mean that you have to, you know, look at your calendar, and analyze your time and be even more strict with how you spend your time.
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It is an emotion regulation problem.
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You're not scrolling instead of doing something, instead of working on your goals or working on your project.
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You're not doing it because you're bad at managing your time.
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You're scrolling because scrolling helps you escape the discomfort of doing something,
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the discomfort of working on a specific project, that is comfort of working on achieving your goals and understanding that,
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that it's not a time management problem, it's an emotion regulation problem,
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it's a completely different conversation and it requires a different method if you want to get into journaling.
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And reason three, you can't sit with boredom.
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Right now, so many of us feel uncomfortable when it's quiet, when there's no stimulation, when there's nothing to do.
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The second there's nothing to do, we pick up our phones and scroll because we constantly want to be entertained, we want to be stimulated.
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We lost this ability to exist in a moment that doesn't have any content in it.
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And so anytime there's a small little gap, like waiting for a coffee, sitting in the car, the five minutes in bed before you fall asleep,
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we fill it with something immediately.
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Something that doesn't have a lot of friction and usually something that's always with you and that is your phone.
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So if you want to stop doom scrolling, you can't just remove your phone.
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I mean, obviously you can try, but we also have to address all the three things, all the three main reasons why we doom scroll.
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The fact that there is no friction, the fact that you're trying to regulate an emotion, and the fact that you can't sit with boredom.
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And my journaling method is going to address all three things.
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And actually speaking of friction, I want to show you something that's been in my hands this whole video.
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This video is sponsored by Paperlike and here's why I think it's super relevant.
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We just said that one of the biggest reasons we reach for our phones is because there is zero friction.
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It's right there, it's easy, it feels good to use.
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And if you want journaling to compete with that, the whole process of journaling has to feel good as well.
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That matters so much.
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I journal on my iPad and for a long time the thing
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that I didn't like was that writing on glass often feels slippery.
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Your Apple Pencil just glides around in a way that doesn't feel satisfying.
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It doesn't feel like writing.
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It feels like dragging something across a screen.
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Paperlike fixes that.
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It's a screen protector for your iPad and what makes a difference is the Nano Dot Surface.
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A microtexture that gives your Apple Pencil just enough resistance so it feels like you're using a pen on paper.
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This sounds like a small thing but it changes so much about how you feel when you sit down to write.
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They also redesigned how you apply it, which if you've ever tried to put a screen protector on and ended up with bubbles everywhere,
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you will appreciate this.
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The new butterfly application system comes with a helper tool, an interactive guide
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that walks you through the whole thing right on your ipad screen it seals the surface
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so dust doesn't get in during application keeps everything aligned
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and you end up with a clean install on the first
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try it comes as a pack of two screen protectors
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so you always have a spare and there is a 100 day money back guarantee
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so that you can actually try it
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and decide the link to check out paper like is going to be in the description below all right
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so now let's move on
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and talk about why discipline doesn't always work here i want to quickly explain the habit loop
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because it helps us understand doom scrolling through the science of habit formation
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because doom scrolling is a habit too
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when we talk about habits we can't only talk about all the good amazing habits we're trying to build
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and track We also have to address all the bad habits.
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So many of us have bad habits too, and that is completely okay.
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And a lot of the times when we talk about achieving our goals and dreams, the conversation is often about subtracting,
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reducing the number of bad habits we have in our daily lives.
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All right, so every habit, good or bad, runs on a three-part cycle.
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Something that triggers the behavior.
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Then there is a routine, the behavior itself.
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And then there is a reward, the thing your brain gets out of it.
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Cue, routine, reward.
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That's the habit loop.
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And again, this habit loop is true for every single habit.
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Good habits and bad habits.
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So for doom scrolling, the loop looks like this.
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The cue is often some kind of psychological discomfort.
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You feel bored or let's say you're working on a task
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that just feels super challenging or you're trying to fall asleep
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but falling asleep without being on your phone feels uncomfortable and unfamiliar.
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So that's the Q, the psychological discomfort.
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Then the routine is obviously you picking up your phone and doom scrolling.
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And the reward you get out of this is a psychological relief.
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The cue was the psychological discomfort and the reward is you feel some form of relief,
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a tiny hit of dopamine that makes all the uncomfortable feelings go away, at least for a few minutes.
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Alright, and now here's the important part.
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You can't just remove the routine.
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I remove the routine and what do I have?
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I still have all of my cues and my brain is still craving the reward.
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So I have to substitute the routine with something else.
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And that something else is going to be my journaling method.
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Because the cue still fires, the craving will still show up, your brain is still looking for a reward.
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And without something to replace the routine with, we give up.
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It is absolutely natural.
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And what actually works is keeping the same cue and the same reward, but swapping the habit with something else.
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Now, I gotta be honest and say that oftentimes, if we decide to swap the habit,
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the reward is not gonna feel as good because it's not gonna give you cheap dopamine hits.
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Doomscrolling is a super normal stimulus and journaling,
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let's be honest, it doesn't feel as satisfying because it doesn't give you cheap dopamine hits.
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It's completely normal.
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But long term, it works so much better than doom scrolling.
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And I'm not saying this to discourage you and click off this video.
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I'm saying it to be honest.
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There are things in our life that are called super normal stimuli.
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This concept in behavioral science comes from animal research.
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Scientists discovered that if you show a bird an artificially giant version of its egg,
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the bird is going to abandon its real egg and choose the artificial giant version instead.
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Because an exaggerated version of something triggers a stronger response than the real thing ever could.
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And social media is a supernormal stimulus for your brain.
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It's not just naturally interesting.
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It's been engineered to be more powerful than any kind of social connection ever could.
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And your brain was never designed for that level of stimulation, but obviously it adapted.
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Your baseline has now shifted, and so now we're craving more and more dopamine hits just to feel normal.
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So when you put your phone down and pick up your journal, you start writing something, what you're thinking about,
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what you're feeling, that will feel super boring in comparison with doom scrolling.
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But here's what I want you to think about.
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Journaling obviously isn't worse than scrolling, it's actually better for you.
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But it feels that way because your dopamine system has been artificially recalibrated.
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And what you do when you choose journaling instead of scrolling is slowly bringing it back to normal.
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The discomfort you feel in those first sessions when you're trying something new isn't a sign that,
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you know, you can't do it, it's not for you.
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It's a sign that your brain is recalibrating, that something is changing.
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You're getting used to a more sustainable way to get your dopamine, a way that is going to get you closer to your goals,
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a way that is going to help you understand yourself better.
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Because this is what journaling is for me.
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Alright, so now let's talk about the method.
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We can call it your dopamine journal.
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The reason why I like to call it this way is
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because the journaling prompts are hopefully gonna help you get the dopamine
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while you're answering all of these questions because you're gonna be daydreaming, thinking about something nice.
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So hopefully it's gonna make you feel so much better after you answer all of these questions
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compared to when you choose to doom scroll for hours and hours.
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At least I can tell you guys that it works amazingly for me.
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It really helps me understand myself better
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and it helps me stay focused on my life instead of just watching everyone else on social media.
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So the way it works is every time you feel that cue, you feel the urge to scroll, you're gonna replace that with journaling.
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You can, you know, use your notebook or
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if you're journaling on your iPad or you can even record a voice note
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if you want to talk instead of writing everything.
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The cue is the same, right?
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You're feeling boredom, maybe some kind of discomfort, but we're changing the routine.
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Instead of scrolling, we try to understand our behavior a bit better and hopefully we get the same reward.
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So question number one is, what am I feeling right now and what am I trying to avoid?
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This is a great question to understand what you're feeling in the moment.
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Are you feeling bored?
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Are you feeling some kind of like discomfort?
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Maybe you're hot, maybe you're tired, maybe you're hungry because there's actual research behind it.
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It's called effect labeling.
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A psychologist, Matthew Lieberman, showed that when you put a name to an emotion, it literally reduces its intensity in your brain.
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If you say, I'm bored, if you write it down, if you journal about it, it's immediately going to make you feel so much better.
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It's immediately gonna make you feel less bored.
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I spent the last week answering this prompt every single day when I feel that urge to scroll.
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And what I've been noticing the most is that I tend to zoom scroll when I feel tired mentally.
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Like after working for many, many hours, I just feel like my body is numb
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because I've been sitting in front of my computer for many hours my mind is tired like I feel wired
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and tired and everything at the same time and
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so obviously the easiest thing to do in
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that moment is to doom scroll
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but in reality what actually makes me feel better is
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when I go
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and exercise that's why I normally prefer to exercise after I finish my work in the evening
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because it actually gives me that energy back
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and obviously not working myself to a point where I just feel numb
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and I can't function and I can't think about anything.
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So question number two that you can ask yourself is this.
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What's one thing I'm genuinely looking forward to today?
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This question targets anticipation and it matters so much because dopamine doesn't spike when you get the reward.
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It doesn't spike when my phone is in my hand and I'm doom scrolling and having a great time.
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It spikes right before it.
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When I'm reaching for my phone and I'm thinking about how great I'm going to feel while doomscrolling.
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That's why writing about something good coming up is gonna make you feel so much better.
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I'm getting goosebumps just saying it because this morning I actually paid for my participation,
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my bib, to run a half marathon later this year.
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And when I journal about that that just makes me so excited.
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It makes me so excited thinking about my training plan, how many times per week I'm going to run,
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and just the whole experience of running a half marathon.
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Your brain lights up the same way it does when you're scrolling and looking for something exciting,
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like the next hit, except you're actually generating it from within, from the inside, instead of outsourcing everything to an algorithm.
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Question number three.
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What's one thing I did today that I haven't celebrated yet?
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This targets your progress because oftentimes we're not even noticing all the great things we're doing every single day,
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like little wins that our days are full of.
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For example, this morning I had a Spanish class and I really love my teacher.
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I love learning Spanish.
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and when I think about it, when I think about the fact that I'm moving towards my goal of being able to speak Spanish fluently,
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it just makes me so happy and so satisfied.
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Question number four.
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What's something I've been curious about lately that I haven't explored yet?
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This targets novelty and curiosity, which is exactly what your brain is looking for when you're reaching for your phone.
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You want something interesting because you feel bored, you feel tired.
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So you want something to entertain you, something to make you laugh.
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This journaling prompt gives you exactly all the curiosity and novelty you were looking for.
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But again, you're getting all of this from yourself, from your brain, from your own thoughts and experiences instead of outsourcing everything to an algorithm.
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And honestly, once you start journaling in this fun way,
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using prompts, you realize that your own thoughts are so much more interesting than you gave them credit for.
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So for me, something I've been curious about recently is an interview I saw on YouTube
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and I just saved it to my watch later playlist.
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So I feel like I should actually dedicate some time to listen to this interview
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because I'm very curious and instead of saving it and forgetting it, I should just actually go and do it and watch this interview.
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And question five.
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If this week went really well, what happened?
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This prompt targets visualization.
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Visualizing what we want our life to be is so powerful.
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It helps you think about your values, about your direction in life,
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and whether the actions you take on a daily basis are aligned with the visualizations you've created for yourself.
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So for me, if this week went really well, I finished planning my half marathon training, I went to my dance class,
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and I made a delicious pasta recipe I've been craving lately.
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So now I want to talk about why I believe that this method works even for people who have never journaled before.
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If you don't have this habit yet, but you feel like you really want to get into journaling, I think it will work amazingly for you and here's why.
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I'm not asking you to build a completely new habit from scratch.
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What I'm asking you is to replace an existing habit, doom scrolling.
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You feel something and instead of choosing your phone and social media and scrolling,
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you replace it with something that is going to make you feel more aligned with who you are,
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something that is going to make you feel fulfilled something
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that is going to help you understand yourself better the trigger is already there you feel the urge to scroll
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so many times a day and instead of going
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and doing it you do something else
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and honestly you don't have to go through all of the journaling prompts obviously
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if you have time and if you want to you can
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but you can just pick one let's say i don't know i I feel really tired, I feel bored, and I don't really want to do like a long journaling session,
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or I don't even want to write.
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All I want to do is talk to AI about what I'm feeling in this moment.
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That's okay too.
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You can still use all of these journaling prompts.
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And because I've shared actual prompts with you, they're gonna help you not experience this state
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when you're just staring at a blank page and you don't know what to write.
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It's like when you want to start working out.
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If you've never worked out before and you don't know what to do, it's really nice to follow a specific plan.
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Maybe have an instructor who can explain everything to you.
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So it's the same thing with journaling.
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It's great when you already have a habit and you can just sit down and write three pages of your free-flowing thoughts.
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But if you feel like it's a little bit hard for you, like that initial friction is hard, we can always make it easier with prompts.
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That's absolutely okay.
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And to be honest, sometimes when you just, you know, sit down to journal every single day and you're just writing everything that's on your mind,
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at some point it starts to feel boring and you want to spice things up.
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You want to add joy back into the habit of journaling.
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And so it's nice to use prompts.
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And so over time something really interesting happens.
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you start to associate that urge to scroll with actually getting to know yourself more.
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You stop yourself in the moment and say, okay, I feel bored right now, or I feel tired, or the project I'm working on is really hard, so I want to procrastinate,
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and I'm choosing to use my phone instead.
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Why?
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Maybe there's something else I could do instead.
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Maybe I need to drink some water.
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Maybe I need to go drink a cup of coffee
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or maybe eat my favorite snack so that the habits I actually have in my life feel sustainable.
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They feel good.
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They feel like something that makes me happy, that makes me feel fulfilled.
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The craving doesn't go away, but it starts to point at something different.
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And that is exactly how we change our habits.
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Not through discipline and relying on our willpower, but through repetition and replacement.
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Alright, so now let's bring this all together and finalize today's video.
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You doom scroll for three reasons.
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No friction, emotional regulation, and boredom that you don't know how to sit with.
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And willpower cannot fix any of these things long term.
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Yes, you can rely on it for a day or two, but then you just feel like you're going against yourself.
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It doesn't feel good anymore.
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And I really hope
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that all the journaling prompts I shared in today's video are going to help you address all three reasons.
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Because all of these prompts work with your existing habit loop instead of trying to fight it.
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I really want you to understand that to be able to do that, you don't need to be a journaling person.
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You don't need to do this every single morning.
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You don't need to do this every single day.
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You just need to do it the next time you feel that urge to pick up your phone.
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And instead of doing that, because you know that you're tired of it, you want to change something, you choose to understand yourself better.
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That's the whole entry point.
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In this video, I've been talking a lot about your dopamine.
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So if you want to go deeper on this topic, I highly recommend watching this video next where I talk about how to build your dopamine menu.
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Thank you so much for watching.
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I really hope you liked today's video and I'll see you in my next one.
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Bye!
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Why This Journaling Trick Beats Doomscrolling (And How It Helps Your English)
Ever reached for your phone without thinking, just to scroll through endless posts? The video shares a simple journaling method that replaces this habit—no willpower required. But beyond breaking doomscrolling, it’s a goldmine for english speaking practice. Let’s break down how to use it, plus key phrases to boost your skills.
3 Must-Know Phrases from the Video
- "Inherently bad": Used to describe something seen as naturally negative (e.g., "I don’t think scrolling is inherently bad—it’s about balance").
- "Emotion regulation": The ability to manage feelings (e.g., "Journaling helps with emotion regulation by letting you process stress").
- "Sit with boredom": To tolerate being unoccupied (e.g., "It’s hard to sit with boredom, but it builds patience").
Shadowing Guide: Practice Like a Pro
Shadowing—repeating speech aloud as you hear it—is a top way to improve fluency. Here’s how to use the video for shadow speech:
- Listen once: Focus on the speaker’s tone (casual, empathetic) and pace (slow enough to follow).
- Repeat short chunks: Pause after 5-10 seconds and mimic their words, stress, and intonation. For example, try "Procrastination is not a time management problem"—emphasize "not" to match the speaker’s point.
- Link to journaling: After shadowing, write 2-3 sentences about a time you scrolled to avoid discomfort. Use phrases like "emotion regulation" or "sit with boredom" to reinforce learning.
For extra practice, use a shadowing site to slow down the audio. The goal isn’t perfection—it’s to get comfortable with natural speech patterns. Over time, you’ll notice your English sounds more confident, and you’ll kick doomscrolling too. Win-win!
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.