Shadowing Practice: The 7 Crucial Success Rules - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Here are seven rules you can apply to any challenge that you face in achieving anything you desire.
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Rule number one, the most important key to achieving great success is to decide upon your goal and then launch.
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Get started.
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Take action. Do something.
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Move.
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A 12 -year study at Babson College concluded
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that the act of taking the first step is what separates the losers from the winners or the winners from the losers.
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We set out at the age of 20 with 300 each to cross three continents
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and travel 17 000 miles from vancouver on the west coast to johannesburg in southern africa
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and we made it in just under 12 months
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but the most important step was the first one all the rest followed from
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that number two once you've launched towards your goal never consider
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the possibility of failure the germans have a saying it's immer vorne nie zurück immer vorne nie zurück
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and it means always forward never backward always forward never backward
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never consider the possibility of failure every person here is here
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because they refuse to quit
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when the going got rough your ability to persist in the face of setbacks
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and disappointments is vital to all great achievement and it's always a decision
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that you make it's not the external environment it's always the
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internal environment number three the biggest goal in the world can be accomplished
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if you just take it one oil barrel at a time
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thomas carlisle once wrote
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that our great business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance
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but to do what lies clearly at hand the only time you will ever have is now
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if you live every day every hour the best you can
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the rest will take care of itself as the bible says
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sufficient unto the day are the cares thereof number four watch
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out for the naysayers the negative people around you are always telling you
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that you'll die in the desert get around positive people get
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around winners like people in this room fly with the eagles
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and refuse to listen to objections and reasons why you can't succeed someone once said
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that if every possible objection must first be overcome nothing will ever get done
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and truer words were never spoken number five welcome obstacles
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and difficulties as valuable
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and inevitable steps on the ladder of success remember the difficulties come not too obstruct
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but to instruct difficulties come not too obstruct
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but to instruct our trip to Africa was one problem after another we ran out of money over
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and over we strained every muscle of our bodies trying to ride bicycles across France
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and Spain our Land Rover broke down again
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and again we suffered from dysentery and heatstroke and exhaustion but
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when it us time we were ready for the sahara crossing in retrospect we saw clearly
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that without the lessons
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that we had learned from our mistakes we would have surely died in the desert
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and when you look back on any achievement you will find it was preceded by many difficulties
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and many lessons they are the price that you pay for your success
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and no success is possible without them number six be clear about your goal
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but be flexible about the process of achieving it be willing
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to change to try something new keep your mind open
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and fluid and flexible be willing to accept feedback from your environment
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and correct your course this is a key quality of peak
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performers they're not rigid they're flexible remember it's not what you have
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but what you do with what you have
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that separates winners from losers it's not what happens to you
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but how you respond to what happens to you
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that counts in the final analysis your response to the adversity
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of life is the real measure of who you are
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and what you're made of the greek philosopher epictetus once said
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that circumstances do not make the man
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or woman they merely revealed him to himself you find out who you really are
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when you face adversity
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and remember number seven last rule is nobody does it alone
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at every step on our journey across Africa people helped us with advice
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and food and with assistance and with money but especially with warmth
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and with kindness with generosity when life is over it will be the people
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that we live and laugh and love with
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that we remember more than anything else
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so don't be afraid to ask for help from others it's a mark of strength courage
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and character and don't be reluctant to give of yourself to others generously it's the mark of caring
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and compassion and personal greatness the reason the sahara story was
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so relevant for me was that because after the sahara i never felt
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that there's anything i couldn't do i felt programmed for success
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for life although it took me many years to understand it
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and the The reason why this story may be of interest to you is because I believe that everyone
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has a Sahara to cross, perhaps more than one.
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Many of you are crossing your own Saharas right now.
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Everyone eventually goes through periods of great difficulty, their own private hells, their dark nights of the soul.
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But it is by facing whatever light gives us with courage and determination that we grow more surely toward the stars.
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Let me leave you with the last verse of carry on.
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There are some who drift out in the deserts of doubt, and some who in negativity wallow.
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There are others I know who in piety go because of a heaven to follow.
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But to labor with zest and to give of your best for the sweetness and joy of the giving, to help folks along with a hand and a song.
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Why there's the real sunshine of living carry on carry on fight the good fight
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and true there's big work to do believe in your mission
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greet life with a cheer there's big work to do
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and that's why you're here carry on carry on let the world be the better for you
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so at last when you die let this be your cry carry on my soul carry on
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if you will resolve with whatever life hands you to carry on there is nothing
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that can stop you from achieving the greatness for which you were created.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 89 sentences and 1079 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:55. The speaker talks fast, about 183 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| difficulty noun | /ˈdɪfɪkəlti/ | The state of being difficult, or hard to do. |
| desert noun | /ˈdɛz.ɚt/ | A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland. |
| flexible adjective | /ˈflɛk.sɪ.bəl/ | Capable of being flexed or bent without breaking; able to be turned or twisted without breaking. |
| loser noun | /luzɚ/ | A person who loses; one who fails to win or thrive. |
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| refuse verb | /ɹɪˈfjuːz/ | To decline (a request or demand). |
| achievement noun | /əˈt͡ʃiːv.mənt/ | The act of achieving or performing; a successful performance; accomplishment. |
| courage noun | /ˈkʌ.ɹɪd͡ʒ/ | The quality of being confident, not afraid or easily intimidated, but without being incautious or inconsiderate. |
| objection noun | /əbˈd͡ʒɛkʃən/ | The act of objecting. |
| backward adjective | /ˈbækwɚd/ | Situated toward or at the rear of something. |
| greatness noun | /ˈɡɹeɪtnəs/ | The state, condition, or quality of being great |
| suffer verb | /ˈsʌfɚ/ | To undergo hardship. |
| muscle noun | /ˈmʌs.əl/ | A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement. |
| reveal verb | /ɹɪˈviːl/ | To uncover; to show and display that which was hidden. |
| vital adjective | /ˈvaɪtəl/ | Relating to or characteristic of life. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| break down verb | To stop functioning. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| get around verb | To move to the other side of (something, such as an obstruction) by deviating from a direct course or following a curved path. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 10 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, they're, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: warmth /wɔɹmθ/, thereof /ðɛˈɹʌv/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: objection /əbˈd͡ʒɛkʃən/, sufficient /səˈfɪʃənt/, determination /dɪˌtɜːmɪˈneɪʃən/, sunshine /ˈsʌnʃaɪn/, accomplish /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: difficulty /ˈdɪfɪkəlti/, determination /dɪˌtɜːmɪˈneɪʃən/, inevitable /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/, disappointment /ˌdɪsəˈpɔɪntmənt/, philosopher /fəˈlɑsəfɚ/
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 difficulty, desert, flexible.
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.