Shadowing Practice: The Easiest Way to Master a New Skill: Robin Sharma on Learning - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hi, it's Robin Sharma, author of The 5M Club and The Everyday Hero Manifesto.
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I'm here in my room in Mexico City.
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I just flew in from Europe last night and I wanted to, I've just been here in my room.
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Tomorrow I have a big event for a large group of leaders and I'm just locked in my room here today.
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I had an early morning workout and I went and got my coffee.
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It's just a nice vibe in here.
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It's springtime in Mexico City.
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The door behind me is open.
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I hear birds singing.
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I hear horns honking.
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But it's a full day where I'm just sort of catching up on thinking
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and reading and working on what I call my game charts so I can plan out the future.
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It's really just a day to myself where I can think and ponder and capture my ideas is.
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Anyway, why I wanted to shoot this, it'll be a quick video,
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but it also occurred to me that there is huge power and an appetite for learning.
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And I really get that's obvious, but there's a pivot I want you to think about that's very powerful and very heroic and very helpful.
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And it's the victim to hero pivot.
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I talk about it a lot in my book, The Everyday Hero Manifesto.
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It's a very powerful book where I've distilled the information I've taught to billionaires
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and sports stars and members of royalty over the past 28 years.
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Read it if you're interested.
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The point I'm trying to make today
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that I really want you to stay open to is there is a pivot to think about.
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It's the victim to hero pivot.
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Victims make excuses.
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Victims blame.
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They blame the system.
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They blame their boss.
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They blame their past.
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They blame their culture.
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They blame the time that we're in.
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And heroes are very different.
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That's the leap or the pivot I want you to make.
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They're much more about possibility.
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In difficulty, they say opportunity.
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Heroes are very much about execution versus talking about what they're going to do.
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And here's the key and why I recorded this video.
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Heroes love to learn.
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So Carol Dweck has this idea that she wrote about in Mindset called the growth mindset.
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And there's the growth mindset and the fixed mindset that she talks about.
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And the growth mindset is basically, well, if I don't know a skill, I can learn the skill.
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I can read the books and I can get a mentor
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and I could do the training and I can get great at that.
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The fixed mindset is, oh,
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Federer and Serena Williams and Basquiat and Einstein and Elon Musk and Steve Jobs and Hedy Lamarr,
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well, they were gifted and born into their genius.
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I am not like them, so why even try?
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So I want you to think about the fixed mindset and I want you to think about the growth mindset.
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And I know you're a believer in learning and the growth mindset, otherwise you wouldn't be following my work
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and here's the real key there's an idea i want to offer to you
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and it's simply this it's a principle it's
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if i don't know it i can learn it come on repeat
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that again with me because it is powerful
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if i don't know how to publish a book i can go online especially these days on youtube for example
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and learn how to publish a book
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if i don't know how to build a startup i'm not going to complain
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and say oh i can't do it because where i live
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or because it's hard because I don't know or
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because I don't come from an entrepreneurial family I will learn it
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and so that mantra is powerful
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if I don't know it I will learn it even
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if it's new language I'm learning Italian at almost at the age of 60
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and it's un po complicato ma un lingua molto interessante e bello
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and so I'm learning it I'm on Duolingo and I get lessons and I stumble and I fall,
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but if I don't know it, I can learn it.
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And so I want you to think about that.
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Let me give you three practical ideas to bring this idea of the person who learns the most wins
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or this growth mindset.
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I call it like a leadership mindset versus a victim mindset.
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So number one, pick a subject that you want to master right now.
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Maybe it's Italian, maybe it's
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Portuguese, maybe it's
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Mandarin, whatever it is.
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Find a subject or a skill you wanna master.
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Maybe it's cooking, maybe it's coding.
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So identify that one skill that if you, let's call it a keystone skill or a tent pole skill.
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The one skill that if you master it will lift every other skill in your life.
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Second thing, each day iterate and optimize.
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Remember, Confucius said it well, the thousand mile journey begins with a single step.
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So incrementalism is very powerful.
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Little micro wins each and every day.
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It's stunning how far you get.
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Final thing.
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Understand that growth isn't easy.
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So the skills I've tried to learn, whether it's the craft of writing over the years, I started off as a litigation lawyer.
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I wasn't an artist for a living.
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Now I am.
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I'm a writer.
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But all changes, and I write about this in the 5am club, and it's helped a lot of people.
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All change is hard at first, it's messy in the middle, and it's beautiful at the end so as you're learning this new skill
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and you hit the wall which you will understand that's time to maybe take a break
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so you come back stronger and change is meant to be hard
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because you're rewiring your neural circuitry you're optimizing
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or you're changing your emotional architecture you're becoming a new person
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and so who you were yesterday must experience a death of sorts
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so you can become who you need to be tomorrow anyway i want you to keep on learning
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it's a great secret of happiness it'll obviously help you in your craft
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and in your work and it'll help you make the world a better place
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because as you push your best self into the world then you inspire everyone around you to do the same
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if you want to go deeper have a look at the information below
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i'm offering an amazing resource is it'll help you grow it'll help you be a better leader.
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And it's a video course.
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There's no charge whatsoever.
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It's just my way of being of service to you
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and applauding you for following my work and being here with me on this video.
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I also very much encourage you to read the 5am club.
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It's helped millions and millions of people calibrate their daily habits, their morning routine, their pre -sleep ritual, and their work habits.
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So they take it to a whole new level of impact and effectiveness.
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And it really works.
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And that's That's why many millions of people are using the book and The 5M Club has grown into a global movement.
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I also, if you want to go deeper, encourage you to read
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The Everyday Hero Manifesto.
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I wrote that book with so much love, so much calibration, and I have a lot of the models
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that form my methodology on elite performance and legendary productivity in The Everyday hero manifesto.
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So for a relatively small sum, you get sort of a distillation of the methodology
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that I've taught to the NBA stars and the film stars and the billionaires and the big companies that I've mentored.
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So hope all this helps.
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Go out there, keep on learning, and I wish you all the best.
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Bye.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “The Easiest Way to Master a New Skill: Robin Sharma on Learning”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: mindset, skill, learn, learning, growth. This video has 120 sentences and 1310 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:58. The speaker talks at a natural 164 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| mindset noun | /ˈmaɪn(d)ˌsɛt/ | A way of thinking; an attitude or opinion, especially a habitual one. |
| skill noun | /skɪl/ | A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate. |
| manifesto noun | /ˌmæn.əˈfɛs.toʊ/ | A public declaration of principles, policies, or intentions, especially that of a political party. |
| encourage verb | /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ | To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit. |
| versus | /ˈvɝsəs/ | Against; in opposition to. |
| craft noun | /ˈkɹæft/ | Ability, skillfulness, especially skill in making plans and carrying them into execution; dexterity in managing affairs, adroitness, practical cunning… |
| habit noun | /ˈhæb.ɪt/ | An action performed on a regular basis. |
| publish verb | /ˈpʌblɪʃ/ | To issue (something, such as printed work) for distribution and/or sale. |
| mentor noun | /ˈmɛn.tɔː/ | A wise and trusted counselor or teacher. |
| methodology noun | /ˌmɛθ.əˈdɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/ | The study of methods used in a field. |
| billionaire noun | /ˌbɪl.jəˈnɛɚ/ | Somebody whose wealth is at least one billion (10⁹) currency units (usually understood to exclude holders of hyperinflated currencies). |
| practical adjective | /ˈpɹæk.tɪ.kəl/ | Relating to, or based on, practice or action rather than theory or hypothesis. |
| chart noun | /t͡ʃɑɹt/ | A map illustrating the geography of a specific phenomenon. |
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| occur verb | /əˈkɜː/ | To happen or take place. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come back verb | To return to a place. |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. |
| plan out verb | to plan, organize, make a plan for something |
| start off verb | To begin. |
| write over verb | To save a piece of data in place of other data; to overwrite. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Read it if you're interested.
- They blame the time that we're in.
- I am not like them, so why even try?
- It's stunning how far you get.
- I wasn't an artist for a living.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if I don't know it I will learn · if you master it will lift |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've just been · I've distilled · I've tried |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | were gifted · is meant |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 44 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: publish /ˈpʌblɪʃ/, capture /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/, execution /ˌɛk.sɪˈkjuː.ʃən/, litigation /ˌlɪtɪˈɡeɪ̯ʃən/, calibration /ˌkæl.ɪˈbɹeɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: manifesto /ˌmæn.əˈfɛs.toʊ/, methodology /ˌmɛθ.əˈdɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, architecture /ˈɑː.kɪˌtɛk.t͡ʃə/, difficulty /ˈdɪfɪkəlti/, execution /ˌɛk.sɪˈkjuː.ʃən/
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 mindset, skill, manifesto.
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.