Shadowing Practice: The Evidence-Based Study Hacks Every Student Should Know - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

What if I told you

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What if I told you

that there was a way you could study for just 30 minutes a day

and it would be more effective than studying for eight hours in the library?

Hi, my name is Jade.

I got all A stars in my GCSE and A levels back in the day.

And then I went on to study cognitive science at university,

got a first class degree in everything brain related.

And now I work in a school and I'm really passionate about helping young people study smarter, not harder.

And if school isn't going to teach you the principles of the science of learning,

then I'll try to.

If you want to dive deeper into this topic,

I wrote an entire study guide,

the only study guide you'll ever need.

And I also created a free evidence-based class on Skillshare

that you can click the link in my description for if you're interested.

But today I'm going to give you the most essential,

rapid-fire study tips that I wish everyone in 2026 knew.

So grab a pen and paper,

make notes if you need, and let's jump in.

We're going to divide this video into three major sections.

The first is planning, the second is study methods,

and the third is motivation,

all three of which are going to be evidence-based.

They are all absolutely essential to being the best version of the student that you can be.

So don't skip ahead.

One of the most crucial steps that students miss isn't even about studying.

It's about not planning their studying.

We call this metacognition.

Not just doing the thinking,

doing the cognition, but to take that higher level approach and ask,

what study resources do I need?

When am I going to study?

How am I going to plan my studying most effectively?

If any of you guys are wondering why you're struggling to pick up a textbook

and you're just scrolling endlessly on your phone,

it's not because you don't have motivation.

It's because you don't have the right system.

Habits are what happen when you get so used to doing something that there's no friction.

There's no real choice to doing the action.

You're not getting home from university thinking,

should I go see a friend or should I study for the exam

or should I go to the gym? the choice is already made for you because you've got a routine.

So for this step we need to look at the calendar of your life

and we need to plan your study blocks so that success is inevitable.

We're going to do this by asking three questions.

The first question, are you preparing for anything in particular?

For example, let's say you're preparing for your GCSE exams in May.

Write those deadlines down in your calendar and track back.

Do you have any essay deadlines,

any dissertation deadlines just make sure you're very aware of your dates

and if you don't have any big deadlines

that you're working towards work out what the purpose of your studying is right now for example

if you're in year 10

and you don't have any big exams coming up it's really

important to develop a study routine now to create the resources

that you will need in year 11

so for example creating your flashcards the key here is to identify the free blocks of time

that can become your consistent study times.

So when you put your deadlines in the calendar,

the next question is, what do you need to learn before then?

Make a big list of everything you need to learn.

This might feel excessive, but guys,

I want you to go through,

make an Excel sheet and write down every single module,

every single chapter, every concept that you need to learn.

And then I want you to rank them.

I want you to grade every single module that you need to learn with a traffic light system.

Green being, I really understand this.

I don't need to go over it that much.

Amber being, okay, this definitely needs some work.

And red being, I really struggle with this.

I don't understand it.

This needs a lot of time.

Maybe I need to go see my teacher.

One of the reasons that we avoid studying is because it feels too overwhelming.

We feel this enormous, endless to-do list in our heads,

that there is something really cathartic about just writing it out,

writing down what you need to learn.

And then number three, allocate those things

that you need to learn into the free time that you have and ask yourself questions like,

when do I study best?

For example, if you notice that you always focus better in the morning,

then put the most difficult things you need to study in that focus time.

Could you wake up an hour earlier to study in the morning

and to make it a habit so that you wake up and it doesn't feel like a choice.

You just go to your desk and you do your work.

And now, because it's 2026,

one of the biggest hacks you can use to create a revision study timetable is to use AI.

I have an entire video about using AI so I recommend watching

that first because there are a lot of parts of studying

that I definitely wouldn't recommend using AI for like anything

that requires real cognitive struggle like essay writing definitely try

and do that yourself but AI is really useful for outsourcing mundane organizational tasks

so what you're going to do is you're going to upload a pdf of your textbook into notebook lm

or whatever your AI tool of choice is

and then you're going to prompt it with something like this prompt that I wrote here.

I'll even put it in the description in case you're interested.

This helps you design an evidence-based revision timetable with the free time that you have,

with the modules that you find difficult.

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So you're not stressed every day coming home being like,

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what should I study?

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You've already done that planning work.

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You've mapped it out for yourself.

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If you want to learn more about how to best plan your study sessions,

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including all sorts of hacks from the science of learning,

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I really recommend watching my free class over on Skillshare.

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With the link in my description,

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the first 500 people to click the link will get access to my class completely for free for a month,

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but only the first 500 people.

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So if you're interested, definitely go check it out.

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Skillshare is the world's largest online learning community.

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And I personally have learned so many skills from that place.

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My God, I highly recommend Ali Abdaal's courses on productivity,

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on evidence-based study methods.

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They are so well-researched and engaging and they can really enrich your study time to ensure you're studying smarter, not harder.

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I've also learned to do watercolor painting recently and all kinds of creative, amazing hobbies.

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So definitely check out Skillshare if you're interested.

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You can scan this QR code or click the link in my description to get a month free.

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Thank you so much for Skillshare for sponsoring today's video.

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And before we get into actual study methods,

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the final part of planning for me is understanding scientifically some of the best strategies you can use for study hygiene.

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Here are the three I wish every student knew.

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First, something called sanctity of space.

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Your brain learns to associate certain activities with certain spaces.

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For example, when you go to the kitchen,

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you expect to eat food.

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So maybe your body is triggered to feel hungry.

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When you lie in bed,

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your brain associates it with sleep.

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And so you're more likely to feel sleepy.

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What do you want your brain to associate with the place that you do your studying?

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Do you want your brain to associate it with texting friends,

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scrolling on social media?

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Ideally, no. Ideally, you want to associate it with focus,

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with quiet, with calm.

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And the best way to do this is to really protect a space,

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a physical space only for the act of studying.

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So whether that is a certain library or cafe you go to,

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or it can be as simple as at home,

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when I light a candle at my desk,

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the only thing I do there is study.

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If a candle is lit on my desk,

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I am not scrolling on my phone.

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I'm not texting friends.

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Equally, if you don't have a desk and you're studying from your bed,

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how can you turn your bed around to make the bed feel like a new environment when you're studying?

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Number two, be aware of your dopamine resources.

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In 2026, let's be real,

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we're all addicted to social media,

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massive bursts of dopamine, and these absolutely affect your capacity to concentrate.

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Try to plan your study session strategically around not going on your phone.

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If you've been scrolling for the last 30 minutes,

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it's going to be very difficult for you to now focus on something cognitively demanding.

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And I made a whole video here about effective study breaks you can use to restore concentration.

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And number three, a lot of evidence suggests that something called body doubling,

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where you are studying amongst other people,

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where you can visibly see other people learning.

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It's really helpful for sustaining focus.

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And this is especially for neurodivergent people.

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If you're struggling to get in the mood to study,

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go to a library, see other people working,

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ask friends to co-work, but just be careful not to end up yapping away.

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Okay, number two, study methods.

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I'm sorry, but so many of you are going to hate this.

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Do you know what the most common but scientifically least effective study technique is?

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Passively rereading your textbook.

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Reading your notes basically does nothing.

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It's like in your brain,

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you feel really intelligent and then it's out.

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The saddest revision methods are those where you are not cognitively engaging,

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where you're not struggling your way through.

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The easier it feels, the less effective it is.

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For a study method to work,

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it needs to be challenging.

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It needs to engage your brain.

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So we need to turn our passive,

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sad techniques into something that I call SAD, S-A-A-D techniques.

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In my book, I go through this in detail.

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But basically, guys, it doesn't matter what study method you are using as long as it fulfills these four principles.

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First, we have S, spaced repetition.

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This is the forgetting curve of human memory.

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How depressing is this?

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Typically, we forget 70% of new information that we learn 24 hours later,

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which means even if you're spending eight hours revising in the library,

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if you're not going over that information again,

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you will forget it, which is why science shows that rather than just doing massive study sessions once in a while,

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it's so important to review information daily and then every four days

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and then once a week and then once every two weeks

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and to really stop that forgetting curve to get your memory back up to 100%.

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So make sure you're studying little but often.

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And then we have A, active recall.

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Active recall is the complete opposite of rereading your textbook.

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Active recall is where you are not given the answer.

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You're not looking at an answer.

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You have to pull that information from your brain.

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Think flashcards where you're being asked a question and you have to produce the answer.

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Think practice test questions where you have to go into your brain,

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evaluate the information and produce an answer.

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It's hard.

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We don't like active recall.

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We avoid it, but the struggle is where the magic is.

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And then we have the second A, associations.

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The school system teaches us things in isolation.

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A concept over here, a concept in geography,

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a concept in maths, but that's not how the brain works.

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We are deeply interdisciplinary beings and knowledge is stored in a web.

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And when you are learning something new,

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it's a lot more difficult for this new block to come

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and survive in your memory unless it is attached to the existing web.

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If you can make associations between this new piece of information and something that is already in your understanding,

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in your long-term memory, then it's much more likely that this new piece of information is going to stick.

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This looks like going through your notes and writing down what this reminds you of.

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Like, oh my god, this reminds me of a concept I learned in history.

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or oh my god I watched a documentary the other day and it mentioned something related to this.

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By making those links, those associations,

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you are strengthening your capacity to recall this new information.

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And finally in sad techniques we have D for desirable difficulty.

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Coined by one of my cognitive science heroes Robert Bjork,

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desirable difficulty says that if something is easy,

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probably not gonna remember it.

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If learning feels easy, you're probably not learning.

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For a study session to be really effective,

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a really smart use of your time,

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there should be a bit of struggle.

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You should almost be making mistakes.

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You know, you should be at the level where you're stretching yourself enough that there is challenge.

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So maybe you're taking on past paper questions because the flashcards feel too easy,

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or you're mixing up different topics with something called interleaving

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because it feels too easy to just be doing biology all the time.

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So now that you've got this mental checklist of sad technique.

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What turns a rubbish, sad technique into a sad, effective technique?

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Let's use the example of flashcards to see if using flashcards is effective.

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S, we've got space repetition.

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Can we review this information in increments?

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Can we use flashcards at intervals?

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Yes, we can.

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So as long as we're doing flashcards every day and then every few days,

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and then in a week and then in a month and in a few months,

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we're really going to make sure that that information is in our long-term memories.

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And then A, active recall.

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Flashcards are forcing us to recall things actively from our brains, which is amazing.

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A for associations, we are building on our foundational knowledge.

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And hopefully the flashcards aren't too easy.

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We're still challenging ourselves.

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We are reviewing the modules that feel difficult, desirable difficulty.

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I'm really passionate about helping you guys learn for yourselves to evaluate whether something is effective.

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So hopefully by practicing the SAAD formula,

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you can make sure that all your study methods are scientifically helping you.

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The final thing I want to look at is motivation.

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At university, I did an entire module about motivation and behavior change,

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and I'm so passionate about it.

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I could give you 10 videos just about motivation,

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but what I think is really important for you to know is the difference between extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation.

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Many of us are only motivated by extrinsic reward.

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So that is an external reward that we want to achieve.

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So for example, I will work hard at my job because I want to earn a bonus.

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I will study hard because I want to get that grade.

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I will work hard at school to make my parents happy.

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But maybe I will hate every single second of that process.

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I am merely doing it for the external reward.

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However, science shows us that consistently relying on extrinsic motivation is a recipe for disaster.

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It will lead to less motivation over time,

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you'll feel less disciplined, and the key to sustaining your motivation is something called intrinsic motivation.

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It's finding a reason to enjoy the process now,

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to tap into your own interests and curiosity,

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to romanticize the act of studying.

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Even the fact that you guys are here and

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that you are watching this video and

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that you are intrinsically motivated to improve the way

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that you study is an amazing sign and is really empowering and reminds you that you have autonomy over your study life.

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In some ways, I think studying is an act of self-love.

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The more that you study,

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the more that you learn about yourself,

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your place within the world, other people.

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Every single time you interact with another person,

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the more that you have studied the way that systems work,

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you are bringing so many more rich lenses to see this human through and you are less biased by your own experiences.

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You become a better member of society who is able to understand systems more richly,

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to contribute to making the world a better place.

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Learning is such a gift.

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Education is such a privilege and to view it through

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that lens of love is enough to transform your entire experience of studying.

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So even when inevitably things get tough and you're struggling,

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you're doing a lot of cognitive struggle,

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get really clear on your why.

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Why are you working hard?

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Who do you want to become?

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What enjoyment can you find in the process here and now?

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And think of all the wonderful opportunities that you are opening up for yourself.

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Thank you guys so much for watching.

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I really believe in the power of community

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and it's one of my favorite things ever when you guys share your own tips and experiences in the comment section.

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We have so much to learn from each other

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and you have no idea what a gift it could be for someone else to read about something

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that has helped you or a shift that you've had in your mindset around studying that now makes you more motivated.

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There's so much richness that we can learn from you and so if you have a tip to share,

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I would love to hear about it in the comments and we can all scroll and learn from each other.

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Thank you so much for watching.

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Go check out Skillshare if you want to see my class and I hope you have a gorgeous rest of your day.

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Bye.

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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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Shadowing Practice: The Evidence-Based Study Hacks Every Student Should Know - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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What is the Shadowing Technique?