Shadowing Practice: The Hidden Reason Life Feels So Hard… and the Tiny Shift That Changes Everything! | Mel Robbins - Learn English Speaking with Video

And the fact is, your whole life is the little things.

It's when you wake up, it's the first thing you look at, it's what you do with your body,

and you were to focus for the next seven days on just adding one of those in a day, you would be very surprised how getting some of the little

things right actually starts to turn your life in a completely different direction.

Are you going to run your day on fumes, or are you going to run your day with fuel?

In other words, are you going to run on empty or are you going to run on full?

Because either way, you got a tank of gas and you're going to be running.

You have got a lot of big and important things to do.

I know you.

Of course you do.

You're running around all over the place.

So the question is, are you doing it with your tank on empty

or are you fueling yourself for everything you need to get done?

And I want you to be honest as your friend because this is where a lot of people are lying to themselves.

I used to be one of them.

You know, I grew up in the generation where they always used to say when I was little, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

But then I go to college and I got a different message.

You got to be skinny, so it's time to start starving yourself and skipping meals and exercising on an empty stomach and hydrating with caffeine.

and then I wonder why I have anxiety and I'm constantly bitchy and stressed out.

And I can hear you saying, Mel, you know, I know I need to have better fuel, but I don't have time.

It's so busy in the morning, I don't have time.

Okay, well then you're going to love this because I'm not going to ask you to become a new person.

I'm not going to ask you to overhaul your diet, track macros, buy a blender, join some wellness cult.

That's not what we're doing here.

The choice is very simple. are you feeding yourself

or are you starving yourself i get it you're late you grabbed your phone you did this you didn't do

that you didn't have time

but then you wonder why you're irritable you wonder why you

can't focus why everything feels hard why you're snapping at people

you like why you feel anxious why the littlest things at

work just piss you off this choice am i running on fumes

or am i running on fuel affects your entire day and it starts when you wake up.

So as I was getting ready to have this conversation with you, I was doing a bunch of research, and my friend, Dr. Nicole LaPera, who goes by the Holistic Psychologist Online,

she's extraordinary, she's brilliant, she's a New York Times best-selling author.

Tens of millions of people follow her

because she breaks down all kinds of psychology and research

and teaches you how you can apply it to heal and improve aspects of your life.

And she puts up this post, And it was a post about the importance of eating protein first thing in the morning.

She basically explained that in the first 30 minutes of the day, when you wake up, your cortisol levels are the highest.

Now cortisol is that, they call it the stress hormone,

but it's highest in the morning because arguably it's supposed to help you get going.

So for the first 30 minutes of the day when your cortisol levels are the highest, You may be grumpy and irritable and upset, and you don't even know why.

And then she says

that eating protein first thing in the morning is a very important thing to do to help you regulate your emotion.

And in the caption, she went on to describe that it's important because regulating your blood sugar

directly helps you regulate your emotions.

And this has been a huge shift in my life.

I mean, if you've been listening to the podcast recently, you know that health is my number one goal.

And in particular, I've listened to all the medical and nutritional

and scientific experts

that have come on this podcast in every single possible discipline

who have all been talking to us about the critical nature of protein.

protein for focus protein for muscles protein for energy protein for life i was never a big breakfast person

and i have started to force myself to change my own habits

and follow this expert advice

and really take fueling myself first thing in the morning seriously are you going to make time to fuel yourself

or are you going to fly out the door and just dig around in your backpack and eat that half-eaten granola bar, you know, dust all the sandy stuff in the bottom of your backpack off it and choke it down?

Or are you going to try to cover up that giant hole where your food should be, namely your stomach with a big cup of coffee and 15 sugar packets in it?

And if you think I'm exaggerating, I really want to share some wisdom.

I'm hoping that you're gaining the self-awareness that you recognize the power of what do you reach for, today's going to be a good day and am I going to run on fuel?

Those three choices together, holy cow, they set you up differently, don't they?

Because when you're running on fumes, have you ever noticed that what can feel like a massive emotional problem, it's so overwhelming.

It's overwhelming because you are in a human body and brain running on empty, on fumes.

That's why you feel like you can't handle this.

And it's also why if you just take an exhale and you get a great bowl of chicken soup, no, it doesn't erase the problem,

but with some fuel, you often have a different perspective.

With some fuel, you have renewed energy.

How many times have you had a day where you catch yourself and you think, oh my god, why am I being such a monster?

Why is everything pissing me off at work today?

Why am I not myself today.

And then you realize you're stuck dealing with a depleted body and mind.

And so what is the takeaway?

Stop pretending you're fine running on fumes.

This isn't making you skinny.

It's making you anxious and irritable.

One fuel choice early in the day, especially in the morning, especially protein.

If you're somebody who does intermittent fasting, great.

Maybe that works for you.

But the question is still the same.

When you do break the fast, what are you fueling yourself with?

Are you choosing something that stabilizes you and empowers you and energizes you?

Or are you choosing something that gives you a quick spike, tons of carbs, tons of sugar, all kinds of junk, and then crash, leaves you still feeling empty?

If you feel like you're running on fumes,

I want you to take advice from Dr. Pillimer and all the wisdom from 20 years of studying people in their 80s,

90s, and 100s, just get something to eat and then see what happens.

That's the micro choice that has a major impact and it's a lever you can pull at any time.

Don't you love this?

I love this topic so much.

I had so much fun digging into this and really thinking about it

and it's been crazy empowering and that brings me to the fourth micro choice

that has a surprisingly huge impact and makes a huge difference every single day.

And that choice is scroll or sleep.

Because at the end of the day, there's this one tiny moment, we all have it, you have it every night,

so do I, that decides how tomorrow is gonna feel.

And it happens right when you finally have a second to yourself.

Oh my God, the whole day has been for everybody else.

Oh my God, work, school.

Oh my God, taking care of everybody.

You're done with the dinner cleanup.

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The kids are in bed.

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The dogs have been fed.

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You've done the dishes.

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You're done.

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You're done doing things for other people.

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And then you look at the clock and you think, okay, I really should go to bed. But you don't.

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Because there is a choice sitting right there in front of you at the end of every day.

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Oh my God, the micro choice is right there.

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Are you going to scroll?

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Or are you going to sleep?

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And you know what I used to say?

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Here's what would happen when this moment would hit.

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Because you have this moment every night.

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So do I.

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Everybody does.

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We're going to have this moment for the rest of our lives.

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So much of your potential is either limited or expanded by your mindset.

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When you feel more hopeful or when you see options and you start to tell yourself, well, why not?

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Why don't I just try it?

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That rosier mindset, it inspires you to take the actions that change your life.

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And it's the actions that matter.

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There are areas in your life where your own mindset is blocking you from taking action.

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Before we jump into the filter in your brain and changing your mindset, I want to be very clear about something.

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This conversation today, it's not about positive thinking.

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You and I are talking about training your mind to work for you.

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That's very different.

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This is not toxic positivity.

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I'm not asking you to put a positive spin on a shitty situation.

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I'm also very clear that thinking nice thoughts is not going to get your bills paid.

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However, if you can get serious and intentional

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and strategic about training your mind to have a rosier and more optimistic and empowered attitude,

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you, my friend, will be able to say to yourself, I can do this.

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you will be able to say, you know what?

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I know my student debt is piled from the floor to the ceiling

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and I have not opened those bills in approximately 10 months, but I believe in my ability to figure out how to pay this off.

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When you take off the dark glasses, you know what you'll see?

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You'll see you're not stuck in the job.

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You're not stuck in the relationship.

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You're not stuck with the unhealthy habits that you have.

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If you're the kind of person that constantly shrugs your shoulders and is like, well, it is what it is.

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Got this college debt, it is what it is.

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I always date these losers.

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It is what it is.

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My grandfather was heavy.

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My mother was heavy.

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I guess I'll just be heavy.

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And no, no, you can look at something differently.

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And when you look at it differently, you see different options.

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And I also want to say one more thing before we jump into the filter in your brain

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and its connection to your mindset.

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There are things in life that you are not going to change or at least you're not gonna change them overnight.

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For example, you and I cannot change that there is discrimination in this world.

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There is bias that a lot of people experience.

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We cannot change the fact that poverty and mental health issues impact people for real.

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But here's what you can do.

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You can train yourself to look at the future and decide how you're going to

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react to and respond to the things that you're facing in your life.

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You can decide how you're gonna heal

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and what you're gonna do about those things for yourself

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and your community

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And I'm gonna tell you something a positive mindset is not

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gonna change the reality of what is going on around you Here's what it does and this is why it's important

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It empowers you to face it to deal with it

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That's what a mindset does and that's why it's important to get serious curious about training your mind to work for you.

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This is so important

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that I want to give you one more example about how your mindset either inspires action or it discourages it.

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So let's just say that you are in a job and you hate it.

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You feel stuck.

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You feel like you're kind of dead inside.

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You're not excited about anything.

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It's day in day out the same thing.

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Or if you're not working right now and let's say you've taken time off to raise your kids and

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you're sitting there going I want to get back in the workforce, but I don't have any skills and I've got a 20-year hold in my resume.

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Nobody's gonna hire me.

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I don't have any experience.

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I don't even know how to write a resume.

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How the hell am I going to get into interior design

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when I went to college for accounting

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and I work in a big accounting firm and I don't even know how to begin doing this.

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I can't make this happen.

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If that is the way that you look at the future, if that's your mindset, if you color what's possible through that dark lens,

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if you keep telling yourself those things, you will see a world where you can't change.

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So are you going to feel inspired to work on your resume?

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Of course not.

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because your mindset has stopped you before you even started.

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And that's why it's critical for you to realize this is not just a conversation about your thoughts.

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At the end of the day, if you don't have a positive mindset, you and I can talk about actions and habits all day long till we're blue in the face, but you won't do shit about it.

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I got to get you to have the kind of mindset that also says, hey, it's worth it.

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Hey, I can do something about this.

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Because if I can get you to be more optimistic, if I can get you to take the dark lens off and put on a lighter one, if I can get you to start believing, it is worth it for you to apply.

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It is worth it for you to put your dating app back up.

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Yeah, it is worth it for you to pick up the pen

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and start working on that book you've always wanted to write.

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Hell yes, it's worth it for you to take 10 minutes today

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and lay down on the floor and do those stretching exercises

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that the doctor told you you should do

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because you threw your back out instead of sitting on the couch and bitching about it.

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Of course it's worth it.

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If I can get you to start to flip from, ugh, easy for you to say, Mel.

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Works out for you, doesn't work out for me, it's not gonna help, I've had anxiety for years.

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If I can get you into, hey, maybe it will work.

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Hey, maybe I'm ready.

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Maybe I should try this, maybe I do deserve this.

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That singular switch in your mindset motivates you.

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.

Shadowing Practice: The Hidden Reason Life Feels So Hard… and the Tiny Shift That Changes Everything! | Mel Robbins - Learn English Speaking with Video

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What is the Shadowing Technique?