Shadowing Practice: This Is Why You Keep Burning Out | Andrew Huberman Motivation - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
255 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
The only way for all these people, all three categories of people to excel in the long term is you have to take yourself seriously.
2
And people will hear this and they'll think, oh, like Huberman, he's just like, yeah, take it.
3
You've been gifted this life.
4
if i give you a 25 year old someone okay right now today
5
and your only job is to make them mentally dangerous in
6
next 10 years the real key to becoming what you call dangerous
7
and ultra resilient or anti-fragile whatever language you want to use is you learn to recognize what state you're in.
8
This is the piece actually that sits even deeper than all the rest.
9
You know, the oracle said it first, but know thyself.
10
You have to know where you're at.
11
Am I in a good state?
12
Am I in a vulnerable state?
13
If I go on social media now and I see something that upsets me, am I just going to go down that rabbit hole?
14
We all like to think we can just blaze through life, but knowing where you're at is like checking the engine, checking the machine.
15
Is like the steering aligned.
16
I don't sleep as much as I need to, or I have stressors in my life.
17
My steering's not aligned.
18
So I have to do other things to keep myself in check.
19
Yeah.
20
So it's about building in a resilience that includes flexibility.
21
And I think people hear, like they think rigidity, but it's not that.
22
Your mind needs to turn off.
23
You need to go into this, some people call it default mode network, which is associated, people get confused because the default mode network is associated with depression if it's too high,
24
but you need to go into idle.
25
You can't just push this engine that is your brain and nervous system all the time.
26
I mean, you can do it.
27
The problem is you can do it for a while, but what I love about what you just described is, and this is another piece, so I'd say know thyself,
28
learn how to turn your mind off, meaning learn how to turn off thinking and planning.
29
I'm not saying turn thoughts off.
30
You can still learn how to go into pure sensation and relax.
31
Boost your morning cortisol, keep it low at night, which allow your melatonin to be high.
32
So these are, we're sort of building out a framework here.
33
And then the other one is take yourself seriously
34
and taking yourself seriously is both hitting the gas pedal
35
and knowing how to do that and knowing how to come off the gas pedal
36
so that you can come back and do it again.
37
You gave a really great example.
38
What I heard, what I thought as you told me that story is awesome.
39
You're taking yourself seriously.
40
You're the equivalent of a professional athlete or somebody who's studying for their boards for neurosurgery, for medical school.
41
Whatever somebody's doing, take yourself seriously.
42
Now people hear that and they think, oh, more rigidity, no fun, no laughter.
43
No, laughter is great.
44
Having a great time with your team is great.
45
But the people who become leaders, the people who win in their fields,
46
the people that do it consistently over time and enjoy the process and have healthy lives internally and externally,
47
they know how to switch it off and they take themselves seriously and you know,
48
it was I think it probably comes from my dad's side,
49
you know, that I I would go these scientific meetings and I was like how could these people be like so
50
serious about their careers, but then they sort of like are like parting through the meeting
51
and I realized oh Many of them are actually just really brilliant so they can do this
52
None of those people are around anymore.
53
They're not in the field anymore like natural proclivities and and genetic gifts They'll carry you pretty far,
54
but the people with genetic gifts and natural proclivities and circumstantial gifts That take themselves really seriously.
55
They we know they they excel Okay, most of us have some opportunities and advantages afforded to us,
56
some people have none.
57
The only way for all these people, all three categories of people to excel in the long term is you have to take yourself seriously.
58
And people will hear this and they'll think, oh, like Huberman, he's just like, take it.
59
Yeah, take it.
60
You've been gifted this life, right?
61
It doesn't mean you don't smile, experience joy, take a day and just completely relax.
62
You want to be present to people.
63
But if you don't take these things seriously, what ends up happening is you default to the mean, the dominant culture that you're surrounded with.
64
So if you're around people that like to work hard, play hard, okay, cool.
65
But pretty soon you're playing as hard as you're working and that doesn't look so good over time.
66
Okay.
67
Or you're around people that have given up or they're getting depressed.
68
And now you're not the person that can be there to really support them.
69
You're one of them.
70
So nobody is made of steel, right?
71
We're not robots, but take yourself seriously, take your life seriously.
72
And And I know your listeners do that, but I think that perhaps they've been taught or they've convinced themselves
73
that to take oneself seriously is to never come off the gas pedal.
74
Put simply, it's that the goal is to just build a bigger and bigger capacity.
75
What we don't acknowledge and people need to understand is that the better you get at something, this is a, it's a weird one.
76
The better you get at something, the more of an inroad into your energy it creates.
77
Now this is weird, right?
78
Because when you're first learning something, it takes a lot of energy.
79
Then you get fluid with.
80
It creates an inroad into your energy is greater than
81
when you're not very skilled at something because you're engaging more and more and more focused.
82
So I think there's two things.
83
The early part of any career, you have to find your edge.
84
Okay, so this runs a little bit counter current to everything I've said, but you're trying to figure out, yeah, how little sleep can I exist on?
85
Okay, I break at two nights, no sleep.
86
I break.
87
I can do one night.
88
In fact, I did it last week, 30 hour work stretch with my business partner.
89
Haven't done that in a long time.
90
We did it.
91
It hurt.
92
We did it.
93
We carried each other.
94
I was like, I could tell when my mind was getting wobbly, he would step in, we would do things and we did it.
95
We had to do it.
96
Feels good.
97
I don't really want to do that again for a long while.
98
But I built that capacity over many years.
99
Okay.
100
You build that capacity by finding your edge.
101
Now you don't want to die or injure yourself
102
or become mentally sick but you get to that edge and then you stay away from that edge.
103
And then so I would say in the first year or two of doing something go for it.
104
Just go all in.
105
Reset only as needed to just keep coming back, keep coming back, keep coming back.
106
But at some point you're going to hit a wall.
107
You want that wall to be a non-lethal wall.
108
Okay.
109
You want that wall to be I'm exhausted.
110
I need a week off.
111
I can't afford a week off.
112
Okay, I hit my wall.
113
That's my limit.
114
What can I do every day at this point consistently over time and work around that average?
115
It's gonna balance around that average plus or minus two hours or so.
116
So for me, I like you, I have a pretty large capacity.
117
If I do the right things in between on the way here, I cleared my mind on the flight in, I slept.
118
I know how to clear my mind and reset.
119
You know, there's a beautiful parallel to resistance training.
120
Everyone knows, okay, you do your sets and reps, take the reps to failure or close to failure, you allow some period of time, the muscle gets stronger, you come back.
121
But an old principle from resistance training that's still very true is as you get better at it, you know how to really cramp the muscle hard, you know how to really push it,
122
you know when the harder reps are coming.
123
You get better at inducing the stress stimulus that causes the adaptation of growth and strength increase.
124
You need fewer sets after resistance training for 10, 15 years.
125
People say, oh no, no, you need to do more.
126
No, you need to pour more into fewer sets.
127
You have the ability to do that.
128
Now, when somebody first starts resistance training, they can't generate that kind of focused intensity.
129
So the more focused intensity you can bring to something, the more volume and focused intensity, the more rest you need to offset that.
130
So what ends up happening is at your stage, when you're, you know, I would say like the first year one, two, and three, I think you can go on all gas pedal in anything.
131
Just all gas pedal.
132
Work, work, work, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, do it.
133
Don't die.
134
The goal is just don't die, but just go all in.
135
Okay.
136
Then in years four or five or so, you're learning how to create some balance and be more effective.
137
You know, I do think that there's variability.
138
People who are very driven, who are kind of high wired, I'm of that sort.
139
You might be of that sort.
140
They tend to have a certain physical stature.
141
They're kind of go, go, go.
142
They're kind of electric and they know that electric and it feels really good, right?
143
They tend to veer more towards autoimmune conditions because they can push, push, push, push, push.
144
And the cortisol just keeps coming and they can keep going.
145
Some people just go into like a chronic fatigue.
146
Boom.
147
They just crash.
148
They just crash.
149
My problem, your problem is we don't crash we keep going
150
but we're our baseline is dropping
151
so the key is around years i would say four five
152
six you're learning to bring the balance in now by years
153
six seven there's some overlap there obviously six seven eight nine
154
ten you're a pro now you're a pro you know
155
when you're stressed you know when you're feeling extra good you know
156
when you need to nidra you know
157
when you need to get off your phone and go do this thing and you know what to go do
158
So it doesn't mean you need 10 years to get good at something.
159
You can get real far, real fast in three years, but you can't keep that pace up.
160
You have to learn to dynamically regulate it.
161
And the unit of analysis, like the unit of time to focus on is the day.
162
What can I do today?
163
This is another big part of shutting your brain off.
164
I'm not thinking about tomorrow as its own thing.
165
I know it's coming.
166
I know I've got stuff to do, but what can I do today to get the most done, but know that I'm coming back tomorrow and I got to do it again.
167
I want to do it again.
168
So years one, two, and three, go for it.
169
Years four, five, six, learn to dynamically regulate it.
170
Beyond that, you're a pro.
171
And now you really can start to integrate the principles of what you're, and that's when you also can start guiding your team better.
172
Hey, listen, that's a left column issue.
173
Clip it.
174
You know, here, go do yoga.
175
I don't want to do yoga.
176
Like you're inhaling too much oxygen for this problem.
177
Go turn it off.
178
If somebody is doing really well, you would hate for them to think, oh, well, now it's all going to just, you know, like come crashing down.
179
No, you can make really good decisions.
180
And one of the best ways to do that is to have a committee of people.
181
You should not be making all the decisions about your life in the confines of your skull.
182
You need people that you respect, not for every decision, but certain people for certain decisions
183
that you can bounce things off of and you don't let them make the decisions, but you need to pressure test because we can delude ourselves, right?
184
But there also comes a time when you just say, I'm gonna ignore everybody.
185
I'm gonna do this.
186
And if it doesn't work out, you got your lesson.
187
And if it does work out, which often it does, you go, okay, now you're what we call a leader.
188
You have knowledge and experience that they don't have.
189
And that's a great place to find yourself.
190
And as I describe this, I'm thinking there's probably some people who are not even started to build their business or build their life.
191
Everything we're talking about is accessible.
192
It truly is accessible.
193
You take care of your physical body and your biological rhythms.
194
If you can't get all the exercise every week, you get some.
195
You lean into some mission, some adventure that stands to have a payoff.
196
You avoid the excesses.
197
You don't get into extremes of work and partying.
198
You don't get into extremes of anything except maybe in that first three years, you go all in.
199
I've never seen it fail.
200
And that's true across cultures.
201
Now, there are some areas of the world
202
that are very like where people just cannot move because of like very oppressive regimes and things like that.
203
But that's not what we're talking about.
204
And I think people should spend a bit of time thinking about what's really true for them
205
and what they want to pursue.
206
It's also just good to go after something in the short term, just get really good at something.
207
And then it allows you to pivot into the next thing because the process is the same.
208
I think humans were afforded all the areas of the brain for survival, but we have this expanded prefrontal cortex that allows us to set strategy and build things,
209
imagine technologies, take our experiences that are hard for people with traumas, build something beautiful out of that.
210
Take our experiences that were loving and supportive and afforded us incredible opportunities, build something beautiful out of that.
211
I mean, this is the story of human history.
212
We are different.
213
We are not just about survival.
214
The moment our basic needs are met, we have two options.
215
We either can get anxious and dissolve into a puddle of our own anxious thoughts, or we can take those anxieties and funnel them into doing something which advances us.
216
This is a binary choice.
217
There is no in-between.
218
Most people bounce back and forth a little bit naturally at two or three in the morning when they wake up.
219
Everyone does it, but on average, you want to be veering into that right lane of doing something.
220
The anxiety oftentimes, not always, but oftentimes, I would even say the majority of the time is not
221
because we have this impending thing that's bad that's going to happen.
222
It's because we're fed, we're rested, we're watered, we have enough social connection,
223
and now we need to do something with this additional energy.
224
And so we have to grab ahold of our mind, grab ahold of our bodies, and take it someplace regimented.
225
And it's hard.
226
You know, yesterday I had a conversation with someone on the podcast.
227
We were talking about flow states, such a compelling thing, go into flow.
228
And he said, no, no, no, no. In the world of high performance, we now talk about clutch states.
229
I'd never heard of this.
230
I said, what's clutch state?
231
I'm a neuroscientist, I've heard of flow states.
232
To clutch states are the states of forcing oneself to do something at that kind of edge of friction and effort
233
that most athletes, investors, high performers, business people live in 90% of their waking hours.
234
And I was like, finally, someone described my life, right?
235
Now, right now in this, I'm enjoying this, but I can tell a little bit the way that your mind works is like, you're also trying to enforce certain things.
236
Like we're not just like having a meandering conversation, right?
237
This is not philosophy, okay?
238
The clutch state is where you have to take our energy our anxiety and funnel ourselves into it.
239
And I think that it's such a beautiful concept because flow is like, okay, that comes every once in a while in years seven,
240
eight, nine, and beyond when you already achieved mastery, because you can be unskilled, skilled, mastery, and virtuosity.
241
The virtuosity, everyone wants that.
242
Everyone wants that, but it's built on years upon years of basics of clutch state, clutch state, clutch state.
243
That's the state to get yourself into and then turn your mind off and relax and just keep going.
244
So I do think the purpose of humans,
245
well, there are many, but one of our major purposes is to take this extra mental real estate that we have, the extra neural real estate, which is our prefrontal cortex,
246
which can think and plan and come up with ideas
247
and error correct and try things and listen to podcasts
248
and books and then go and implement
249
and um think about what we regret take the lesson move forward try
250
and cut with our losses all of
251
that that's what brought us out of mud huts and you know
252
and where we were the prey and now we're the curators of the earth
253
and we're building rocket ships to take us potentially to other planets
254
and we've got ai and we've got podcasts
255
and like i think we're here for a lot more than than just to get by
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
Same Channel
C11
Teach Your Brain To Become Someone New | Andrew Huberman Motivation
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
C11
Rewire Your Brain By Doing Hard Things | Andrew Huberman Motivation
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
C14
Rewire Your Brain for Success | Best Motivational Speech | Andrew Huberman
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B22
The 15 Minutes You Need When You Stop Believing | Lewis Hamilton Motivation
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B212
The Speech Everyone Needs to Hear | Best Motivational Speech | Matthew Mcconaughey
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C19
Watch This Before Your Thoughts Control Your Life | Shi Heng Yi Motivation
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C14
The Only 16 Minutes You Need To Control Your Mind | Andrew Huberman Motivation
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B27
Discipline Changes Everything | Best Motivational Speech | Novak Djokovic
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2Your Thoughts Are Building Your Reality | Best Motivational Speech | Dr Joe Dispenza
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
B21
114 sentences
The Weekend Trap Keeping You Average (This Is How the Years Disappear)
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B214 sentences
Why Obsession Runs Out And Never Returns
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
C13
154 sentences
Why your best work happens when you stop taking it too seriously
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C11
781 sentences
How Do I Reverse Brain Rot?
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C12
88 sentences
Why Knowing Better Doesn’t Help in the Moment
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
C11
92 sentences
Focusing Deeply on One Thing | Robert Greene
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
C11
213 sentences
10 Minutes of Advanced English Listening: Boost Your C1 Comprehension Fast
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
C1483 sentences
The Mindset That Holds Smart People Back From Success
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
C11
250 sentences
Chris Williamson Being Real For 16 Minutes Straight
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
46 sentences
Overcome Burnout
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “This Is Why You Keep Burning Out”. This video has 255 sentences and 3047 words to shadow. The speech runs for 16:08. The speaker talks fast, about 189 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| clutch noun | /ˈklʌt͡ʃ/ | The claw of a predatory animal or bird. |
| pedal noun | /ˈpɛdəl/ | A lever operated by one's foot that is used to control or power a machine or mechanism, such as a bicycle or piano. |
| excel verb | /ɪkˈsɛl/ | To surpass someone or something; to be better or do better than someone or something. |
| intensity noun | /ɪnˈtɛnsɪti/ | The quality of being intense. |
| podcast noun | /ˈpɑdˌkæst/ | A program, especially an audio program, produced on a regular basis, delivered over the Internet in a compressed digital format and designed for playback on… |
| ahold noun | /əˈhoʊld/ | A hold, grip, grasp. |
| cortisol noun | /ˈkoɹ.tɪˌsɔl/ | A glucocorticoid steroid hormone produced by the adrenal cortex that mediates various metabolic processes (such as gluconeogenesis), has anti-inflammatory and… |
| dynamically adverb | In a dynamic way: variably, changingly. | |
| extremes noun | /ɪkˈstɹimz/ | The opposite ends of a range or scale. |
| funnel noun | /ˈfʌnəl/ | A utensil in the shape of an inverted hollow cone terminating in a narrow pipe, for channeling liquids or granular material; typically used when transferring… |
| inroad noun | /ˈɪnɹəʊd/ | An advance into enemy territory, an attempted invasion; an encroachment, an incursion. |
| oftentimes adverb | /ˈɔf.ənˌtaɪmz/ | Frequently; often. |
| prefrontal adjective | /pɹiːˈfɹʌn.təl/ | Of, pertaining to or situated in the anterior part of the frontal lobe. |
| proclivity noun | /pɹəʊˈklɪvɪti/ | A predisposition or natural inclination, propensity, or a predilection; especially, a strong disposition or bent. |
| rigidity noun | /ɹɪˈd͡ʒɪdɪti/ | The quality or state of being rigid; lack of pliability; the quality of resisting change of physical shape. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| come back verb | To return to a place. | |
| come off verb | To become detached. | |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| turn off verb | To power down, to switch off, to put out of operation, to deactivate (an appliance, light, mechanism, functionality etc.). | |
| work out verb | /ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/ | To calculate. |
| build out verb | To develop or expand (a system, structure, project, etc.). | |
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. | |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- You've been gifted this life.
- Am I in a good state?
- Am I in a vulnerable state?
- What can I do today?
- I said, what's clutch state?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | You've been gifted · is associated · is made |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | You've been gifted · have given · they've been taught |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | network, which is · people who become · People who are |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 97 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: athlete /ˈæθ.liːt/, lethal /ˈliː.θəl/, rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: anxious /ˈæŋkʃəs/, circumstantial /səɹ.kəmˈstænʃəl/, friction /ˈfɹɪkʃən/, sensation /sɛnˈseɪʃən/, adaptation /ˌæd.æpˈteɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: intensity /ɪnˈtɛnsɪti/, proclivity /pɹəʊˈklɪvɪti/, rigidity /ɹɪˈd͡ʒɪdɪti/, virtuosity /ˌvɜː(ɹ)tjuˈɒsɪti/, accessible /əkˈsɛs.ɪ.bəl/
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 clutch, pedal, excel.
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.