Shadowing Practice: waking up early is the sh*t - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hmm.
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Thank you.
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You know?
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You can change so much.
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in just a few months.
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Thank you.
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Pretty much all my life.
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I've never been somebody who wakes up early. And now...
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I went off alone.
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on a big step in my journey on my path.
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which was to move out of home.
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I moved to a big city and now Pretty much.
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independent, right?
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I still have to get an apartment though, but - The President and the President of the United States.
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and The thing is, I...
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have become somebody who likes to wake up early.
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Yesterday I started work at 10 in the morning, so you would think, okay, you know, you know, take your time.
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I mean this is what I would have done.
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I would have Like back.
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back to who I've always been, I would have gone back Thank you.
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and like stayed up till, I don't know, God knows when, probably watched a movie or something, maybe even play some video games, I don't know.
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Play some Counter -Strike.
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And Just take my time with it, because I like the night.
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I like staying up late because everybody's asleep already.
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And it's peaceful and I get it.
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and Even if I wouldn't have stayed up that late, I would have at least slept till eight or nine And I'm going to go.
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Not even that long ago.
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This is like A month ago.
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I would wake up 30 minutes before work.
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So I just had to get ready and then I would go straight into my shift and then you know, I'd be done with it.
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Okay.
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Yet, now I'm waking up and I...
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It sounds so...
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Petty. or so flamboyant.
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No, it doesn't matter.
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I'm waking up at 5 :30 in the morning now, pretty much every day.
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At least I'm trying to.
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And even today, I mean, I was out.
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uh, I was out today, like last night.
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You know, there was this party from work and stuff.
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And I was out and about.
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I had a few drinks, which was great.
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I believe everything in moderation is cool.
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uh...
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Even though I wrote down today, maybe I might quit alcohol for good, but who knows.
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Okay.
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I'll see that still.
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you know, I've been up since five...
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520 -ish.
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Yesterday I did that even though I had work and I I did not want to go to work like at all.
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I didn't want to wake up at all.
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I didn't I hadn't been sleeping very well like I didn't sleep.
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I had nightmares and stuff so my unfortunately my sleep was like bad.
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And I still went to the gym, still did my laundry and all that stuff.
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I just...
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I don't know.
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It feels like it does give you more time, you know.
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Because, sure, I mean, I can wake up late.
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and go to sleep late But like the rest of the world,
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like we do have like the rest of the world does have a schedule and you're Interclock does it anyways,
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like, We humans if we were just outside, right?
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Because we are, I mean, we are one with nature.
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It's nothing, we can't, There's nothing that can...
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divide you from nature.
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You are.
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You're a fucking, you're an animal.
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We're an animal.
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We're mammals, right?
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Anyhow, In nature, you would wake up around the same time, 5 :30, or at least when the sun would rise.
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as well as go to sleep when the sun would go down.
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there was this quote that I read It was about drinking the water that the deer drinks,
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going to sleep with the with the birds and waking up with the I think it was a different animal.
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I think it was the other way around.
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Wake up with the birds or something.
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because the early I mean, we've always heard this, the early bird gets the prey or something, right?
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So I don't know.
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It sounds very cliche.
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Perhaps.
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Yeah, it's...
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I do find that waking up early It has given me some sort of power, some sort of control where I feel like,
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okay, Look at me, I'm actually doing this.
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I feel very accomplished because I, I, and I feel more than anything.
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The biggest reason I do it is because I am so peaceful.
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because I have time.
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I've got time for myself.
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I don't need to rush.
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Okay, I need to work at 10 in the morning.
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I just woke up at 5 :30.
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I got time.
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Even if I don't get anything done, which I do, Even if I don't get anything done.
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I get to relax because you know I saw this thing the other day.
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I don't really know where it was,
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but I saw this and I was like man yeah It was about what are blessings or the greatest blessings in life?
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And one of them was One of them was a slow morning.
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And that was just so profound to me.
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A slow morning.
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Just taking your time, not having to rush and feeling already stressed out, even though you've just woken up.
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Thank you.
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I also went outside that day and meditated.
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Actually, so yesterday, this is what I did.
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I went to the gym, I did my laundry, I meditated, I prayed.
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That was all in the morning.
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And it was just peaceful, it was great.
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Yeah.
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Obviously I had breakfast and all that.
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Yeah.
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- Okay.
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You know, I think I might take a nap today because, you know, my sleep schedule, I don't want to...
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I do have to get a little bit of sleep, but...
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you know There are three main things in life that are really bad for you.
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So you need to be careful. with them.
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First one is alcohol alcohol we all know it's fucking terrible for you Smoking, I don't really think I need to get into why.
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Alcohol, I don't remember why.
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I just, there's a lot of people out there.
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Rich Roll, um...
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- Thank you.
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Rich Roll, Andrew Huberman, I mean, Those are at least two influences from that I really, you know, They know their shit.
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At least Andrew Huberman most of all.
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When it comes to like the signs aspect.
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And Rich Roll is...
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someone who's sober, as well as Actually, the Mark Manson, the author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck.
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He...
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also quit alcohol so you know I'm thinking like oh At least if you don't believe me or you know, the common sense.
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these people That's their job.
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You know.
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Um...
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I don't know why I'm pointing towards them because, you know, I don't think I need to explain why alcohol is bad.
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It's just terrible for you.
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Then number two, which is probably the biggest and easiest to fuck up It's sleep.
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So I've been starting to take my sleep very fucking seriously. And honestly...
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I, in my tracker, which I will show you, Here we go.
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So if you go, this is my tracker, right?
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So in here I write down.
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So this is a template that I got from a YouTube video.
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I'll link it down below.
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that you can copy that.
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It's just, you know, you just got to use the tools.
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You can find anything, you know, just make it work for you. And.
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you can find any tools online nowadays.
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There is no excuse, seriously.
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And I mean, I always hear that.
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I'm just like, fuck you, man.
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Like, Stop being so annoying, but like, I don't know, it's true.
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Here we go.
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So this is my tracker and here you got one column that's sleep.
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Right.
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And so I was all these These are all nights that I slept eight hours.
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And honestly, I was like fucking, like I was feeling amazing.
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And then the days that I didn't sleep, which are a few now, uh, Dude, I was fucked.
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That was just like...
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I was fucking...
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Dead.
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Fucked.
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I feel fucked.
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Like I feel completely shitty.
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There's like so many parts, there's this You need to go and watch this TED Talk.
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That is about sleep.
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You will never think of sleep the same ever again.
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So we have alcohol, we've got sleep, And then there was the third one, which was...
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- The first time we have been in the first time, we have been in the first time.
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I'm thinking about pornography, but that's not, you know, it's not the one that I mentioned today.
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Sugar.
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I'm struggling so hard these days with not eating sugar or at least keeping my hands off of
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Sweet pastry and things like that.
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It's it's terrible.
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It's fucking it's so annoying because we have I work, you know, I'm a I I'm a head barista.
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and We have Pastries, of course and you know,
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you kind of get hungry when you're standing eight hours a day, you know?
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And I shit you not, for the past like what?
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Thank you.
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week, I think.
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maybe not a week, but I've pretty much been just every single day eating something sweet like a bon chocolat.
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Panachoklat.
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I don't know how to pronounce it very perfectly.
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I'm still working on it.
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A chocolate croissant, so to speak.
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A fucking Berliner.
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you know, these are like donuts filled with jam, or a fucking cookie, or a muffin, or...
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Like anything, a brownie, you know?
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And it's like, fuck, dude.
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I always think to myself, "Man, I shouldn't be doing this," and I fucking do it.
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And it's just like, fuck.
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Fuck.
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I had a friend say like, "Yeah, okay, I would always choose fruit over sweets, but if you put me like a jar of fruits and the fucking sweet there,
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like it's a hard decision." And I think We need to, I want to.
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I think life is really about finding that sweet spot of like, okay, .
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- I think it's a good thing.
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I always...
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go for the fruit bowl.
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You know, I always eat the fruit.
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I never go for the...
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Sweet.
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Thank you.
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Look at me eating salad right now.
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I would never eat salads.
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Like months ago, like never.
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It's crazy how much progress I've made just for myself.
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Anyhow.
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Dude, I've really put my head down.
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I mean, I really am in that where I'm putting my head down
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and just working because I'm not posting a lot of shit about this.
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The only thing I'm posting about is like my journaling and my playing.
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That's fucking nuts.
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Oh my god.
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Well, fuck me.
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So What was I saying again?
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Yeah.
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I think in life we need to...
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Especially nowadays, because we have so many options.
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Right?
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we should try to Hmm.
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choose the right thing.
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for you, right?
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Obviously, if the right thing for you is the cupcake, then you're not looking for the right thing.
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What I mean by like what's the right thing for you, it's like okay.
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- Thank you.
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in what's your sport right
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or what's your exercise type you it doesn't have to be
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the gym it can be something else I mean I would obviously always recommend you lift some weights, right?
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But it doesn't have to be.
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Or at least the sport.
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We should all play a sport, maybe.
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football or uh...
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You can do some tennis or table tennis.
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Those are actually really fucking good for you.
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because it activates a certain part in your brain, the eye, the eye, hands, coordination, what the fuck is it called?
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The coordination at least.
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It activates, you know, it has the most amount of neurons in the brain.
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It's the part in the back, underneath.
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Anyhow, You get to choose.
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which sport you want to do right. So anyhow...
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Going back.
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Thank you.
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life when you choose What is the right thing for you.
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What's the right thing?
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And then, every now and then, when you feel Like...
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You deserve to go for the muffin, where you feel like, okay, I am in control here.
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I'm gonna go for the muffin because you know sometimes you actually have to fight for yourself.
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I've come to the point where I need to fight myself to go out.
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I need to fight myself too.
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have a muffin, to be spontaneous.
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because I can go too far.
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I can try to become too rigid because I'm just...
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I'm scared.
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I'm scared of the I'm scared of what could.
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B. And I'm not present.
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I'm not.. saying, I'm not trusting.
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Thank you.
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I'm scared of the future.
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I hang around too much in the past. So. to end.
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circle here for this video.
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I would say, Watch for those three things.
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You know?
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and your actual step after watching this video to me would be go and have a walk.
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Go outside and just have a walk.
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And don't make it this thing of like, "Oh, I'm gonna get amazing results out of this." Don't be conscious about how am I feeling, how am I feeling.
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Just go have a walk.
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He'll thank me later.
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You'll thank yourself later, actually. So...
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Yeah. Have a good one.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “waking up early is the sh*t”. This video has 260 sentences and 2206 words to shadow. The speech runs for 16:09. The speaker talks at a steady 137 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| anyhow adverb | /ˈɛn.i.haʊ/ | In any way or manner whatever. |
| muffin noun | /ˈmʌf.ɪn/ | A type of flattish bun, usually cut in two horizontally, toasted and spread with butter, etc., before being eaten. |
| scare verb | /skɛɚ/ | To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way. |
| tracker noun | /ˈtɹækə(ɹ)/ | A person employed to follow and monitor a political rival. |
| annoy verb | /əˈnoɪ̯/ | To disturb or irritate, especially by continued or repeated acts; to bother with unpleasant deeds. |
| meditate verb | /ˈmɛ.dɪˌteɪt/ | To contemplate; to keep the mind fixed upon something; to study. |
| activate verb | /ˈæktɪˌveɪt/ | To encourage development or induce increased activity; to stimulate. |
| coordination noun | /kəʊˌɔːdɪˈneɪʃən/ | The act of coordinating, making different people or things work together for a goal or effect. |
| laundry noun | /ˈlɔːn.dɹi/ | A laundering; a washing. |
| blessing noun | /ˈblɛs.ɪŋ/ | Some kind of divine or supernatural aid, or reward. |
| nowadays adverb | /ˈnaʊ.ə.deɪz/ | At the present time; in the current era. |
| salad noun | /ˈsæl.əd/ | A food consisting principally of raw vegetables (especially greens, e.g. lettuce), other savoury ingredients (typically cooked), fruit, or confectionary; often… |
| barista noun | /bəˈɹis.tə/ | A person who prepares coffee in a coffee shop for customers. |
| brownie noun | /ˈbɹaʊni/ | A small square piece of rich cake, usually made with chocolate. |
| cliché noun | /kliˈʃeɪ/ | Something, most often a phrase or expression, that is overused or used outside its original context, so that its original impact and meaning are lost. A trite… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
| stay up verb | To remain awake; to not go to bed. | |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. | |
| write down verb | To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something. | |
| go down verb | To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one. | |
| go off verb | To explode. | |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. | |
| hang around verb | To stay, linger, or loiter. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I've never been somebody who wakes up early.
- I like staying up late because everybody's asleep already.
- Yet, now I'm waking up and I...
- At least I'm trying to.
- I didn't want to wake up at all.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've never been · have become · I've always been |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | somebody who wakes · somebody who likes · drinks, which was |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be done · was fucked |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | The biggest · the greatest · the most amount |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 81 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: coordination /kəʊˌɔːdɪˈneɪʃən/, cliché /kliˈʃeɪ/, moderation /ˌmɑdəˈɹeɪʃən/, accomplish /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ/, conscious /ˈkɑn.ʃəs/
- Long words — get the stress right: coordination /kəʊˌɔːdɪˈneɪʃən/, moderation /ˌmɑdəˈɹeɪʃən/, pornography /pɔɹˈnɑ.ɡɹə.fi/, spontaneous /spɑnˈteɪ.ni.əs/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like anyhow, muffin, scare.
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.