Shadowing Practice: Watch This for 13 Minutes and You'll Outperform 99% of People - Learn English Speaking with Video

I went from being homeless to a monk to a CEO.

And these five methods helped me progress faster, be insanely successful, and outperform everyone around me.

And these will drastically change your life.

Number one, the most important skill you'll ever learn is knowing when to quit.

You know, we've all had that job that drags us down or that relationship that feels like a burden.

For me, it was when I was running the marketing team at a company years ago

and I reported directly to the CEO, an amazing leader, a coach.

We would roll up our sleeves, spend hours and hours trying to work through problems together, thinking together.

He would challenge me.

He would make me better.

And then, of course, the company grew to thousands of employees, and the CEO had to hire a chief operating officer.

And from day one, it was clear that the chief operating officer was not interested in me, or in my input, or in my growth.

He brought his right-hand person, slowly started stripping away more and more from my plate and transferred it to the guy that he had brought in.

He would constantly question my decisions and undermine me in public.

You know, I started second-guessing myself, second-guessing everything.

Hated coming to work, constantly watching my back.

The culture was slowly turning toxic and the worst part, I started losing interest in what I was doing.

There was no passion left.

That's when I made the best decision.

In order to accelerate my growth, I quit.

I found another company that was a better fit in terms of culture and career.

You know, my personal growth just skyrocketed after that.

And here's the kicker.

You know, that favorite CEO of mine, he eventually fired that COO.

But if I had stayed, I would have wasted years in a place that was crushing my energy, my creativity, my self-worth.

We all have to learn to quit faster.

This takes a lot of courage.

I understand that.

But the faster you quit what's not working, the faster you double down on what is working.

Here's a good framework to try.

I call it the quit quotient.

Analyze your current situation, not just for work, for relationships, for projects, even habits, and give yourself a score on three dimensions,

Each on a scale of 1 to 10 maybe.

First dimension, drive.

Does this work inspire me or drain me?

This is the personal dimension.

Second, fit.

Is this the environment where I can actually compound?

Am I with people who push me to learn and grow?

Are they investing in me?

This is the cultural fit dimension.

And the third one, growth.

What new doors will open for me here or later if I stay?

This is that professional dimension.

Now, add all three numbers.

If your total score is greater than 24, you're in the green zone.

This is your 10x fit, double down.

16 to 23, yellow zone, the fit is unclear.

Give it maybe three to six more months.

Test again, adapt, rescore, see where you land.

If your score is 15 or less, red zone.

Wrong fit, quit fast, as fast as you can.

Because this is how compounding works.

How and where we invest our time now will have dramatic effects years later.

The idea behind your quit quotient is simple.

If it doesn't fit, just quit.

Number two, the most important thing to progress faster than anyone isn't talent or strategy, it's your intrinsic motivation, your inner why.

Great athletes know this, the secret of fast progress, purpose, and motivation.

And research backs it up.

And they show the same results, that intrinsic motivation, being pulled by meaning,

growth, purpose, contribution, leads to a much stronger performance and faster progress than rewards like money or fame or status.

Howard Schultz knew this firsthand.

He grew up in the Brooklyn projects.

His family had no healthcare, no financial security.

That pain became his why.

When he was building Starbucks, people made fun of him.

They mocked the idea of selling fancy coffee in America.

This is not Europe.

That's what they said.

They thought it would never work.

But Schulz, as you know, wasn't selling coffee.

He was selling an experience.

He was building a place of belonging, a place where someone from a project could walk in and feel seen.

That was his why.

It gave him the clarity and the stamina to push through a mountain of rejections for years and years.

And most of us missed this part.

We chase promotions and raises and equity and fame and subscribers.

That's why it can feel empty when we don't get what we want

and feel empty when we do get what we want.

So now, how do you switch to becoming intrinsically motivated?

That's a tough question.

It's not an easy question to answer.

But I think it's all about the internal story we tell ourselves.

We can try some small daily habits and rituals that can take us back to our original why insight.

First, you can do slow breathing every day to reset your biochemistry.

Some people meditate.

Second, you can exercise gratitude for all things big and small in your life.

Third, you can visualize the future you that's full of 10x potential.

Very vividly in your mind that works.

I even add a fourth step.

I think about people and send love and positive energy to them.

In my mind, do they know?

Of course they don't.

Does it change anything in their lives?

I don't think so.

But it changes me.

It changes my inner monologue.

It really switches you on and moves you to that positive state.

Top one percenters know this very well.

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Your inner why keeps you in the game when nothing else makes sense.

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Next is number three, and this is controversial.

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You should be seeking discomfort.

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Everyone talks about the superpower of cold plunges, and I agree.

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But the most interesting part about the experience is this.

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A systematic review of 11 studies with over 3,000 participants found that cold immersion does not reduce stress immediately.

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The stress reduction happens about 12 hours after the exposure.

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I find that fascinating because sometimes the real benefit shows up way later

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and that's true for life as well seeking out uncomfortable things

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today will train your nervous system to be more resilient years

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later you know in my final year of college I failed

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every single course like I got all F's across the board

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and what made it worse was my early years in college

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weren't great either you know I had not developed a strong academic foundation.

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So I was lost at that point.

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So I would have to relearn three years of mathematics in one year to do well in my final year

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or else I wasn't going to graduate.

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Here's what I did.

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My setup, a mat, a desk lamp, and a water bottle.

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I sat on the floor, crossed leg for 18 hours a day, 90 minutes of work, 30 minutes of break, and a lot of hydration.

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And that went on for weeks, for months, for an entire year.

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That extremely uncomfortable routine ended up building my future for years.

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And more importantly, it gave me this confidence and clarity that no matter how bad things get,

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there is always a way to turn things around.

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That was a gift.

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So here's how you can use this method.

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Add deliberate discomfort weekly if you can.

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Three mile runs, cold showers, heavy lifts, any task or project that you've been avoiding.

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It's not whether you do well or not in that task.

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It's about taking that plunge, sometimes literally.

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Now we're on to number four, the power of networks.

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If you're not tapping into other people's systems, you will always fall behind.

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Metcalfe's law says that the value of a network grows exponentially.

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So if you add 10 new nodes to your network, then you add 100 more possible connections.

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That's why the right network can propel you forward in months compared to years when you go it all alone.

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Here's a true story.

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A friend of mine introduced me to a design agency.

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We hired them for a project and they crushed it.

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They were awesome.

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The CEO of that agency became a good friend.

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He introduced me to one of his board members.

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That board member later became a CEO of a $600 million company, had a great exit, became an investor.

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And just last week, he introduced me to the CEO of one of his portfolio companies where he has invested.

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And the company they acquired has an investor who I just met.

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See how the chain reaction just keeps going?

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That's the exponential math of networks in real life.

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It compounds faster than your skills.

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It's not just about contacts.

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The top 1% borrow other people's nervous systems as well.

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Spend time with someone who is calm under chaos

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or sharp under pressure and your nervous system will rewire to match their behavior.

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Work with someone who is extremely crisp and articulate, and you'll see that you start writing and communicating better.

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That's the kind of acceleration that you won't get from a university or a book.

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Here's how you can use this idea.

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One, make building your network your top priority.

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Reach out every week.

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Number two, ask for help ask for connections, ask how you can contribute.

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And number three, ask yourself, who makes me sharper just by being around them?

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Double down, spend as much time as you can with them.

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Start showing up with contributions instead of requests.

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Your network isn't just who you know, is who you become.

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And now number five is our last one.

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The final unlock you've been missing is identity shedding.

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You become exactly what you see yourself as.

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Most people cling to many self-limiting labels.

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I'm sure you hear yourself saying, I'm not a coder, I'm not a leader, I'm not good on stage, I won't be a good marketer.

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Excuses, excuses, excuses.

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Your identity is like a snakeskin.

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You can shed it, you can create a new one.

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The top performers have always known this.

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They jump in before they feel ready

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and that's what keeps them compounding at 10x while others are staring themselves in the mirror, they don't like what they're seeing and they're getting destroyed by their own doubts.

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I've lived this myself.

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At different points of my life, I've worn different skins.

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An investment banker, a musician, a marketer, a monk, a mathematician, a CEO, a board member, an investor.

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These are all various manifested identities of the same person.

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Was I really good at all of those roles?

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No. Some identities fit better than others.

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Sure.

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But each time I shared an identity, I gained access to new skills and new rooms.

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Every 10x leap was preceded by a 10x death of who I used to be.

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You, yourselves, your identity are all constantly dying and are all constantly being reborn.

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Here's how to use this.

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Ask yourself, what identity am I holding on to today that no longer serves me.

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Write that one down and then let it die.

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Mourn for it.

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Let the grief be with you.

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But after a while, you'll see new skin coming on.

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Like the spring season after a very long, cold, harsh winter.

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And remember, you will never feel ready to bury the old you.

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You will never feel worthy of the new you.

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But please don't fear endings.

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They're inevitable.

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Fear the beginnings that you never allow.

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Spring doesn't ask for winter's permission.

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It just shows up.

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So should you.

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Those were my tips on how to progress 10x faster than anyone.

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If you like this video, please subscribe to my channel for more videos like this and check out my next video here.

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Please keep showing up, keep growing up.

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Thank you and I love 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: Watch This for 13 Minutes and You'll Outperform 99% of People - Learn English Speaking with Video

Why Practice Speaking with This Video?

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Common Pronunciation Traps

What is the Shadowing Technique?