Shadowing Practice: Why I’m Able To Focus 70+ Hours Per Week (stay efficient and productive) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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I did some things, some changes, that transformed my brain in just one month.
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I went from constantly being distracted
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and unable to focus for 20 minutes to finally being able to focus and work on what matters to me.
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The brain, like a high-performance machine, needs specific operating conditions to optimize and operate at peak performance.
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And after diving into the research and implementing these changes myself, I've seen some dramatic changes.
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In this video, I'm going to show you four evidence-based ways to upgrade your brain, all backed by scientific studies.
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So the first thing is sleep.
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This is your brain's operating system's number one source of energy.
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This is like charging the battery.
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Your brain isn't just recharging, though, while it's sleep.
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It's actually restructuring certain parts of your brain.
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So not only is it refilling the battery, it's changing and optimizing it to make it a more efficient battery.
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But here's where it gets wild to me.
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So in a landmark 2004 nature study,
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researchers at the University of Lubeck taught participants a complicated number reduction task with a hidden shortcut that they weren't told about.
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Some people slept between the training sessions while others didn't.
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The results showed that 60% of people who slept discovered this hidden rule, while only 22% of those who stayed awake figured it out.
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That's nearly three times more people having this aha moment or figuring out the problem just from sleeping.
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And this is amazing to me because it shows
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that your brain isn't only replenishing the energy source and kind of calming down when you sleep,
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but it's also creating new connections and solving problems while you sleep.
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And every hour that you have a lower quality sleep
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or just that you don't sleep inside of
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that seven to nine hour range is dramatically decreasing your brain's abilities to just solve new problems and do new things.
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But here's the critical part.
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It requires quality sleep, not just duration of sleep.
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Your brain needs to cycle through the proper stages, stage one, two, three, REM sleep,
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non REM sleep, and have a good duration of all those different cycles to get all the benefits of sleep.
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So here's how I practically go for this.
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I aim for seven to nine hours of quality sleep.
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Most studies say that when you get below seven hours or above nine hours, it's actually harming your health.
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I keep my bedroom dark, quiet and cold.
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So I keep my bedroom at around 65 degrees Fahrenheit
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and try to keep the sound pollution at less than 25 decibels and less than one lux of light pollution.
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I also have a nighttime routine, and I try to not eat or drink anything three hours before bed.
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And in that nighttime routine, I have a warm shower about an hour before bed.
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Because the idea behind this is that your body tries to cool down inside that hot shower.
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And then when you step outside of it, your body continues to cool down, bringing that core body temperature lower and helping you fall asleep more naturally.
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Because when you sleep, your body temperature actually drops by about one degree centigrade.
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Number two is exercise.
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And this is your brain's 20% learning boost.
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So physical movement doesn't just rewire our bodies, it rewires our brains.
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And I'm not talking about marathon training sessions here, I'm talking about maybe six, ten minutes of exercise.
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In a 2007 study published in Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, researchers at the University of Munster discovered
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that people who perform just two three-minute bursts of intense exercise that is sprinting like squats,
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jumping jacks before learning new vocabulary actually learned that vocabulary 20% faster than those who just rested or did moderate exercise.
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That's like getting an extra hour of productivity for just six minutes of exercise.
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But here's what makes this even more interesting.
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It's not just the immediate focus boost, it's the long-term learning gains.
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They found that this exercise was associated with higher levels of something called BDNF which is called brain-derived neurotrophic factor.
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So brain comes from the brain, derived, you get that.
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Neurotrophic factor, so neurons troph like this thing.
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So they like it because when they get exposed to it, they grow and form more connections.
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That's what BDNF is, or that's what researchers currently think BDNF does.
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So when you do this exercise, it increases the levels of this BDNF throughout your brain throughout the day.
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Think of this as food for your neurons, growth for your neurons to help create new connections, new memories and new learnings.
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Not only be it enough, exercise can release dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine.
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Dopamine enhances this motivation, focus and learning through this reward pathway and epinephrine and norepinephrine at manageable levels, right, which you can get from exercise,
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help you increase your focus, attention and energy.
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Come on, brain, lift it, lift it.
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So how can you practically use this in real life?
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Maybe you can schedule a short, intense, or a longer but still intense exercise session before you get to studying or midway before studying,
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as opposed to at the end of the study day.
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Because you break up your study day with intense exercise, you'll get much closer access to that boost in brain chemicals.
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If you use Pomodoro sessions, so studying for 25 minutes then taking a 5 minute break, you could use those 5 minute breaks to do some kind of quick exercise.
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Finally, pick some kind of exercise that you actually like, because the most important thing is that over time, you actually continue to exercise instead of just being excited by this video,
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exercising today and then never doing it again.
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Thing number three we're gonna do to change our brain's operating system is optimize our environment.
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Your physical space is programming your life, whether you realize it or not.
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I found that designating certain parts of my apartment for specific learning tasks helps optimize myself during those specific tasks.
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It helps my brain create shortcuts.
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So for example, if I know whenever I sit at this desk, I'm going to be working on YouTube videos.
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As soon as I sit down, my brain snaps into YouTube video mode.
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Or if I go to sit at that desk over there, I know I'm going to be working on my personal projects, my programming or my electrical engineering.
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Or if I go to the couch back there I know I'm gonna be relaxing
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and chilling out especially in maybe this hour before bed.
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It kind of short circuits and conditions myself to get into these brain modes as soon as I go to these places.
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And the more I just do those things in those places the stronger those neuronal connections
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and the stronger
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that instant switch of my brain is the key is consistency only use these zones for this certain thing
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and you'll change your brain to be trained to be ready to do those things in
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that place so i keep each space as minimalist
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and clean as i possibly can
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and focused on only the thing i'm going to be doing
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so for example right now i just have one screen with the script the camera
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and that's it i don't have my phone i don't have
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any other notes i have nothing in front of me on that desk other than the thing that I'm doing right now.
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And the most critical thing is never to do those other things in those places.
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So for example, my bed is a sacred place.
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I never read books.
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I never look at my phone.
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I never do things that aren't just sleep in my bed
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because otherwise it distracts and makes my brain confused when it goes into bed.
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And this is what top sleep doctors around the world recommend as well.
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Consistently stick to these certain places for your certain work.
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You'll classically condition your brain and the next time you sit in these places it'll be
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that much easier to actually sit down and do that work.
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Number four is focus on your mindset when you're learning or thinking or doing certain things.
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The mindset is the mental environment that you put all your tasks and all your life under.
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This upgrade is very simple but amazingly powerful.
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Instead of saying I have to do certain things say I get to do certain things.
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When I was in medical school this was the most magical shift for me.
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Instead of saying, I have to memorize these things about the heart rhythms and drugs that affect it, I get to say, hey,
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I get to learn about these things that may one day save someone's life who's having a heart issue.
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I get to learn how the human body works.
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Some of this is research that people have been working on for centuries.
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Suddenly, these flashcards weren't a burden, but they were a privilege.
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And neuroscience research shows that reframing these things in a gratitude practice can help release more dopamine
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and serotonin and help you actually get the work done.
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When I frame something as an obligation, so I have to do this, my brain's threat system goes into overdrive.
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But if I get it to, I get to.
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It's some exciting, passionate, cool thing that my brain's chemical switches.
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And it's a very small switch, but just trying to trick yourself into that switch can be a game changer.
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So how do we practically do this?
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Simply change the things that you have to do to you get to do.
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I have to go to this meeting becomes I get to collaborate with people and learn from these people on this project.
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I have to study this material becomes I get to learn about these amazing things
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that people have been trying to perfect and understand for hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years.
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Or instead of I have to exercise to be in shape, say I get to exercise.
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I'm so lucky to have these functioning limbs and heart
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and body that I can put them through these paces
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and I get the chance to grow them and become stronger and become more healthy.
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All this might feel very forced in the beginning and very weird in the beginning.
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Trust me, it's completely normal.
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Your brain is used to those other ways of thinking, but over time you can slowly turn it around and slowly switch
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and activate the different parts of this brain that'll make it lock in
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and stay with you and dramatically make you feel better when you're doing these things.
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Trust me.
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What the author Dale Carnegie says is that we need to just live in day tight compartments.
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Don't focus on tomorrow.
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Don't worry about the past.
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Plan your day and then focus as much as you can on accomplishing what you set out to do that day.
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If you don't, no worries.
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Don't worry about pushing it to the next day.
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Don't worry about how little you did yesterday.
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Just focus on what you can do today.
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As your brain tries to juggle multiple things, multiple concerns, multiple tasks, the actual chance that it's going to accomplish one thing decreases dramatically.
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So change the brain from I have to to I get to.
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Focus specifically on what you're going to do today and forget about everything else.
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Okay, so overall, how are we going to upgrade our brain operating system in one month?
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So we're going to focus on everything that actually builds our brain, everything that feeds our brain and allows us to learn and do things with it.
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Number one is sleep.
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We're going to aim for seven to nine hours of quality sleep every single day.
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Remember, when you sleep, your brain restructures your brain to focus on important things and get rid of less important things,
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making you nearly three times more likely to solve challenging problems the next day than those who don't sleep properly.
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We're going to try and integrate some form of exercise in between our studying
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or before our studying or work or productivity
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or whatever we're doing during the day because exercise is shown to release things like BDNF, dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine, which help our brain grow and develop.
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Number three, we're going to create dedicated zones in our apartment, our workspace, our things to do only those things in those certain areas.
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So we help our brain get into the zone that much faster.
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And finally, number four, we're going to reframe our brain to switch it from I have to to I get to
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and focus on what we're actually doing in the moment during the day
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instead of worrying about what we did yesterday or what we're going to have to do tomorrow.
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According to the research, it seems brain optimization isn't about working harder.
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It's about creating the right conditions for your brain to have the ability to work harder.
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And these four upgrades are synergistic.
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Quality sleep consolidates the memories that you created during your enhanced learning from your exercise.
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While your optimized environment and mindset create the optimal conditions for you actually to bring in information and solve problems.
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Your brain is already capable of doing these amazing things.
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I just wanted to help you show you how to remove the weights that are bringing down most people's mental performance
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Before they even get started.
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I will see you on the next one.
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My head hurts now
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Why This Video Is Perfect for English Speaking Practice
This video is a goldmine for shadow speak practice because it blends clear, conversational English with engaging content. The speaker uses natural pacing, pauses, and emphasis—key elements of fluent speech—while explaining scientific concepts in simple terms. This mix of complexity and clarity helps learners practice both comprehension and pronunciation, making it ideal for honing shadowing technique skills.
Breaking Down Natural English Phrasing
Let’s look at 3 phrases that sound authentic and why:
- “I did some things, some changes, that transformed my brain in just one month.” The repetition of “some” and casual structure (“did some things, some changes”) mimics how native speakers simplify ideas in everyday talk. It’s a great example of natural redundancy, which learners often overcomplicate.
- “But here's where it gets wild to me.” The phrase “gets wild” is colloquial and adds emphasis, showing how native speakers use vivid language to keep listeners engaged. Practicing this helps with intonation and stress.
- “That's like getting an extra hour of productivity for just six minutes of exercise.” The comparison (“like getting”) is a common way to explain benefits clearly. It teaches learners to use relatable analogies, a key skill for fluent communication.
A Simple Shadowing Routine to Try
Use this 3-step shadow speech loop to improve pronunciation and fluency with the video:
- Listen and repeat: Play a 10-second clip, pause, and repeat it immediately, mimicking the speaker’s tone, speed, and pauses. Focus on matching the stress in words like “dramatic changes” or “quality sleep.”
- Record and compare: Record your repetition, then play it back alongside the original. Note differences in vowel sounds (e.g., “optimize” vs. “optimise”) or rhythm. This helps refine English pronunciation and timing.
- Expand and practice: Once comfortable, extend clips to 30 seconds. Use a shadowing site to slow down the audio if needed, then gradually increase speed. Aim to sound as natural as the speaker, focusing on phrases like “brain-derived neurotrophic factor” to build confidence with complex terms.
This routine trains your brain to process and reproduce English quickly, turning passive listening into active speaking skills.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | have been working · have been trying |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | being distracted · weren't told · was associated |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who slept · people who perform · those who just |
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.