Shadowing Practice: Why I Work So Hard Even Though I’ve Already "Made It" - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.

372 sentences

If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.

Hey everybody, welcome to the Impact Theory Master Plan video.

When we first launched the company, we actually laid out everything that we were going to do because I want to be like

Babe Ruth calling my shot and then knocking it out of the park.

And we've recently had some people asking questions about some of the moves

that we've been making and we've got something

that we want to talk about that's a big move that we're about to make.

And so I want to be the most transparent company ever in terms of outlying the plan that we're about to enact.

So as I always tell people, whenever you're building a business, it is going to be hard as hell.

And the only way that you're going to have the energy to see all of that through is to have a mission,

to know why you're doing what you're doing, to know what you're fighting for.

And so here we have a very clear mission statement,

and that is to pull people out of the matrix at scale by giving them an empowering mindset.

Now, what do I mean by the matrix?

So the movie

The Matrix obviously is the defining metaphor of my life and something that I talk about a lot because in the movie,

what you realize is that the world around you is basically just a bunch of lies

that have been pulled over your eyes.

Now, I think that's the perfect metaphor for real life because

while you're the one that's pulling the lies over your own eyes, it really comes down to how you frame the world,

how you see it, how you frame yourself, how you think about you, all of that contextual information,

which by the way is what I cover in my upcoming book, Spring of 2020, my wife says to plug it whenever I get a chance.

So there it is, that's one of the things that we're gonna talk about in this master plan of ours.

But that whole web of things that you think of as you, things that you think of as just being sort of empirical truth,

all of it is actually made up of these discrete elements.

So your beliefs, your value system, your habits, your routines, your identity, all of that stuff feeds into you and it creates your frame of reference.

And your frame of reference is what I mean

when I say to pull people out of the matrix because they have a fixed mindset.

They see the world in a limited way.

They don't think that they can do as much as they really could do

if they understood just how close to unlimited their potential was.

And because they then believe that, they start working towards building the skillset to accomplish whatever it is that they want to accomplish.

So that's why this company exists.

Now, why did that become the driving obsession in my life?

It started with a kid named Rashawn.

So back when I was 18

and I was desperately trying to get into film school

and I was told by the admissions committee that to get into film school,

I needed to get good grades because I'd gotten a 990 on my SATs and that was me taking it twice.

That was my combined score.

I needed to get extra credit.

A teacher offered extra credit.

I nearly threw my arm out of the socket when they asked for people to volunteer

and they sent me into the inner cities to, I didn't call it this, but basically big brother for a kid and you tutor them.

And so, of course, they give you the worst behaving children on the face of the planet.

And the kid that I got was this little kid named Rashawn.

And I was supposed to only do it for eight weeks.

And at the six -week mark, you're supposed to tell him that you're only coming for two more weeks.

I told him he went nuclear.

This kid went ballistic in a way that I'd never seen before in my life.

And as he was melting down and I'm thinking, what the fuck is going on?

I said, is this because I said I'm only coming for two more weeks?

He said, yes.

And I said, all right, look, Rashawn, I'll make you a promise as long as I live in Los Angeles,

if you'll do your homework immediately when I get there, because he used to troll me, and he would throw fits, run around for an hour,

and then beg me to stay so that he could keep me for two hours, and because I was a sucker, I used to do it.

So I said, if you'll do your homework the second I get here, then as long as I live in Los Angeles, I will tutor you.

And that became an eight and a half year relationship.

And it showed me just how much people's future are impacted by the zip code

that they grow up in and I could just see like, man, like this kid is really bright,

but he is just on a track to going nowhere rapidly.

So I used to take him to see movies in Beverly Hills, even though I was dirt porks.

I thought, well, it costs the same to see a movie there as it costs to see in a bad neighborhood.

So let me show him that there are beautiful places.

Now, the bad news is I don't know how much I really ended up impacting Rashawn.

That's a very long story.

He ended up in foster care and got moved very far away and I ended up losing contact with him.

But it's always haunted me

that I don't think I was able to actually change the course of his life

because I was young and stupid and I had a fixed mindset

and I didn't know what I was doing and I didn't know how to help him.

All I knew how to do was love him.

And so I showed him love and I'm very proud of that.

And it's one of actually still to this day,

one of the most important relationships I've ever had in my life in terms of the impact that it had on me.

But I don't know that I was very effective.

Flash forward 15 years later, I now have a growth mindset.

I've really gotten control of my own emotions, my ability to build my skill set.

I'm at Quest Nutrition.

I have 3 ,000 employees, and I see Rashaun in about 1 ,000 of them.

Growing up in a bad neighborhood, really fucking hard knock life, and there I am, and I'm meeting these extraordinary people.

And I started thinking of them as this notion of mining for astronauts.

I was interviewing so many people.

We were growing so fast.

We grew by 57 ,000 % in our first three years alone.

It was just madness.

And I was meeting all these really amazing people,

but so many of them had a mindset that was moving them backwards that even though I thought they were extraordinary,

I couldn't convince them of that.

So I started thinking, hold on, I'm not fucking okay with this anymore.

I'm not going to do another Rashaun.

I'm going to find a way to communicate to these people that if they change their mindset, They can change the outcome of their life.

And what I began to realize was I could only impact about 2 % of the world by talking directly to them,

telling them how to think and how to act, that they would implement it.

And the people that did, it was so fucking rad.

And one of them is wandering off right over there this very minute

and watching him turn his life around and go from somebody who had no vision of his future,

who only believed what he could see and who just assumed that his life was going to suck.

And I remember the day that he came to me and said, for the first time in my life, I'm actually excited about my future.

And I was like, that's why I'm doing this.

100

That moment where you realize I'm in fucking control.

101

I can do anything with my life that I want.

102

Now giving people that operating system is possible, but it's really fucking hard.

103

And I am obsessed with scale.

104

So for me to do it just for the 2 % of people like Carlitos who can make changes in their life, that wasn't enticing enough.

105

It just doesn't match my personality.

106

I wanted to do it at scale.

107

So how do I do it at scale?

108

I started developing my theory of how to impact people

109

Which is exactly why this company is called impact theory because when you break it down

110

There are three ways that you can in floor three ways

111

that people are Influenced to develop their mindset when they're young and it's happening by accident and they mistake it for truth

112

The way that those things happen are number one

113

You your family who your parents are number two the zip code

114

that you grow up in and number three what the culture considers cool

115

Now I cannot control what who your parents are I cannot control where you grow up

116

But I can influence what the culture thinks is cool now I think

117

that there are two ways to do that one is through music.

118

I'm not good at music I don't well.

119

I love it.

120

I don't have a deep passion for it.

121

The other is narrative

122

We are we are meaning making machines humans at the core of their being the way

123

that they make sense of the world is Through narrative we tell ourselves a narrative about ourselves.

124

We interpret the world through the lens of narrative

125

It's why religions are so powerful.

126

They tell these archetypal stories that people can gravitate to.

127

They can understand meaning.

128

They understand their place in the world and how to act.

129

That's what we convey through stories.

130

So as I'm thinking, okay, I can impact 2 % of the world by just telling them,

131

but the other 98%, I have to hit them emotionally.

132

So in that is born impact theory.

133

Now, as I started looking, because I think anybody starting a business,

134

especially one that has such a lofty goal as pulling people out of the matrix at scale, you really have to ask,

135

is there a model of this?

136

Is there anybody that's used narrative to really influence culture in a big way?

137

And the answer for me was yes.

138

And the company that had done it most effectively by far is Disney.

139

And so I began to study them and look at their model and figure out if you were going to disrupt

140

Disney, how would you do it?

141

If you wanted to build the next

142

Disney, what would be the steps that you would take?

143

And so you'll hear us talk a lot about, and in fact, if you've watched interviews with me on other people's channels,

144

I talk about it a lot, that what we're doing at Impact Theory is building the next Disney.

145

While we're doing things very differently, and I think we're a very disruptive studio, you'll get a sense.

146

You'll get a sense of the scale.

147

You'll get a sense of the consistency that's needed.

148

And what Disney did was they told one kind of story from a thousand different angles over and over and over.

149

And in doing that, they built a brand that meant something.

150

So if I say to you, I'm going to go see a Warner Brothers movie or a Paramount movie or a Sony movie,

151

you don't know anything about it.

152

But if I tell you I'm going to go see a Disney movie, you know something about it because of that brand consistency.

153

Now many credible scholars credit

154

Disney with helping pull America out of the Great Depression because of the song

155

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf and the cartoon

156

that it was attached to because people started singing

157

that song after seeing the cartoon and it became embedded

158

and people began to realize that the Big Bad Wolf was the Great Depression.

159

And by changing their attitude and assigning new meaning

160

and realizing they could rise up against it and realizing they didn't have to be afraid of it.

161

It helped them mentally shift out of it and go into a whole new era.

162

It's really pretty extraordinary that, again, credible historians say, no, that really was this sort of emotional turning point for the country.

163

And it showed me, and not just that, my sister has been to Disneyland 72 times in the past 12 months

164

because the brand makes her feel some kind of way.

165

And you're not going to get that from Sony or Warner Brothers.

166

You're going to get that from Disney because they had this very clear vision of the way the world could be.

167

And they paint that in all of their movies.

168

So when you see a Disney movie, you know how you're going to feel at the end of it.

169

And so we here at Impact Theory ask ourselves the question, if Disney could create the most magical place on earth...

170

can we create the most empowering place on earth?

171

So what we're trying to do is be a disruptive studio

172

that uses both the social content that you guys are used to, as well as traditional narrative content.

173

So we're trying to marry those two.

174

So if you see the things that we're doing in creating comics around creating IP, then you'll understand what we're trying to do.

175

Now, the reason that we're starting with comics, which I think people have looked at us and gone, why are you guys creating comics?

176

I don't understand.

177

You're like a motivational guy, you talk about mindset.

178

I'm gonna get to why I do that in a minute.

179

But what we're all about is creating these emotional stories

180

that have empowerment at their core to tell

181

that same kind of story over and over and over from a thousand different angles.

182

So when you pick up something from impact theory, whether it's a social content or whether it's a comic book or movie or TV show,

183

you know how you're gonna feel, which is quite simply like you're capable of more at the end than you were at the beginning.

184

That's what we're all about.

185

Now the reason that we're doing comics is it lets us actually create tangible intellectual property.

186

It's also a traditional feeder into film and television.

187

If you look at what dominates the global box office,

188

the number of the top 10 global franchises of all times that are comic book franchises is fucking bananas.

189

So understanding that that's a traditional way.

190

It doesn't have to be superhero.

191

There's a lot of movies that started as comics that you might not even realize started as comic books.

192

So knowing that that's a traditional feeder that

193

Hollywood is used to because as an incumbent, somebody that nobody knows, like as we come into this,

194

we've got to find a way to plug into their system.

195

Now, the other thing that it lets us do in any creative endeavor, you have to be able to survive a one in 20 hit ratio.

196

If you can do that, then you've got the time to figure out what works

197

because you're never going to knock it out of the park right in the beginning.

198

And I knew that going into it.

199

Now, Lisa and I, we could co -fund a hundred million dollar film, but if it tanks, we're fucked.

200

And so you really have to be careful you can only do

201

that so many times before you absolutely go out of business.

202

So we knew because this is creative, because we're not necessarily going to hit it out of the park,

203

that we wanted to start somewhere that was inexpensive so we could survive a lot of failures.

204

And so that's why we're starting in the comic book arena.

205

Now, ultimately, we will also be doing things that go direct to film and television,

206

because that's a really powerful way for us to also build a reputation and make our mark there.

207

So we're not just going to be doing comic books.

208

We're actually in the process right now of partnering with one of the leading

209

Hollywood management companies.

210

And look, many a slip between cup and lip.

211

So if I end up giving you a future update, that is, that partnership didn't end up happening.

212

Fair enough.

213

But we're looking for ways that we can partner with people.

214

Now, that brings us to one of the big updates that we have in our life, this new set that you see behind me,

215

which is we're launching

216

Impact Theory University.

217

We are trying to build the next

218

Disney and that is going to require massive amounts of capital

219

and add revenue on the YouTube stuff that we're doing so far,

220

which has been tremendous and it's allowed us to grow as rapidly as we've grown,

221

is amazing, but it's not gonna let us get there fast enough.

222

So we have a couple options before us.

223

We can raise institutional capital.

224

And for those of you that have seen my emoji for institutional capital, which looks like that because they're putting a gun to your head.

225

They're expecting you to sell.

226

I don't want to be on that kind of timeline.

227

So impact theory is meant to be Lisa and I's forever company.

228

This is what we want to do for the rest of our lives in terms of pursuing meaning and purpose.

229

Like this is our jam.

230

This is what we love.

231

This is what we want to do.

232

We're building something here with people that we really fucking believe in.

233

And I'm looking at some of them right now.

234

And if you had my brain and in an fMRI, you would see how I feel about it.

235

So we don't want to sell the company and we don't want to take on the institutional investment.

236

We want to maintain control.

237

So Impact Theory University is going to be a new revenue stream for us.

238

And the other option, by the way, that we have is to do Patreon.

239

And I'm going to be really honest, just in terms of my personality, I don't like Patreon.

240

I think it's rad.

241

I'm so glad that it's serving some of who I think are just extraordinary minds.

242

And I'm glad that they have that platform.

243

But I want to serve you guys.

244

I don't want to work for you.

245

And I hope that you can forgive me for that because I love you all.

246

I'm so grateful to have you in this community.

247

It just does not suit my personality to come to the world with my handout.

248

And that was the first thing that I had to train myself not to do.

249

So what we want to do is create something that is so valuable that people are willing to pay for it.

250

And something that I never thought I would do is sit down

251

and write out the way that I think and formalize courses.

252

But that's what we're doing.

253

And it'll launch with me as the teacher.

254

But over time, we're going to be bringing more and more people into it.

255

It's a subscription service.

256

I'm gonna be highly engaged.

257

I'm gonna be answering personal questions and being really involved in the community there.

258

We've recorded a lot of it already.

259

I think it is, I mean, it's the best content I think that we've ever done.

260

I'm really, really proud of it.

261

It's a side of me that you've only seen on other people's channels.

262

which is probably my truest self it's a little more aggressive than you might be used to

263

but it's really who i am

264

and my team was always telling me dude

265

you're what you guys say your most fire at the uh the the round tables

266

that we do sometimes late at night when i'm just fucking totally unguarded

267

and i'm hard as hell on these guys because i really believe

268

that they can do something extraordinary i'm also a little bit more playful and having more fun myself

269

and that format is the format that allows me to tap into

270

that so I'm really excited about doing that and I think

271

that you guys are going to love it

272

but here's the most important thing

273

that I want you guys to understand first of all the content

274

that we're already doing free is always going to stay free

275

and then the other thing is I really believe that what we're doing in impact theory

276

University will change people's lives so

277

if you're anything like me then you're saying dickhead why the fuck are you charging for it then

278

and my answer is this I really believe

279

that it's transformative content I believe anybody

280

that encounters it will be changed by it if you take it

281

and you don't agree we will give you your money back no questions asked

282

if you need it you think it will be revolutionary in your life

283

you're willing to commit to actually seeing it through

284

but you can't afford it we will give it to you for free

285

so I want I just got the chills

286

that was like the breakthrough moment that was the thing

287

that made me go actually I I am willing to do this because all the rush.

288

Jesus.

289

Well, I didn't expect that.

290

for all the Rashaan's in

291

the world who for all

292

the Rashaan's in the world

293

that are starting out behind the eight ball I want to make sure

294

that you have access to this content

295

I really believe in it I really believe to the core of my being

296

I've been through a lot of stuff to shape my mind to put this shit to the test to see

297

if it really works I really believe in it and Yeah, so we're gonna make it free

298

There's there's nothing more to say for that if

299

if you can't afford it if you can please take it pay for it

300

Help us build the thing that we're trying to build

301

But if you can't there's an application fill it out

302

Let us know your story and we'll give it to you for free.

303

That's it I just want to make sure that everybody has access to this.

304

So you can think of it as if you can afford it

305

and you want to support what we're doing

306

and you believe in the mission and you don't think

307

that we're just a ship of fools and that we can actually pull this off.

308

It would be amazing if you supported by signing up.

309

It's a monthly recurring coaching program.

310

It'd be incredible.

311

Like I said, over time, it will be other people that we bring into the system as well.

312

Super excited about that.

313

But if you can't afford it, we will make it free.

314

some people were asking why we killed some of the content

315

that we killed recently

316

and the truth of the matter is I have finite time

317

I'm trying to be super ruthless with my schedule YouTube is our primary focus it's not our only focus

318

but it's our primary focus and right now

319

when something doesn't perform on YouTube

320

which has a lot to do with the algorithm then we just can't keep doing it

321

so AMA's didn't perform on YouTube relationship theory didn't perform on YouTube.

322

So we had to ultimately move away from that stuff.

323

So we are trying to really narrow.

324

That's actually not true.

325

We're introducing a new show on YouTube that's called Conversations with Tom.

326

And I think the algorithm may punish us for that in the short term, but I'm hoping in the long term that it really works.

327

But worst case, we can always start secondary channels.

328

So that's why we killed the content that we ended up killing.

329

The next thing I'm super excited, although I'm super tense because the timeline is crazy short,

330

is I'm writing a book that's going to be coming out in spring of 2020.

331

I'm contractually obligated to my wife to mention that at every conceivable turn.

332

We're going to be announcing, in fact, by the time this comes out, we will almost certainly have announced the book.

333

And I'm really excited about the idea that I'm trying to pull out of the ether and put together, which is how to build yourself.

334

that the working title that we're announcing under is The Work.

335

I think both

336

Build Yourself and The Work are not quite the right title.

337

So hopefully we will find something magically delicious before we launch.

338

But that's what we're working under.

339

It's basically how do you build the ultimate mindset by leveraging values, beliefs, identity, habits, routines, the default network,

340

and a whole slew of other just insanely complicated things

341

that I'm trying to tease out

342

and put together in basically a step -by -step plan for you guys to take yourself into full beast mode.

343

So I'm really excited about that, but it is a fucking race to get it done in time.

344

It's gonna give me a chance to reach people a new way.

345

It also forces me to be more robust in my thinking.

346

So getting beyond soundbites and getting into the real fucking tactical shit, I'm super excited about that.

347

It's gonna expand the audience.

348

It's gonna raise brand awareness.

349

It's gonna elevate the brand.

350

It's gonna do a lot of things for us that I think are gonna be really, really effective in terms of reaching our end goal,

351

which is to pull people out of the matrix by giving them an empowering mindset and

352

yeah doing it at scale and it's also introducing us to the world of publishing

353

and we've had people reach out to us to publish their books people you know it's crazy

354

so i'm really excited about that and hopefully we'll be able to introduce

355

that to you soon all right there it is

356

that is the master plan in a dripping amount of details a couple surprising tears

357

but hopefully now you guys know exactly what this is about, what drives us, why we're doing this.

358

And my, if I was going to call it

359

Batman has a sickness, if I were going to say that I have a sickness, it's that I want to matter.

360

And I hope this content is affecting you guys

361

and to all the people that have ever come up to me

362

and thank me for what we're doing and said that the content has changed your life.

363

You will never know how deeply that impacts me.

364

Thank you guys so much.

365

And we appreciate the support.

366

We look forward to continuing to crush it for you for the foreseeable future.

367

I consider the plan I just went through, a 70 -year plan.

368

I can get into a lot more detail about how we're trying to break into Hollywood, but I think that gets you there.

369

My team is panicking about how long this is. So, alright.

370

Thank you guys so much.

371

And until next time, my friends, be legendary.

372

Take care.

Download App

Everything you need to speak fluently

AI PronunciationScore every sentence

IPA PracticeMaster every sound

VocabularyBuild your word bank

Vocab GameLearn while playing

Scan QR

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Same Channel

This Keeps Men Pathetic, Lazy & Poor - Embrace Suffering To Escape Mediocrity | David Goggins

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

FOR YOU

Recommend Video

347 sentences

Doctor Explains: How to Train Your Brain to Crave Doing Hard Things

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

291 sentences

How I Would Build a Personal Brand in 2027 (If I Had to Start Over)

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

303 sentences

Act As If Everything Always Works Out

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

274 sentences

A 4-Step System to Process Information with Extreme Clarity

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

48 sentences

It's Hard To Be Human

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

141 sentences

Mark Manson: Self-control is a complete illusion

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

140 sentences

How Does Money Factor into Your Life's Purpose

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

372 sentences

This Video Will Find You When You Need It The Most

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

42 sentences

The Talk: Kanye West & Elon Musk (Part 2)

Daily ConversationWorking Adults

338 sentences

The Science of Building a Premium Brand

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

300 sentences

6 Habits To Transform Your Life | The Tommy Podcast | Episode 13

Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students

781 sentences

How Do I Reverse Brain Rot?

Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Why I Work So Hard Even Though I’ve Already "Made It"”. This video has 372 sentences and 4617 words to shadow. The speech runs for 22:01. The speaker talks fast, about 210 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

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
comic noun	/ˈkɑmɪk/	A comedian.
mindset noun	/ˈmaɪn(d)ˌsɛt/	A way of thinking; an attitude or opinion, especially a habitual one.
narrative noun	/ˈnæɹ.ə.tɪv/	The systematic recitation of an event or series of events.
matrix noun	/ˈmeɪ.tɹɪks/	The cavity or mold in which anything is formed.
extraordinary adjective	/ɪksˈtɹɔːrdɪn(ə)ɹi/	Out of the ordinary; exceptional; unusual.
introduce verb	/ˌɪntɹəˈdus/	To cause (someone) to be acquainted (with someone else).
knock verb	/nɑk/	To rap one's knuckles against something, especially wood.
institutional adjective	/ˌɪn.stɪˈtju.ʃə.nəl/	Of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or organized along the lines of an institution.
empower verb	/ɪmˈpaʊ.ə/	To give permission, power, or the legal right to do something.
format noun	/ˈfɔːɹ.mæt/	The layout of a publication or document.
belief noun	/bɪˈliːf/	Mental acceptance of a claim as true.
angle noun	/ˈæŋ.ɡəl/	A figure formed by two rays which start from a common point (a plane angle) or by three planes that intersect (a solid angle).
routine noun	/ɹuˈtin/	A course of action to be followed regularly; a standard procedure.
rapidly adverb	/ˈɹæpɪdli/	With speed; in a rapid manner.
franchise noun	/ˈfɹænt͡ʃaɪ̯z/	The right to vote at a public election or referendum; see: suffrage.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
end up verb		To bring to a conclusion.
figure out verb		To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce.
come down to verb		To reach by moving down or reducing.
come out verb	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	To be discovered; to be revealed.
come out in verb		to be afflicted by (a visible disruption of the body)
come up to verb		To approach.
go through verb		To travel from one end of something to the other.
grow up verb		To mature and become an adult.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

I couldn't convince them of that.
It just doesn't match my personality.
I'm not good at music I don't well.
I don't have a deep passion for it.
Disney, how would you do it?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true	used to troll · used to do · used to take
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if you can't afford it, we will make
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have been pulled · I've ever had · I've really gotten
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	have been pulled · is actually made · was told

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 174 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, we're, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: algorithm /ˈælɡəɹɪðm̩/, breakthrough /ˈbɹeɪk.θɹuː/, ruthless /ˈɹuːθləs/, ether /ˈi.θɚ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: institutional /ˌɪn.stɪˈtju.ʃə.nəl/, publish /ˈpʌblɪʃ/, accomplish /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ/, partnership /ˈpɑɹtnɚʃɪp/, rush /ɹʌʃ/
Long words — get the stress right: extraordinary /ɪksˈtɹɔːrdɪn(ə)ɹi/, institutional /ˌɪn.stɪˈtju.ʃə.nəl/, consistency /kənˈsɪs.tən.si/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/

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 comic, mindset, narrative.

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 technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Why I Work So Hard Even Though I’ve Already "Made It" - Learn English Speaking with Video

Choose a practice mode

Download App

This Keeps Men Pathetic, Lazy & Poor - Embrace Suffering To Escape Mediocrity | David Goggins

Train Your Brain To BECOME LIMITLESS & Achieve ANY GOAL You Have | John Assaraf

If You Don’t Have One of These Jobs by 2030… You’re Screwed

How to Achieve Ultra High Performance | Dr. Michael Gervais on Impact Theory

Doctor Explains: How to Train Your Brain to Crave Doing Hard Things

How I Would Build a Personal Brand in 2027 (If I Had to Start Over)

Act As If Everything Always Works Out

A 4-Step System to Process Information with Extreme Clarity

It's Hard To Be Human

Mark Manson: Self-control is a complete illusion

How Does Money Factor into Your Life's Purpose

This Video Will Find You When You Need It The Most

The Talk: Kanye West & Elon Musk (Part 2)

The Science of Building a Premium Brand

6 Habits To Transform Your Life | The Tommy Podcast | Episode 13

How Do I Reverse Brain Rot?

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?