Shadowing Practice: Why You’re Curious About Everything but Committed to Nothing - Learn English Speaking with Video
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If you're interested in everything but can't seem to stick with anything, there is a name for it.
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It's called popcorn brain.
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You start learning Italian, then you try pottery, then running, then a new business idea at 1am,
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so you feel like you have this constant itch to explore new things.
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And from the outside, all of this might look like curiosity, which is a good thing, right?
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But here's what I realized.
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A lot of the time it's not really curiosity.
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It's something else.
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It's something much sneakier.
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So in this video I want to explain what popcorn brain actually is, why you often find yourself curious about absolutely everything in the world,
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but then all of a sudden you quit halfway and struggle to commit to the process.
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Before we start, I want to remind you guys that
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if you want to go deeper into rewiring your attention and your focus, my new course, The Dopamine Reset, is coming out very soon.
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So if you want to join the waitlist right now, the link is in the description.
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Alright, so let me describe the pattern first of being curious about everything but committed to nothing.
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And you tell me if this sounds familiar.
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You get excited about something new.
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Let's say it's pottery.
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You watch a bunch of videos on YouTube, on TikTok about it.
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You look up classes.
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Maybe you even buy all the tools.
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You start going to in -person classes.
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It feels amazing.
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And then a few weeks later, you're not really doing it anymore.
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Like you didn't decide to quit.
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It just kind of faded.
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And now you're excited about something else, something completely different, something that feels new.
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And if you look around your home, you can probably see all the evidence.
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The guitar in the corner, the language app you haven't opened since March.
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The half -filled journal, the course you bought and watched two lessons of.
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And all of this evidence starts to pile up and it makes you think, I have so much potential but nothing to show for it.
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And so this is something that I want to talk about in today's video.
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And before we go even further, I want to say something super important.
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There is a reason behind why we get curious very quickly but struggle to commit.
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And it makes a lot of sense once you see it and once you understand it.
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And it has nothing to do with you being lazy or you being broken.
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Before we start talking about what a popcorn brain actually is, I want to tell you something that I'm very curious about and very consistent with.
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And that is my skincare routine because it's one of those moments in the morning
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and at night when I get to spend time with myself without distractions.
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This video is sponsored by YesStyle.
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They have a huge selection of Korean and Japanese skincare and makeup all in one place and they ship internationally.
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I want to show right now a few products that I've been using a lot that you can get on their website.
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A lot of these products are almost empty like this essence for example
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and some of them I have repurchased for like the fifth time.
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So let's begin with this one.
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This is the Missha Essence that I use as a toner and it makes my skin feel so hydrated.
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As you can see, I wear a lot of makeup so hydration is really important for me, especially when I'm doing a full face.
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Also to prep my skin for makeup, I use these pads from MediCube.
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When it comes to moisturizers, my two favorite products right now are these one from Purito.
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This one is already my second bottle
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and this one is pretty much empty already like there's nothing in here
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when it comes to sunscreen i'm currently using this one by skin 10 -04
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and i think this is my fifth bottle already like let me show you guys
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because i have another one over there ta -da i really like this sunscreen it doesn't leave a white cast
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and it sits really well under makeup and finally my new find
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which is again i don't know if you can see
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but it is pretty much empty like there's almost nothing left
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is this eselaic acid serum again all of these brands and all of these products I love and use every single day.
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And you can get them too on YesStyle.
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Everything I just showed you is going to be linked in the description.
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And if you use my discount code, you will get 12 % off for orders over $39.
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Alright, so let's first talk about what popcorn brain actually is.
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Popcorn brain is what happens when our minds spend too much time online, when we're chronically on our phones.
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Our thoughts start popping from one thing to the next, like popcorn in a pan.
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And right now, the way our days are structured, all of this is actually adding to us experiencing this popcorn brain effect.
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We watch a lot of short videos, we get a lot of notifications, we have a bunch of tabs open.
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while trying to concentrate and work.
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We receive messages all the time, right?
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So your brain has something new to focus on every five seconds.
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And obviously a big player in this whole popcorn brain conversation is dopamine.
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Because dopamine is not really a pleasure chemical, it's a wanting chemical.
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It's all about anticipation.
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It rises when something new and potentially exciting is coming up.
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So novelty is exactly what your brain gets excited about.
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It's something new, it's something unfamiliar, I don't know what to expect, so that is why I'm excited.
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And right now we're feeding our brains novelty all the time, all day long.
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So the brain starts to expect that pace, it gets used to it, so anything slow feels unbearable.
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And you know what's slow?
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Real, actual life.
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Learning something, committing to the process, learning a language, an instrument, a handstand, building a business, making YouTube videos.
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None of these things give you something new every 15 seconds.
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They're all about playing this long -term game.
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And of course, right now, we still care about doing something deeply rewarding, you know, getting all of that real dopamine,
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not the cheap kind from doom scrolling and like constantly being on our phones.
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We care about real goals.
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We care about committing.
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However, you know, actually doing something for many months
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or many years is completely different from the speed that our brains are now used to.
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Real life can't match that speed.
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So that is why a lot of us, we feel curious about something, but then the moment it gets hard, we quit.
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The second thing I want to talk about is how switching to something new might look like curiosity,
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but sometimes it's actually you running away from something.
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It's you procrastinating, pretty much.
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Basically, when we start learning new things, there's always a pattern to what this journey looks like.
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The first stage is the beginning, and that is the exciting part.
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That is when we have a lot of novelty,
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it feels exciting, and we dedicate a lot of time to this thing that we want to practice.
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You improve really fast, everything is new, every day you learn something that you didn't know before.
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Your brain absolutely loves this stage because it's full of novelty and small little wins.
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But then we get to stage two, which is the frustrating part.
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The part where a lot of emotions, a lot of uncomfortable emotions rise up.
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At some point you stop improving so fast.
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You still practice, you still put in the work, but it feels like nothing is happening.
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You start feeling a lot of different emotions.
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Maybe it feels uncomfortable, maybe a little bit embarrassing.
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And that itch to try something new shows up exactly right here.
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Because starting something new takes you back out of all of these uncomfortable emotions and back to stage one.
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You know, you're again romanticizing everything.
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It again feels super duper exciting.
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The fast progress, the novelty, you're super curious.
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It's the beginning.
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You might think that you're doing it because you're now curious about something else and this old thing, like you no longer like it.
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But in reality, if we dig deeper, it might be you running away from frustration, from all of these uncomfortable emotions.
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There's a book I highly recommend checking out.
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It's called Mastery by George Leonard.
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In the book, the author describes a type of person he calls the dabbler.
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The dabbler loves the beginning, loves the excitement, the gear,
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the new progress and the moment they hit a plateau they're out they're on to the next thing
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and when I read that I was like oh
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that sounds very familiar like I have experienced that so many times
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and I know I'm not alone I know right now like we often really struggle with understanding whether
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or not we are just curious about so many different things or we're actually running away from something.
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And the part of the book that stayed with me was this one.
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George Leonard says that most of the time in any journey, you are in the plateau.
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Progress comes in short little jumps and then you're on a flat stretch again for a very long time,
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which means plateaus are in the part of life that you have to get through as quickly as possible.
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Plateaus are life.
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So the goal becomes, if you're truly genuinely curious about something,
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the goal isn't to run away from a plateau the moment you hit it.
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The goal is to learn how to be okay inside them.
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Like, how to be okay inside the plateau.
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Maybe you even learn to enjoy them, to find what's good about the practice itself, not just, you know, the fast, quick progress.
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Because if you only feel good when you're improving fast, you will feel bad most of the time.
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This is truly such a great mindset shift because once you really understand it, yes, maybe you're going to feel a bit sad like,
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oh, you know, I wanted my whole journey to always be exciting, like I always wanted to experience those quick dopamine hits.
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But at the same time, like when you realize that most of the journey is a plateau, there is a sense of calm,
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to be honest, like when I really think about it.
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This realization is extremely important for our nervous system regulation because when we're constantly chasing quick dopamine hits,
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that is exactly when we get overstimulated.
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We feel tired but wired.
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We feel like we can never catch a break.
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And when you realize that whatever it is you're doing, plateaus or life, it feels really freeing.
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Like it gives you all of those opportunities to add more fun,
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more ease, more flow, something that I talk about a lot on my channel.
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So the question you can ask yourself here
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if you find yourself being curious about a lot of different
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things is am I genuinely drawn to this new thing or am I running away from frustration?
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You know from
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that old thing I was working on I feel a lot of uncomfortable emotions uncomfortable feelings
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and I'm trying to run away from them and this new thing is temporarily masking all of those uncomfortable emotions.
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The next thing I want to talk to you guys about is how things only truly get good
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when they stop being new.
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And let me explain what I mean here.
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There's a very important principle in finances.
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It's called compound interest.
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And we can apply the same principles to skills, to learning something new and actually like staying long enough to see the results.
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So when we talk about compound interest for money, it's when you put in a little it and then you see your finances grow over time.
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Yes, at first when you start saving or investing, it seems like nothing is happening.
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But then slowly it starts to grow on top of itself.
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And after a while, your money grows much faster than you expected.
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Skills work in the exact same way.
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We can apply the same principle of compound interest to skills.
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Especially when knowledge meets experience.
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Knowledge is all the things you learn, right?
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Like you watch videos, you read books, you watch tutorials.
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And experience is what happens when you actually do something again and again and again.
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On their own, neither goes very far.
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But when they meet, they start multiplying each other.
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Every new thing you learn lands on top of everything you have practiced.
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And here's what we need to remember compound interest
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and finances it only works if you stay like
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if you keep your money somewhere long enough
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if you take your money out after two weeks you will never see it grow
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and it's the exact same thing with skills
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when you keep starting over you know
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when you get curious about the next new thing
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and the next new thing you always reset your interest back to zero or in simpler words, something that I mentioned earlier,
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things only get good when they stop being new.
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One of my biggest intentions for 2026 was improving my makeup skills, like really learning new techniques,
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you know, understanding how to apply makeup correctly, like different products, different brushes, like all of those different things.
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And of course, it's one thing, you know watching tiktok videos
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or maybe buying courses watching youtube videos on how to do makeup
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but it's a completely different thing when i actually sit down
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and do the work
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because i have to confront all of the emotions in the moment like this morning
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when i was doing my makeup i decided to glue a false lash just like the corner of my eye
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and i don't know what it is about actually using falsies that just
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you know i experience a lot of frustration
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because i start confronting my perfectionism
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that i want everything to be perfect from the very beginning
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and with false lashes just like with like a wing
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if you use like an eyeliner things are almost never perfect
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like sometimes you have to redo the same thing over
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and over again and you truly only get better with experience
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and so overall I can say that I'm actually really happy
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that I decided to you know walk through all of
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that frustration and actually finish my makeup routine
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because the fun you're looking for
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when you constantly jump to the new thing the next new thing
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this fun is often on the other side of you know, frustration, the boring part, the plateau,
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it's on the other side of it.
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Now I want to talk about something that's not very obvious when we are curious about a lot of different things,
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but we struggle to commit long term.
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The cost of always switching isn't only that you don't get good at things.
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There is a much deeper cost on the level of your identity.
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Every time you quit something, you kind of teach yourself and then reinforce the same lesson.
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I am a type of person who can't follow through.
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Like the moment I experience frustration, the moment, you know, my wing isn't perfect or I can't glue falsies perfectly,
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I have to quit.
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And you hear the same type of inner dialogue over and over again.
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And after a while, what starts happening is you start truly believing it despite the boredom,
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despite the plateau, despite all of the frustration, you can still do it.
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So the next time you get excited about trying something new, there is a voice in your head that keeps on telling you,
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yeah, we both know how this ends and it just makes it so much easier to quit yet again.
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And guys, this is something that hurts so much
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and I'm saying this as someone who has lived through many of those experiences.
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Like I was so afraid of making a mistake.
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I was so tied by my perfectionism that it was easier for me to quit.
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It was easier for me to say, you know, I don't really want it like that much
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or I don't really need it that much than to actually work with my nervous system regulation,
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work with my emotions journal or maybe talk to my therapist to actually figure things out and to move forward.
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The painful thing about all of this is when you quit,
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you never actually get to meet the version of you on the other side of it.
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Like, I wonder what this version of me looks like.
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Very, very curious.
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And to be able to actually meet that version of you, you need to move through the plateau.
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You need to move through the frustration.
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Honestly, I don't want you guys to walk away from this video thinking that you can't be curious now.
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Like, if you decided to commit to something, you have to commit.
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You're not allowed to quit ever.
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That is not what I'm trying to communicate.
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Being interested in so many different things is such a beautiful quality.
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Being curious, running experiments is an amazing thing to do.
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Some of the most interesting people I know are curious about everything.
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Curiosity isn't the problem.
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The problem is never staying long enough for anything to give something back to you.
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Curiosity is something that opens the door and commitment is something that lets you walk through it.
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And you don't have to pick one thing for the rest of your life and be like,
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okay i have to commit you know like i'm getting so distracted by social media by my phone
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i cannot be distracted i need to commit and
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that is it that's actually also a type of fear you know
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when you just commit to one thing
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and you are afraid of being curious you are afraid of trying new things we think
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that if we commit it means we're closing the doors on all the other opportunities
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But in reality, it just means that you're going deep enough on something that this something starts giving you something back.
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Curiosity without commitment keeps you a beginner forever.
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And curiosity with commitment is how you build a truly rich, satisfying life.
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So finally, let's talk about the practical side to all of this.
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How do you commit without killing curiosity?
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The first thing you can do is ask yourself a very important question.
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When that itch to start something new shows up, pause and ask yourself, Am I truly genuinely drawn to this new thing
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or am I just running away from the frustration of the old thing?
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You don't have to answer it perfectly.
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Just asking yourself this question already breaks the autopilot, already helps you, you know, direct your focus to the things that truly matter.
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The second thing I want you to do is when you do experience frustration,
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the uncomfortable emotions, try to approach them as something you feel in your body,
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not something that you have to rationalize through.
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This is something that is very close to my heart as someone who practices yoga consistently.
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Frustration isn't just a thought, it's restfulness.
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It's like something you experience in your body.
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It's tight shoulders or clenched jaw, that urge to get up and literally do anything else.
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And when you notice it, don't immediately run away from it.
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Don't substitute it.
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Don't cover it with doom scrolling, with distraction, with, you know, cheap dopamine.
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Being able to stay with discomfort and actually regulate your body in the moment, you know, focus on your nervous system regulation,
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maybe do some breathing exercises.
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All of that is a skill and you can certainly train it.
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The third step you can do is keep a curiosity list.
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Every time you get excited about something new, just write it down.
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Instead of immediately buying like a bunch of supplies, spending a lot of money, signing up for courses.
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Just write it down and let it be.
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You're not saying yes or no immediately, right?
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You're just saying maybe, maybe yes, maybe no. But like what I'm saying right now is not yet.
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This list is something very similar to like a shopping list, you know, when you want to buy new clothes or new makeup.
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Just put it on your wish list
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and wait a little bit for a week or two and if you still truly want to try it,
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like if you still want to buy this product, then of course go for it.
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The same thing with all of the little things you're curious about trying.
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And thing number four that can really help you here is commit in seasons, not forever.
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You know, don't tell yourself I'm going to from now on be learning Italian forever.
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Maybe just tell yourself like I'm going to give myself a month to experience what it's like to learn Italian
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and then I'll see if I want to keep it as my habit,
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if I want to change it or if I want to stop doing it completely.
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So guys, I think it's going to be it for today's video.
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If you liked it, please don't forget to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel.
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I really hope now you know why you feel curious about everything but really struggle to commit.
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Like why you want to try new things all the time
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but once you hit the plateau you experience a lot of frustration and you quit.
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And also I really hope now you understand what to do about all of this.
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Frustration and uncomfortable emotions, all of those things are not something to fear.
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Plateaus are most of our life, you know, when it comes to building a specific routine, working on a new project.
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Yes, maybe at the beginning it feels super exciting, but most of the time you're in the plateau and that is absolutely okay.
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Today we kind of touched upon the topic of consistency, what it means to be consistent.
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So if you want to go deeper on this topic,
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if you consider yourself an ambitious person and if you want to understand how to be truly consistent,
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I highly recommend watching this video next.
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Otherwise, thank you guys so much for watching this video, and I'll see you in my next one.
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Ciao!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Why You’re Curious About Everything but Committed to Nothing”. This video has 298 sentences and 3795 words to shadow. The speech runs for 24:24. The speaker talks at a natural 156 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 86% 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
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| curious adjective | /ˈkjʊɹ.i.əs/ | Tending to ask questions, or to want to explore or investigate; inquisitive; (with a negative connotation) nosy, prying. |
| commit verb | /kəˈmɪt/ | To give in trust; to put into charge or keeping; to entrust; to consign; used with to or formerly unto. |
| plateau noun | /plæˈtoʊ/ | A largely level expanse of land at a high elevation; tableland. |
| frustration noun | /fɹʌsˈtɹeɪ.ʃən/ | The feeling of annoyance at impossibility from resistance or inability to achieve something. |
| emotion noun | /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/ | A person's internal state of being and involuntary physiological response to an object or a situation, based on or tied to physical state and sensory data. |
| uncomfortable adjective | /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/ | Not comfortable; causing discomfort. |
| curiosity noun | /ˌkjʊɹ.iˈɑ.sə.ti/ | Inquisitiveness; the tendency to ask and learn about things by asking questions, investigating, or exploring. |
| popcorn noun | /ˈpɑp.kɔɹn/ | A snack food made from corn or maize kernels popped by dry heating. |
| novelty noun | /ˈnɑvəlti/ | The state of being new or novel; newness. |
| compound noun | /ˈkɑmpaʊnd/ | Anything made by combining several things. |
| consistent adjective | /kənˈsɪs.tənt/ | Of a regularly occurring, dependable nature. |
| commitment noun | /kəˈmɪtmənt/ | The act of sending a legislative bill to committee for review. |
| regulation noun | /ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/ | The act of regulating or the condition of being regulated. |
| routine noun | /ɹuˈtin/ | A course of action to be followed regularly; a standard procedure. |
| principle noun | /ˈpɹɪn.sɪ.pəl/ | A fundamental assumption, fundamental law or guiding belief. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| run away from verb | To avoid or shirk a problem or consequences; to rush to back away from or disclaim responsibility for something. | |
| show up verb | To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically. | |
| walk through verb | To explain (something) to (someone), step by step. | |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. | |
| follow through verb | To execute or complete a commitment. | |
| get through verb | /ɡɛt ˈθɹu/ | To overcome; to endure. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- And you know what's slow?
- It's you procrastinating, pretty much.
- You know, you're again romanticizing everything.
- The fast progress, the novelty, you're super curious.
- There's a book I highly recommend checking out.
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 | haven't opened · have repurchased · have experienced |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | being broken · is sponsored · be linked |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | curiosity, which is · two, which is · person who can |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 71 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: breathe /bɹiːð/, thumb /ˈθʌm/, therapist /ˈθɛɹəpɪst/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: frustration /fɹʌsˈtɹeɪ.ʃən/, emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, regulation /ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/, distraction /dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/
- Long words — get the stress right: uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, curiosity /ˌkjʊɹ.iˈɑ.sə.ti/, regulation /ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/, genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/
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 curious, commit, plateau.
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.