Shadowing Practice: You Will Never Look At Life The Same | Jordan Peterson - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Music Music Music
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Music Sit on your bed one day
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and ask yourself What's What remarkably Stupid things am I doing
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on a regular Basis to absolutely screw up my life And if you actually Ask that question, but you have to Want to know the answer right
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because that's actually what asking The question means it doesn't mean
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just Mouthing the words it means you have to decide
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that you want to know you'll figure that's out so fast it'll make your hair curl
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there's no better pathway to self-realization
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and the ennoblement of being than to posit the highest good
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that you can conceive of and commit yourself to it
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and then you might also ask yourself
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and this is definitely worth asking is do you really have anything better to do
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and if you don't well So why would you do anything else?
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If you orient yourself properly, and then pay attention to what you do every day, that works.
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And I actually think that that's in accordance with what we have come to understand about human perception,
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because what happens is that the world shifts itself around your aim.
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Because you're a creature that has an aim.
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You have to have an aim in order to do something.
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You're an aiming creature look at a point
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and you move towards it it's built right into you and
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so you have an aim well let's say your aim is the highest possible aim well then
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so that sets up the world around you it it organizes all of your perceptions it organizes what you see
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and you don't see it organizes your emotions and your motivations
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so you organize yourself around that aim
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and then what happens is the day manifests itself as a set of challenges
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and problems and if you solve them properly
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then you stay on the pathway towards that aim
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and you can concentrate on the on the on the day
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and so that way you get to have your cake
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and eat it too because you can you can point into the distance the far distance
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and you can live in the day and it seems to me
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that that's that makes every moment of the day supercharged with meaning
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that that's because if everything
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that you're doing every day is related to the highest possible aim
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that you can conceptualize well that's the very definition of the meaning
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that would sustain you in your life well
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and then the issue is well back to noah well all hell's about to break loose
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and chaos is coming it's like
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when that's happening in your life you might want to be doing something
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that you regard as truly worthwhile because that's what will keep you afloat
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when when everything is flooded
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and you don't want to wait until the flood comes just start doing
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that because if your ark's half built
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and you don't know how to captain it the probability is very high that that you'll drown
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ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock
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and it shall be opened unto you for everyone that asketh receiveth
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and he that seeketh findeth and to him
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that knocketh it shall be opened that sounded pretty optimistic again
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but but again i think it's a description of the structure of existential reality and and by by which i mean
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when i'm in my clinical practice and i observe and this is also the case with my students is let's say
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people's lives aren't what they would like them to be and
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so then you ask why well forget about tragedy and catastrophe
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because that's self-evident and we're not going to discuss
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that although the the degree to which you bring about your own tragedy is always indeterminate.
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But I would never say that every terrible thing that is visited on a person is something they deserved.
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I think that that's a very dangerous presupposition, especially because everyone gets sick and everyone dies.
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But one of the main reasons that people don't get what they want is
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because they don't actually figure out what it is.
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the probability that you're going to get what would be good for you, let's say, which would even be better than what you want, right?
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Because, you know, you might be wrong about what you want, easily.
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But maybe you could get what would really be good for you.
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Well, why don't you?
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Well, because you don't try.
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You don't think, okay, here's what I would like if I could have it.
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And I don't mean, I don't mean in a way
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that you manipulate the world to force it to deliver you goods for status or something like that.
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That isn't what I mean.
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I mean something like, imagine that you were taking care of yourself like you were someone you actually cared for.
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And then you thought, okay, I'm caring for this person.
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I would like things to go as well for them as possible.
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What would their life have to be like in order for that to be the case?
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Well, people don't do that.
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They don't sit down and think, all right, you know, Let's figure it out.
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You've got a life It's hard obviously.
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It's like three years from now.
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You can have what you need You got to be careful about it.
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You can't have everything you can have what would be good for you
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But you have to figure out what it is and then you have to aim at it
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Well my experience with people has been is
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if they figure out what it is that would be good for them
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And then they aim at it then they get it and And it's strange because they don't necessarily, it's a strange thing.
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It's not quite that simple because, you know, you may formulate an idea about what would be good for you.
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And then you take 10 steps towards that and you find out that your formulation was a bit off.
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And so you have to reformulate your goal.
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You know, so you're kind of going like this as you move towards the goal.
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But a huge part of the reason that people fail is because they don't ever set up the criteria for success.
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And so, since success is a very narrow line and very unlikely, the probability that you're going to stumble on it randomly is zero.
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And so there's a proposition here, and the proposition is, if you actually want something, you can have it.
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Now, the question then would be, well, what do you mean by actually want?
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And the answer is that you reorient your life in every possible way to make the probability
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that that will occur as certain as possible.
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And that's a sacrificial idea, right?
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It's like, you don't get everything.
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Obviously.
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Obviously.
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But maybe you can have what you need.
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And maybe all you have to do to get it is ask.
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But asking isn't a whim or today's wish.
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It's like you have to be deadly serious about it.
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You have to think, okay, like I'm taking stock of myself.
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And if I was going to live properly in the world and I was going to set myself up
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such that being would justify itself in my estimation, and I don't mean as a harsh judge, exactly what is it that I would aim at?
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And so the issue is not so much the blindness of others,
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even though there's as much blindness among others as there is as there is for you
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but the issue here the advice here the description here is
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you should be concerned about what's interfering with your own vision first
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and you should leave other people the hell alone in relationship to
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that and so if your mode of being in the world is if you would just act better, things would improve for me.
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Or if you identify the evil and the catastrophe as something that's outside, that someone else needs to fix or that someone else is responsible for,
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then you're not going to fix that.
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And you're going to remain blind to the things that you're doing and not doing that make things not go well.
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And so it's just better to think, all right, I'm probably blind in many, many ways.
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And maybe there are some ways that I could rectify that
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because it's highly probable that you're blind in all sorts of ways I mean, it's in fact.
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It's virtually certain and so it's just more useful to think How is it that I'm wrong in this situation?
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I'll tell you something that I learned to do when I was arguing with my wife which happened quite frequently
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because When you actually communicate with people you find out
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that there's many things that you don't agree on and that's
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because you're actually different creatures and so
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if you're actually going to have a truthful conversation then you're going to find out
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that you don't see things the same way
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and then you can either pretend that that's not the case
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and gloss over it and then end up in a 30-year silent war
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or you can or you can have the damn fight
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when you need to have it and see
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if you could straighten it out so now
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and then we'd get in a situation where we were at loggerheads we couldn't move
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and and you know it would spiral up into hate speech let's say
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because yeah everyone laughs because they know they manifest plenty of hate speech towards those they love
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so one of the things we learned to do was
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when we hit an impasse was to separate
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and to go our own ways and to go sit
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and think okay look we're at this unpleasant situation we can't figure out how to move forward I'd always think,
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of course it's her fault, obviously it's her fault.
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At least 95%, but maybe there was something I did that contributed like 5% to it.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will engage in an enriching English speaking practice session inspired by Jordan Peterson's thought-provoking insights. The focus will be on improving your pronunciation and comprehension through the shadowing technique. By mimicking the speech patterns and intonations found in the transcript, you'll enhance your understanding of complex ideas while simultaneously refining your English speaking skills. This interactive approach enables you to internalize new vocabulary and expressions, making your learning experience much more dynamic and impactful.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Self-realization: The process of understanding and fulfilling one’s potential.
- Aim: A goal or target towards which efforts are directed.
- Meaning: The significance or purpose behind actions or existence.
- Chaos: A state of confusion or disorder often used to describe challenges in life.
- Truly worthwhile: Something that has significant value or importance.
- Existential reality: The state of being that revolves around one's existence and purpose.
- Conceptualize: The action of forming a concept or idea in the mind.
- Flood: A metaphor for overwhelming challenges or crises in life.
Practice Tips
To maximize your language learning through this session, consider utilizing the shadowing technique effectively. Here are some tips to enhance your learning experience:
- Listen Actively: Play the video and focus on Peterson’s intonation and rhythm. Pay close attention to how he emphasizes certain phrases; this will help improve your English pronunciation.
- Speak Along: Use the shadow speech method by repeating what you hear immediately after Peterson speaks. This technique helps you internalize the language structure while improving fluency.
- Break It Down: If the pace feels too quick, pause the video after a sentence or idea and repeat it several times. Slowly build up your speed to match Peterson’s delivery.
- Record Yourself: After practicing, record your voice while shadowing. Listen to your recording to assess your pronunciation and intonation, and make necessary adjustments.
- Reflect and Engage: Take a moment to pause and think about the meaning behind his words. Engaging with the content critically will enable you to discuss related themes, expanding your vocabulary and conversational skills.
By practicing regularly with these techniques, you will not only improve your English speaking skills but also enrich your understanding of complex concepts. Embrace the challenge, and enjoy learning English with YouTube!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if you don't well So why would you |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is flooded · be given · be opened |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have come · has been |
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.