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Shadowing practice: 12 Habits for Life

Listen to the line, then say it out loud
Line 1

Full transcript

  1. Stop, look at this.0:10
  2. There's a guy out here right now and he's jogging in the pouring rain.0:12
  3. You got this dude!0:19
  4. I think the most frustrating thing about building habits and about self -development in general is this idea that inspiration doesn't always correlate to change.0:23
  5. So it doesn't matter how motivated or inspired that you are, it doesn't mean that you're actually going to do something about it.0:35
  6. It doesn't mean that you're actually actually going to change your life.0:42
  7. So I wanted to talk about why you should start thinking long term and stop trying to change everything about your life in a day.0:45
  8. I enter most things in life with just a pinch of skepticism.1:02
  9. That's especially true of self -help.1:07
  10. I remember the first time I listened to my bootleg copy of Tony Robbins Awake the Giant within.1:09
  11. I really respect you as the kind of person who really wants to change the quality of your life and you're committed to do something about it.1:14
  12. So stupid.1:20
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  1. I was hooked on self -help.1:29
  2. It's not all good, most of it is corny, but I almost always finished the books feeling inspired and ready to change everything about my life.1:31
  3. The problem is I tried to take on too much at once.1:40
  4. I tried to build six habits at the exact same time and that approach would always fail.1:43
  5. Then I started to view habit change as a series of experiments.1:48
  6. I'd commit to going to the gym for 30 days straight or I'd read a book every week for a year.1:51
  7. Some were more extreme than others.1:57
  8. They didn't always stick, but my success ratio skyrocketed and they always pushed me to learn something new about myself.1:59
  9. So this year, in an effort to try to learn more, but also to make myself feel very uncomfortable, I'm going to be doing 12 30 -day experiments.2:06
  10. Some of those experiments will include quitting caffeine.2:17
  11. As a daily coffee drinker for the last five years, I've been dreading this one, but I know that it will be healthy to take a little bit of a2:21
  12. break.2:28
  13. Cold showers for 30 days.2:28
  14. I've taken many cold showers in the past, but I've never committed to doing it for this long and it makes me very nervous.2:30
  15. And I've already started this month by quitting sugar.2:36
  16. So I'll be announcing these challenges on Twitter and Instagram probably the day before the 30 -day challenge.2:39
  17. So at the end of every month, and I want to encourage you guys to do this with me.2:46
  18. Now, you don't have to do every single one.2:52
  19. I understand that our lives are very busy and to take on some of these would be asking a lot, but if there's ones that appeal to you, if there's2:54
  20. ones that excite you, or if there's ones that you find scare the shit out of you, like the cold showers, then I encourage you to do them along with3:01
  21. me because I think together we can learn a lot.3:10
  22. All right, so I completely understand that you might not want to develop the same exact habits that I'm building.3:13
  23. You look at the cold showers and you're scared.3:19
  24. You're a little bitch.3:21
  25. That's weird.3:22
  26. I can't say that.3:23
  27. I shouldn't call you a bitch, but you're being a bitch.3:24
  28. But no, okay, if you actually don't want to do it, that's totally fine.3:28
  29. That's why I've actually come up with a list of 12 habits that you might want to build instead.3:31
  30. So these are the 12 habits that I've built that have had the greatest impact on my life and that I think might help you.3:38
  31. Exercise every day.3:43
  32. Set a minimum amount of time to work out every day that you can actually follow through with.3:45
  33. Everyone can set aside 10 to 15 minutes to go for a jog, do a few pushups or sit ups, eat more veggies.3:49
  34. Most days I make smoothies to get more veggies into my diet.3:56
  35. Even adding more veggies to one meal a day can make a big difference.3:59
  36. Read every day.4:04
  37. Listen to an audio book or do some light reading before bed.4:05
  38. You don't have to read a book every week, but the dense content you get from books is unlike any other medium.4:08
  39. Drink more water.4:14
  40. The common recommendation is to drink 64 ounces or two liters of water per day.4:15
  41. Stop buying new stuff.4:20
  42. You can learn a lot by stopping purchases for even 30 days.4:21
  43. You'll break that habit loop of buying just for the dopamine hit or as a distraction mechanism.4:25
  44. You'll also likely save a lot of money.4:30
  45. Meditate.4:32
  46. I'll be honest, I don't meditate much, but it's been a habit that I've valued in the past.4:33
  47. Sam Harris has a meditation app called Waking Up, which I'd recommend checking out.4:37
  48. Build a morning or nighttime routine.4:42
  49. This is a little bit more advanced, but something that might be called a Keystone habit.4:44
  50. You're developing one habit that's connected to many others.4:47
  51. What are three things that you can do every morning or night that will increase the quality of your life?4:51
  52. Work on a passion project.4:55
  53. Take 30 minutes to write for your blog, start learning photography, or even learn an instrument.4:57
  54. Sometimes we get so focused on achievement that we're not really focused on things that we actually enjoy or love.5:02
  55. Declutter.5:07
  56. Spend the month downsizing and cleaning out your junk drawers.5:08
  57. The Minimalist created a really effective game called the Minimalism Game.5:11
  58. In it, you get rid of one thing on the first day, two things on the second day, three things on the third day, all the way to day 30.5:15
  59. You end up getting rid of a lot of shit.5:22
  60. Journal.5:24
  61. A daily journal can help you catch negative patterns or get a clear vision on your goals.5:25
  62. I've carried one on and off for years, and the act of getting my thoughts down has helped me a lot.5:29
  63. Wake up early.5:34
  64. I wasn't always an early riser.5:35
  65. I used to spend late nights working to get projects finished last minute.5:37
  66. But waking up early has helped me avoid procrastination and spend time with family and friends after 5pm.5:40
  67. Quit social media.5:46
  68. I made a video last year about my 30 day social media detox.5:47
  69. That change continues to save me time every day and avoids me from falling into the comparison trap that I often find on Instagram and apps like it.5:51
  70. So you can scale up the difficulty on these habits.5:59
  71. You can scale them down if you want to do 5 minutes or 60 minutes for your exercise every day.6:03
  72. Have at it and come up with one that fits best with your life.6:09
  73. I usually recommend to start small.6:13
  74. Keep it nice and easy.6:15
  75. 5 minutes is great because most of the time we don't do 5 minutes.6:17
  76. If we say, hey, I'm going to sit down and work for 5 minutes, set a timer.6:21
  77. You're usually going to work for way longer.6:24
  78. So don't be overly ambitious that you completely destroy the entire process.6:26
  79. But this is something that I'm really excited about.6:32
  80. I'm really excited to explore and create these videos and share with you the lessons that I've learned.6:35
  81. So obviously stay subscribed to this channel to see those videos as they come out.6:40
  82. And of course, I want to see you guys in the comments and I want to see the things that you are learning from some of these experiments and challenges6:45
  83. yourself, even if it's something that you've done in the past.6:50
  84. Thank you guys so much for watching.6:54
  85. And of course, if you want to support this ad free channel, there's something you can do to help.6:56
  86. I'm going to show you those that are personal vlogs and 5 AMAs.7:15
  87. The main tier, which is $12 gets you access to all of this content.7:18
  88. And it also helps to ensure that I can keep this channel ad free and keep doing what I'm doing here.7:22
  89. So your support means so much to me.7:26
  90. Of course, if you don't have the money, that's totally okay.7:29
  91. I'm trying to make this as affordable as possible for people at the cost of a cup of coffee every week.7:33
  92. But if you can't afford that or if right now you're on a budget and you're trying to save up money or pay off your debt, I totally understand.7:37
  93. I do not want you to feel pressured.7:43
  94. Continue to enjoy my videos ad free and guilt free.7:45
  95. The fact that you subscribe and watch them is enough for me.7:49
  96. Thank you so much and I'll see you next time.7:52

American accent training in a fast paced habits monologue

This clip is Matt D'Avella talking straight into the camera about building habits, with no dialogue partner, just one voice moving through an argument. It sits at B2, and at 222 words per minute it moves faster than most of the catalogue, which makes it a solid pick for american accent training once you are past the beginner stage.

There is no back and forth here, so this is english listening practice first: catch the shape of the argument, then loop single lines for speaking practice. The opening moves from a small scene, a jogger in the rain, into a claim about why inspiration does not equal change, so the lines carry real weight rather than filler.

The self deprecating lines worth an english speaking practice session

Three lines here are worth quoting on their own. "There's a guy out here right now and he's jogging in the pouring rain." runs as one breath with no comma to rest on, which is exactly what makes it good for speaking practice: you either say it in one go or you do not.

"I enter most things in life with just a pinch of skepticism." carries the rare word skepticism and a dry, self deprecating tone worth copying for how to pronounce english words like it in a natural sentence.

"I tried to build six habits at the exact same time and that approach would always fail." stacks stress on "six", "exact" and "fail", and later he says his "success ratio skyrocketed", another rare word from this recording.

  • "There's a guy out here right now and he's jogging in the pouring rain." One breath, no internal pause.
  • "I enter most things in life with just a pinch of skepticism." Dry tone, stress on "pinch".
  • "I tried to build six habits at the exact same time and that approach would always fail." Heavy stress on "six" and "fail".

How to shadow this line by line through D'Avella's habit monologue

Work the clip in order rather than jumping around, since each line sets up the next.

  • Start on line 2, "There's a guy out here right now and he's jogging in the pouring rain." Say it once slowly for the words, then once at his speed.
  • Move to line 8, "I enter most things in life with just a pinch of skepticism." Match the flat, dry delivery, not an excited one.
  • Take line 16, "I tried to build six habits at the exact same time and that approach would always fail." Shadow this line at full speed since it is dense and B2 pace will not slow down for you.
  • Try line 21, the twelve 30 day experiments line. It is long, so split it into two breath groups the way he does.
  • Close on line 25, "Cold showers for 30 days." Short and punchy, a good line to end a session on and hear your own accent improve against his.
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