Shadowing Derek Sivers

Summary

Derek Sivers encourages people to attempt the things they fear doing badly. He argues that mistakes are part of learning and that repeated attempts often produce better results than a narrow pursuit of perfection. The short talk moves from an analogy with muscle training to a word-memory exercise, a story about pottery students, and the attitude of jazz musicians. Together, these examples support his invitation to experiment more freely and treat imperfect efforts as useful experience.

Key points, in order

1. Sivers begins with the fear that a desired project will go badly. His response is to make room for errors instead of waiting until failure seems impossible.
2. He describes a word exercise in which readers must fill gaps, and says the extra mental struggle improves recall. The learning claim belongs to his explanation of why difficulty can be productive.
3. In his pottery story, one group is judged on a single perfect piece and another on the amount produced. The students making many pots gain experience through experiments and ultimately create the better work.
4. Jazz provides his final model: an adventurous solo with occasional wrong notes can show more growth than a flawless but safe performance. Trying harder, in this account, means reaching beyond familiar abilities.

Five useful phrases to practise

Choose a caption line to open Repeat mode. Listen, then say it after the speaker.

1. 0:27 Because everybody here, no matter what, everybody has something that you would like to do, but that you're scared to do.
2. 2:20 You remember things you learned with some failures and with some mistakes, more than the things were easy.
3. 2:31 Doing what you know is fun, but doesn't improve you.
4. 2:37 Number two is that quantity leads to quality.
5. 4:50 And there is a common saying in jazz that if you're not making mistakes, you're not trying hard enough.

Based on the video’s captions. Original video: TEDxPhnomPenh - Derek Sivers- Why You Need to Fail · TEDx Talks.

Everyday phrases from this video

• kind of

• Level: B2
• Accent: American
• Length: 5 min · 65 lines to practise
• Speed: about 189 words a minute (faster than most talks)
• Words: about 960; the talk asks 1 question
• Timing: Sada measures how far behind the speaker you are on every line

What to focus on in this talk

Use the numbered reasons near the end to practise presenting an ordered argument.

What this talk trains

Derek Sivers speaks for about 5 minutes: roughly 960 words in 65 caption lines. The pace eases off as the talk goes on, from about 205 words a minute in the first quarter to 181 in the last. Overall it is faster than 61 of the other 66 talks on Sada. Its sentences average 15.4 words, longer than the middle of the library (14.3), and 12.9% of its words fall outside the 3,000 most common English words (library middle: 12.9%). Phrases that fast speech often shortens come up again and again: “going to” (7 times) and “kind of” (3 times).

Lines from across the talk, and what each one trains

One line from each quarter of the talk. Press a line to open it in Sada, ready to record. “Linking” marks words that run together: a word ending in a consonant sound joins the vowel that starts the next one.

1. 0:57 What this means is that when you are in a gym, for example,

   Linking: say “means is”, “in a”, “for example” without a break between the words. Several commas: say it in short chunks first, then as one line.

2. 2:07 It actually is kind of failing.

   “kind of”: fast speech often shortens it to “kinda”. Listen for whether the speaker does here. Linking: say “It actually”, “kind of” without a break between the words.

3. 3:31 Anybody who made over 14 pounds of pots, gets a B. C, etc.

   Linking: say “pounds of”, “gets a” without a break between the words. Several commas: say it in short chunks first, then as one line.

4. 4:33 So, anyway. Why you need to make more mistakes?

   A question: listen to where the voice rises or falls at the end, and copy it.

Words that keep coming up

Words outside the 3,000 most common English words that Derek Sivers uses more than once. The number is how often each is said. Look up any you don’t know, then press it to practise the line where it first comes up.

• mistakes ×10
• semester ×10
• pots ×6
• muscle ×3
• pottery ×3
• experiment ×3
• scared ×2
• lift ×2

How the pace changes through the talk

The fastest minute starts at 2:50 (about 223 words a minute): practise that minute once the rest feels easy. The slowest starts at 0:57 (about 137): a good minute to warm up with.

Measured from the caption timing, so the numbers are close, not exact.

How the talk opens: press any line to practise it

1. 0:10 ...six months ago, and I emailed asking if I can please come.
2. 0:13 I just wanted to sit in the audience and watch to learn more about Cambodia.
3. 0:16 And they said, "Sure, you can come.
4. 0:17 You will be doing your talk on the first morning."
5. 0:19 And I said, "Oh, talk. Okay."
6. 0:21 So, I'm going to talk to you for just three minutes about the importance of why you need to try to make more mistakes.

How to practise this talk

1. Warm up on the slowest minute (from 0:57) or on the opening lines above.
2. Then take the chosen lines above one at a time: linked words, a line said in chunks, a shortened phrase, a question.
3. On each line, press Record and say it after Derek Sivers (Repeat) or along with them (Shadow), then open Compare and go again until every word is green.
4. Save the fastest minute (from 2:50, about 223 words a minute) for last.
5. At one minute a day you finish the whole talk in about 5 days, and Sada shows your first try against your latest.

More talks to practise

• Derek Sivers — Keep Your Goals to Yourself (B1–B2 · 185 words a minute · same speaker)
• Derek Sivers — How to Start a Movement (B1 · 182 words a minute · same speaker)
• Terri Trespicio — Stop Searching for Your Passion (B2 · 191 words a minute · same level)
• Adam Grant — Are You a Giver or a Taker? (B2 · 186 words a minute · same level)

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