Shadowing Ivan Joseph

Summary

Ivan Joseph presents self-confidence as a skill that can be developed rather than a quality people either possess or lack. Drawing on coaching and his own career, he emphasizes repeated practice, persistence after setbacks, and a more supportive inner voice. He also considers how teachers, coaches, and parents affect other people’s confidence through feedback. The talk combines personal stories with examples of training and encouragement to argue that belief grows through both preparation and the interpretation of experience.

Key points, in order

1. Joseph describes a goalkeeper practicing catches repeatedly and recalls rehearsing his own public speaking. Familiarity with a task gives confidence a practical foundation rather than relying on a declaration of belief.
2. Repetition only helps when a person continues through difficulty. He uses examples of rejected or unsuccessful attempts to distinguish persistence from stopping at the first discouraging result.
3. He encourages replacing negative self-talk with affirmations and evidence of previous achievements. A letter written during a confident period helped him through a later stretch of self-doubt.
4. For supporting others, Joseph recommends noticing and describing successful behavior. His coaching examples show how praising a correct action can teach a whole group while preserving confidence, and he closes by examining how confident people interpret feedback.

Five useful phrases to practise

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

1. 1:37 But, I use the word skill because I believe it can be trained.
2. 4:18 Maybe it shouldn't be repetition, maybe the answer should be persistence.
3. 6:43 Get away from the people who will tear you down.
4. 10:26 Catch them when they're good.
5. 11:24 Self-confident people interpret feedback the way they choose to.

Based on the video’s captions. Original video: The skill of self confidence | Dr. Ivan Joseph | TEDxRyersonU · TEDx Talks.

Everyday phrases from this video

• it depends

• Level: B1
• Accent: Canadian
• Length: 13 min · 217 lines to practise
• Speed: about 186 words a minute (faster than most talks)
• Words: about 2,420; the talk asks 28 questions
• Timing: Sada measures how far behind the speaker you are on every line

What to focus on in this talk

A coach’s energy at a fast pace. “Really not true.” and “What do they do really well?” are short lines to start with; copy his rhythm first, and the Canadian vowels will follow.

What this talk trains

Ivan Joseph speaks for about 13 minutes: roughly 2,420 words in 217 caption lines. The pace eases off as the talk goes on, from about 197 words a minute in the first quarter to 172 in the last. Overall it is faster than 58 of the other 66 talks on Sada. Its sentences average 10.3 words, no longer than the middle of the library (14.3), and 13.2% of its words fall outside the 3,000 most common English words (library middle: 12.9%). It asks 28 questions, so there is plenty of question intonation to copy. Phrases that fast speech often shortens come up again and again: “want to” (6 times) and “let me” (2 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. 1:44 Hopefully I won't run out of time.

   “out of”: fast speech often shortens it to “outta”. Listen for whether the speaker does here. Linking: say “run out”, “out of” without a break between the words.

2. 3:40 How many of us bail after the first bit of adversity?

   A question: listen to where the voice rises or falls at the end, and copy it. Linking: say “bail after”, “bit of”, “of adversity” without a break between the words.

3. 7:00 I put it down on a list, it's right beside my mirror, right?

   A question: listen to where the voice rises or falls at the end, and copy it. Linking: say “put it”, “down on”, “on a” without a break between the words.

4. 11:58 "Paulie, would you like to go to the movies?

   “would you”: fast speech often shortens it to “wouldja”. Listen for whether the speaker does here. 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 Ivan Joseph 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.

• confidence ×12
• repetition ×8
• skill ×5
• catch ×5
• coach ×4
• confident ×4
• affirmation ×4
• knee ×4

How the pace changes through the talk

The fastest minute starts at 4:30 (about 224 words a minute): practise that minute once the rest feels easy. The slowest starts at 11:15 (about 151): 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. 0:06 In my past life as a soccer coach,
2. 0:08 once you won a national championship, everyone wants to come play for you.
3. 0:12 Really not true.
4. 0:13 Once you paid them $ 25,000 a year in scholarships, everybody wants to come play for you.
5. 0:18 And parents would always come to me and they'd say: "Okay, my son or my daughter wants to come play at your university, what is it that we have to do?
6. 0:26 You know, what are you looking for?"

How to practise this talk

1. Warm up on the slowest minute (from 11:15) or on the opening lines above.
2. Then take the chosen lines above one at a time: a shortened phrase, linked words, a question.
3. On each line, press Record and say it after Ivan Joseph (Repeat) or along with them (Shadow), then open Compare and go again until every word is green.
4. Save the fastest minute (from 4:30, about 224 words a minute) for last.
5. At one minute a day you finish the whole talk in about 13 days, and Sada shows your first try against your latest.

More talks to practise

• Daniel Levitin — How to Stay Calm When You Know You’ll Be Stressed (B1 · 186 words a minute · same level)
• Cameron Russell — Looks Aren’t Everything. Believe Me, I’m a Model. (B1 · 184 words a minute · same level)
• Chris Bailey — How to Get Your Brain to Focus (B2 · 164 words a minute · same accent)
• Adam Grant — Are You a Giver or a Taker? (B2 · 186 words a minute · similar pace)

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