Motivation

THE INFORMATION DIET CONCEPT

The information diet is a concept that has been introduced to me in the book The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. The chapter is called “The Low-Information Diet – Cultivating selective ignorance“. I will refer to it as “the information diet” in this article.

*Disclaimer: This is just me presenting a concept that I have read about and resonated with. I am not trying to “convert” anyone, or make anyone do anything. :)*

Also, if you’re reading this, it means it’s time for you to take a 3-minute breathing break.

What does the information diet mean?

In short, the original concept presented by Tim Ferriss consists in consuming less social media and news in order to be more productive, as too much random information distracts you from what is actually important to you.

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Foodie

HEALTH: WHAT I EAT IN A DAY

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I have decided to take you with me on my fitness journey and show you what I eat in a day!

If you have read this article and if you have been following my Instagram stories, then you know that I have started working out again. Also, what I eat in a day has changed a lot.

I am planning to change my approach a bit, as far as my articles are concerned. I have noticed that up until now I would only give you certain pieces of advice, I would serve you directly the lesson, completely omitting the whole story behind them. Thus I have decided to become a lot more transparent with you guys, and share with you my whole journey, with both its ups and downs.

Therefore, I am super pleased to announce a new Category on the blog: HEALTH. Continue reading

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Motivation

FIRST DAY AT THE GYM – LIFE CHANGING

Yesterday was my first day at the gym ( from 2018 ).

I have posted an article two weeks ago about how exercising more is one of my 2018 resolutions. In the article I have tried to motivate all of you to workout and treat your body right. Because our body is one of your most precious belongings. Now, you might say “Well, Alexandra, it’s easy to tell us to go to the gym, when you don’t even do it.” And that is partially correct. Continue reading

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Motivation

2018 RESOLUTIONS, PART 1 – READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO START EXERCISING MORE

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You might say that I am a bit late with this post, but since I had to postpone the whole relaunch of my blog, I have decided not to share this article with you until now.

I want to begin by saying that there is no such thing as “new year’s resolution”. Only because January is way behind us, you have no excuse not to set new goals and try to accomplish them.

Therefore, I invite you to join me, and let’s create our 4th of March resolutions together. 😉 Continue reading

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Motivation

HOW TO USE YOUTUBE EFFICIENTLY

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HOW TO USE YOUTUBE EFFICIENTLY – HOW DO YOU USE IT?

You might be thinking that there is no right way of watching YouTube. Allow me to share my tips on how to use YouTube efficiently.

YouTube is the perfect place for entertainment of all kinds. How do you use YouTube? Tutorials, vlogs, funny videos, listening to music? Perhaps all of them. This article is for those of you who want to optimize their time spent on YouTube and make the most of it.

Here are my top 5 tips on how to use YouTube efficiently:

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Motivation

IS INSTAGRAM BAD FOR YOU?

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IS INSTAGRAM BAD FOR YOU?

Nowadays, Instagram is one of the most popular social media tools on the Internet. It is used by more than 800 million monthly active users, according to statista.com. Unlike Facebook, which emphasizes social interaction and information sharing, Instagram aims mainly at our visual sense. And since the majority of the information that we perceive comes through our eyes, we can definitely say that we are biologically programmed to be hungry for visual information.

@alexandra_bulac

Source: @alexandra_bulac

Instagram is not a diary, it is a portfolio!

The first thing you need to realize is that Instagram is not a diary, but a portfolio! People share out there only the best version of their life. Their best selfies, the fanciest food and travel spots, and only the cool part of their day. You’ll never see a picture of a tired employee, standing at their cluttered office, signing papers. Even if we are talking about that exact same employee who was in Bali last week, having a perfect life.

Nobody has a perfect life, but that is what we display on social media. And I am not saying that it is a bad thing! After all, that is what Instagram is all about. You display beautiful pictures of beautiful things and places. But it is of utmost importance to acknowledge the fact that Instagram is not the reality, but only a part of it. It is the peak, the best part of it.

Therefore you should not allow Instagram to make you think that everybody has a better life than you do. Because that is nonsense.

@alexandra_bulac

Source: @alexandra_bulac

How often did you find yourself mindlessly scrolling down for dozens of minutes, without any well-defined purpose in mind?

I bet this has happened to you several times. And it all started out in the most innocent way. That is, you have just finished your current task. So you have decided to reward yourself with 5 minutes in which to check out the latest news about Kim K. But these 5 minutes have turned into 30. And now you are not in the mood to get back to work anymore. Well, there’s always tomorrow, right?

Wrong. In short, you lost your focus for a moment and you started looking for the closest source of dopamine. And your most reliable accomplice just announced you that its battery is 100% full.

Every second you waste on social media, you irreversibly delay your success, by feeding yourself with short glimpses of other people’s success. Staring at an image with a beautiful landscape will by no means help you to actually get there. Looking at selfies of those beautiful or powerful people will never help you get to know them or be like them. For that, you have to put in the work. And you absolutely can’t do that with your hand glued to your smartphone.

Here are some strategies to help you escape the harmful effects of Instagram:

1. Clean your feed.

Make sure you only follow people and pages you are truly interested in so that you don’t waste time on irrelevant content. A fun thing that you can do in order to keep your Instagram feed up to date is to unfollow a page that is no longer of importance to you every time you find a new page that you truly like. I also mentioned this tip in the “The Information Diet Concept” article.

2. Develop new habits.

Whenever you feel bored, try doing something else instead of avidly scrolling down the feed. For example, whenever you run out of things to do for a short period of time, don’t turn to your phone. Try finding a different thing that you like, such as reading or going for a walk. In other words, anything that sparks your interest at that moment.

3. Use social media as a tool.

If you have something like a small business, use social media wisely in order to promote it and interact with potential clients and partners. This also works very well if you are a blogger or an artist of any kind.

Also, you can use Instagram as a personal diary. That is, without having any intention to brag about your experiences or belongings, and without any expectation from your public. Because if you allow yourself to be defined by the likes and opinions of others, you will get immersed even deeper in this fake reality created by social media.

Is Instagram bad for you – Conclusion

So be mindful of what you spend your time on. One day, you may really need those hours spent on social media. But you won’t be able to get them back.

So if you need help with anything in this field, don’t hesitate to contact me. I will do the best I can to help. Cheers and see you next time!

Photos: @alexandra_bulac

RO:

În ziua de astăzi, Instagram este una dintre cele mai utilizate platforme de social media, având mai mult de 800 de milioane de utilizatori activi lunar, conform site-ului statista.com. Spre deosebire de Facebook, care promovează predominant interacțiunea dintre utilizatori și distribuirea de informații, Instagram țintește mai mult către simțul nostru vizual. Și, având în vedere faptul că percepem majoritatea informației din jur prin intermediul ochilor, putem spune că suntem programați biologic să fim avizi de hrană vizuală. Continue reading

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Fashion, Motivation

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME

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Let’s talk about how to make the most of your time. Does it ever happen to you to just sit there and all of a sudden realize that you have no idea where the whole day has disappeared? Of course, you had an incredibly busy day, you did not waste a single second, you had lots of activities and goals to accomplish, yet you feel like the whole day has lasted for one second. You feel like you have just woken up at the end of the day, not knowing how you got there. This used to happen to me all the time until a while ago when I realized what the problem was: the fear of deadlines.

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Fashion, Motivation

WHAT OTHERS THINK OF YOU IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS

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Caring about other people’s opinions is the biggest obstacle to your happiness and the thing that will constantly draw you back and keep you from progressing in life. And why is that?

Glad you asked.

So many people these days, especially teenagers and young adults, tend to suppress their desires and even their true personalities because they fear of what other people would think about their actions. “What will my mom say?”, “What will grandpa say?”, “How will my classmates feel about me doing that?”. All of these are frequent and seemingly harmless obstacles, small thoughts that make you question your most genuine wishes and sometimes determine you to give up on some things, ideas or even precious passions of yours because you are worried that your definition of “right” does not correspond to theirs.

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Fashion, Motivation

THE TRUTH ABOUT FRIENDS – MY THOUGHTS

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The truth about friends

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” – Jim Rohn

It’s time for you to hear the truth about friends. It is extremely unfortunate that so many people with huge potential are wasting their time and capabilities because they allow the wrong “friends” to influence them. And it is not necessarily about the fact that your closest friends have a big impact on your behavior, which is also true, but it is more about the people you choose to spend your time with, a choice which tells a lot about your personality, expectations, and perception of life. Continue reading

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