Author Archives: howtoaddict

Motivation – Do the work and you will feel better

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You won’t accomplish much in life if you work only when you feel good. In your every day find something to do regardless of how you feel. Not only will you knock a thing off your to-do list, but you will feel better for accomplishing meaningful goal.

If you feel bad regardless of your great performance – sure – it is time to think, question priorities and decide what to change. But don’t let cursed human ungratefulness knock you of the path. Do your work and feel good about it. Then do it again. And again. And again. Until you can look back and marvel at all obstacles crashed by persistent effort of your will.

Motivation – How are you adding value?

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Before starting each new day, have clarity on what is it that you will do. Don’t allow laziness, boredom or familiarity hold you down. Be clear on your goals and make them happen.

Hone your strengths and practice them daily. It can be tedious – doing same things again and again. But it can also be joyful – practicing what you know and making your living by doing it. Decide that you will not slave to impulses. That when you know what is it you need doing, you’ll simply do it and create new value. Value that will help improve your and lives around you.

Lose weight 101: Mindset

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Losing weight is one of the easiest things to do. Why do then so many people struggle with excessive pounds (or kilos)? As with any popular question, ask different person and you’ll get different answer. Some will blame their metabolism, others busy schedule, few will complain about sweet tooth for certain types of foods.

Reality is that while all those answers are valid and true, they don’t address the main point. The reason why most people gain weight is quite simple:

They are eating more calories then their body needs.

Now, I am being Mr Obvious for one simple reason. Whenever discussing any topic you always need to keep main cause in the focus. By doing that you allow yourself to filter real from perceived problems.

Zevia Soda, 0 calories, sweetened with Stevia

Zero calorie sodas with natural sweeteners are easy way to reduce calorie count, for those that consume such drinks. We’ll talk more about Zevia sodas in parts to come.

With proper focus, let’s now revisit original list of reasons that supposedly stand in way of losing weight:

  • Metabolism – genetic differences allow some people to eat more than others without gaining weight. But we are talking about minuscule differences here. You can easily negate bad metabolism. Drink green tea, increase muscle mass or walk 10 minutes a day; to name just few ideas.
  • Busy schedule – take time to find answers to your problems. In today’s world most of the problems are already solved. There are so many shakes, protein bars and ready-to-eat meals on the market today. Incorporate these in your diet and you’ll see that eating right is effortless.
  • Sweet tooth for certain types of foods – now we are getting somewhere. If you know you are craving something that’s bad, you are already ahead. You understand it’s area of subjective choice. Take smoking cigarettes for example. Everybody knows that smoking causes cancer; yet, some people still do it. Sure, tiny percentage will still deny cause-effect relationship, but only most extreme or oblivious will smoke when their child or someone they care about is present. Smoking becomes personal choice they embrace and enjoy living with.

Don’t torture yourself with special diets

Eating right to lose weight and maintain ideal BMR is not much different. Many get lost in sticking to certain diet, fasting and torturing themselves. We all know someone who does this once a year, only to roll back to old eating habits after reaching goal. I personally find this unnecessary. Why reward healthy eating by eating junk? I mean, I get the concept of guilty pleasure; but why focus on it? Guilty pleasure every now and then – sure, if you need it go for it. But every day?

I've only been on a diet for a week, I'm dying to have a pizza right now

Don’t idolize foods that are bad for you

Reality is that you don’t need to live like that. In today’s world it’s easy to eat healthy, nutritious diet that you 100% enjoy. It only a matter of taking time to figure things out and building proper mindset. Because it is all about mindset. Try to make someone who enjoys drinking water to gulp down a beer or two. You won’t be able to do it – simply because that person doesn’t enjoy beer. It’s not about calories, carbs, alcohol. It’s about being completely indifferent when it comes to taste of certain beverages.

For example – you can only be a voracious Coke drinker if you invested in that habit. Over time you have developed enjoyment in the act of drinking Coke. You associate taste of Coca Cola with pleasure and happiness. Now, here is something I find extremely funny. Try to give Pepsi to someone who drinks Coke (or the other way around). On the surface, for practical purposes it’s the same drink – same amount of sugar, calories, caffeine, guilty pleasure and all. But for person drinking – it’s nowhere near the same. It’s all about perceived taste.

Choose your healthy eating

So, in a nutshell – eating right is not about food. It’s all about mindset. It’s about not craving a Big Mac that you’ll get on your way back home from work. Dissociate pleasure and bad eating. If you are unable to find meaning and enjoyment in something else, then at least stop idolizing bad food. If you need to idolize food, idolize one that good for you.

It is not a diet, its a mindset change

You need to be willing to walk to the summit

In parts that follow I’ll take you on a journey of building your personal, healthy diet that you 100% enjoy. We will talk about exercising, foods you can try and address bunch of topics related to weight loss. But, to start you need to make a small first step:

Decide that you are willing to change your mindset.

You already know which foods in your diet you should be avoiding. For some of them we will find substitutions. Some of them we will ditch all together. But for this to work you need to be willing to stop associating pleasure to foods that are bad for you.

Leave your comments, and read part 2

If you are up for the journey – leave comment below. I will try to help anyone who comments and wants to lose weight regardless of exactly visit this page.

Part 2 of this guide is up – Lose weight 102: Shifting your mindset and crafting a plan

Motivation – Dealing with disappointments

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You should use your feelings as a loose compass rather than a certain guide on the path of happiness. Sometimes temporarily setbacks are way better than instant success for your long term well being.

Feeling of disappointment is a great gauge – showing you the need to change something. But that’s where it’s utility stops. There is no point in wallowing and complaining. The true happiness starts only when you are dealing with problems, not reliving them.

Motivation – You are a difference maker

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In a world full of creation it’s easy to feel as if nothing you do truly matters. Like you are a cog in a rusted machinery of today, spinning around without much purpose.

But you are making a difference. No matter how small, your influence is changing the world. Find a way to make your actions positive and act as if their impact is already great. And while working, remember: there are no unrealistic dreams, only unrealistic deadlines.

Motivation – Time to fight and time to think

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If you are not struggling, you are not improving. If it’s too easy, you need to fight harder. If it’s too hard, you need to rethink your approach. And once you are in the struggle zone you can handle, enjoy and keep fighting. Get better.

Do not allow your life to become too hard, but also don’t allow it to become too easy. Figure out meaningful work for yourself and once you do have plan – follow it. Own it up, figure it out and forever keep yourself on path of improvement.

Motivation – Don’t be afraid to ask for help

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We are all here because countless others sacrificed. Your 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents… the number grows to encompass numerous people and circumstances that aligned to bring you here. So, what is +1 on top of all that?

But when asking for help, know what it is that you will offer in return. Be prepared to give so you can receive. Build yourself and your talents, so that when the right moment comes – you will have plenty to give… and plenty to receive!

Motivation – Disregard noise

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We live in a busy, exciting world. Every moment is filled with opportunity to use it in variety of ways. There is always new music to listen. New videos to watch. New articles to read. New thoughts to consider.

Being able to do something doesn’t mean you should do it. Instant gratification will get you nowhere. Follow the plans you’ve made for yourself, disregard noise, and guide yourself to true happiness.

TomTom Spark 3 Cardio + Music, GPS Fitness Watch Review

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01-compassBefore reviewing any product I try to use it extensively for at least a month. Being a long time user of original TomTom Spark I was excited to take new Spark 3 for a ride. On one hand, I am extremely disappointed because most of the changes TomTom promised during last year are still missing. On the other hand, launch of this new device resulted in price slash of old model, which is great opportunity for those in market to buy fitness tracking watch.

Right now the old version of TomTom Spark Cardio+Music is selling for $139 while new version is $249. Looking at the price difference you are probably asking – what is the difference between the two? Actually not much, version 3 has:

  1. Slightly redesigned wristband – subjectively I would say it is a bit better, but not really a difference maker
  2. Bluetooth headphones – included with new version, again not a big deal
  3. Compass – sounds great out of box, haven’t used it once during my month long testing
  4. Breadcrumbs support in software – watch can show you the path you’ve ran so you can backtrack. It’s useful if you are long distance runner in unknown terrain; see picture attached to review
  5. Support for uploading GPX files – another feature for advanced runners; you can upload running route to your watch before race and then track the path on your wrist during the race

And that’s it. Although all features are improvements, none of them is truly a difference maker. Especially when you take price into consideration, buying old version of TomTom Spark from this link is no-brainer.

Now, is TomTom Spark Cario+Music 2 or 3 a watch for you? Well, that depends on what you will use watch for… here is the list of things that I find problematic after long use:02-breadcrumbs

  • Long time to get GPS signal – if you are in a new area it may take up 10 minutes to get GPS signal. So, yeah, if this upsets you – definitely skip this product. If you are often running in the same area GPS caching will do the trick and in most cases TomTom Spark will pinpoint your location 10 seconds.
  • Heart rate tracking only truly works for running – for all other activities HR is definitely off. For example, when you are tracking heart rate during weightlifting you’ll quite likely experience this. Also, I’ve read a review where customer was complaining that HR tracking is off for swimming. I mean, I understand that some people have high expectations, but be realistic ;). In a nutshell expect that HR monitor on this watch will give you pretty accurate reading whenever your wrist is in “I’m running” position; for all other positions it’ll be off.
  • Activity tracking is not top notch – sleep tracking and calorie counts are definitely little bit off. Tracking steps on the other hand is OK.
  • Proprietary USB charger with awkward connection to watch – I seriously have no idea why they made it this complicated to connect watch for charging / USB data transfer. For all practical purposes you’ll need to eject watch from wristband EVERY time you want to connect it to your PC / Mac. After a while you may get hang of it and through practice make whole process a bit faster. Water resistance may have played a part in design, but there was truly no need to make it this complicated
  • Music is not that useful – while prospect of not carrying phone with you sounds great (and was one of the main reasons why I purchased this watch), I actually never used it after first week. First, you need to transfer music (or in my case audio books) through mentioned USB cable. Second, only MP3&AAC are supported. Third, controlling playback is done through buttons on the watch – not really that user friendly. So, in the end, if I was buying TomTom Spark I would definitely go with Cardio only to save money. I currently use Moko adjustable belt to carry my phone – it’s simple, it works and is only $7.99.

Conclusion: if you are able to get TomTom Spark for $139 – get it. I do like it and use it every day. It’s pretty stylish, works well and battery life is pretty good. Too bad TomTom is selling it for $250; at that price point you may as well look at other high end watches. In the end, it’s your decision.

Motivation – You are not alone…

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We all are working on making the world a better place. We are all struggling. As long as there is gap between your dreams and reality – it’s good. It means there is something to strive toward. It means you are filled with hope and desire to do better.

And you can do better. You have it in you. Don’t let struggle knock you off your path. Suck it up, reload, repeat. And enjoy.