Latest news with #CalNewport
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
You can now do a sleep apnoea test using your watch. Is it worth it?
If you've ever been unlucky enough to have a sleep apnoea test, you'll appreciate how challenging it is to get a decent night's sleep while hooked up to an array of contraptions and wires. You also might understand why up to 90 per cent of the 1 billion-odd people believed to have sleep apnoea go undiagnosed. Apart from potential cost and access issues, fatigue is so common we've normalised it – we live in the era of 'The Great Exhaustion', according to author and computer science professor Cal Newport. Besides, who wants another disturbed night's sleep for a test when they already feel dog-tired? Enter the growing number of wearables offering a minimally disruptive sleep apnoea test in the comfort of your own bed. But how does a device on your wrist detect obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), in which throat muscles intermittently collapse and block the airway during sleep, causing a person's breathing to stop and start? How accurate are they? And, if they don't replace a formal diagnosis, what's the point? Last week, Apple announced the Australian release of its sleep apnoea feature, available on Apple Watch Series 9 and above and Apple Watch Ultra 2. In August, Samsung's sleep apnoea feature on the Galaxy Watch will become available in Australia. While other devices, such as Whoop, Oura, Garmin and FitBit, have sleep health features that can alert the wearer to disrupted sleep patterns, they do not have specific Therapeutic Goods Administration-approved features to detect breathing disturbances and therefore sleep apnoea. So how does it work? Dr Matt Bianchi, formerly an assistant professor in neurology at Harvard Medical School, is now a research scientist at Apple.
The Age
2 days ago
- Health
- The Age
You can now do a sleep apnoea test using your watch. Is it worth it?
If you've ever been unlucky enough to have a sleep apnoea test, you'll appreciate how challenging it is to get a decent night's sleep while hooked up to an array of contraptions and wires. You also might understand why up to 90 per cent of the 1 billion-odd people believed to have sleep apnoea go undiagnosed. Apart from potential cost and access issues, fatigue is so common we've normalised it – we live in the era of 'The Great Exhaustion', according to author and computer science professor Cal Newport. Besides, who wants another disturbed night's sleep for a test when they already feel dog-tired? Enter the growing number of wearables offering a minimally disruptive sleep apnoea test in the comfort of your own bed. But how does a device on your wrist detect obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), in which throat muscles intermittently collapse and block the airway during sleep, causing a person's breathing to stop and start? How accurate are they? And, if they don't replace a formal diagnosis, what's the point? Last week, Apple announced the Australian release of its sleep apnoea feature, available on Apple Watch Series 9 and above and Apple Watch Ultra 2. In August, Samsung's sleep apnoea feature on the Galaxy Watch will become available in Australia. While other devices, such as Whoop, Oura, Garmin and FitBit, have sleep health features that can alert the wearer to disrupted sleep patterns, they do not have specific Therapeutic Goods Administration-approved features to detect breathing disturbances and therefore sleep apnoea. So how does it work? Dr Matt Bianchi, formerly an assistant professor in neurology at Harvard Medical School, is now a research scientist at Apple.
New York Times
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
6 Podcasts to Boost Your Productivity and Focus
Productivity has become an obsession, both for individuals and companies. Across numerous industries, employee productivity is now being monitored and scored, with the specter of artificial intelligence automation only adding to the pressure to always be hustling. But there's real value in learning how to prioritize tasks and organize your schedule in ways that work for your brain without compromising your well being. These six podcasts offer steps and tools for making the most of your time and energy at work and beyond. 'Deep Questions With Cal Newport' Cal Newport, an author and professor of computer science at Georgetown University, has long been known for his balanced approach to productivity — his most recent book, 'Slow Productivity,' emphasizes working less to produce higher quality results. In Newport's podcast, he offers detailed advice grounded in a few core concepts: deep work (focusing, without distraction, on a single, cognitively demanding task), digital minimalism (limiting technology use to reclaim the time and energy that digital pursuits can drain from us), and time-blocking (dividing a day into segments during which you focus on one task at a time). As he addresses listener questions and shares concrete tips and techniques, Newport also encourages his audience to question their assumptions about productivity as a goal in itself. Starter episode: 'It's Okay to Slow Down' 'Relaxing White Noise' While many podcasts offer tips and advice on how to focus better, this series is a practical tool in itself. Despite its somewhat bland title, 'Relaxing White Noise' gives listeners access to a smorgasbord of soothing soundscapes. With more than a thousand episodes in the back catalog, the options include soothingly mundane noises (dishwasher sounds or the whir of a fan), evocative nature scenes (a rainstorm in a forest or a cascading waterfall) and even potentially stressful scenarios ('Rain & Stormy Ocean Sounds Aboard Wooden Ship' may be an acquired taste). There are also many white, brown and pink noise options — for the uninitiated, these all describe different audible frequencies with varying effects. White noise has more of a hissing sound than brown or pink, which may make the latter options more soothing, but all three have benefits for focus, not least because they effectively block out other disruptive sounds. Starter episode: 'Super Relaxing Waterfall Sounds for Sleeping' 'Cortex' Since a lot of productivity podcasts are geared toward those with traditional 9 to 5 work schedules, 'Cortex' is a welcome alternative with an emphasis on freelancers and creatives. The show is hosted by CGP Grey (best known among podcast fans for the beloved but now-defunct hit 'Hello, Internet') and Myke Hurley, a founder of the British podcast network Relay FM, who share their strategies for time management and getting things done. The duo affably discusses specific work flows, apps and frameworks that help them push forward with creative projects — for instance, planning your year around a broad theme and using this to guide actions rather than relying solely on rigid, time-based goals. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Forbes
26-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Common Company Culture Trap Holding Your Business Back
The common company culture trap holding your business back Too many founders are spending hours in back-to-back meetings about meetings and it's madness. Blank spaces in calendars are being filled with bookings from anyone who wants to catch up. No boundaries, no sense of priority in meetings, and nothing moving forward. According to Microsoft Outlook's productivity report, employees average 6.6 hours of overtime per week. But they get 46% less focus time than they need and they attend 29.6% more meetings than they want to. Founders work even more, averaging 10.2 hours of overtime per week, clocking roughly 50-hour workweeks Every week, 4.7 meetings get canceled or rescheduled when calendar overload becomes real. Business owners and knowledge workers are drowning in coordination and neglecting creation. They aren't thinking straight or focusing on one task. Notifications ping, Slack channels light up, and deep work slips further away. Don't confuse being busy with being useful: avoid the productivity trap I built and sold an agency where we tracked every metric. Revenue per employee, profit margins, client satisfaction scores. But the measurement that predicted growth over all else was how much we were able to create. Social media posts for our clients, emails to our list, and articles for our website. The question at the end of each day was, 'did we ship the thing that moved the needle today?' not 'did we have enough meetings today?' It made all the difference. Cal Newport, computer science professor at Georgetown University and author of books on productivity and focus, argues that "our current definition focuses on visible activity as a proxy for useful effort… email or Slack lets me demonstrate visible activity at any moment of my life." We've created systems where looking productive matters more than being productive. The calendar fills up. The Slack channels multiply. The project boards get complex. But the business stands still. Your team works hard but they're trapped in systems built for show, not growth. Motion feels like progress until you realize you're on a treadmill. Nobody admits that all this activity serves as cover for avoiding the work that scares us: making real decisions, shipping imperfect products, having difficult conversations. Your company's busy culture hides low standards: stop it now When everyone's too busy to think, mediocrity wins. You settle for good enough because there's no time for great. Your team learns that attending equals contributing. They think response time beats quality of thought. Newport calls this "busyness-as-proxy," where "our current definition focuses on visible activity as a proxy for useful effort." It's a culture trap. And it keeps standards low. Here's how to move your business forward without falling for low-ceiling limitations. New tools and apps promise salvation from chaos. Instead they multiply it. Now you need meetings about the project tool. Training for the communication platform. Updates about updates. Each solution creates new problems. Technology has made it easier to fill time with tasks that feel productive but don't move the business forward. Email, instant messaging, and collaborative tools create an always-on expectation that fragments attention and prevents the deep work required for meaningful progress. Only add new tools when you really need to. Consider options carefully before committing. Hire someone to set you up. Do this intentionally, not accidentally. Less is better than too much. Strip everything back to one question: what single outcome would transform your business this quarter? Not five things. One. Revenue growth, product launch, or market expansion. Choose. Clarity beats complexity. One thing beats many. If you chase all the metrics, it's not clear where you should focus. But every business has one north star. The metric that really shows whether you're winning or not. Vanity metrics don't matter as much as this measure. Be prepared to let things slide apart from that. Now you know the metric; identify the action. Gary Keller's bestselling book, The ONE Thing, introduces the question, "What's the ONE Thing I can do, such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?" Ask this question, then do that thing. When you've done that, do the next thing. And keep going. Live by that question. Cancel meetings that don't advance your one thing. Cut tasks that don't support it. Everyone should know what they should do first. They should understand how their work connects. Including you. Growing businesses run on limits, not options. Cap meetings at three per person weekly. Ban gatherings without decisions to make. Require 24-hour cooling-off periods before adding tools or processes. Don't impulsively execute your week away. The most effective organizations have learned to say no to most things. They understand that every yes blocks something better. They protect their team's attention like the scarce resource it is. While most people are busy with busywork, you should build. Give your people permission to ignore everything except what matters. Hire smart people and allow them the space to think bigger. They solve problems. Innovation happens. Your business moves. Measure outcomes, not hours. Ship products, not schedules. Create systems that work, not complexity to manage. Your business is stalling because people work on the wrong things, not because they don't work hard. Change company culture: create business progress Tomorrow morning, before email or Slack, write the one outcome that changes everything for your business. Make it specific, measurable, real. Review your calendar. Count meetings that advance this outcome. Cancel the rest. Demand the best for yourself with the ruthless intensity that will make your mission advance. Your business success demands brutal focus on what matters and courage to ignore everything else. Most people won't do this. But you're not most people.
Irish Times
24-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
When to start thinking about work-life balance
According to the Higher Education Authority , four out of five graduates in Ireland find themselves employed within nine months of completing their studies. Graduation is an exciting time – you may be about to move to a new environment, implement the skills you developed in education, and access a different level of disposable income. At the same time, there are parts of your life you might be about to sacrifice. Working full-time, your schedule is likely to be less flexible. Hobbies and interests can become secondary, and your social circle can narrow. This is the work-life balance, and though your sacrifices might be (at least temporarily) necessary, it can benefit a young graduate to be aware of the transactional nature of their new situation. READ MORE Simone Stolzoff is a writer, designer and workplace expert from San Francisco. Two years ago, he released the Good Enough Job, a book that tackles the work-life balance and the notion of reclaiming parts of your life lost to work. Stolzoff describes himself as a recovering workist, though if he were graduating from university now, he says there is not much he would do differently. 'The big idea of the book is about the importance of diversifying your identity,' Stolzoff says. 'Especially when you're first starting out in your career, there's some level of paying your dues that is expected. I really like this framework from the author Cal Newport who suggests that all early career people look to build career capital, which means building skills that are valuable and rare. 'In the early days of your career, you have to be in that sort of learning, skill-building mode. The only thing that I'd add is to make sure that you're also investing in aspects of your life beyond your work. I don't think there's anything wrong necessarily with prioritising your career, especially right as you come out of college, as long as you're also carving out time for things like your relationships, your health, your interests and hobbies outside of work.' It is one thing to be aware of your work-life balance, but another to prioritise it. Stolzoff points out that early in your career, you are unlikely to have much leverage with an employer. Trade-offs are inevitable in many lines of work, but you can at least take note of what you are willing to give up for your job. 'If you walk into an interview and say, 'I only want to work these hours and I have these needs', that's not a great starting point for building a relationship of mutual trust with an employer,' Stolzoff says. 'That being said, I think it's important to understand what's your version of a life well-lived and then think about how your career can support that vision. 'For example, if you want to live in a big city like Dublin or London or New York, you're going to have to earn enough of an income to be able to support the lifestyle you want to lead. If you want to make a different lifestyle choice and maybe live in a place with a lower cost of living, that might take some of the pressure off having to live such a work-centric existence. 'That's what I would advise – not necessarily to come in with demands for an employer, but trying to understand the culture of the companies or opportunities that are available to you by doing your research, talking to other people that might work at the firm and seeing if the culture of the place matches the type of lifestyle that you want to live.' Modern workplaces often employ perks as motivational tools to incentivise workers. There are plenty of stories of petty cash being used for takeaway dinners if employees are willing to stay in the office an extra couple of hours. Big company campuses regularly offer a free canteen, gym membership or any number of recreational activities to their on-site workforce. For a young graduate who may be moving to a new area or is just accustomed to operating on a tight budget, perks can be highly appealing. It is worth remembering, though, that a job can always disappear, and if many facets of your life are dependent on your current place of employment, you may be more beholden to your employer than is healthy. 'I don't think these tactics are malicious,' Stolzoff says. 'Things like on-site meals or cultures that incentivise employees to stay at the office a little bit later – I don't think there's anything wrong with that necessarily, as long as, as an employee, you are cognisant of what is being offered and what is the potential cost of what is being offered. 'To make this concrete, let's say you move away from your family and friends to a big city where you don't know anyone for a potential job opportunity. Your inclination might be to centre your entire social life around work because they are colleagues that you spend a lot of time with and it's an opportunity for you to have a built-in social network. 'But, at the same time, if you are eating all of your meals at the office, if you are treating the office as your go-to bar or your go-to place where you exercise, you're depriving yourself of the opportunity to build those connections and build those relationships outside of work.' It is not too early to start thinking about work-life balance, but it may be too early to prioritise it. Many graduates in Ireland will be desperate for a chance to work in their chosen field, and things like fulfilment and job satisfaction largely come from a place of privilege. Ultimately, you need to earn money to afford to live somewhere and pay bills. As the Good Enough Job explains, though, work is work. You should be excited about a lot of things in your future – your career is just one of them.
