Is productivity a scam? How to avoid burnout at work
Guest: Lisa Leong, host of This Working Life.
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If you're keen to opt out of the cult of productivity, check out Lisa's last time on Quick Smart. You might also like our episode on how to make big life decisions.
Lisa's podcast, This Working Life, has you covered on all things career and mental health, and here's the episode on 'job-crafting' she mentioned in our chat.
If you enjoyed this episode, drop us an email us at quick.smart@abc.net.au
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News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
‘Freaking out': Perth woman risks property portfolio to launch skincare brand
A young Aussie has recently done something most homeowners would never dare to – refinancing multiple mortgages to invest everything into her skincare brand LumiLift. Tegan Brown owns two investment properties in Perth, but she's made the bold decision to pour every ounce of equity she's built up into her beauty business. 'I have two investment properties. I bought the first one about four years and the other one about two years ago,' Ms Brown told The 28-year-old bought her first property for $380,000 just before the pandemic, getting in before 'prices increased' – having likely doubled in value in the years since. She then purchased a second home for around $450,000, funding both investments entirely on her own, thanks to her work in recruitment and years of saving. 'I'm always looking at opportunities to grow wealth, and property was the first and safest option to do that at the start,' she said. Both the properties are tenanted, Ms Brown said, and were essentially paying for themselves before she made the decision to take a chance and invest in her business. Ms Brown didn't have heaps of cash sitting around, so she refinanced both mortgages – a choice she admitted was daunting when she originally made it. 'It was scary but I did have mentors that said the best thing you can do with equity is either reinvest into more property or into building your own business,' she said. 'I invested about $100,000 initially.' That $100,000 was allocated towards the brand's inventory, marketing, and content creation, and also served as a financial buffer, as she had quit her job in recruiting to make it her sole focus. Ms Brown said that when she told people she planned to pull out the equity in both her investments, the reaction wasn't positive. Some were 'freaking out', but Ms Brown didn't let the concern deter her because she believed in the skincare brand she's created – in particular, its light therapy mask. Ms Brown claimed the device helps to create clearer skin and helps women avoid having to 'spend thousands' on treatments that don't offer the same results. 'I created LumiLift because I wanted other women to experience that same transformation without spending thousands or relying on quick fixes that don't last,' she said. 'For me, skincare isn't just about appearance. It's about confidence, freedom, and ease.' Ms Brown explained that her ultimate goal is for her customers to be so happy with their skin from using her product they won't feel reliant on make-up to feel good. She's also had some moments that have made the financial risk feel worth it. For her, the most 'rewarding' thing has been seeing skincare professionals buy her products and rave about the results. Ms Brown said she is also proud she had invested in herself and backed her idea, despite the risk involved. 'The biggest challenges have been sitting in the unknown, especially because I have invested so much money,' she explained. 'Sometimes the fear of failure can get to your head. But I think through these hard periods, not giving (up) feels like a huge win.' The business owner said that given her brand is still new and growing, it isn't yet at the profitable stage, meaning she's still waiting to see if her risk will pay off. 'It is getting there. It has been a journey and it is getting closer and closer to where I want it to be,' she said. 'The main thing for me is building a community and seeing the results and I know the money will come.'
SBS Australia
3 hours ago
- SBS Australia
Would you seek health advice from TikTok? Why experts are sounding fresh cautions
It's billed as relatable content — ordinary people offering advice on common health dramas, beauty and lifestyle hacks and medical developments. But experts are increasingly cautioning about the dangers of unqualified influencers offering health advice or warning people off certain medical devices and treatments. For children and young women, there are fresh warnings to be alert to misinformation. New research by The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne has found two two-thirds of teens are getting health information from social media, with many trying trends they see online. The leading topics they follow are fitness, skincare and diet. The National Child Health Poll surveyed more than 1,400 Australian parents and one of their children aged between 12 and 17 years old. Almost half of the teenagers said what they see on social media later makes them wish their bodies were different. Year 9 student Willow said social media can be a harmful place as it applies pressure for young people to fit certain societal standards of beauty and body image. She said health and wellness treatments such as sun tanning were widely discussed among friends at school and on social media, making them hard to avoid. "Recently I've seen (content) romanticising tan lines," she told AAP. "It's probably not the best thing for young skin or those more prone to melanoma." Willow said she had seen peers trying trends such a switching to retinol in their skincare routines, which isn't recommended for young people. "They're being presented with huge amount of content that's often quite persuasive. It may be emotive and engaging and offers solutions or advice to common challenges that we know teenagers face," she said. "This really leaves them quite vulnerable to being misled." Paediatrician and director of the National Child Health Poll, Dr Anthea Rhodes, said it was important to teach children how to identify evidence-based health information. "The teen years are a time of self-discovery and curiosity — for influencers and marketing giants, however, this can provide the potential for big business in a relatively vulnerable population," she said. Concerns about reproductive health content Public health experts have raised concerns about some of the content related to reproductive health on social media. In a recent study, La Trobe University researchers looked into the rise of contraceptive misinformation on TikTok, analysing 100 TikTok videos on contraceptive health between August and September 2023 with the hashtags #birthcontrol, #contraception, #thepill, #naturalbirthcontrol and #cycletracking. The researchers acknowledge the study is constrained by limitations, including a potential for selection bias, the relatively small sample size, and the inclusion of English-language only videos. Even so, during that period those videos had collectively gained 4.85 billion views and 14.6 million likes. According to the study, published in the journal Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, just 10 per cent of the videos sampled were created by medical professionals. The researchers found more than half — 53 per cent — of TikTok content creators clearly rejected hormonal birth control, while about a third — 34 per cent — expressed distrust in health professionals. Megan Bugden, the report's co-author and a lecturer in public health at LaTrobe, said a lot of the advice given on TikTok is based on personal experience and beliefs rather than medical advice or evidence. Bugden said most of the influencers analysed explicitly endorsed natural birth control methods, methods known as 'fertility awareness'. But she said the videos failed to disclose any potential limitations, which can include motivation, partner cooperation and biological variabilities. She said what's worrying is that it will mislead a large proportion of young people by over-emphasising the reliability of the method — failing to discuss the potential risks of unplanned pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections. Need for accurate, reliable content She said there was a real opportunity for public health practitioners to join these platforms and disseminate accurate, reliable, non-judgmental content that's easily accessible to a huge range of people. "We need to be partnering with trusted online voices that have this huge reach with young people and ensure that they're getting access to non-biased information that is informing their contraceptive beliefs and therefore then decision making." She added that while videos by health professionals gained on average more likes and followers, TikTok's algorithms amplify influencers' voices, giving them greater reach than medical experts. Budgen urged people to seek credible contraceptive advice — that just because someone says they're a doctor or wears a lab coat, it doesn't mean they can be trusted. "Always ask your medical practitioner as well. Go in and have a discussion around some of the ideas you've seen online and ask how credible they are and how reliable they are, and ask them for evidence. You can always ask your GP for the clinical guidelines relating to any sort of medical recommendation that they're suggesting." TikTok declined to comment when contacted by SBS News. — With additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press
Sydney Morning Herald
3 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Bluey or Masterchef? New ABC boss wants global hits from the broadcaster
ABC managing director, Hugh Marks, wants the broadcaster to develop the next Bluey or its own version of MasterChef as part of his plan to fill the public broadcaster's coffers and make it more relevant to more Australians. Presenting his vision for the organisation on Wednesday, Marks said the ABC needed to make global hit shows while maintaining its local radio and news services. 'I mean, I always think of MasterChef. It came from a UK format, but the real derivation was in Australia, and it makes a billion dollars in revenue a year. If we had one of those successes, and we're able to participate in that success, that will be a revolution in funding.' While the ABC missed out on the commercial revenue benefits of Bluey – which are owned by the BBC – creating its own version of a global franchise like MasterChef could become a funding revolution for the ABC, Marks added. 'If we're able to create two more Bluey in the next five years, our children's content and our children's services will have strong foundations for a long period of time.' Loading Marks added the investment needed to make 'premium' content could be clawed back by chopping underperforming programs, a process that has already started since he joined the ABC five months ago. On Wednesday, Marks said he had already freed up $25 to $30 million to reinvest into original podcasts, new screen content and a new documentary unit. 'If there are things that we think the money is not wisely spent on, then we need to be prepared to make those hard decisions. I've said that in every staff meeting I've done, and I think that we will continue down that path.' One of those decisions was cutting Q+A has, bringing an end to one of the ABC's most transformative formats of the past two decades, which had recently strayed into obscurity, both with its weekly audience and cultural and political influence.
