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Fast Company
2 hours ago
- Health
- Fast Company
6 smart ways to minimize decision fatigue before noon
Ever find yourself mentally drained before lunch—even when the day's barely begun? That's not laziness. It's decision fatigue, and it's very real. From the moment you wake up, your brain starts spending mental energy to make choices: what to wear, what to eat, how to respond to emails, whether to speak up in a meeting, and more. Over time, each of these micro-decisions chips away at your cognitive bandwidth—until you're running on fumes by 11 a.m. According to research, decision fatigue can lead to worse choices later in the day, decreased self-control, and even unethical behavior. But the good news is that with the proper structure, you can drastically reduce mental overload—and set your day up for success. Here are six science-backed strategies to minimize decision fatigue and boost clarity before noon. 1. Start with Structure: Automate the First 60 Minutes Barack Obama, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg adopted similar wardrobe habits for the same reason—they didn't want to waste energy deciding what to wear. Routine isn't boring. It's strategic. Automating low-stakes decisions (like your breakfast, your clothes, or your workout routine) preserves your cognitive energy for high-impact choices later. The first hour of your day sets the tone for everything that follows. Reducing friction early creates momentum and decision clarity that lasts all day. This also lowers stress hormones and boosts your motivation. What to do: Create a fixed morning routine: same wake-up time, same breakfast, same prep ritual. Build a 'startup sequence' for your workday—like firing up your laptop, reviewing your goals, and taking 15 minutes of quiet thinking before meetings. 2. Make Your To-Do List the Night Before When you start your day by scanning emails or Slack, you instantly go into reactive mode, focusing on others' priorities. Instead, make key planning decisions while your brain is fresh—at the end of the previous day. This helps you sleep better by offloading mental clutter; it also boosts your confidence and sense of direction in the morning. A prepared mind is a focused mind. What to do: Write down your top three priorities before you shut down for the day. Review them first thing the next morning—no thinking required. Bonus: Include one 'quick win' task to build early momentum. 3. Eat a Protein-Rich Breakfast (Yes, Really) Your brain is 2% of your body weight, but uses over 20% of your energy. Without fuel, cognitive function declines—and decision-making suffers. Skipping breakfast or grabbing only carbs causes blood sugar crashes, reducing your focus and increasing your irritability. A balanced breakfast stabilizes glucose levels, essential for maintaining consistent attention and emotional regulation throughout the day. What you eat influences how you think. A nutritious morning meal primes your brain for clarity, patience, and problem-solving. What to do: Opt for protein and complex carbs, like eggs, Greek yogurt, oatmeal, or nuts. Hydrate before having caffeine: even mild dehydration can impair concentration by 10%. Add brain-boosting extras like berries, chia seeds, or greens for sustained energy. 4. Use Time Blocks to Limit Options You spend mental energy whenever you ask, 'What should I do now?' The more options, the more exhaustion. Instead, create time blocks—predefined periods for specific categories of work. This removes the burden of constant micro-decisions and helps your brain shift into the correct mode for the task. Time blocking also reduces context switching, which studies show can cost up to 40% of your productive time. Block 9:00–10:30 for deep work. Block 10:30–11:30 for admin or meetings. Leave reactive tasks (email, chat) for the afternoon. Color-code blocks on your calendar to visually reinforce focus zones. This structure reduces ambiguity and decision points, preserving mental clarity for higher-order thinking. 5. Minimize Micro-Decisions with Environmental Cues From desk clutter to notification dings, your environment constantly pulls you into unnecessary decision-making—like 'Should I check this now?' or 'What's that ping?' Decision fatigue increases when external stimuli demand constant evaluation. Each small choice drains mental energy and pulls your attention away from meaningful work. Design your environment to be your silent partner in focus. When your workspace supports your intentions, you make fewer decisions and stay in the flow longer. What to do: Silence nonurgent notifications. Clear your desk of all but the task at hand. Use physical cues: Post-it notes, open notebooks, or visible to-do lists to keep you anchored. Add a visual 'focus zone' marker—like a lamp or headphones—to signal deep work time. This aligns with behavioral design principles championed by Nudge author Richard Thaler: simplify the environment to reduce cognitive load. 6. Build a 'Noon Reset' Ritual No matter how optimized your morning is, decision fatigue creeps in. That's why resetting before the afternoon is critical—when poor choices tend to spike. By midday, your mental resources are often depleted, and without a conscious reset, your afternoon can become reactive and unfocused. A pause helps restore clarity and regain control of your time and energy. It also boosts emotional regulation and decision-making accuracy. What to do: Pause at noon for 10 minutes of reflection or silence. Ask: 'What's one thing I need to finish today?' Reset your attention and reclaim your day before it runs you. Try stepping outside or doing a short breathing exercise to refresh your mind. According to research, this taps into the brain's default mode network, which activates during rest and enhances creativity and problem-solving. Save Your Brain for What Matters Most You don't need to eliminate all decisions—just the ones that drain you unnecessarily. The goal isn't rigid control over every moment, but the intentional design of your mental environment. By front-loading important choices, using structure to reduce friction, and giving your brain regular rest, you free up the cognitive bandwidth to lead, create, and perform at your best. Cognitive energy is your most valuable asset as a leader. Protect it with as much care as your time or money. Remember: your attention is a finite resource. Spend it where it counts—on work that aligns with your values, energizes your team, and moves your mission forward.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
OpenAI CEO accuses Meta of offering $100 million bonuses to poach employees
Meta has allegedly tried to recruit employees from competitor OpenAI by offering bonuses as high as $100 million, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed on a podcast that aired Tuesday. "[Meta] started making giant offers to a lot of people on our team," Altman said on the Uncapped podcast, which is hosted by his brother. "You know, like $100 million signing bonuses, more than that [in] compensation per year." Meta's Zuckerberg Aiming To Dominate Ai Race With Recruiting Push For New 'Superintelligence' Team: Report Meta's alleged attempts to recruit OpenAI workers come as the tech giant works to advance its artificial intelligence strategy and build a superintelligence unit that can meet or exceed human capabilities, according to Reuters. None of OpenAI's "best people" have so far accepted Meta's alleged offers, Altman said. Meta Signs 20-Year Nuclear Power Deal With Constellation Read On The Fox Business App Competition to recruit artificial intelligence workers has reached an all-time high, with some believing that individual workers can heavily influence the trajectory of a company's success, Reuters reported. "I've heard that Meta thinks of us as their biggest competitor," the OpenAI CEO said. Openai Says This State Will Play Central Role In Artificial Intelligence Development Altman's claims follow reports earlier this month that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is working on building a superintelligence team from a group of artificial intelligence researchers and engineers. The Facebook owner plans to hire about 50 people for the team and will personally recruit most of the members, Bloomberg News reported. Earlier this year, Zuckerberg announced Meta is investing $65 billion into AI in 2025, including the construction of a massive data center. Meta did not immediately respond to Fox Business' request for article source: OpenAI CEO accuses Meta of offering $100 million bonuses to poach employees Sign in to access your portfolio
CNA
14 hours ago
- Business
- CNA
Commentary: WhatsApp's ‘no ads' promise meets Meta's reality
LONDON: It's hard to think of a more extraordinary business deal than Facebook's US$19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp in February 2014. Its creators were outliers. With a lean staff of just a few dozen people, they had no marketing department, no sign on the door, and had spent zero cents from their sole investor, Sequoia Capital. But WhatsApp had 450 million users, mostly outside the US. Founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton also hated ads. They'd spent a combined 20 years working at Yahoo, bonding over their frustration with a business model that sucked up personal data to show us pop-ups. Building ad systems was 'depressing', Koum told me in an interview in mid-2014. But not too depressing to sell their chat service to online ad magnate Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms, just a few months later. Eight of WhatsApp's roughly 50 employees made more than US$100 million off that deal, while Koum gained a net worth of US$6.8 billion. This week, just over a decade later, ads are finally coming to WhatsApp. They'll appear in its Updates (formerly Status) tab, where users post images and videos. Advertisers will also be able to promote Channels there and collect thousands of followers. Meta described the rollout as 'gradual', suggesting WhatsApp users will start to see ads over the coming weeks and months. "THIS TIME IT'S FOR REAL" Zuckerberg has long been under pressure to monetise WhatsApp, a prominent cash sink whose user base has soared to more than 3 billion but which has yet to pay its own way. Now, with Meta's costly push into artificial intelligence (AI), including a US$14.3 billion investment in data labelling startup Scale AI, the company is moving on the last big piece of real estate it can squeeze cash from. (Meta had already begun monetising WhatsApp through business messaging tools and click-to-WhatsApp ads on Facebook and Instagram, but this is the first time ads are appearing inside WhatsApp itself.) Ads fly in the face of what WhatsApp's founders wanted. For a few years after his extraordinary sale, Koum resisted efforts inside Facebook to feature ads on WhatsApp, his co-founder Acton later told me, while Acton himself tried to convince Sheryl Sandberg, then the company's chief operating officer, to introduce a metered-user model. His idea was to charge users a tiny amount, perhaps a tenth of a cent, after a certain large number of free messages were expended and monetise WhatsApp that way. Sandberg stuck by the ad model that already allowed Facebook to print money for years, telling Acton that his idea wouldn't scale. By the time he left the company, Acton knew that he couldn't stop the inevitable. 'At the end of the day, I sold my company,' he said. Still, both internal and public resistance to ads has been enough to make Meta's monetisation plans for WhatsApp a fitful journey over the last decade. Meta's chief marketing officer, Alex Schultz, admitted on LinkedIn that the company had announced ads a few times already. 'This time it's for real,' he added. TECH'S PUREST IDEALS Meta first publicly announced its intention to bring ads to WhatsApp Status in November 2018, then put the plans on hold and nixed them in 2020, before announcing in 2023 that the rollout was back on. The U-turns are down to the staunch views of WhatsApp's founders, who infused company culture even after they vested their stock options and left Meta. WhatsApp users are also accustomed to a clean, ad-free app that keeps their conversations private with end-to-end encryption. When the company tweaked its privacy terms in 2021 to add more business-messaging features, many ditched it for rival apps like Signal and Telegram. Meta had to move slowly. Now it's trying to make up for lost time. It will target ads based on users' country or city, channels they follow and how they interact with ads they see on Status or on sister apps Facebook and Instagram if their accounts are linked. That's less invasive than the targeting done on Facebook or Instagram, but it's still a form of clutter that WhatsApp's founders abhorred. And Zuckerberg could still push for deeper insights as revenue from Status starts to pour in. According to Schultz, 1.5 billion users visit the feature everyday. Meta's investors can rest easy knowing the company has yet another platform to capitalise on as Zuckerberg spends heavily on AI. The rest of us have yet another reminder that tech's most important visionaries can sometimes be as naive as they are idealistic. Sam Altman's efforts to start OpenAI as a nonprofit that lived off donations from benevolent billionaires was arguably a pipe dream, hence his eventual partnership with Microsoft. DeepMind's Demis Hassabis spent years trying to break away from Alphabet's Google, believing the search giant would be willing to spin off a valuable AI lab after spending US$650 million on it. In the end, he was wrong and his company was drawn deeper into Google. Koum and Acton were similarly guileless to think they could sell WhatsApp to one of the world's biggest advertising businesses and avoid ads. Of course, US$19 billion can make even the purest ideals go quiet. In the end, money talks.
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Here's How Much a $100 Investment in Facebook in 2012 Is Worth Today
A lot has changed for Facebook since its initial public offering (IPO) in May 2012 — including the corporate name, which was changed to Meta Platforms four years ago. If you had invested in the stock when it went public, your money would have grown quite a bit. At the time of its IPO, Facebook was still essentially a Silicon Valley startup. The platform itself was only 8 years old, having been launched at Harvard University in 2004 by co-founders Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin. Read Next: Learn More: Zuckerberg is now the company's CEO and one of the world's richest people. Meanwhile, Meta has grown into a corporate powerhouse with a market cap of about $1.75 trillion, ranking it as the sixth-biggest company in the world. So was Meta a good investment at its IPO, and how much would that investment be worth now? If you had invested $100 in Facebook when it debuted on the Nasdaq in 2012, you could now cash that investment in for more than $1,800. Here's a breakdown of how the stock has performed since the IPO: 2012 IPO price: $38 No. of shares with a $100 investment: 2.6 Closing price on June 17, 2025: $697.23 Total return: 1,735% Current value: $1,812.80 Keep in mind that the above return is based only on stock valuation and does not include dividends paid to shareholders, so your actual profit could be a lot bigger. Meta has not announced a stock split since its IPO. The company's shares continue to perform well in 2025 despite the volatile stock market. Its stock is up about 16% year to date, putting it well ahead of the S&P 500 (up about 2%) and Dow (down slightly). The main driver of Meta's success has been its flagship Facebook platform, which ranks as the world's biggest social media site with more than 3 billion monthly active users, according to DemandSage. Other platforms under Meta's umbrella include Instagram, Messenger, Threads and WhatsApp. Check Out: Like most companies, Meta has faced its share of ups and downs. As The Motley Fool reported, the company 'botched' its IPO as both regulators and investors took legal action against it and its IPO underwriter due to a poor initial performance that saw the stock fall to below $20 a share. The company eventually righted the ship and began to see both its revenue and stock price move higher. Another misstep came in 2021, when Facebook shifted its focus to building the metaverse and changed the official corporate name to Meta Platforms. That turned out to be a money-losing endeavor, U.S. News reported. Meta has since turned its attention back to the social medial businesses. This year, Meta's stock has gotten a boost from plans to launch ads on its WhatsApp platform, Investor's Business Daily reported. Like Facebook, WhatsApp has more than 3 billion monthly active users, making it a potentially lucrative ad revenue generator like Facebook and Instagram. Advertising drives about 98% of Meta's total revenue, according to Investor's Business Daily. Additionally, the stock is currently trading at just under $700, and analysts have an average price target of nearly $720, indicating it has some room to grow. More From GOBankingRates Mark Cuban Warns of 'Red Rural Recession' -- 4 States That Could Get Hit Hard 10 Used Cars That Will Last Longer Than an Average New Vehicle 10 Unreliable SUVs To Stay Away From Buying This article originally appeared on Here's How Much a $100 Investment in Facebook in 2012 Is Worth Today Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Mark Zuckerberg Is ‘Doubling Down' on AI and That's Great News for META Stock
One of the most notable investment themes in recent memory is, of course, an increasing focus on artificial intelligence (AI). Social media giant Meta Platforms (META) is not above this trend among companies. In fact, Meta Platforms is doubling down. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has gone all-in on AI, and Wall Street is clearly taking notice. META stock has jumped a notable 45% from its April low of $479.80 per share as investors rally behind the firm's growing commitment to AI innovation. The latest jolt of momentum comes from Meta's massive $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, a leading data-labeling startup whose CEO is now joining Meta's artificial general intelligence (AGI) team. This move comes right after Meta raised its 2025 capital expenditure forecast to as much as $72 billion. That figure underlines just how serious Zuckerberg is about leading the AI race. 'It Has No Utility': Warren Buffett Doesn't Care How High Gold Goes, He Isn't a Buyer OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Says 'We Are Heading Towards a World Where AI Will Just Have Unbelievable Context on Your Life' Archer Aviation Is Betting Big on Its Fledgling Defense Business. Does That Make ACHR Stock a Buy Here? Tired of missing midday reversals? The FREE Barchart Brief newsletter keeps you in the know. Sign up now! Despite such heavy spending, the market response has remained positive. With several analysts across the Street hiking their price targets for META stock and optimism running high, this AI-fueled rally is hard to ignore. All signs point to Meta remaining a major player in the next tech era — and that makes shares worth a much closer look. Meta Platforms has evolved far beyond its Facebook roots. As the powerhouse behind Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, it still shapes how the world connects. But now the firm is setting its sights on the future of AI. Aside from its latest $14.3 billion bet on Scale AI, Meta has been steadily integrating AI into its core platforms since last year. In April 2025, the company launched Meta AI, a chatbot assistant that has already reached 1 billion monthly active users across its apps. Meta is also gaining traction in hardware, with AI-powered Ray-Ban smart glasses seeing user growth surge. Finally, the company is working on harnessing AI to supercharge ad targeting and boost user engagement across its entire app family, including Instagram and WhatsApp. META stock drew fresh attention on June 16, climbing 2.8% after the company announced plans to roll out ads within its WhatsApp messaging platform, unlocking a powerful new revenue stream from the app's massive global user base. Valued at around $1.75 trillion by market capitalization, Meta's aggressive AI strategy and new revenue channels are turning into a clear market win. The stock has climbed 18.8% so far in 2025, outshining most of its 'Magnificent Seven' peers. It's also outperforming the broader S&P 500 Index ($SPX) by a wide margin, with the benchmark up just 1.7% year-to-date. Meta kicked off fiscal 2025 with a blowout first-quarter earnings report on April 30, easily beating Wall Street's expectations on both the top and bottom lines. META stock jumped 4.2% in the following session as revenue surged 16% year-over-year (YOY) to $42.3 billion, topping forecasts of $41.2 billion. Even more impressive, earnings per share soared 37% to $6.43, crushing estimates by a notable 23.2% margin. Meta's ad business is showing serious strength, with key metrics moving solidly in the right direction. Ad impressions rose 5% YOY while the average price per ad jumped 10% YOY, signaling strong demand. And it's not just the ad side that's thriving. User engagement remains sky-high. In March 2025, Meta's family of apps reached 3.4 billion daily active users, up 6% from the prior year. CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted Meta's accelerating AI momentum, citing the success of Meta AI and the growing adoption of the firm's AI-powered smart glasses. Meta is heading into the second quarter with strong momentum, forecasting revenue to range between $42.5 billion and $45.5 billion. The company is also raising the bar on spending, boosting its 2025 capital expenditure outlook to a range of $64 billion to $72 billion, up from the previous range of $60 billion to $65 billion. This increase highlights Meta's sharpened focus on scaling its AI capabilities, with significant investments being poured into data centers to support its rapidly growing infrastructure. Wall Street is growing increasingly bullish on Meta, with major firms raising their price targets amid the company's aggressive AI push and new monetization strategies. Earlier this month, JPMorgan lifted its target on the stock to $735 from $675, reaffirming an 'Overweight' rating and highlighting Meta's dominant social media footprint and long-term growth strategy, particularly in AI and the Metaverse. Wells Fargo is also staying bullish on META stock, reiterating its 'Overweight' rating with a $664 target. The firm pointed to a potential $6 billion boost in WhatsApp ad revenue, a move that signals Meta's next big income stream is already in motion. Adding to the momentum, Oppenheimer bumped its price target to $775 from $665, citing a stronger-than-expected ad market and macro backdrop. While acknowledging some mixed feedback around Llama 4, the firm emphasized investor confidence in Meta's $14.3 billion Scale AI deal and its broader ability to 'unlock new business with AI.' Overall, Wall Street is giving Meta the green light with a 'Strong Buy' consensus that signals broad confidence in the company's growth trajectory and AI-driven future. Of the 53 analysts offering recommendations, 44 give META stock a 'Strong Buy' rating, three suggest a 'Moderate Buy,' four give it a 'Hold," and only two advocate for a 'Strong Sell" rating. META stock's average analyst price target of $704.57 indicates marginal upside potential from current price levels. However, the Street-high price target of $935 suggests that shares can still rally as much as 34% from here. On the date of publication, Anushka Mukherji did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on
