Last blog we discussed Time Management Tips, now let's talk about work music. Do you listen to music while you work?
It's pretty interesting that there are studies that show listening to music while you work can help boost productivity.
In the Psychology of Music journal, it was found that music increased the quality of work in software developers:
"Effects of music on work performance, in this case, software design, may be explained by increases in state positive affect. Data from 56 (male = 41, female = 15) developers were obtained from four different Canadian software companies.
Data were collected in the participants’ actual work environments over five weeks. Results indicated that state positive affect and quality-of-work were lowest with no music, while time-on-task was longest when music was removed."
Apparently, when you're in a good mood this improves the kind of work you do:
"Narrative responses revealed the value of music listening for positive mood change and enhanced perception on design while working. Evidence is provided of the presence of a learning curve in the use of music for positive mood alteration."
So what type of music is good to listen to?
Classical music apparently has some pretty incredible associations with developing cognitive development. In the Nature journal, Christopher Chabris found that:
"Rauscher et al. reported that listening to ten minutes of Mozart's music increased the abstract reasoning ability of college students, as measured by IQ scores, by 8 or 9 points compared with listening to relaxation instructions or silence, respectively1. This startling finding became known as the ‘Mozart effect’, and has since been explored by several research groups."
I was in a car accident that almost took away my ability to walk, when I was 15 years old. Part of my healing process was listening to Bach Sonatas every day.
The hospital had confined me to a wheelchair, but I would crawl across the floor of the hospital room 100 times each night listening to Bach. No one told me to do this, it was instinctive.
Was that a significant factor in my head healing from a closed in head injury, when I was hit by a truck crossing the street? Possibly.
Hubspot suggests that listening to video game soundtracks is a good start for creating a playlist of background sounds to work to.
According to Business Insider, listening to songs you don't care about when working helps you focus because you can tune it out and not be distracted when your favorite jam comes on.
Some research indicates sounds of nature helps you focus while working but personally - I can't stand being distracted by the sound of animals making noises unless it's just the cicadas in the trees who have a very white noise effect.
I like listening to ambient sounds like Brian Eno's Music for Airports. When I was stuck at an airport for 2 days last year, because they over booked flights back home to Austin, I listened to Eno's Music for Airports while stuck...at an airport in Miami, Florida.
I'll never forget staring out of the window at the tarmac where the planes were taxi-ing up for docking and listening to that album - one of my favorites.
It works while you work to help you work because it's ambient without loud vocals to distract you from doing what you need to do.
Here's a cool playlist of ambient background sounds called:
Focused Work
When I worked at Facebook in the ads department, the sound of other employees chattering about personal drama was super distracting for the work I was doing and I desperately needed a solution.
Then I remembered back in college, my photography professor introduced me to a neat station called Radio Paradise.
I was in heaven! Commercial free music, 24/7 365! It is still a favorite and I listen to Radio Paradise while working on projects for clients, or e-commerce. I've discovered so much new music through listening to it my music library has really expanded.
I definitely suggest you try it out if you're at a loss for music to listen to while working. This year I donated to them during their annual fundraiser to stay on the air and I'm glad Radio Paradise is still around during lockdown times as good music right now really helps!
For more variety you can also listen to instrumental electronica music, like a recent track by artist Xander Cage called, More Than A Simple Bet.
What music do you like to listen to while you work?
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