We’ve already established why life is a song, but what about when you actually need to get something done? Whether you work at home as a freelancer or go to an office each day, there are several strategies that you can consider to try and be more productive. One of these strategies is listening to music.
On many days, my iPod is firmly attached to my ears, but I seem to have a paradoxical relationship with the concept of listening to music while working. On the one hand, I find that listening to music with lyrics can distract from my writing ability. It’s hard to string together a coherent article when I’m bobbing my head to German rock music.
On the other hand, my productivity seems to come to screeching halt if I attempt to work in absolute silence. Like Rebecca Bollwitt (Miss604), I need the distraction. I need the music playing in the background or the television on in the other room. Strangely, it is only with artificial interactions like these that I seem to improve my mindset and production level. Actual people having actual conversations tend to interrupt the creative process. This is why I still bring my iPod with me if I choose to work at a coffee shop for an afternoon.
It wouldn’t be fair to talk about music as if it were one large cohesive entity. Listening to 80s music (which seems to work for Gary Jones) is distinctly different than rocking out to unplugged alternative music all day (which seems to work for Stephen Fung). Through Twitter, I even learned that some people “work the best with NPR” (national public radio)!
Like our friend Milton Waddams above, I have a heavy preference for having music playing in the background when I work. Some songs are more distracting than others, but I’d much prefer to have those tunes than to sit in complete silence. Really, who wants to be alone with their thoughts? That’s one scary proposition.
In the end, I feel that the best music for improving productivity is the music that you enjoy the best. Whether it be illScarlett, Michael Jackson, or anything in between is purely a matter of personal preference. “If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad.” This way, you don’t have to choose between success and happiness. You can have both.
Supermarkets also use that relationship.
I have a hard time writing while listening to music. If I’m just writing a blurb, I might leave it playing, but with anything very involved, I have to turn it off. It’s really difficult to type one word while singing another…
But with the drawing process, it’s actually helpful. The two, together, creative a nice, semi-meditative head-space.
I use it for exercise and it sure works.
I do well with NPR. I also enjoy making CDs of my favorite song compilations.
Sometimes I enjoy having music on low in the background while I’m writing or working. A couple of my favorite are Mattafix and Xavier Rudd.
Mattafix is really good.
Moderation makes the harmony. Too much or too less is bad:)
I can’t write with any other kind of disturbance. That is a reason why I prefer noons and nights.
When it comes to songs, if they are songs that I like, my mind is consumed with listening to the lyrics or singing along. Maybe I should try getting the music without lyrics.
The people where I work think I’m a little crazy for it, but I tend to work really well with elevator music or 1930s and 40s instrumentals. Modern music with lyrics is great for mundane tasks, but not for anything that requires real concentration.