How Listening To The Right Music Makes You More Productive
Have you ever found that listening to music helps you work?
Music has immense power over our thoughts and emotions.
You may have heard about the studies that showed students who listened to Mozart prior to tests performed better than those that didn’t.
Music makes you feel better and activates different your brain. So when the brain is active and you feel good, it’s logical to assume that you’ll get more done.
But there’s even more to it than that!
The Science Behind This (Super Abridged Version)
The brain, as you know, is a very complex system for monitoring our environment and regulating everything in our body.
Environmental stimulus can decrease your ability to focus.
However, our brain also has the ability to tune things out and concentrate on the task at hand. You may have noticed that you (or others you know) claim that you get more work done in a busy environment like a coffee shop. This is the brain adjusting to the noise, and working extra hard to focus.
Music can have a similar effect, but studies have shown that the selection of music is important. Music that activates your memory or emotions (music you know or like) — or music that is too exciting, jarring, or has lyrics — will distract you.
Your favorite feel-good music might not be your best productivity music. If you’re going to listen to music while you work, you can use your own CDs, Spotify, iTunes, etc. But that won’t be the best choice for the reasons mention above.
Yes, There’s A Web App Solution For This
Try out Focus @ Will. I’m using it as I write this post… and I love it! I’ve noticed a difference in my ability to focus since I started using it.
It’s a music player with a large list of different types of tunes that will make you most productive.
You can select a style of music, hit play, then leave that window open while you work. It’s free to use, but the paid version has even more options of music and a productivity tracker too.
After you give it a try, click over to the science page to read all the research behind why this works.
I’d love to hear how it works for you. Have fun being more productive!
What other productivity hacks have you tried? How did it go? Leave a comment below.