Glen over at LifeDev posted this article dealing with Jazz bringing you up a couple notches as far as the old thinker goes. Personally, I enjoy a moderate amount of Jazz, but I find I do my best work when listening to really aggressive genres (hardcore, metal, etc.). I’m not sure the neurologists of the world would agree with me, but I find that music that is upbeat and gets my toes tapping is the most effective way to get me really cranking at work. Electronic music and some tribal, Bollywood-ish type music comes to mind, as well.
What about you guys? Anybody have any special recipes for getting the juices flowing? I’m always interested to hear what types of music people enjoy while working!
Technorati Tags: music, productivity, life hacks
January 25th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Music is great for working. I bounce between 80s and techno/electronica. The 80s because it usually generates a feeling of happy bounciness. Although, since I’ve heard it so much, the words don’t tend to disturb me. Techno because the songs seem to last forever and you can get into a really good flow with a thumpa thumpa beat. I try to find techno that doesn’t have much in the way of vocals to distract me. I used to use classical for the non-vocal reason, but unless you pick your playlist carefully, your rhythm can be off, i.e., big brassy sounds, then quiet violins. I’m a big fan of Bach and Vivaldi though, they work well.
January 26th, 2007 at 12:20 am
I’ve got a broad interest in music, but there’s only one type of music acceptable when I’m working: trance! The less vocals the better, trance is uplifting and gives me energy to work better, faster and more focused. In some cases I would tune my XstreamRadio on my laptop to a station with dance-ish music only, but usually I just keep WinAmp cycling through my vast collection of trance mp3s
January 26th, 2007 at 1:46 am
I find I do ‘word’ work best to classical music. It’s not something I listen to any other time, but when I need to concentrate on some serious studying or writing, it’s the thing that works best for me. Next best is dub reggae, which I do love anyway. I think the main thing is, no words! Words are distracting when I’m trying to do word-work myself. When I’m doing ‘physical’ work, I stick on my favourite songs, these tend to be very word-heavy, and I have a good sing along. An in-between, for chugging along kind of work not requiring serious concentration, is north African music (which I learnt to love from belly dance classes). I don’t speak Arabic and my French is rubbish so the words just wash over me and don’t engage the words part of my brain.