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Flipping Heck! Learning To Be Productive One Day At A Time

How Can Music Help Boost Your Productivity?

Person playing acoustic guitar

How Can Music Help Boost Your Productivity?

A vast majority of employees (89%) waste at least some time at work every day, with 10% wasting three or more hours per day – as found in research by Salary.com. A lack of time management skills, unclear goals, and stress can affect other team members are some of the main reasons for time wastage.

Workers who have a set number of tasks to complete on a given day but who still find that they are wasting time (only to have to work overtime the following day or on the weekend) can rely on specific tools to help them stay on track. These include time management apps, social media blocking apps, and time tracking tools. Music, too, can help boost productivity, whenever you listen to it at the right time of the day.

Soundtracks For The Brain

Research conducted by the US Department of Homeland Security showed that brain music – which relies on music created in advance from the listener’s own brain waves to help battle insomnia, fatigue, and stress-related headaches, can help boost productivity, cognitive development, learning, and emotional wellbeing.

To relax, subdued Chopin-style sonatas were used, while Mozart-type music was played to boost alertness. Another study conducted by the American Roentgen Ray Society, meanwhile, found that Baroque classical music in a reading room had the potential to improve radiologists’ efficiency and accuracy. Other studies have correlated this type of music with improved concentration, spatial reasoning, and attentiveness.

Playing Music To Boost Stress Relief

Many studies have shown that increased stress leads to reduced productivity, while increased relaxation boosts focus and productivity. A 2013 study published in PLoS ONE showed that listening to music impacted the stress system in a positive way. Playing music is also beneficial, with the book This Is Your Brain on Music (Levitin, 2007) stating that this popular hobby reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol and boosts the body’s immune system.

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You don’t need to be an advanced music player to reap these benefits. During your free time, you can try everything from using a guitar learning app at home to attending a music class in your area. Online music learning is a good idea for workers who are overloaded with work, since you can learn how to play chords and notes step by step and learn music in your preferred style – be it country, blues, or rock ‘n roll.

From Passion To Profit

Listening To Music Can Impair Creativity

If your tasks are centered on creative pursuits such as writing or the visual arts, take note – a 2019 Lancaster University study found that background music can potentially impair creativity because it presents people with “verbal insight problems.”

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In the study, participants were asked to complete experiments using verbal tasks (for instance, they were instructed to combine different words to form new ones). The results showed that background music led to impaired performance when compared to quiet background conditions.

Music can help you focus and achieve your goals but perhaps the trick lies in utilizing its benefits outside work time. This is especially important if you work in a creative job, since research shows that music can potentially hamper your creativity.

You can still take advantage of the many benefits playing and listening to music can bring and these benefits are certainly reason enough to consider learning a new instrument or even slotting in a bit of listening time during selected times of the day.

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About The Author
Katlyn Phelps is passionate about all things health and productivity. She's been published on numerous websites and regularly writes on wellness and productivity tips on FlippingHeck.com.
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