The question whether listening to music makes you productive, as simple as it sounds, is still hugely contested. Many are sceptical, preferring silence to beats, but here’s thing: there are many surprising benefits to listening to music that- even if you’re a silence ‘purist’- may be worth revisiting. In our busy offices and busy lives perhaps music can even help, rather than hinder, our productivity?
Here’s an infographic that our friends over at ZingInstruments.com shared about 12 ways music makes you more productive at work.
1. Instant Mood Lifter
A great piece of music is an instant mood lifter. Plenty of scientific evidence backs this up – we’re happier bunnies when listening to music.
2. Makes Repetitive Tasks More Enjoyable
Oh, the drudgery of repetitive tasks! Music shakes a stick at those dull ‘copy paste’ tasks and makes them even fun!
3. Gets You Into A ‘Flow State’
A flow state is when you lose yourself in the task at hand. Guess what…music, especially the right type of music, helps us get into that state.
4. Speeds Up Your Work
With music oozing through you and all those endorphins firing, you turn into something like the the Bradley Cooper character from the movie Limitless (without the magic pills).
5. Reduces Distractions
Distractions are the bane of the workplace. Music puts us on a ‘focus groove’ that makes us hell-bent on getting the job done.
6. Drowns Out Colleagues!
We all love our colleagues (right?!). But like family, even our beloved workmates (and their chit-chat) need to be channelled out when there’s stuff that needs doing.
7. Provides Company In A Quiet Office
Not all workplaces are noisy places. Far from it. A workplace that’s too quiet can be just as big a productivity suck. Music gives you a little oasis of the company so you don’t go all lonely (just don’t go singing out loud).
8. Brings Out Your Creative Side
We are not cogs in a giant machine, we’re people. And people are inherently creative (they just may not know it). Music is a creativity personified, and listening to it rubs off on you too.
9. Makes You Wanna Move
The ‘office chair slump’ is a symptom of spending too long staring at your screen. With some Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag pumping into your eardrums it would be humanly impossible not to have a little wiggle in your chair.
10. Adds A Virtual ‘Do Not Disturb’ Sign
The office equivalent of the ‘do not disturb’ sign, the headphones on head pose (the bigger the headphones the better) says loud and clear ‘I’m busy doing deep work, don’t pester me’. Throw those pesky ear plug in the bin and get some cans.
11. Makes You More Sociable
Come again, more sociable listening to music? Yup. You may be locked away behind a set of head cans while you’re doing your work, but when you take off those muffs you’re almost brimming with a conversation you want to unleash.
12. Stops The Clock Watching
Too much clock watching is a dangerous thing. Music helps you find that flow state and before you know it, you’re immersed in the task and the day is over.
However, other studies suggest the type of music you listen to can have a large effect on your work. Classical music has been proven to be soothing, and it’s predictability means it won’t be distracting. More erratic music, such as rock or punk or even jazz can throw your focus since you want to listen to it and it’s unpredictable. Personality can also be a factor, depending on your natural ability to concentrate. Or perhaps you just don’t like music. The truth is, the science is still out, so if you think it might work for you, you might as well give music a chance.
