The Weird Way Music Can Improve Your Productivity
During my time at San Diego State University, I would go to the library and see all these people listening to music while studying. How the heck could they retain any of the material if they’re jamming out to their favorite songs?
I never understood it.
Then, a few years ago, I listened to an episode of Tim Ferriss’ podcast about his book Tools of Titans, in which Tim talked about listening to a single song on repeat in order to improve productivity.
My immediate reaction: This is weird. Wouldn’t I just get distracted by the lyrics? Isn’t this the antithesis of productivity? But, it’s Tim Ferriss, so I gave it a shot.
“I’ll try anything once, twice if I like it, three times to make sure.” — Mae West
In short, this productivity “hack” works like the summer sun on solar panels.
The psychology behind music on repeat
Enthralled by my newfound levels of productivity, I wanted to learn more about the psychology behind listening to music on repeat, so I did a little research. Turns out, founder of WordPress Matt Mullenweg listens to a single song on repeat when he needs to “get in the zone.”
Not to mention, there’s a book by psychologist Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, called On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind.
“Musical repetition gets us mentally imagining or singing through the bit we expect to come next,” she writes. “A sense of shared subjectivity with the music can arise. In descriptions of their most intense experiences of music, people often talk about a sense that the boundary between the music and themselves has dissolved.”
In other words, we tend to “become one” with the song on repeat, which diverts the monkey mind and enables Deep Work.
I also discovered that listening to a song on repeat several times over enables my work to take the “shape” of any given song. For example, classical music creates more stress-free work, while fast-paced songs help the mind work at a faster pace.
The greatest discovery I made, however, is that listening to a song on repeat helps me enter into a state of flow.
Intro to flow theory
Colloquially known as being in the zone, “flow” is the mental state in which you become totally immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of completing a task or activity.
According to flow theory, three conditions must be met to achieve a state of flow:
- You must be involved in a task or activity with a clear set of goals and progress, which add direction and structure to it.
- You must receive clear and immediate feedback, which allows you to adjust your performance to maintain the flow state.
- You must achieve a balance between the task or activity’s challenges, and your own skills.
Not all songs are created equally.
Over time, I’ve experimented with dozens of songs — some with lyrics, some without; fast-paced and slow jams; songs I previously knew versus those I didn’t. Here are my findings:
- To enter into a state of flow, I’ve found songs which are fast-paced and lyric-free to be the most effective.
- A state of flow will only commence on the third-to-fifth loop of a song, and total flow will only start on the seventh-to-tenth loop.
- There’s little-to-no difference in productivity between songs I previously knew versus those I didn’t.
- To maximize productivity, only play one song on repeat during each time slot within your Vertical Planning breakdown, even if the session lasts one or more hours.
If you’re looking for some songs to experiment with, I created this playlist on YouTube. Happy listening!
Josh Hoffman is the founder of Hack My Time, where he helps people do better work (and more of it) in less time.
