Do you listen to music while you work?
Many people do. I do. I love turning on music while I’m writing a post or checking email.
There is something about it that can help get you in the right mindset for getting work done and doing a good job and doing it efficiently.
And there is some science behind listening to music while you work. I thought I would share a few of the studies about music and working.
9 out of 10 workers perform better when listening to music
That’s a pretty big percentage. The experiment cited here found that music has a way of getting people in a mindset that is ideal for work. Music often makes us more positive about the world in general and that has positive results while we’re working.
But in that same study they also looked at the type of music you should listen to while working.
- Classic music for attention to detail.
- Pop music for working on deadline projects.
- Ambient music for solving equations.
- Dance music for problem solving.
Music keeps us in the present
The human brain is fascinating, but it can be frustrating. During the day it’s easy for our minds to wander. We think about the past. We worry about the future.
It turns out that music can help us stay in the present.
Music is best for those growing into their roles
That same article cites studies that have found that those with moderate skills or that are learning something new benefit the most from listening to music while they work. Experts seemed to listen to music the least and found it distracting in some cases.
You stay on task better without music, but quality of work goes down
This one seems odd, but that’s what they found in this study. The takeaway seems to be that if you’re not listening to music that you won’t be distracted by the music. Or at least you’ll appear to be only doing your work or even thinking that you’re only working. Music may distract you as you stop your thoughts and sing along or listen to a melody, but the benefits outweigh that potential negative. Music an get you in a good working rhythm. It gets you in a good mood. And maybe occasional distractions are good for your working mind and body.
Listening to music before you work or perform can improve attentiveness
This one is interesting to me because you’ll often see in sports that athletes listen to music before they start playing. This study found that when students listened to music before a test that they were more attentive. It makes sense to listen to music before playing a sport so why not do it before big business events like presentations or before a big call or before you dive into a big project?
It’s important that you like the music
This is perhaps the most interesting finding. It really matters that you listen to music you like if you want benefits from listening to music while you work. It turns out that when you like a song that a certain part of your brain turns on or is stimulated that is best for working. When you listen to music you like you are more capable of self-referential encoding. You’re able to recognize, differentiate and store information. That’s what’s important for work and for life in general.
So if you’re working, stick to music you like. Discover new music during other times and then put your favorites and new favorites on playlists for while you’re working.
Singing along can help you stop thinking too hard
Fuzzy Zoeller is a famous golfer. He’s won two major championships and he’s famous for whistling while he played golf. Some found it amusing. I’m sure some found it annoying, but Fuzzy would whistle his way around courses and seem to play effortlessly with little thought.
And there’s science behind the idea of singing along to your favorite song while doing difficult tasks. It turns out that when people got golfers to turn off their brains and just hit shots that they would hit good shots. Singing gets your brain focused on something, a melody and it lets your body and brain react to the task at hand and you don’t overthink the situation. You just do it.
Conclusion
I’m listening to music right now as I type this post. I’m listening to music I like, country music. There is some science behind the type of music to listen to while you’re working. But I like the study that found that it’s important to like the music. And it seems that overall music is positive for work and even singing along with your favorite song while working can lead to good things.
