Tastebreakers
A few weeks ago, Spotify released two personally curated playlists for each Spotify Premium user. The first playlist, Your Top Songs 2018 was filled with a hundred songs that you listened to most throughout the year. They also brought back Spotify Wrapped, an interactive site that displays things like your top played artist, the oldest song you played, and how many minutes you spent listening to music. My favorite from Wrapped, though, is Tastebreakers, a playlist filled with artists and genres that you don’t typically listen to, but that Spotify is sure you’ll like. Based on their algorithms or whatever.
Top Played Artist: United Pursuit
Oldest Song: Haupe by Duke Ellington (1959)
Minutes Listening: 47,985
The notion of Tastebreakers is compelling. Over time, our taste develops toward certain rhythms, whether it be what we turn on as background music, how we spend our Friday nights, or whether we prefer Nikes to Adidas. Us humans, we like our rhythms, but we put ourselves in danger of missing out on simple wins if we don’t reflect and determine where we could benefit from a little change.
I have a pretty strong taste for getting to work around 9:30am. It gives me time to “sleep in” and have a relaxed morning, in theory. In actuality…it’s been pretty stressful.
Last week, I was talking with a friend about my daily routine and some of the tensions I’d been encountering. My ideal day starts with quiet, alone time and a hot cup of coffee. I then get ready in a quiet headspace, and arrive to work with time to address any unread Slack messages before my first meeting. After work, I go rock climbing then spend time with my church or do something social with friends. I make it home in time to jump in bed by 10:30pm, affording me plenty of rest for the next morning.
The problem was, my current schedule simply didn’t allow for this kind of day. I was waking up with barely any time alone, rushing into work at 9:28am, sometimes skipping dinner to make it to climbing with friends, and often getting a less than ideal amount of sleep. It was wearing on me.
As we processed, a solution became clear to me. “I think I’m going to try waking up an hour earlier, and see how that affects things,” I told her.
Last week, I began waking up at 6:30am instead of 7:30am. Getting to work at 8:30am instead of 9:30am. Arriving home at 5pm instead of 6pm. I walk into to the office well ahead of my 9:30am meetings, and cook an entire dinner for myself before heading out to climb at 6:30pm. The transition hasn’t been seamless — changing a daily routine is a serious adjustment. Even though the kinks are still being worked out, I’ve realized the benefits immediately. I’ve been waking up and getting closer to living out my ideal routine each day, and man, it’s wonderful. I even was able to leisurely bike around Piedmont Park after work before the sun went down! I have go to bed a bit earlier, which is the most difficult change here, but all the areas I was experiencing tension related to time management or needing alone time…they’re relieved. I’m relieved.
Spotify, thank you for spying on me and creating an entire playlist based on what’s been in my ears this year. Tastebreakers was the perfect encouragement to break out of my routine and explore a bit. Not only did I start listening to Leslie Odom Jr., but I’m on my way to living my days a little more at ease.
What taste do you need to break?
