TLDR I might be wrong but after replacing listening to music with listening to noise generators (waves/nature sounds/white noise) I improved my productivity for the last two weeks multiple times.
No I do not work for noise generator site or app. I have heard it multiple times but I have never thought it would have such impact if I do it for more than few days.
It might depend on what kind of person you are. So few words about what kind of person I think I am — I love listening to all kind of music and genres and I love to always sneak into my coworkers’ conversations when they are around me. I also think I am really teachable and get used to things after giving them a try few times (you might be wondering why I mention this — read on). I also feel most productive at night. So sadly after working in an open space for few years I now dream of buying a house in the forest where I can fully concentrate and code complicated stuff that require some more concentration.
I believe many people have such issues and they probably solved them partially in all kind of ways. However there is this theory that has gone through my head multiple times and it really makes sense to me, so I decided to share it.
Do you feel really mentally tired if you listen to music all day long and at the end of the day when you come back home you find it impossible to jump into your free time projects?
How do you feel if you listen to the same song for 5 hours? Do you feel less distracted compared to when rotating a playlist?
What if the brain is constantly trying to find patterns in the music and the rhythm so it becomes better and better at recognizing it? So the next time you hear it you enjoy it more and try to find more details in the song that you have not heard the previous time?
If so this would mean that your brain is busy parsing the sound waves that seem to follow a pattern that you find enjoyable instead of working on the problem that you have opened with your favorite editor. It would also mean that if you have been parsing music all day long (trying to evade the conversation the guys on the next desk are having) then at the end of the day it will be even harder to grasp new material and concepts to self improve. If a song is known by heart and have been on repeat for the last couple of hours your mind gets used to it and you can spent more of your absorbing powers into different direction.
If you feel like this kind of a person with this kind of a problem share your thoughts here after giving a try to isolate yourself in a slightly different way.
