One Song That Helped Me Get Sh*t Done
Your to-do list won’t know what hit it.
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Today, I sat down to write a to-do list and accidentally worked for two hours.
When my bladder finally pulled me out of my intense focus, I sat dazed on the toilet wondering just how this was possible for someone who had spent the last two weeks bingeing three dramas back to back. As I sat pondering, I suddenly realized I was still wearing my noise-cancelling headphones, and streaming through their speakers was the same song that I had hit play on two hours ago, a cheerful instrumental cover that I often return to when I want to pretend like I’m the main character in a historical Chinese period drama.
There’s nothing particularly special about this piece except that I can listen to it for hours (sometimes days) on end without getting sick of it. However, because I was so shocked by my productivity, I wondered if there was some secret formula hidden within its melody that helped me stay on track for so long. After some more thought (I was off the toilet by this point), I realized that this wasn’t the first time this phenomenon of deep focus has happened to me.
Back in college, when I had to crank out essays hours before the deadline, I was also able to concentrate for long periods of time. That was before I had discovered this particular piece of music, so I knew the secret didn’t lie with the music itself, but rather, how I chose to use music to aid me in my focus.
After some more reflection (now, I had made myself some tea), I realized it must be because the song was simply on repeat.
See, when I originally sat down to write my to-do list, I really didn’t want to do anything at all. However, with a new school semester starting in just a few days, I knew I had to get my shit together — fast. So, I told myself that I would just do a brain dump for the duration of the song. However, because I liked the song so much, my hands automatically set it on repeat, and I started writing my to-do list. Whenever my mind wandered from my task list to the music, it was still in the middle of its melodic run, so my mind would drift back to my task list. However, what I didn’t realize was that I kept missing the end of the song because my attention was divided by the task in front of me. I kept on saying, “I’ll only work until the song ends,” but the end of the song never came — at least, not when I noticed it, and so, I kept working. By the time I finally noticed the song coming to one of its ends, two hours had passed.
Before I could even switch tabs to turn off the music, it started its loop again, and almost as if I was Pavlov’s dog conditioned to drool after hearing a bell, I found myself sitting down to write this article. I didn’t even feel like I had to think or convince myself to do so. In fact, it almost made me more uncomfortable to stop doing something, anything, while the song was still playing.
After writing this, I realized that this little trick works with any song — even ones with lyrics — as long as it’s on repeat. You might wonder if this is just the same as putting on some white noise in the background, but I would argue that this is more effective. There’s no end to white noise, so sometimes it feels like the work is never-ending as well. However, with a song with a definite end, you know you can stop if you want to. Having the option to stop makes a huge difference because it makes you believe that you at least have the choice to stop.
While working, I also did other tasks such as going to the bathroom, making tea, and washing some dishes, but I kept the song playing. I told myself, I’ll only do these chores until the end of the song, and then I’ll give myself a break to watch a show or something. However, by the time I finished one task, the song was in the middle of its run again, and so I thought, might as well finish another task until the song ends.
And, here we are, one hour later, one article later, one more task check-off the to-do list later.
Now that I’m completely aware of what has been happening to me for the past three hours, I have turned off my little hypnotic tune of productivity, and I realized something else: I’m really fucking hungry.
So, I will leave you to try out this little trick for yourself, but I think I deserve some well-earned snacks and a little show or two to binge.
Have fun being productive! Your to-do list won’t know what hit it.
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