How Music Affects On Our Productivity

We all sometimes wondered is music distracting or, conversely, helps to work? Or maybe you think that music has a positive effect on your work, but your boss thinks quite differently. If you want to convince your boss, show him this JiJi.ng article.

Man Listening to CD ca. 2002

It is difficult to estimate how much space in our lives for music. Even if you don’t specifically seek to listen to it, music is still somewhere near shops, bus, people in large headphones that distribute music wave at 3 meters in front of and behind you … And of course most every day begins with music: we wake with favorite tune on the alarm clock.

Without a doubt, music is one of the greatest creations of people. But does music help a person to create and work? Let’s see that.

Are music and work compatible?

On the basis of our own experience and personal preferences everybody can answer the question “is music prevent or, conversely, help to work?”. If you are a music fan who is used to listen to the music always and everywhere, your answer will be that listening to music while working – it’s great, it isn’t distracting and helps to wake up better than two cups of strong coffee.

If you think that on the work you need to deal only with work and you’ll never listen to music during your working day. Moreover, you will be immensely annoying by colleague headphones, because you have to listen to his favorite tracks, unwittingly.

Research about impact of music on productivity

Now let’s briefly digress from our own personal experience and turn to the research, that were conducted in this area.

• A couple of years ago, British scientists have found that 90% of surgeons listen to music during surgery. This creates a more relaxed atmosphere, it helps to cope with stress. From musical genres surgeons prefer rock, pop and classical music.

• A study conducted at the University of Windsor (Canada), was aimed at finding out the effect of music on the work of software developers and web designers. As a result: without background music developers longer completed the task. And listening to music, they showed improved performance and interest in the task.

• Conducted numerous experiments whose purpose was to find out how music affects on the industrial workers. As a result: the use of background music when performing tasks significantly improves the performance of the workers, and they feel less tired after a hard day’s work. Music could even compete with the noise of factory equipment.

Why does music is useful at work?

Music is salvation from the colleagues

It often happens that people who coexist in the same workspace, interfere to each other to work.

Music could easily solve this problem. For example, programmers who don’t need to answer the phone or something differently contact with people during the working day, favorite music in headphones will be the perfect solution.

Music is fun

Most people, no doubt, love their work, but all have those moments when you need to deal with boring, routine things, such as drawing up the monthly report. At such moments, our time is similar to the hard labor, pleasure at the same time we obviously don’t feel.

If you look at this situation from a physiological point of view, our body does not have enough dopamine – the hormone of pleasure. Of course, this problem can be solved by eating chocolate at work, but then there is a risk to pull a quarter of the salary and gain a few extra kilos.

Scientists have found that when we listen to our favorite music dopamine also produces in our brain. So be straightened with a boring job with pleasure and without material costs.

Music is a panacea for a trivial round

If you do monotonous work, the music will save you from boredom and sleepiness. Music will help to increase your energy, you will be able to perform more tasks at the same time.

For creative people listening is required!

Have you noticed ever how people of creative professions (journalists, designers, and so) love to work in a cafe or in a free space?

In such places often plays unobtrusive background music, and sometimes you can even hear the live chords. Creative people draw their inspiration from the music, they always subconsciously drawn to musical places.

How to choose the music for the work

The best music is, of course, your favorite music.

Also, many scientists say that classical music is a good background for the workflow. Science of this phenomenon is known as the “Mozart effect.” According to this effect, the music of Wolfgang Amadeus activates the brain.

Psychologists advise to choose for the workflow the music without words, because listening to music “with subtext” will distract you by thinking about the meaning of the phrases in the heard.

What you should remember when listening to music at work

• Your music shouldn’t interfere to your colleagues. Of course, the ideal option when the all office loves the same soundtrack and listens to them in columns, but this, unfortunately, is very, very rare.
• In the working process, music is a tool that helps you more efficiently perform tasks.

Music helps you to reach your goal, and not is the goal

• Despite the fact that music has a beneficial effect on our productivity, sometimes there are such working moments in which to listen to music is undesirable: for example, you need to memorize quite a lot of information. Or you have a task you should dive into it completely. Or you are doing a new activity (replacing a colleague who went on vacation, for example).

P.S. And if you don’t accept listening to music at work and prefer to enjoy the peace, then we wish you fruitful work in complete silence. Just don’t forget that silence – this is also special music. 😉