Beautiful Rhythms: Distraction Music to Increase Focus

Getting my thoughts written down is not always as easy as it should be. That blank canvas is intimidating. What if I mess it up? 

When I was a senior in high school, I was in a class where we had to write a one page report every Friday about our week's activities. The class was over an hour long and we had the whole time to write this report, on computers, just one page. Simple enough. 

Except every single Friday I would struggle for most of the class period to get a single sentence written on the page. That annoying cursor just kept blinking at me as if it was saying "Aren't you going to write something?"

One day I'd had enough. I had my iPod with me, and a set of headphones. I asked the teacher if I could listen to some music while I worked on my report. She had no problems with that, so I sat down, plugged in my tunes, and looked at the computer screen.

Five minutes later I had my report finished, edited, printed, and handed in. Needless to say, my teacher was shocked. Not that I had written the report, she knew that I had great writing skills from other classes I had with her, but she was shocked that I finished it in five minutes where it had taken me a good hour every time before this. We talked about it. I told her, I guess I was just focusing too hard and the music let me relax enough to just pour the words out.

The next week, she had acquired headphones for everyone and we all had permission to listen to music quietly while we worked on our reports. The effect was amazing. Reports were finished earlier than they had been, we had more time at the end of the class to talk about class material, and people were in a better mood during the last class of the day on a Friday.

I've come to realize that I focus a little too hard sometimes, and if I just had a slight distraction, I would stop hyper-focusing and could just do what I do well: write awesome stories. So, I made a Spotify Playlist to be that distraction. If you're interested, you can find it here: Writing Focus. It is over 7 hours of musical distractions.

What makes this playlist work? The playlist is mostly made up of videogame soundtracks. These tracks are designed to increase engagement, and keep a player (aka writer) motivated and engaged. Also, there are no words. If I am trying to write something, I can't listen to music with words, or those words will sneak their way onto my page. Or, I will start singing along to the song instead of writing. Nope, words are no good. A good, driving beat that gets my blood pumping is exactly what I need to help me get those pesky words out of my head and onto the page. 

What works for you? Do you have a playlist or artist you like? Drop it in the comments and I'll check it out!