One Song Technique Challenge – Will you join me?

I’ve got a morning commute playlist, a work playlist, and a  sleep playlist. Without realizing it I have integrated music into my day. Is it helping or hindering me?

Research has not proven that music can increase productivity. All we actually know is that music can increase dopamine levels. A handful of experts swear by using music to increase their productivity. I was particularly drawn to the idea of using one song.

That’s right. One Song.

I’ve always made a playlist, a collection of tunes that carried me through the moment of work or sleep or commute.

John Saddington [http://john.do/music/] has written about using one song to increase his productive. Tim Ferris  talked about it in interview with Matt Mullenweg.I learned about the technique will reading an article on fizzle.co.

So I think it is worth a try. Will you join me?

I’m going to do a one week challenge. 7 days of using the one song technique.

The theory – Why it is supposed to work.

• Choosing and deciding to use one song for work means you won’t have to think about what to listen to.
• Your brain will associate the song with work. You can turn it on and get yourself in gear to work almost immediately. This is the behavioral conditioning part.
• Music has an attitude behind. Choose a song that is good for working. I’m thinking a depressive song might not be the best thing.

How to take the challenge:

1. Put the song on your Mac, iPhone and iPad for easy access. My song for the week will be “Wait Til You See My Smile” by Alicia Keys
2. Make sure the song can repeat.
3. I created a playlist in itunes that only has this song. It’s called “workjam.” If I am at my computer I can set it to repeat one inside itunes.
4. A little extra: I copy the song the number of times I want it to play before I need to take a break. I’ll explain why in another post.
5. Play the song when ever it is time for you to work.
6. Share your progress. Leave a comment below or send me a note.

YOUR TURN

What song did you choose?

Mark your calendar. Come back in about a week to see my results.

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