I previously challenged myself to play one song when I was getting work done. This is called the one song technique. In this post I want to share my impressions and results from the challenge.
WHAT I LIKED
I was able to put in my earbuds and get to work.
I didn’t have to worry about which song to play when I wanted to get work done.
The song did not distract me from my writing.
When I didn’t feel like working I would put on the music anyway to get myself in the zone.
I combined the one song technique with the pomodoro technique. I was able to cycle my work and recover my energy on a regular interval. This is probably going to be a best practice.
WHAT DIDN’T GO AS PLANNED
Distracting phone calls would interrupt me in the middle of a session.
There were times when I forgot to start the song when I was working.
I didn’t put the music playlist on my iphone, meaning I did not use it when I was doing work on the go.
I did not want to play the music during my planning time, only my task completion time.
LESSONS LEARNED AND BEST PRACTICES
Forgive yourself if you don’t remember to turn on the song every time you work. There is no need to beat yourself up for getting to work in the first place.
Put your one song into a playlist for the amount of time that you want to work. As soon as you notice the music has stopped, take a break.
Put your playlist on all your devices so you can do some work anywhere
Use this technique strictly for getting tasks done. Your planning and strategy time needs more flexibility and freedom.
It would have been useful to find a way to measure my productivity before and after. The only measure I have right now is my productivity journal.
DID YOU TRY?
What things did you notice in your productivity when you were using the one song technique?