The opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
As a child, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gave concerts in public places and in private dressing rooms. He played in his family’s flat in London, where people came to hear the young musical prodigy for an admission fee. He played for Louis XV’s daughters, Princesses Adelaide and Victoire, as well as for the King and Queen themselves. In those days, the first device for listening to music was not invented. (Thomas Edison would introduce the phonograph more than a century later, in 1877.) Live was the only way to listen.
Today, music is radically more accessible. It’s everywhere and there’s so much of it. Fun fact: It would take someone until the 27th century to listen to the roughly 100 million songs currently available on Spotify alone. Music served many purposes beyond the entertainment of the aristocracy. We use it to motivate us during a workout, distract us during a root canal, or help us sleep.
Pop into my Jotform office and you’ll often find me listening to classical music (if I’m writing) or rock ‘n’ roll (if I’m catching up on emails). And I’m not alone: In one survey, 85 percent of respondents said they enjoy listening to music at work. Another 71 percent said they were more productive when there was music playing in the office, with pop, rock and country songs providing the biggest boost.
Although the so-called “Mozart effect” has been debunked – learning music does not improve intelligence – researchers have found a curious connection between music and productivity. With millions of choices at your fingertips, it’s important to understand the latest music and performance discoveries before creating your next playlist.
Related: The Art of the Power Nap – How to Sleep Your Way to Peak Performance
Your taste in music matters
One person’s trash is another’s treasure. One person’s motivational music is another person’s noise pollution. If you want to listen to music to increase your productivity, it is important to choose songs that You Enjoy.
As Merriam Saunders, a psychotherapist and professor of psychology at Dominican University, explained to Business News Daily, music has a dopaminergic effect on the brain, meaning it creates dopamine. Dopamine, in turn, stimulates the prefrontal cortex, the center of the brain responsible for planning, organizing, inhibitory control, and attention. In short, if your brain produces more dopamine, it can help you become more productive. But Saunders noted that the key is to choose music that you like but also listen to enough to not focus on the lyrics or the beat.
This explains why I listen to the same playlist of songs I love over and over while I work. Music puts me in a good mood (in other words, it gets the dopamine flowing), but I’ve listened to these songs so many times that I barely register the words. It’s almost Pavlovian, the way I click play and immerse myself in my work.
Related: There’s a scientific reason you can’t stop thinking about unfinished business. Learning to harness this energy will make you more productive.
Your personality traits also matter
Your musical taste isn’t the only factor in whether a song helps or hurts your productivity. Your personality—introversion versus extroversion—also affects whether and how much you benefit from background music.
Thomas Chamorro-Premuzik, Chief Innovation Officer at ManpowerGroup and Professor of Business Psychology at University College London and Columbia University, writes for Harvard Business Review: “If you’re an extrovert, you’ll tend to be naturally understimulated, so your performance is likely to increase with background music or minor distractions. Conversely, being an introvert increases the likelihood that you will find any background noise, including music, distracting, to the point that it impairs your performance.”
Of course, most of us fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum between introversion and extroversion. But it’s helpful to understand that while more introverted people will benefit more from ambient tunes, extroverts may gravitate towards more stimulating songs. While an introvert may benefit from elevator music, an extrovert may thrive on ACDC.
Related: The Science-Backed Case for Embracing Boredom in the Workplace
Consider the complexity of the task
Before choosing a song, you should also consider the complexity of the task at hand. Chamorro-Premuzic explains that if you’re comfortable doing something (because you’ve done it countless times, for example), background music will help you focus. If you are new to something and it is complicated, you should avoid background music, at least in the beginning.
We all have tasks that challenge and engage us and others that we do on autopilot. In my new book, I conceptualize the two as meaningful work (or “the big stuff”) versus busy work. The purpose of writing the book was to give readers tools to automate the latter and free up more space for the former. Yet the fact remains that although we can reduce busy work by automating, delegating or eliminating it, we cannot completely get rid of it. Invoices will always need to be sent. Meetings must be scheduled. Inboxes need to be organized. As we do the necessary busy work that connects the more meaningful parts of our day, music can help us complete it effectively and efficiently.
Related: What seasoned climbers can teach you about tackling your toughest tasks
Reminder: Work should be fun
If you’re still not convinced to prepare a new office playlist, consider this: Work should be fun. Research shows that fun in the workplace has a positive impact on engagement, creativity and purpose, all of which increase employee retention and reduce turnover.
When researching Work made fun gets doneco-authors Bob Nelson and Mario Tamayo interviewed hundreds of employees across industries and career stages to better understand what people do to make work more fun.
Their findings? Music was an effective strategy to enhance the fun factor.
So listen to music you like and music that matches your mood. If you’re looking for motivation, maybe a Queen ballad will do the trick. If you’re looking for a zen song to finish a stressful project, a relaxing piano composition can set the tone.
Final thoughts
Music can make work more enjoyable. It can help you manage your busy work. It can allow you to delve into more meaningful work. If you think about it, it’s one of the most affordable productivity tools out there—and it’s largely free. Hopefully, with the strategies above, you can choose from over 100 million songs and create your perfect productivity playlist.
Related: Struggling with productivity? You just have to give yourself fewer options.
