{"id":680,"date":"2008-11-19T16:07:32","date_gmt":"2008-11-20T00:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gtdtimes.com\/?p=680"},"modified":"2017-12-25T14:09:18","modified_gmt":"2017-12-25T22:09:18","slug":"music-for-getting-things-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2008\/11\/music-for-getting-things-done\/","title":{"rendered":"Music for Getting Things Done"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Scott Allen – Community Contributor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Left to my own devices, I have a terrible time maintaining focus when I need to write, do web design, work on spreadsheets or databases, or do intensive analytical reading. While I refuse to go to the doctor to get a formal diagnosis, I pretty much know that I have ADD (I score between 75-85% of the indicators for it on the tests I’ve taken myself). I was fortunate to be raised in an environment that allowed me to develop coping mechanisms and become very high-functioning, and I’ve since learned that there is a high correlation between AD\/HD symptoms and entrepreneurial traits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, where was I?\u00a0 ;-)<\/p>\n

Oh yeah… I was talking about maintaining focus when writing and doing other production work. I find that my brain is constantly throwing completely irrelevant ideas into my conscious awareness.<\/p>\n

As a coping mechanism, as a student back in high school and college, I frequently used to study to music, and found that it usually helped my concentration.As an adult, I started slipping into the habit of media multi-tasking — trying to watch TV, IM\/Twitter and read\/write at the same time. NOT effective!<\/p>\n

So as an experiment, I’ve reverted back to my school-age practice of using music to try to help me focus. The difference is that now I’ve approached it more scientifically, testing and comparing my ability to maintain sustained, focus effort with different kinds of music. Now, I’m not claiming that I’ve been rigorous — I won’t be publishing this in any medical journals — but I’ve definitely found what does and what doesn’t work for me.<\/p>\n

Here’s what doesn’t <\/em>seem to work for me:<\/p>\n