Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Rinse and Repeat


You know how some people knit or craft to keep their hands occupied so they can think?  I do that with music.

More specifically, if I am trying to focus at work, or if I want to concentrate and want to think something through – typically in the car – I will put a song on repeat.  And listen to it over.

And over.

And over.

And … well, you get the point. 

It somehow takes a part of my brain -- the toddler, “ooh shiny,” easily-distracted part of my brain -- and gives it a toy.  ‘Here, play with this while the grown-ups talk.’

This allows me to go into work-trance, or thought-trance, and work through whatever it is.

You want examples?  Once I drove home from my parents’ house to mine (roughly 8 hours) listening to one track of one cd.  For one month at work, two songs sustained me through a killer project.  Yes, two songs and two songs only for four weeks, 8 hours a day (minus meetings, lunches and bathroom breaks).

Okay, yes, and sometimes I just do it because I like the song.  It happens, people!

I’m given to understand most people don’t do this.  Perhaps it is one of the areas in my life that I’m OCD.  I don’t know.  Frankly, I don’t care.  It doesn’t affect anyone else, and it helps me concentrate.  So that’s all for the better.

5 comments:

  1. Looks like I'm not the only one! I constantly play the same song over and over because it is stuck in my head... or just fits my mood. Usually it happens when I'm intensely hacking away at some code.

    I usually say that I drum my fingers on my desk at work to entertain the right side of my brain while doing something that occupies the left side.

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    1. In the car, I will sing along. At work, I will crank the music up loud enough to drown out background noise (I have good headphones - it doesn't take much). I would tap my fingers, but I don't know if it would annoy my co-workers.

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  2. Would that intense 4 week project be something we worked on together? Nah, it couldn't be or else it would have said something like 10 hours or more. lol! But I'm willing to bet there were times you cranked the volume up to tune me out! Haha!

    I don't repeat a song as often as you do, but I do on occasion when I'm in need of some specific emotional relief and there's only one song that really lets me express those emotions perfectly, whether it be happy, or sad, or anger, or love.

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    1. That project was the first time we worked together, as I recall. Though I'm sure I had other obsessive song moments in the project I believe you're thinking of.

      And I agree -- songs are great for helping to give voice to your emotions.

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  3. I totally relate to this post, currently I seem to always be listening to Gotye's "Someone That I Used to Know"... It also seems to keep the "shiny" loving part of my brain occupied.

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