There are a million little things we manage to distract ourselves with. Some days we even justify those things as priorities. Like spending hours on email knowing your inbox is not your priority but really it’s filled with other people’s priorities. Social media is a fan-favorite non priority distraction and of course the necessary time you spent online tracking down a specific pair of shoes you really don’t need.
Then there are the things that seem like priorities but they really are not. Watching three hours of Ted Talks that you call ‘research’ but you know you should really be working on the paper that is due. Reading books about sleep when you just should go to bed earlier. Or re-writing your company pitch deck for the 7th time when your time would be so much better spent doing just-about-anything-else.
Some days, and some tasks, just seem hard. There are days when the last thing I want to do is focus on a priority task. I’m tired, I’m hungry, the house is a mess, I need another coffee, my email is stacking up and my team needs me for a million other things. It’s like there is temptation in distraction. It’s like I want to do all the wrong things; anything but that task that is looming in technicolor in front of me. That task I know is a priority but I just can’t get to it.
I so get it. You know what you are supposed to be working on but for some reason you can’t get started. You have cleared the time; you are in a quiet zone; you have turned off all the distractions - but you still struggle to get started. I used to find this with writing and then I discovered binaural beat videos on YouTube which are the ultimate hack to get you through the labyrinth of distraction.
Binaural Beat Therapy is music that plays a specific frequency that your brain adjusts to sync with. Through this use of frequencies the music is actually capable of changing your mood. I am not going to pretend I understand the science but the internet tells me that binaural beats are an ‘auditory illusion’ that ‘promote optimal brainwave states’. AKA listening to them produces a specific response from your body.
Research on binaural beats suggests they improve the production of the hormones cortisol, DHEA, and melatonin in your body. The release of these chemicals, among others is the mood-altering part of the binaural beat magic. This article in Psychology Todayexplains how binaural beats can aid sleep and the reduction of anxiety.
I’m literally listening to one right now as I write. After a full day of writing and working I was hitting a wall. A late night conference call last night was catching up with me. My inner three year old was telling me to do anything but persevere with my blog writing.
Now when I feel this way I to immediately go to YouTube and hit play on one of the videos. And this blog just poured out of me. I told you, magic!
I have compiled a few of my favorites on my YouTube channel - check them out here. There is a one hour one which is great for a very specific task and then a number of three-hour ones which I love for focussed productivity.
See if they work for you. YouTube will helpfully suggest a number of other ones for you too, so make sure to browse and find the one that works for you.
Now go get on those priority tasks!