Is Your Playlist Undermining Your Effectiveness?

Music has a powerful—and often underappreciated—effect on the human brain and our emotions.  As a result, what we listen to can easily (and inadvertently) have a tremendous impact on our mental state and on the quality of our interactions throughout the day.  So if it has a strong emotional component, what types of music—and which corresponding emotions—do we want as influences?

When picking a playlist for an important event, we usually take great care to select music that’s consistent with, and contributes to, the ambience or mood.  So we’ll take care to ensure that our guests are comfortable and relaxed—but how often do we actually do the same thing in our own lives?

There’s a reason music (especially certain types, most notably rock and rap) is used for activities like working out or sports—it’s a great performance-enhancing tool. In other words, it pumps you up; it’s inspiring. It’s motivational. It can quicken your step or help you summon the energy to get one last set in.  But is adrenaline-fueled, playing field performance the type you’re looking for in your day job?   Do you really want to be pumped up right before a meeting or event where it’s very important to keep your cool? If you wouldn’t listen to Enya before working out, why listen to aggressive music when you need to stay positive or relaxed?   Or before trying to fall asleep?

Here’s what I’ve realized:

If my goal is to walk to into a room in a collected manner, it seems counterproductive to listen to my workout playlist on the drive over.   Just like it’s hard to rush down a hallway and then to walk calmly and quietly into a meeting, it’s also hard to shut off other influences instantaneously.

This may seem like a no-brainer to quite a few of you, but it’s something that has only dawned on me recently.   I generally listen to rock, so I didn’t realize what I was missing until I actually started listening to genuinely relaxing music and noticed what a big difference it made.  So now if I’m driving to a meeting or trying to unwind in the evening, I find that consciously picking relaxing music can have a big impact on how I approach things.   I haven’t stopped listening to the music I love, I’m just more aware of the effect that it has on me.

Since so much of life is already predetermined, I think it’s important to realize that your mental and emotional state doesn’t always have to be a byproduct of an environment that’s beyond your control. There may be times when you have no choice but to accept your surroundings for what they are—but it’s also possible to adapt your surroundings to your objectives, rather than the other way around.

Your music is as good a place to start as any.

-tg

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3. Keep Your Cool by Walking Slowly
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5. Eight Simple Conversation Techniques for Drawing People Out