Do you ever have a hard time concentrating because of noisy distractions? Wouldn’t it be ideal if you could break out the walls in your office and place your desk 25 or 30 feet away from that noisy employee, grinding printer, or chirping phone? Most of the time, you can’t do anything about your physical space and your proximity to noisy distractions. But you can give yourself some sonic space. Just think, if you could take the sound of your co-workers’ chitchatting 5 feet away and make it sound like they are 30 feet away. Wouldn’t that accomplish pretty much the same thing as physically moving your desk away from them?
Do you wish your co-workers had volume controls?
You can’t turn your co-workers down and it is generally considered impolite to physically push them to the other side of the room. One potential solution would be to play music, but then you become part of the problem for other people. You could use headphones, but most of the time that will leave you a bit too isolated. (I know someone who does this and it is impossible to get his attention without making him jump three feet from his chair.) Also with music, part of your brain power goes toward listening. This may be fine if you are just adding a list of numbers, but less than ideal if you need 100% of your mental capabilities focusing on a specific problem. The ideal solution is something that will mask the distracting sound without becoming a distraction itself.
The sound of the ocean creates privacy on the beach
Think of the ocean. On the beach the sound of the surf and the wind help create a certain degree of sonic privacy. You can still talk to people near you, but you aren’t dealing with as much distraction from the conversation of people sitting nearby. Even though the ocean is making quite a bit of noise, it isn’t a distraction.
Most people don’t realize how much distractions cost them. If your job involves anything beyond very mundane work, it is impossible to jump right back into where you left off once something breaks your concentration. Even for very average work, it will often take 10 to 15 minutes to get back to your full level of concentration. That means if you make $20 per hour, every interruption costs you around $5 in work value. Yes, I know you probably still get paid–even when you are interrupted, but your output is often what will determine your raises and promotion, so interruptions of your concentration do eventually cost you money.
Designed to help you concentrate
Productivity501 has created several sound files designed specifically to help make it easier to concentrate on work. They have been selling for $12.50 each, but we are temporarily dropping the price to $5 each for the download versions. Depending on how much you make per hour and how distracting your environment is, the value you get in the first day is likely to be 5 or 6 times what you will spend for the file. If you are a student, work for yourself or are on salary, reducing your distractions can make a dramatic decrease in the amount of time you have to spend working or studying.
Pays for itself by blocking a single interruption
These are very large files. They come zipped and weigh in at 130 Mb. Our goal was to give you the best sonic quality in an hour long recording of nature sounds designed to make it easier to concentrate by blocking distracting sounds. If this sounds like something that would help you, please consider buying from the links below.
- Brook Ambient Sound MP3 Download . . . . . . $12.50 $5.00
- Ocean Ambient Sound MP3 Download . . . . . . $12.50 $5.00
- Rain Ambient Sound MP3 Download . . . . . . $12.50 $5.00
- Rain on a Lake Sound MP3 Download . . . . . . $12.50 $5.00
If you prefer a physical CD, you can buy them from the products page.
Nice post. Thanks for that – I’ve been looking into relaxing sounds while working recently in fact. I came across an awesome radio station from somafm called Groovesalad – helped me out. :)
I like this idea; the problem is, in a cubicle environment, I can’t play nature sounds any more than I could play music without headphones. I have recently invested in a pair of noise cancelling headphones, which has been life-changing. It does leave me vulnerable to the three-foot jump, but at least I can concentrate at work.
(At the risk of appearing anti-social, I also bought a shoji screen for my cube opening, which I now close for at least a couple of hours a day.)
Is there a policy that keeps you from doing it? We’ve used these files in cubicles before where it benefited everyone. In fact some offices put in “pink noise” generators to try to get a similar effect and to make spaces seem larger. Personally I like the ocean sound a lot better than “pink noise” but they are similar in the frequencies covered.
Obviously check with your fellow cubicle dwellers, but it could work out to be convenient for everyone. The only objection I’ve heard is that some people say they have to go to the bathroom when they hear the sound of water.
I found the ‘Brook’ a little too fast for me, but the ‘Ocean’ lets me get into the zone to work effectively. These tracks help me focus at my desk. The length is perfect for a ‘focus’ session. Then I can take a break, re-evaluate and start again.
Thanks for the ambient [sound files]. I enjoy using it most when I can’t quite decide on what to listen to get me a productive push. It’s a great alternative to the usual high energy music I listen to. It’s way more relaxing and zen…
I love doing this. I regularly go to youtube and find rain falling recordings. So peaceful and helps you concentrate.
I use the rain one and I love it, it really helps me concentrate when its on.