Music is good except when it’s not…

I just read the New York Times article, “The Power of Music, Tapped in a Cubicle,” in which Amisha Padnani talked about the benefits of listening to music in the office. Indeed, music has been shown to release dopomine in the brain, reduce stress and even improve memory. Over the past 20 years, while looking for tools and resources that enhance productivity, I’ve landed on dozens of articles that encourage people to listen when they are working, learning, and studying. In past years, music CDs even boasted having the perfect number of beats per minute for such tasks.

The benefit of music helping to block out ambient noise and improve people’s focus, is especially welcome in today’s open offices, where random chatter has been found to radically reduce productivity. Unfortunately, as Padnani suggests, managers see a host of issues with office music–not everyone has the same taste in music; headphones are seen to be anti-social; some see music as distracting.

If putting on a set of headphones isn’t feasible or culturally acceptable in your office, you still have a few options to pleasantly tell people to be quiet. You can explore these 10 Sassy Ways to Say Scram, or simply get yourself a DeskMate, with 24 signs that tell people when you’re open to interruptions and when you aren’t.

2,108