I'm a Music Therapist

I’m currently in my third year of teaching and it’s pretty safe to say that I’ve taken to my self-imposed title of being an “academic.” One big clue is that if you opened my closet, you’d find three fashion capes that I’m super excited to wear to school now that it’s fall. While I like to have fun with my sartorial choices, one of the inescapable parts of being an academic is that there’s always something else to do. Another round of grading, another lecture to prepare, another email to respond to. And even when the routine parts of my teaching responsibilities are under control, the guilt of being behind on another project or working on another publication is always lingering in the background.

I do see a bright side to this continual workload though. Part of the reason why I enjoy my job so much is because many of my hobbies and extracurricular interests already border my field of study and work. I write this blog about music therapy, I host a podcast about music science and music therapy research, and my best friend is a music therapist who loves talking shop as much as me. Even if I won the lotto and didn’t have to work for a salary, there’s a good chance I’d be doing something very similar to the work I’m already doing. Which is all well and cool, except that I still find myself needing some strategies to make sure that I stay on track with the countless demands of my job and other projects. Once I get started, I usually get immersed in the work. But, why is the first step always the hardest to take?

Depending on what situation I’m in, I’ve learned some fairly unconventional ways to keep myself on-task. But, how can doing a face mask, going out for coffee, or putting on a bad movie help you get your work done? Keep reading to find out more…

For when my mobile screens are the main distraction

The Flora App: This free app that allows you to set a timer that “plants” a digital seed. If you stay in the app, a plant will grow over the time you allotted originally (I usually do 25 minute intervals). But, if you leave the app (to say, checkout Tumblr), your plant dies. It sounds silly, but the guilt of killing a digital plant is enough to keep my off my phone or iPad for enough time for me to focus and really get into the project. You can also customize what kind of “garden” you build that week by choosing from dozens of types of seeds, which adds some fun.

For when I’m doing a task I really hate

Flipping over an hourglass: At the time, I thought buying it was a really gratuitous academic purchase, but my hourglass is sometimes just the thing I need. Here’s what I do: when I have a task that I’ve been dreading or putting off forever, I’ll promise myself that I only have to work on it for as long as the hourglass is going. My hourglass only runs for about 18 minutes, which seems to be just enough time for me to power through most of the negative emotional hurdles. I probably look up at the hourglass 10 times in the first five minutes, but because the hourglass doesn’t “beep” when it’s done, it gives me the chance to keep working once the negativity evaporates. If the task is really as terrible as I thought it was, then at least I’ve made 18 minutes of progress and I let myself rest afterward.

For when I’m done working from home

Trying a new coffee shop: I’m the type of person where my environment can have a real impact on my productivity. If my apartment is too messy for me to feel like I can work, I’ll give myself permission to go out and work while I enjoy a coffee and a treat. (I’m also not above bribing myself with food). Although this productivity hack costs money, I’ve also gotten to explore new neighborhoods in my city because I always try to go to a new cafe I haven’t tried before.

For when I have a friend who also needs to be productive

Putting on a bad movie: Working with a friend can be great because of the social accountability factor,  but expecting you both to get work done for 3 hours straight isn’t realistic. When working with a friend, we’ll often put on a movie that’s really bad or that neither of us wants to watch. It allows to have background noise, and either of us can tune into the movie for a mental break, but there’s no pressure to actually follow the plot of the movie. In some cases, I’ll put on a movie that I expressly do not want to watch, so that sticking to my work gives me an excuse to avoid a stimulus worse than the work itself. For example, I don’t like horror movies, so watching a really scary movie like The Ring is a good deterrent for me.

For when I have three or four things to do

Jumping between tasks as I feel like it: Yes, I’m aware that research on distractibility says that there’s a cost to task-switching and that I’m most likely slowing myself down in certain ways when I jump from writing one paragraph to another paragraph. You know what also slows me down? When I get stuck trying to solve a single problem and I stare at the screen for 3 minutes daydreaming. When I have several low-stakes projects, I’ll sometimes open up a different tab for each task and work on one until it I lose motivation, and then move onto a new task that feels fresh. Lather, rinse, repeat. Often after cycling through a handful of projects, I’ll end up at the first task again, which often magically doesn’t feel as burdensome as when I had left it 30 minutes earlier. By leaving some projects when the going gets tough, they can subconsciously incubate for a fresh approach when I return to them.

For when I need to work on one thing for more than 60 minutes

Doing a facial mask: Let’s say a project requires a longer amount of time to complete, but I know that just setting an hour timer will just have me counting down the minutes. In these cases, I’ll do a clay facial mask by Aztec Healing Clay. It takes at least 60+ minutes to dry completely, so I’ll let the mask be my timer. As a bonus, the mask hardens on my face as it dries, meaning that I can’t talk on the phone or snack if I’m in the mood to get distracted by either. Plus, my skin feels great aftward!

I hope some of my unconventional productivity hacks are helpful. Be sure to comment with your own tips that you use to stay on task!