Why Does A Noisy Background Make You Much More Productive?
Random noise, a little music, and moving objects together balance your working mood.
Have you ever felt that the place is too quiet for you to study? Do you notice why many people prefer a coffee-house space to a quiet library for working? Or if you are a noisy-background type, have you ever wondered why it works well for you? Keep posing questions to understand yourself better.
To be honest, the coffee-shop space is not only my best working office but also one of my restorative niches. There are three factors making it my favorite spot, including random noise, music, and moving objects.
Random noise
Scientific researchers have proven that background with arbitrary sounds does wonder for your mind while focusing, and each person needs a different level of sound to be effective. I don’t understand that much those scientific numbers, statistics, and the way it explains, but I often make it clear by myself.
You surely couldn’t focus if someone is sitting next to you and talking without ceasing. The story, which could be tempting, or annoying, will make you distracted because you can listen to it so well, even you can’t miss a word of it. But if there are many people with different stories, different tones, and more different random sounds of other equipment, the sound of making coffee, for example, you will not able to follow any content clearly. Your brain will get tired if you try to follow and understand a single story in a noisy background. Then you tend to ignore them all and do your job.
But why not a quiet room instead of a crowded coffee store? Well, I don’t deny the high efficiency of working in a quiet room, it fits many of you definitely, even me at times, but an eclectic mix of sound tends to spur your mind. It just makes you more active. And you just feel that the surroundings have nothing to do with you, and you’d better do your own things.
So, the mix of a number of distracting sounds is likely to allow you to be focused amazingly.
A little music
Music obviously plays an important role in enhancing people’s mood. A coffee shop that plays your favorite music can push you to work harder.
I tend to be interrupted when my song is turned on because I can’t myself from humming along. However, the noisy background will help excite me but give me no chance to follow the song all along. I can realize the familiar melody to be energized, but don’t have the tendency to focus on it.
My logic here is that
there should be a factor to detach yourself from the space, and another one to stimulate your mind.
Moving objects
This is the most vital factor for me to create a perfect working space. The reason is that it makes you feel you're not alone.
You have probably never noticed this factor before but it does happen when you work alone.
We all need consistency to have good results, but working alone often makes you feel that you are the only one that is working hard and busy.
Seeing people moving back and forth, and doing their own stuff, you will come to the realization that everyone has to hustle to reach what they want, they have their own worries, and they also have to be busy as you are. You are not the only one that has to work hard.
The way people concentrate on studying and working motivates you to keep moving forward.
And this principle can also be applied to other kinds of working space. Not only humans but also other objects can be regarded as moving things.
For example, I set up an aquascaped aquarium on the desk in my room, where I’m raising some guppies. They just never stop swimming to search for food. That does boost my working mood, especially when I need to do some content-creating work.
Final thoughts: Restorative niche
I used to think that a quiet room would make me focused better on my work. It did but I couldn’t remain consistent. When I’d feel exhausted, I’d wonder if people are working that hard to achieve their goals. I then lost the ability to focus.
I decided to adjust my personal office by working at a coffee shop near my house. I know that not all kinds of coffee shops will work, you have to find your favorite spot, but what I have been experiencing is really productive.
I found that it’s just like how we balance our lives. Sometimes it’s not you but the working spot affects your productivity. Your mood and your biology system are not the same every day, so be aware of what works best for you is important.
I once came across the term “restorative niche” in the book Quiet of Susan Cain, which says that we all have our niche where we can recover physically and mentally. I think it means a lot when it comes to balancing our lives. Sometimes we can’t stop working, but we need to remain productive, so finding out our restorative niche is indispensable.
The noisy background, particularly the coffee house space, is one of my restorative niches and could be yours.
Trying to understand why you like something and what it has that makes you interested in is necessary if you’re looking for a fulfilling life.
