Calming Sounds
The link
Calm app on iTunes
The XX – “Intro”, 4 hour YouTube Loop
What it is
Calm.com is
a website with relaxing background sounds and visuals. You can change the
setting with the button in the lower right; I personally prefer the ‘rain’ one
(1st row, middle button).
Calm also has free Android and iTunes apps, with paid ‘guided mediations’
(which I’ve never used).
The final
link is a different take on the same idea – a 4 hour loop of “Intro” by English
band the XX. “Intro” is that song you now from at least three video montages. This YouTube clip repeats it for
four hours.
What it means to me
I have
found out recently that I’m quite fussy about my work space. I currently work
in an open office with flexible seating, and realized a while ago that all the
noise and commotion around me was hurting my ability to actual get things done badly.
My typical workday
involves between two and four meetings, which has two consequences: I context
switch more than I like, and time to get actual work done comes at a premium.
More and more, the (limited) hours at my desk were slowly eaten away by distractions.
To combat
this, I moved to a quieter area and dusted off my headphones.
Listening
to music while you work brings its own set of problems. I can be quite fussy
about what I want to hear, and spend time and attention switching songs,
finding albums and other such nonsense. Pressing ‘NEXT’ every couple of minutes
doesn’t really help one’s context switching problem! Music with lyrics is also
distracting when I try to write text.
Enter
calm.com. This website has gentle sounds you can play in the background
and forget about 20 seconds later. It’s high quality white noise to drown out everyone
else. Which is probably why love the ‘rain’
one so much: nice constant sound, no bird calls.
I find it interesting
that the way I use Calm seems to be very different from what the creators intended.
The website and app emphasize taking a break, and looking at the visuals; they also
have guided meditations. The first time I ran the app, I was really confused
why this soothing sound wouldn’t play in the background when I was reading e-mail on my phone!
What calm
is for relaxed thinking and writing, “Intro” by The XX is for ‘deadline is
looming’ situations. Listening to “Intro” on repeat automatically makes whatever
you’re doing cooler, even if it’s as stereotypically
uncool as updating status Excel sheets. It’s also perfect ‘setting your mind’ music
when you already know what you need to do, and how to do it, and just need to
get started.
Put it on.
Zone out. Get work done.
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