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Three Ambient Sound Generators to improve Concentration

Adam El-Naggar — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t know about you but when I sit down to write, code or anything else, almost any music playing in the background is a massive distraction. Either I don’t know the song, and I’m distracted by the lyrics, or I know the song, and I’m distracted by the lyrics.

If I had half as much useful knowledge in my head as I have song lyrics I’d be kind of smart, but my heart will go on.

The exception is slow instrumental music, which I find blends into the background, but is especially encouraging when it blends in with ambient noise. I recently discovered an ambient sound generator while randomly browsing Reddit, and I’ve found it’s great for setting an environment in which to work. When I sit down and play a combination of sounds, my ability to concentrate and be immersed in my work increases.

If you routinely come back to the same environment in which to produce, being in that comfortable environment will spark your productivity. Sound is one of the things that can contribute to this familiar environment. When you come back to that place, your brain knows it’s time to work.

A moderate level of ambient noise increases creativity.

I’ve experimented with a few ambient sound generators and have picked three of my favourites for you to use. Not only do these help concentration, they’re also very relaxing.

A Soft Murmur

A Soft Murmur has quality sounds, an excellent timer, a nice meander feature to further vary your soundscape, and a sharing feature allowing you to share your mix. It was the first I discovered and is one of the best.

Hipster Sound

Hipster Sound has some unique sounds — I especially like the piano bar and the rainy terrace. It is more basic in its execution, but you’re here for the sound right?

Noisli

Noisli has great sounds and options for providing different mixes. Signing up for free gives you access to a good timer, text editor and sharing feature. A good alternative to A Soft Murmur depending on your preference for sounds.

There are plenty of other options floating around the internet, but these are the ones I’ve found most useful and unique. Give them a try, and add some ambience to your work and head space.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this and want to read more, please subscribe to my newsletter for new articles every Monday. I'd love to hear your thoughts on Twitter.

How to lay the Foundations of Productivity

Adam El-Naggar — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000

The web is saturated with articles with titles like 'Revolutionize your Life with these Simple Steps'. They promise that with these basic steps that you've never before heard of you can change the way you work and immediately make massive improvements to your productivity. But the old adage, 'if it's too good to be true, it probably is', definitely applies. Whilst we may find the occasional gem hidden away in a list in one of the ten self-improvement articles we see that day, that might spark a new idea and mode of thinking that paves the way for a habit change, most of the time it's the same recycled advice presented in a new way. It doesn't have the intended impact because it being read from the wrong perspective.

I believe that before you can learn and create new habits to improve your productivity in whatever role you have, you have to have the foundation. It's crucial. We wouldn't build on slanted ground, we need a level base. If I'm distracted because of a conversation I've had with my family, or irritable because I'm tired or hungry, it's obviously much harder to be present in the task at hand, to give 100% of my ability.

I don't want to mislead you, I am not some kind of productivity guru. I don't function on two hours sleep a day due to a cutting edge polyphasic sleep schedule. I don't always get everything done that I intend to. But I think that's ok. The important thing is that I'm always working on my foundation and this uncomplicates my life, so I can be present in a clear environment that encourages productivity.

Once that environment is there, all I have to do is show up.

Building a Foundation

A foundation is the basic structure on which you build. The basics. The goal is to have a clean slate on which to create and to do that you need to get rid of worry and other negative influence (easier said than done I know, but we'll try.)

Health

Some things are out of our control, and unfortunately despite amazing medical advances we cannot guarantee health. But we can do some basic things to make sure we feel as good as we can. I won't try to tell you how to eat well or get enough sleep, but will say that I can't concentrate when I'm hungry and become irritable, and being overtired is a massive drain on my productivity. I work shifts and I often have to make a specific effort to get enough sleep as I have no regular pattern. I've found a quick nap can do wonders for my productivity and concentration level. It's easy to become engrossed in a project and neglect these fundamentals but losing sleep or not eating properly can have knock-on effects on your energy level for days. Staying on top of our health is the best we can do, all we can do then is rely on staying healthy.

We can't waste time worrying over unpredictable future events.

We can deal with what's in our own control but there is no point in feeling negative about things we have no say in. Take care of yourself and listen to your body. Every little thing, is going to be alright.
Relationships

We all make various connections with other people throughout our lives, some of these stem from being family, some connections turn into friendships, and they can be a source of joy in lives. It's easy to take these relationships for granted when we are focused on our own goals and desires, but the connections we make with other people are how we'll be remembered. From a semi-selfish perspective, being a good person makes us feel good and if we neglect our relationships it can be a cause for unnecessary stress and worry, and make us feel bad about ourselves.

Relationships need our attention.

Even when we are busy, make time to speak to and see the people in your life. Tell them about what you're busy with, they might have a great idea or insight you've overlooked. Share the burden of your work with others, and listen to what they have to say. Don't just wait for your turn to speak! Not only will you feel good having engaged and reinforced a human connection in your life, the other person will feel good and your relationship will be better. Connections make life meaningful.
Money

Money, money, money. It makes the world go round and can be a huge instigator of stress and anxiety if you don't actively take part in your personal finance. We live in a world where we must have the thing that we want right now. I remember saving £12 a week from my paper round so I could buy a Playstation game, or whatever was the latest craze to hit the rural town I grew up in, and the satisfaction when I'd saved enough is something that is a lot harder to come by nowadays. Of course, I grew up and discovered people would give me money for free! I just had to pay it back later. How great is that? I could have all the things that I wanted that very moment, or however long they took to arrive in the post. I bought a car on finance, I bought my computer on finance, I bought another (totally unnecessary) surfboard on finance. I bought the things I wanted immediately. This must be what being an adult is like, I thought.

A culture of buy now pay later encourages uncontrollable debt.

Eventually though, when a pretty large portion of my take home pay was gone on repayments before I even got to see it, and I didn't really know what happened to the rest of it, I realised I needed to get on top of my finances. Having never been particularly financially minded, it took a great deal of effort (and many perusals of Reddit) for me to be encouraged and feel I knew enough to be in control.

Now I have a budget every month which I input my transactions into, budgeting for all the necessities as well as specifically for purchases for myself, nights out, and other personal treats. I still get things that I want (although I try to make sure I need them), but I know where my money is going. I'm in control. I'm saving for the first time in my life, I've cleared my debts, and it feels good.

I know there some people have it worse. People make mistakes and can end up with large amounts of debt, and it can seem impossible to come back to level. But it can't be ignored. It needs to be fully acknowledged, attended to, and understood, so you can get control of your money back. Once you have control and understanding, the levels of stress and worry generated are vastly reduced.

These are the most common sources of worry in people's lives, and alleviating any anxieties we might have allows us to move forward without distraction.

Maintaining your Foundation

I use my car every day. It's a necessity in my life. It gets me where I need to be so that the awesome stuff can happen afterwards. I've had my current car for four years, it's still going. My first car was a fifteen-year-old Peugeot 206 which my brother now owns. It's still going (a Peugeot!). You know where I'm going with this. Imagine if I never serviced my car - it would probably keep on going for a couple of years before any problems started, but the longer I left it without the basic care it needed, the higher the chance of an unexpected breakdown or expense. Imagine still, that the car started to show signs of problems - the steering gets clunky, the engine feels harsh. And I still don't do anything to maintain the car. I'd be foolish to not be worried about a breakdown at any moment.

That's fine though because this is all just a metaphor, you do service your car. Well, I certainly hope you do but I'm more worried out you. We do this to ourselves all the time, working non-stop on a project because of pressure from bosses or ourselves, the desire to excel driving us to spend more time toiling away, because the more time you put in the better the result, right? All the while, never carrying out basic maintenance on ourselves so that we can operate at our best and not breakdown.

It doesn't matter how great your foundation is initially if you let the stress and pressures of life erode it without ever paying it any attention.

Here are four things I've found help me maintain my foundation and stay in a encouraging, clear, environment.

Meditation

Sometimes, I sit very still, close my eyes, and listen to my breathing for some minutes. I take account of the way I'm feeling when I sit down, and I accept it as okay. I observe my thoughts as they pass by, I try not to engage with them. I just focus on breathing, in and out, feeling the air from my nose to my lungs and back. I do this for a few minutes, and then I reflect on the things that have happened since I last cleared my mind. I think about the things I've done and said, and the things other people have done or said, and the way I felt in those moments. I try to understand why, and I try to, for a moment, view the world from other's perspectives. I think about the things that were within and without my control.

When I open my eyes, I feel refreshed. I feel as if the world has quietened down a little.

I am a total amateur. I've read very little on meditation and have no idea about different schools of thought and practices. I just do what feels good and I firmly believe it makes me a better person.

There's no reason you can't do this too. Just try. You will feel more relaxed, more comfortable with yourself, you'll have better relationships. I'd suggest you commit to doing it for one week, for two minutes a day, just listening to breathing. See how you feel, and then slowly add time as you are comfortable. This is the essence of personal maintenance, it keeps the engine running smoothly.
Surf

Surfing is pretty cool. For an hour or two (depending on the temperature), you have a total, singular focus, and your entire attention is directed towards the sea. I feel mentally energised after a surf even if I'm physically exhausted. You should have a go.

Of course, I know it's not for everyone, but this effect is not solely a result of surfing. Most sports and forms of exercise involve a singular focus, and your mind's eye is taken away from the other aspects of your life as you are totally concentrated on the next wave, or next serve, or next pass. It's almost like you are picked up, removed from your life, and placed in an empty world where all there is your sport. Nothing else matters for a while. When you come back to your world you have a fresh perspective.

You can't always operate at full speed, a total break from your thoughts is a refreshing catalyst for new ideas.

I haven't even mentioned the health benefits of exercise. To plagiarize Shia LaBeouf, 'JUST DO IT'.
Writing

You probably like to think about things. You have thoughts swirling around your head in a perpetual tempest of insights and emotions. I do too. Meditation can go some way to calming the storm, but I find writing down my ideas is the best way to organise and direct them. When you put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, you have to actively think about your ideas, flesh them out, and verbalise them. Weary of what you might find, and loaded with equipment for the journey, you venture into your mind, confronted by contrasting thoughts from every direction set on distracting you from your prize. But a little determination will have you returning triumphantly with a matured idea written down to be read, as clear as clean water.

A few words a day keep self-doubt away.

Get into the habit of writing a little everyday, on an idea or on whatever has bothered you and what you think about it. You can explore it fully and be stronger in your position, and have a fuller understanding of yourself.
Me Time

Sometimes I just want to watch YouTube videos with titles like 'FUNNY HORSE FALLS OFF TRAMPOLINE'. Sometimes I want to listen to music and not much else. There's nothing wrong with indulging our result-less guilty pleasures now and again, having a break from the goal orientated tasks that drive our lives forward.

Cat videos are good for the soul.

Give yourself a break, do for the sake of doing. The world will still be there when you come back.

Some the advice here won't apply to everyone, we're all unique in our needs and abilities. However, I believe that in one form or another - the essentials have been covered in this article. Once you have a strong foundation from which you can begin to produce with a clear, focused mind, productivity will grow and flourish.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this and want to read more, please subscribe to my newsletter for new articles every Monday. I'd love to hear your thoughts on Twitter.

On Technology

Adam El-Naggar — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I'm sure you've seen someone walking down a busy pavement with their head looking straight down at a mobile phone, their fingers furiously typing out an obviously important text, while other pedestrians take a wide berth to avoid the effectively blind person blundering towards them. I'm sure you've been that person, I have too. We just don't have the time to stop walking to send that text, it's a fast paced world y'know!

Technology is meant to enhance our lives, automating tasks that we might have previously spent a lot of time on, or making tasks that require our attention easier and more efficient, so that we might have more time available to us. After all, time is our most precious resource. We are able to accomplish so much because our time is not always allocated to menial tasks, as more of it would be without the assistance of computers, and that is what allows us to advance as a society, discovering and inventing new things and making bold strides into the future.

The landscape is ever changing though, and in the present day where almost everyone carries a high performance computer in their pocket, a labyrinth of information a push notification away, is technology becoming a hindrance? Instead of carrying out tasks, technology commonly bombards us with information from all angles. With this constant connection comes the perceived responsibility to keep up with every detail of other people's lives and we lose sight of the details in our own. Just like that blundering texter on the busy pavement, or a couple sitting in a restaurant both checking their feeds and emails, we can be too virtually connected to make real life connections to other people or to the moments in our own lives. There is so much information available that nothing gets our full attention.

Everything in moderation.

I don't want you to throw away your phone and laptop and live as a hermit. I want technology to enhance my life, but I don't want to be distracted from the moments which I'll never have again. This has everything to do with human nature, phones don't care if we check them or not. I've found it helpful to try to disconnect every now and then, sitting in silence for a moment or two, and just being, in that moment. The world can wait.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this and would like to read more, please subscribe to my newsletter or RSS feed. If you've any thoughts I'd love to hear them by email or on Twitter - just not while you're walking on a busy pavement! Until next time :)

automate,cutback

Three Ambient Sound Generators to improve Concentration

A Soft Murmur

Hipster Sound

Noisli

How to lay the Foundations of Productivity

Building a Foundation

Health

Relationships

Money

Maintaining your Foundation

Meditation

Surf

Writing

Me Time

On Technology