52. |
Listen to Music |
In his megahit song “Sir Duke” from the Songs in the Key of Life album, music legend Stevie Wonder wrote about how music is a world within itself and how it celebrates life.
Yes, music is a world within itself. And as a memory trigger, music is second only to our sense of smell. Listening to a piece of music can have an immediate effect on how you feel in the moment, particularly if the song brings back happy memories.
You’ll be driving along in your car, listening to the radio, and you hear a song that immediately transports you to a past event. It may be the song that you and your special someone were listening to when you met. You can see the entire scene vividly, even though the event took place years or even decades ago. This happens because the brain has linked these two events, the song and the occasion. This is known as the Hebbian learning rule, which states, “Neurons that fire together, wire together.”
Aside from helping you to retrieve pleasant memories from the past, music can also improve how you feel at work or in any other situation. Suppose you have been asked to give a presentation in front of your company’s top management. While this presents an opportunity for you to shine, it is also more than a little intimidating. Perhaps, like many people, you’re uncomfortable speaking in front of large groups.
Of course, you’ll be well prepared. You may even have joined Toastmasters, a global organization that helps people overcome their fear of public speaking and learn to be more comfortable in front of an audience. (If you do wish to become a better public speaker or simply become more at ease speaking before an audience, I highly recommend attending Toastmasters. It’s one of the best things you can do for your professional development.)
On top of becoming as well prepared as possible and devoting time to rehearsing your presentation, you can use music to give you a boost of energy and enthusiasm before your speech. Put together a playlist of some of the songs that trigger good feelings and that make you feel strong and powerful.
On my own feel-good playlist I have the theme from the movie Rocky, James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good),” and Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” because that was the song that was playing when I did the firewalk with Tony Robbins years ago. That song is anchored in my mind to feelings of absolute power and peak energy. Listening to it and the other songs on my playlist immediately raises my energy and puts me in a powerful state of mind.
You may remember watching the Olympics when swimmer Michael Phelps was about to break the record for winning the most medals. Just before his events he could be seen plugging in his iPod. Listening to his personal playlist was part of his ritual for getting ready for the biggest event of his life.
You can use this same strategy in any area of your life. In addition to playing a feel-good song list before making a presentation, you can use music to invoke a variety of mental states.
If you’re writing an important report or a white paper, you can use music that will calm you and spark your creativity. Or you could choose music that produces specific brainwaves to invoke a desirable mental state. This is accomplished by mixing various frequencies to “trick” your brain into mental states such as meditation, creativity, and even healing. The best known sources for these types of programs are the Monroe Institute (www.monroeinstitute.org) and Sounds True (www.soundstrue.com).
You can use music to improve how you feel and to increase your productivity at any time.