Do you want to be more productive at work? Of course not, so let me rephrase – do you want to at least enjoy your time while you’re doing the crap you have to do at the office?
I’m going to show you how listening to metal at work can make you more productive!
The way I see it is you have 2 options:
- You can sit at work all day looking at screens and spreadsheets while spacing out every 5 minutes.
- Or you can conquer the day by listening to metal while doing those mundane (and most of the time meaningless) tasks.
Oh, and a few of these tips I’m giving you are actually intended to help you escape your soul crushing office job! So pay attention!
1 – Metal Helps Motivate You at Work
When you’re sitting there staring at your inbox with 61 unread emails, you become extremely unmotivated.
In fact, that alone along with the meeting you have in 2 minutes and coffee you haven’t had, you’re on the edge of just walking out. Yeah, screw this place!
But if you’re blasting ‘Master of Puppets’ while pulling up your inbox, those messages don’t seem to have the same effect. Yeah, you still hate it, you’re also on this energetic kick because listening to metal motivates you.
And that motivation doesn’t have to be geared towards any one particular thing. In other words, I get it, you’re at work. The crap you’re doing probably isn’t that motivating.
If anything, it’s de-motivating, especially those meetings that go on for 20 minutes longer because someone wants to be heard and shine or whatever.
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Motivational Tip
DO NOT look at getting this motivation from listening to metal as motivation towards ‘the company.’ Take a step back and look at it as motivation for YOU!
Now you have the motivation to act and do what needs to be done for you (so the boss will stay off YOUR back, or you can get that promotion, or whatever the reason is…but it’s for you!).
Don’t see it as giving that energy to something you don’t really care about, like your job. Having this mentality will actually help you get that task done, and you won’t even feel it! So it won’t suck as much, and that’s good for both you and the company.
2 – Use Metal Aggression to Get Sh!t Done
Do you need to land that one major sale to that one major jerk…oops, I meant client that keeps blowing you off ?
Do you need to convince a room full of morons that the new project your team is assigned to needs more funding? By the way, they’ll still say no.
Then give yourself a good dose of metal music to build up your aggression prior to that!
Sometimes when you want something so bad but the results just aren’t happening, you have to get aggressive. You have to get a little pissed off. And there’s nothing better throwing in some ‘anger management metal ‘ like Pantera or Hatebreed to get those emotions flowing.
Once you have that aggressive mindset, harness it and let that fuel your confidence. You’ll make be sure to land that deal or sweep those overpaid executives off their feet with your new initiatives.
Harness the Aggression
Don’t juts harness the aggression from metal music for your boss. Use it for yourself when you need to kick it into high gear to get something done.
This could be a home project you’ve been dealing with, a business idea you’ve been dabbling in, or book that you’ve been putting off (that you know you should’ve started writing 2 years ago!).
Get a little bent out of shape. Get aggressive. And go after it!
3 – Listening to Metal Reduces Work Stress
Now this won’t make sense to people that don’t listen to metal (which people that don’t listen to metal don’t make sense to us!).
Sure, metal in it’s true nature is aggressive. You just learned that you can use metal to harness that emotion when it’s needed. It’s like having a secret weapon or ace up our sleeve that we can just whip out at any time.
However, listening to metal does something else for us Metalheads. It also soothes us, calms us, and puts us in an awesome mood.
Want proof? Turn on some Amon Amarth, Iced Earth, or Death Angel. Now, how do you feel? I bet you feel revived! And guess what you don’t feel? Stress.
Yes, listening to metal music reduces stress. This is largely due to it being our preferred genre of music. It’s what makes us tick. It’s in our blood, and it’s our lifeforce.
How does reducing stress impact you being productive?
When you’re stressed you tend to make decision based on or because of that stress. And stressed decision-making doesn’t always produce the best outcome, as I’m sure you’ve experienced (just like I have). So why have it?
By eliminating stress with metal music you’re going to think clearer and make better decisions. And this will help you be more productive, even in your tiny little cubicle that continue to suck the life out of you.
The Power of Metal
There’s an article ‘The Power of Music to Reduce Stress’ by Jane Collingwood that talks more about how listening to music in general reduces our stress levels in the below ways (this article can be found on psychcentral.com):
- Reduces anxiety
- Can relieve depression
- Can increase self-esteem
- Can reduce burnout
- Improves overall mood
All of these benefits are related to stress! So yeah, listen to metal!
4 – Metal Music Improves Efficiency in the Office
When you hear that song you love come on, like Helloween’s ‘I Want Out’ those wheels in your head start turning. Of course, you also probably really do ‘want out.’
Metal music has a way of making us think differently. If you take a problem you’ve been trying to solve and turn on some metal, you’re more apt to find a solution, quicker. Listening to metal can improve our efficiency.
Or if there’s a way your organization is doing things that’s completely inefficient due to one of senior management’s pets having a ‘bright idea’ (that ended up causing everyone more work), listening to metal can help you find an even better method that trumps theirs.
*By the way, the above scenario may not work out so well for you. Especially if you work for a larger corporation. In those places, if you do something that makes sense, you will be sought out and fired.
Aside from that, it’s still good to be more efficient. And of course it’s good to always listen to metal!
Productivity Proven
Melissa Chu talks about research done at the University of Miami that has shown that people who listened to music during work completed their tasks faster, and come up with more ideas on how to do it more efficiently.
This can be found in her article ‘Research Shows Listening to Music Increases Productivity’ on Inc.com.
But you and I don’t need someone else’s research to back this up. We know that we’re far more efficient when listening to some Obituary and Morbid Angel!
5 – Listening to Metal Relieves You From Boredom from Your Job
Alright, I’m just going to say it – your job is freaking boring as hell!
Although I’m sure you do a little more than just pressing one button like Homer Simpson, I’m sure your day in the office is still filled with mundane tasks and quite lifeless.
There’s a few ways you can break up the monotony in the office so you don’t die of boredom overdose:
- Pretend to take a smoke break every hour
- Go to the coffee machine every 30 minutes even if you don’t need a refill
- Tell your coworkers you have the runs and hide out in the bathroom for an hour (make sure you scroll through Instagram and FB, because that’s what people do on the toilet)
- Just remain seated and space out every 10 minutes
All of those things sound kind of cool, and we’ve all done them. But there’s some potential repercussions that could creep up on you.
So why not just listen to metal instead?
The beauty of metal music is it takes you to another place, that realm where everything is ok in the world. And most metal songs tell a story you can get lost in. Albums like Operation Mindcrime from Queensryche, or Seventh Son of a Seventh Son from Iron Maiden or Endless Forms Most Beautiful from Nightwish – those are albums you can really escape with.
Metal can absolutely help you escape boredom at at the office. So don’t work without!
6 – Metalize Your Brain in the Office
How does listening to metal music impact ability to think at work? You’ve probably performed this experiment on yourself without realizing it.
See if this scenario sounds familiar…
- You have to update some information for a presentation that your boss has to present up the chain.
- It’s due by 3PM today.
- It’s now 2PM but you’re crashing from lunch and the last thing you want to do is work this report (by the way, your boss tasked you with this like a week ago!).
WTF do you do??
Try this…
- Plug your earphones into your phone
- Open whatever music platform you prefer (Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, etc)
- Find the latest album from Cannibal Corpse, Arch Enemy, or Kreator
- Feel the power of your brain kicking
- Get it done!
Seriously, you will magically pull a rabbit out of your rear and your boss will be happy. Well, he/she probably won’t be happy because they hate their job just as much as you. But it’s more bearable for them because they’re getting paid a little more.
The point is, metal will literally trigger your brain so that you can produce results.
Neuromusicology
What? Is ‘neuromusicology’ a real word? Yes, it is!
Neuromusicology is the study of how our central nervous systems reacts to music, according to Chad Grills’ article ‘The Science Backed Ways Music Affects Your Brain and Productivity’ on mission.org.
Chad further explains how music enters several parts of our brain, which includes cognitive parts. I thought that was pretty cool.
7 – Listening to Metal Gives You New Ideas
Listening to metal at work doesn’t just make the passing of the time more bearable. It takes your head to another place, another realm where ideas are flowing.
So even while you’re creating metrics for your boss so that they can give them to their boss, and they can then give this to their boss only to have their boss barely glance at it because they’re late for their tee time, you can have that creative side of your brain conjuring new ideas.
In fact, while you’ve got some Sabaton, Delain, or Primal Fear playing you may create a better way to produce those useless metrics! Or you may come up with a new process while listening to ‘Reign in Blood’ from Slayer.
Screw Working for ‘The Man’
Now take it to a new level that’s actually beneficial to you long-term. You may conjure up new business ideas for YOURSELF (while listening to Megadeth’s ‘The Conjuring’ of course!).
Take these ideas seriously! Even if it means you stop in mid-stream of writing that email that no one’s going to read, stop what you’re doing and write down your idea!
Or better yet since you’re probably in Outlook already, type it up and email it to your personal address so you can dig in deeper when you get home.
This is one of those moments where you can start to escape the every grind of working for someone else and making their dreams come true instead of your own!
That idea you got while listening to Metallica’s ‘Trapped Under Ice’ (because that’s what work often feels like) could be the very thing that you launch to become self-sufficient!
What Metal Bands Do You Listen to at Work?
Does this post resonate with you?? Lol…well, I hope you got some laughs out of it.
And maybe your office job really isn’t that bad (uh, yeah…it’s that bad!!). On that note, I encourage you to read that last part again, about becoming self sufficient! Why spend your efforts making someone else rich and making their dreams come true?
Not to get too far off topic, but these jobs are quite draining and will suck the life out of you. Of course you need that income to survive. So this means you need to spend every waking moment you can outside of your normal job pursuing and pushing that one thing you really want to do with your life!
Back to the music…
Do you have a list of favorite metal bands you listen to while you’re grinding away at you soul-killing job? Are there certain songs that trigger your brain and motivate you more?
Let me know by leaving a comment below.
And it would be extremely cool if you SHARE this post with your metalhead friends on your social media!
Keep it Metal,
Jason