Or so I think.

Working from home has some serious advantages, not least of which being that you can listen to any music you want, without headphones. But I dunno about you, but I find music with lyrics really distracting when I’m trying to read or write…the lyrics sort of get priority in my head and I lose the thread of whatever sentence I was trying to compose.

So if you can stand lyrics, then by all means put on whatever you like best! If not, here are a couple ideas that I really like:

• Rainymood.com – this isn’t so much music as a set of relaxing background sounds. Load Rainymood and you have a mini thunderstorm in your home office. I also like to run Rainymood at the same time as Spotify or Pandora. It sounds weird, but thunder can really improve some music.
• Coffitivity.com – again, not so much music as background noise. This site makes your office sound like a busy coffee shop, with other people getting work done next to you. It’s like a real coffee shop except you can mute it for phone calls and the Wifi is way better.
• Sometimes, especially on days like today where it is cold and foggy, all I want is to be somewhere else, so I put on the sounds of the beach. Don’t like beaches? Try searching YouTube for waterfalls, rainforests, or whatever really floats your boat.
• The “Mozart effect” may be overrated, but on the other hand, there may be something to the idea of listening to music with a regular, consistent beat — and one that’s not too fast, not too slow. Spotify, Pandora and Youtube are your friends here (as is the local library), or just livestream a classical radio station.

What do you like to listen to to get things done?