Not so long ago I was a major multi-tasker. When I was in school my PC was a treasure trove of a million MP3s and Heavy Metal was the soundtrack to my life. Everything I did, I did to music, but when I got to University I noticed I was finding it harder to write up a decent essay unless I made things a little quieter. Maybe I’d always been that way and I was under performing without noticing, I don’t know, but I did notice my productivity shot up when I shut off the tunes.
Nowadays I have the opposite problem, there’s not much I can do while I’m listening to something in the background. My writing environment needs to be a temple of the gods of silence, or I get all tetchy and I write in dribs and drabs. Maybe I’m just turning into an old fogey, but I’m noticing it creepy into the rest of my life too. I’ve become a person who needs his quiet places to get anything done. At times it can be a real hindrance, so I’ve actually started deliberately writing to music a little every day. I’m hoping I can stop my brain from being so picky and learn to process two things at once.
So, how about you guys? Do you like silence or do you need a good piece of music to set the rhythm?