Music & the working “groove”

More and more lately I’m finding that I work better without distraction.  I know that’s kind of a Doh! idea, but I’ve been working for so many years allowing myself to be distracted and interrupted multiple times hourly (forget daily), to the point where its difficult to get back into the “groove” where your focus and attention is solely on what you are working on.

To combat this, I’ve started to listen to music while working on something at my desk.  I know there are many who do this already for the exact same purpose, and it seems to really help get a person back into their most productive working mode.

This past week, I have noticed how much more actual work I’ve gotten done when adding this to my work practices.  It also has brought home exactly how often I’m interrupted in my tasks.  There is a constant stream of people who are stopping by to ask questions – some that they should already know the answers too, but that’s another post – right?

I’ve found listening to tunes is most effective when working on scripts and documentation.  There is something about it that helps stimulate the brain to stream the ideas in a more logical, orderly sequence.  Strangely, it doesn’t seem to distract me from what I’m doing as I have long believed it would

So I’m really interested, how do you “drown out” the rest of the office to focus on your tasks?  What do you do to help foster creativity?