I used to think a home office needed to be dead quiet to work, but my neighbor's leaf blower proved me wrong.

For years I insisted on total silence, even using noise-canceling headphones with nothing playing. Then last fall, my neighbor spent a whole Tuesday morning with his leaf blower right outside my window, and I had my most productive morning in months. The constant, predictable noise somehow blocked out my own distracting thoughts better than silence ever did. Has anyone else found that a bit of controlled background chaos actually helps them focus?

3 comments

3 Comments

garcia.cameron23d ago

Interesting. Have you tried other steady noises since, like a fan or white noise?

gray_hall423d ago

Fan works pretty well for me actually... same steady hum kinda thing.

dianawilson23d ago

Ugh, I mean it's just noise, right? Not sure it's that deep.