I forgot my iPod today which meant that I spent several hours gritting my teeth and trying not to shout at people to shut up or turn their music down, and quite a lot of the remaining time having to stop myself automatically reaching to my bag so that I could plug myself in. Music sure does make the working day go faster – and if there’s one major positive to my office it’s that they don’t mind you listening to your own choice.

It totally works for me too, even when I’ve got lots of writing to be done – basically because it allows me to tune out for the most part and treat it as white noise on one hand but equally helps by giving me something stimulating to listen too as soon as my attention does wander.

Quite a few of my writing friends disagree entirely however and say that music distracts them entirely, making it difficult for them to get their own words out. Hmm, I wonder how many of them have experimented with listening to instrumental stuff. There have been loads of studies saying that music is great for aiding concentration and specifically recall.

The only lesson I’ve really learned today though is not to forget the iPod again – not if all of my colleagues are hoping to survive the remainder of the working week unscathed.