Back in April, we wrote about one of the primary benefits of working remotely: the autonomy to “Own Your Office Space.” As a pretiree working from home, you can control the entire sensory experience: the sights, smells … and, of course, the sounds.

Some wahves celebrate music as one of the best remote working perks. Judy says, “My favorite part [of working from home] is listening to whatever music I want as loud as I want!” And Melissa notes, “I work best when it’s quiet, [with] no background noise, but on Friday afternoons I generally turn on music!”

That’s right: You,  are free to create the perfect productivity hub, including listening to the tunes that get you fired up to do your very best work.

A recent Medium article explained the need for workplace music in a digital age: “With so much of our work being done at computers, music has become inseparable from our day-to-day tasks …”

If you don’t typically listen to music while you work, start with familiar genres and artists. Research has proven that familiar music is best for sharp focus throughout the workday. That’s because new music requires us to listen closely to learn the patterns and rhythms of the song.

For those who find sing-alongs distracting, lyric-free styles are a popular preference for a productive workday. Classical music and ambient noises are two musts to try:

• For classical music, check out freely licensed files on Wikipedia or Pandora’s popular “Baroque” station. You can even find free, 4-6 hour collections on YouTube.
• Many find that recordings of ambient noise — sounds of environmental “silence,” like a drizzle of rain or birds chirping — strike a chord for perfect concentration. A great example is Coffitivity, which recreates coffee shop chatter.

We’d love to get a WAHVE community album going! Which ambient sounds do you prefer? What’s on your “work-from-home” playlist?