Focus & Creativity using 8-Bit Music

What’s your flavor?

So, you want to focus and be creative? What is it that you are trying to do? Studying? Programming? Designing? Problem Solving? Innovation? Repetitive Donkey Work? (like most jobs?)

Look no further, for we may have found the right booster for you.

* Drum roll *

It’s 8-Bit Chip-Tune Music

Why? How? Let’s get right into the details.

Focus

So, how can 8-Bit chip-tune music actually help in focus?

Specifically Designed

If you think the old days game music was some form of random generated, not well-thought-out creation.. please try again.

In fact, game music is designed in such a way so that it can be enjoyed in both foreground and background contexts. It can be enjoyed as a solo masterpiece but also as a background theme having audible room for simultaneous game world sounds occurring.

Even further, the music itself tries to keep the player alert and to the point on what he or she is actually trying to accomplish without distracting from the cause but assisting due to its repetitive pattern which slowly grows on and embeds to your brain.

Repetitive patterns

Chip-tunes at their core have repetitive note patterns which are pretty catchy. Music and generally sound on its own can mask undesirable distractions; a good thing. However, up-beat non-distracting mainstream music is hard to find since its purpose is not to focus on doing something else but to pay attention to itself.

The repetition of 8-bit-like game music assists in becoming second nature. Its tempo can keep you in a loop of feeling alert, motivated and on the path of achievement while not necessarily telling you anything specifically you are supposed to do or feel.

Catchy Tunes | Recognizable Patterns

If there’s one thing missing from modern game music is the emphasis on an epic, emotional and catchy theme to seal the deal of a polished production. Unmemorable themes, which probably even cost more to produce, but no distinctive character.

No Lyrics

Lyrics usually shout: “Pay attention to what I am saying”. This can be is distracting.

In chip-tune music, there are no such obstacles. Maybe some modern vocalizations but still they participate as instruments rather than as lyrics.

Creativity

So, how can 8-Bit chip-tune music actually help in creativity?

Nostalgia | Emotion

In case you don’t know by now, no matter what they tell you or you tell me, emotion is a very powerful force – in every single context. Just because we are conditioned to transform it, mute it or even kill it to get things done as we are expected to does not mean the underlying force is there..

Why do I suddenly sound so Darth Vader-ish? Totally unintentional.

Nostalgia is another driving force of emotion. It can be an uplifting force and in fact motivating to recover that childhood and carefree energy lost through the years or worldly trouble and disappointment..s.

8-Bit chip-tune means nostalgia. You do the math. Period.

Exit the Low | Enter the Higher

Has anyone been listening to the borderline constant garbage being shoved down our.. ears on the media with polished mainstream music glorifying selfishness, sex and money? Oh, are you offended? Good, cause all that is conditioning and numbing our creative spirit along with our endless possibilities; we should all take heed.

8-Bit chip-tune music is further from this reality and closer to fantasy and generally thinking outside the box. That can assist in escaping the density of daily life, connect you with other creators, the composers, and in turn help you tune in to a higher, ethereal thought realm.

Scared of going “crazy”; How about “socially unfit”?

It’s OK; one thought at a time..

Hungry for More?

Eat it * wink *

11 Best Video Game Soundtracks For Studying

How to be more productive when you study: the 8-bit secret

Weakness: the opportunity for EXCELLENCE

“Do you feel lost?”

Nobody can argue that everyone is born naked.

We find ourselves in a world in which we are called not only to exist but struggle for survival, discover and develop our identity and choose or even fulfill our destiny. Certain people are handed down all these with little effort while others are called to fight for them.

It is only those who fight that truly find themselves.

“I am weak”

Accepting our weaknesses is the first step to our empowerment.

As I said, everyone is born naked. So practically everyone begins his or her journey more or less weak.. and then life happens.

At some point we stop having our clothes handed down to us or dictated by our surroundings and we can start to choose them, either via browsing and shopping or even sewing them ourselves.

So many styles..

Flamboyant, Dull, Bright, Dark, Loud, Unnoticeable, Funny, Serious, Formal, Informal, Mainstream, Alternative, Masculine, Feminine, Sexy, Unisex, Provocative, Puritan, Uptight, Laid Back, Disciplined, Anarchic, Religious, Agnostic, Spiritual, Pagan, Ordered, Chaotic.

Did bio-mechanical armor cross your mind?

Exactly.

“I can’t do it.. like that”

Here’s the thing; a weakness, especially a permanent or long term one, may not allow you to do things like your average Joe can. It’s true and it plainly.. sucks. Period.

This gap between us and the flow can in fact lead us to a feeling of non-belonging; a minority; an inferiority; an outcast; a reject.

That can be a curse.. but not if we can turn it into a blessing.

Yes you can.. differently..

And now for the core message of this article.

Your weakness will force you to question the, dare I say unfair, establishment, and search alternative paths and methods of overcoming your weakness which may in fact eventually lead to a journey of self discovery, self evolution, self-growth, self-achievement and ultimately excellence.

Excellence

It doesn’t end there though.

Then like a river, all that experience, knowledge and wisdom that have been accumulated shall be poured onto those who are going through similar weaknesses and situations, even benefit those who don’t in the process, and in turn help all excel in their own way as you did.

That will be the pinnacle of your excellence.

Meet your New Family

Let’s face it; we can’t truly know another person’s situation unless we’ve experienced it ourselves somehow. People going through similar situations instantly have common ground to understand each other.

If our weaknesses are treated in a beneficial way towards our excellence and the help of others we are in fact investing in a foundation of mutual and boundless understanding, betterment, growth and ultimately universal love – a new, bigger, truer and stronger family.

Hungry for more?

More @

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130325120757-15077789-how-to-turn-your-weaknesses-into-strengths

 

Less is MORE

First of all, don’t get me wrong – if I could work 24/7.. I would. There’s just physical limitations.. such as death.

Today I’ll be simply throwing out the main idea of why what I am about to say actually works and then let an interesting article I’ve found do the talking.

“If only I had more time”

In a world where Time seems to be the most valuable.. “asset”, nobody can argue that “if we only had more time” has been said.. and is still being said.. one to many.. times. (See what I did just there? Times.. Oh well..)

I’ll just cut to the chase.

“It’s not Time.. It’s you.”

No, I kid.. sort of. That sounded like a breakup’s last words. Let’s have another take:

“It’s not time, it’s how we use that time.”

You are probably thinking that right now I’m about to go under a meticulous and sophisticated explanation on how you can use your time to get things done. Well, I kind of will, but not as you imagine..

“I have X time and I need to do Y things”

If you are still thinking, “I have X time and I need to do Y things” you are still inside the box. No, really. The box is everything how your life is setup and you are just trying to do as much of “Y” in “X”. Where is the improvement? The box will keep you inside itself. It won’t let you question the box. That’s how things are setup.

“Thinking outside the box”

Review what “X time” is and what “Y things” are. And when I say review, I really mean go by the rule “Less is MORE”.

“Pushing the Limits”

Imagine if you should do all those “Y things” in LESS time. Is it possible? “Impossible, I say. This man is mad.. mad I tell you!”. Goodbye.. and good kittens.

So, this is the key philosophy:

If you force yourself in a tighter frame of RESOURCES to achieve the same thing it will force you to view things differently and explore new ways of doing something faster and even better because usually it will be SIMPLER. Yes, it will take sacrifices, even changing contexts (such as a non-progressive or unsupportive workplace or community) and of-course some more.. time.. but that is your LEGACY. This is what I loved in the good old development days when RAM size and CPU power was limited; it really pushed us developers to utilize what we had in awesome ways. Sorry, I’m drifting.. Maybe I should.. Bye..

“Invest your time Wisely”

After talking about all the above, I really need not explain why it matters how you invest your time; and by how I mean WISELY. Invest time to make more time.

Isn’t after all, even afterlife.. thinking outside this box and an investment?

That article you mentioned at the beginning..

Not convinced? Others are on to this path.

Quoting last paragraph:

Someday, when we’re a bigger company, we’ll be able to start people at $80,000 to $100,000–and still let them walk out the door at 1 p.m. When that day comes, we’ll be snatching all the best talent from every company in town. That’s what I’m betting, anyway–after all, this experiment is only a year old, and it doesn’t stop here.

Enjoy!

https://www.fastcompany.com/3063262/what-happened-when-i-moved-my-company-to-a-5-hour-workday