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A scientific look at music and productivity  By Shannon Marshburn I am a busy person with a busy mind. When I am working my train of thought often derails and questions of when I need to do laundry and what I should make for dinner float by as I pick the font for promotional posters. This is not too much of a hit on my work productivity, but I am not working at my full potential. One thing that helps fill my busy mind is playing music while I work. This is effective for me, but is it effective for you? I set out to find some scientific back up and here’s what I found.
In a study by Teresa Leesuik of the University of Windsor, Canada, she examined a software company of 56 developers on music and productivity. She found that when music wasn't present in the work environment tasks took longer and quality of work was at the lowest. When music was present, that’s when moods and productivity increased.
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 Interviewed by Faye Nicholson
Tell me about yourself. Barry: I graduated from Northwestern University with a Ph.D. in chemical engineering. I went to work for Exxon Chemical and spent my entire career for Exxon in the elastomers business including technology, manufacturing, and business management. I lived in Europe for six years. My final assignment with Exxon was bringing Advanced Elastomer Systems to Akron. One of the proud moments of that assignment was to rehab the BFGoodrich rubber plant. We helped to revitalize downtown Akron on South Main Street. I retired from Exxon Chemical and went to work for OMNOVA Solutions. I was the director of corporate technology and, the technology vice president for OMNOVA Solutions for about seven or eight years. How did you get involved with UARF? By Shannon Marshburn As a busy designer filling many roles and many design jobs, I often start my mornings with some tools and resources to get up to speed for the day. Whether it is for design inspiration, to spell check an event description I wrote the night before, or to learn something new, I use these tools everyday. So work smarter not harder and check out and add these websites and resources to your bookmarks:  By Shannon Marshburn  Which one have you heard? There is the 5 a.m. warrior. - Rise and Grind. - The early bird gets the worm, or better yet, the even earlier bird gets the gummy worm.During the first three years of my time at college, my art studio was open 24/7. Pulling all-nighters were encouraged and even expected by faculty. It was even written in our syllabi. When a new president took over the arts college in my senior year and changed the studio hours to close at midnight during the week, and even earlier on the weekends, you would have thought we were going to start a riot. The battle scars of shaky, caffeinated hands and sleep deprived twitchy eyes were a right of passage in our minds. If we slept then did we really work that hard or could we have gotten a 2 a.mm-coffee and plowed through the night and morning?
Lack of sleep is such a societal norm, but lack of sleep is really a flirt with death. It’s not new to hear that sleep is important, but really just how important is sleep? By Anna Radachy  What can you do in 27 seconds? Tie your shoes, sneeze a couple of times, maybe write a text? How about making a good impression? According to new research, it takes an average of 27 seconds for someone to form an opinion about you, and 69% of Americans report that they form their opinion before the person even speaks. It is incredible to think that such a small amount of time can make or break how someone thinks of you, and these opinions can potentially affect your business. So how can you make sure that those 27 seconds work for you?
By Nick Glavan  For me, rewards aren’t always a consciously labeled treat. In times past, I would reward myself for a week’s job well done by setting up a social gathering with friends or planning to attend a musical over the weekend. Sometimes it was something small like watching a YouTube video or snagging a Reese’s peanut butter cup from the freezer (a life-changing hack). However, amidst the hustle to assimilate to pandemic work and life procedures, I recently realized I had put on hold this vital reward-granting process. I know myself to be susceptible to the psychological principles of reinforcement. Most of us can recall the famous experiment of Pavlov’s dog. In the experiment, Pavlov uses classical conditioning to make the dog automatically salivate at the sound of bell. To train the dog to do this, Pavlov would ring the bell anytime the dog was fed. After enough conditioning, the dog no longer needed to be fed to salivate, and would salivate just by hearing the bell. Possibly inspired by the prank Jim Halpert pulls on Dwight in the classic The Office scene, I figured I could trick myself into more useful behaviors beyond salivation. In reality, what I ended up doing was closer to operant conditioning. The main difference was that I wanted to train myself by linking special treats with voluntary behavior, rather than instinctual ones like salivating. It’s the same principle that my parents used in potty training and my teachers used reinforcing classroom rules. Just now, I am applying it to adult life.
Here are a few things I learned about reinforcing my own productivity: It’s getting close to the end of the semester!
It’s exciting that’s it’s almost over right? But frustrating because you’ve got so much going on… All the projects, exams, and homework you have to do… It all seems to pile up. Stressing you out and making it harder to focus on your ideas. It’s a problem lots of student entrepreneurs suffer from. So what do you do? How do you get your school work done… and make progress as a student entrepreneur? A common problem I hear from ambitious students and entrepreneurs is they’re feeling overwhelmed every day. Too many meetings, too many tasks, and too many things to accomplish. Especially if you’ve got huge goals as many of you do… it sucks feeling like you’re not making enough progress.  So ask yourself...
Even though I'm busy, am I being productive? In this post, I’ll share with you a sweet tip on how you can make more progress without feeling overwhelmed… Let's get to it! “I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little bit wiser than they were when they got up, and boy does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.” – Charlie Munger
Want to know the “secret weapon” billionaires like Warren Buffet use to fuel their success? Their biggest piece of advice… Adopt A “Growth Mindset.” What’s a growth mindset? You’ve seen people who are stuck in the same place for years… doing the same tasks each day. People like this seem to be like robots running on autopilot…  Courtesy of UA Email Digest
Imagine that you would like to start a business. You have high hopes for your product and the positive impact you know it can make on Northeast Ohio. You need startup funds, so you approach … students? On Wednesday, Feb. 14, several UA students will hear pitches from hopeful entrepreneurs for funding through the Northeast Ohio Student Venture Fund (NEOSVF) Deal Flow Event at Quaker Station, on campus. |
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