Background Music for Focus

Over the years I’ve traded with various different forms of background music or noise, with the aim of finding that right combination that allows me to work with a positive and confident attitude and laser-like focus.

Not surprisingly, I guess, what works best tends to vary from time to time with my prevailing mood.

I’ve tried everything…

• My favourite sing-along playlist – good when feeling a bit flat and needing some “pick-me-up”; accepting that it can at times distract a bit too much.
• High energy punk and hardcore – sometimes I find that aggression is the only thing that can get me focused.
• Binaural beats and Isochronous Tones – I can’t vouch for the scientific claims, but it certainly relaxes me and I feel that focus improves.
• Guided visualisations – again they’re just brilliant for relaxation and focus.
• Favourite webinar recordings – make sure they’re repeats so you don’t get distracted by any new info.
• Motivational YouTube videos – there are tons of them. Give it a try. The intent is not to actively listen to the speech though – it’s background noise only!
• And of course silence – sometimes there is nothing better!

But more often than not over the last year my default has been ambient music.

You can find some great music via online streaming radio such as provided here: http://www.internet-radio.com/stations/ambient/. My usual preference is for AmbientRadio.org (the first on the list) and Chilltrax (about half way down the list).

But I continue to experiment.

Right now I’m also liking white noise. Try this for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNqERBWaJeM

I’ll update this page if I ever find anything new.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear what you play in the background while trading. Feel free to comment below if you have any favourites that you use to provide a positive and focused mindset.

Cheers,

Lance Beggs

PS. There were of course some failures as well. In particular I find that background news and TV are just too distracting. They will likely never play a part in my trading room again.