Use Lo-Fi For Instant Access To Bliss And Motivation

A natural dopamine booster. Rated E for everyone.

Photo by Marcela Laskoski on Unsplash

“Music has charms to soothe a savage beast.” - William Congreve’s 1697 play The Mourning Bride

There’s a thin line between multi-tasking and procrastination.

Imagine having a dependable ‘kick starter’ for the tasks that don’t really spark any excitement or motivation for you in the short term. Speaking from personal experience, you might find a cherished favorite in… Lo-Fi. Imagine that the fifth tab open on your monitor is for Stock X, the sixth one is on Discord and the seventh is a toss up between a playlist of Mr. Beast or ‘study with me’ videos. Everything in tabs 1–4 are from yesterday, and you just opened an eighth tab so that you can get going on your paper, which is due tomorrow by 11:59 pm GMT. You live in Central Time Zone. You got this. You’re simply in need of a little something to kick you into gear so that you can get going. Although there are a myriad of ways we try to boost ourselves through a day of stress, low motivation, or lack of interest, you need a personally curated list of ‘emergency’ dopamine boosters. Picture yourself having a short, individualized list of secret weapons for tackling your study sessions.

Lo-fi

Low fidelity (Lo-Fi) music is the epitome of perfectly imperfect. If you haven’t experienced it, there is a wide variety of genres: jazz, hip-hop, indie, pop, afro-beats and more. It is known for the vibey chill flavor it provides, but this stripped-back production of music is giving a 9% boost in dopamine with a side dose of serotonin. Lo-fi is not like binaural beats, it will not change your brainwaves or alertness levels. But, it will help to soft launch you into an activity, help you to focus, and perhaps trigger you to smile while working. For the past 2 years, I have replaced my favorite playlists that feature lyrics, with streaming Lo-Fi. I can actually work now instead of having a mini solo concert.

How it works

Lo-fi is created, intentionally, with imperfections. The music may have some low humming, or misplayed notes or phonographic audio distortions. These qualities are the reasons your brain will prioritize the repetitive sound of the melodies and…