I have been experimenting with sharing the background audio I use during long writing and architecture sessions. No lyrics, no structure — just generative ambient music that keeps the thinking part of my brain occupied while the working part stays focused.
The concept borrows from Cal Newport on deep work and from years inside open-plan offices where the alternative was trying to think over someone else’s phone call. Ambient music creates a consistent acoustic environment and signals — to the people around you and to yourself — that you are in a focused state.
I use it most during the first two hours of the morning, before the day fragments into meetings. Those hours, protected and consistent, are where most of the actual thinking happens. Everything else is coordination and communication — necessary, but a different kind of work entirely.