One of the most important tools for a freelancer is earphones....the reason I say that is because inevitably at some point you are going to need to work somewhere where it is loud. Now that place may be a coffee shop, at home, or WHEREVER! 

But I think most people I think find it hard to concentrate on their work when there is a lot of noise in the background.

In a coffee shop for instance, it is not just the music that may cause a problem...people who sit near you may have very interesting conversations! Especially if you are tired, you may find it rather difficult not to listen in. 

Actually I’m not even sure if it matters how tired you are. You know how it is, work is hard work! So our natural inclination may be to want to find a distraction to be distracted by. I find that if I don’t really put my mind into my work, unless it is really easy admin type work, I can easily get distracted.

Earphones can help. I have two types of earphones. The ones that you put inside your ears, those small ones, and then I also just got myself some BIG ones, that go over your whole ears... the big ones can double as ear muffs in winter. 

Anyway, there are two ways of using earphones when you are TRYING TO CONCENTRATE! One is to just put them on, without sound, and use them like a kind of muffler, so that you don’t hear the sounds coming from outside as loudly. 

The other ways is to put some music on, I get songs on Youtube sometimes, or a CD. Now both have their advantages and disadvantages. 

The good thing about music is it can be soothing and relaxing, and it helps to drown out the ambient noise in the place where you are.....on the other hand, it can just add ANOTHER layer of sound to the existing noises of people talking and the music in the place.!

So it could be distracting if your brain is now trying to make sense of three types of noises.  

When it comes to the muffler move, I like that because it just turns down the volume of whatever sounds there are. 

This works WELL in a coffee shop, especially when there are lots of people, because you can still hear the music, and it helps you to not listen in on other people’s conversations.  

There are a couple of things I still want to test out. Actually it is one thing, with a few variants. I want to see what happens if I put BOTH pairs of earphones on...at the same time, I have a feeling this may help to drown out some of the residual sounds from when you use just one pair. 

Presumably, the different types of earphones drown out different frequencies or something. The only reason I am saying that is because I play electric bass and the earplugs for protecting your ears have adjustable frequencies. Whatever that means, I will find out soon...

So, obviously the one variant here will be to just put them both on without sound. The second option is to put them BOTH on, with only the in-ear earphones on...

This may help you to hear only the music you are playing on your CD or YOUTUBE. At the same time you drown out the ambient noise of the place where you are.  

The other option is then to put both on and put your own music on the big over-ear earphones, and use the in-ear ones as a muffler. 

But the more I think about it this doesn’t make sense, unless somehow it helps you to hear the music better for some physics law or something....not that I know much about physics....

Anyway, I hope you liked this little article about earphones and freelancing.... Let me know what you think and what your experiences with earphones have been.  AND FOLLOW ME PLEASE? HEHE I SHALL FOLLOW YOU BACK!!!