What I Learned from Listening to the Same Spotify Playlist All Month
On the first day of the month I sat at my dining table at 8:30 a.m., pressed play on a playlist I had made the night before, and promised myself I would not touch the skip button. That was the whole experiment. One playlist, same time, every working day. I wanted to see if fewer choices in the morning could help me start work faster and keep my head clear.
Why I tried this
Most mornings used to begin with small detours that looked harmless and then ate my first hour. I would look for the “right” song, jump between three playlists, check a notification and answer “quickly,” and by the time I began real work my brain was already tired. I was not hunting for a miracle or some fancy productivity hack. I only wanted a small system that did not need willpower every minute, something so simple that I could repeat it even on a dull day.
The simple rules that made it work
- One playlist only.
- Same start window on weekdays.
- No shuffle, no skipping.
- Same volume so the sound felt familiar.
- One “free” evening each week to listen to anything I like, so I did not feel trapped.
This looks too basic on paper, but the point was to remove decisions. When the rule is clear, you stop negotiating with yourself.
The playlist (nothing dramatic)
I built a list of around forty songs. Most were calm or mid-tempo. A few had a gentle lift that helped me settle into a task without pulling my attention. There were old favourites and two or three new tracks, but nothing that made me hum along or look up lyrics. I also stopped judging songs by big public numbers like “monthly listeners.” Those numbers are useful for labels and artists, not for my focus at 9 a.m. If you have ever wondered what that metric actually means, this explainer is straight and helpful: Spotify Monthly Listeners Explained: What the Number Really Means. It helped me separate hype from habit and choose music that served the day.
What I tracked
I kept it very light, otherwise tracking becomes another job. I noted three things: how long it took me to start my first real task after sitting down, how many times I picked up my phone in the first hour, and one word for my mood at 10 a.m. like calm, okay or scattered. That was enough to see a pattern.
Week 1: Simple wins
The first week felt clean because I was not browsing for music. Earlier, settling into work took around twenty to twenty-five minutes on most days. In Week 1 it came down to fourteen to sixteen minutes. Phone picks in the first hour dropped from five or six to three or four. At 10 a.m. the mood word shifted from “scattered” to “okay.” This is not a huge transformation, but it was real and it came from removing one repeated choice.
Week 2: When the sound becomes furniture
By the second week the playlist blended into the room like a ceiling fan on a warm day. I stopped noticing the songs. I noticed the work moving. Midweek boredom did show up, and the urge to change the playlist was strong. I stood up, stretched for a minute, sipped water and came back to the same track. That tiny break was enough. Numbers got tighter too. Time to start dropped to ten to twelve minutes on most days, phone picks fell to one or two, and “calm” started showing up more often than “okay” in my 10 a.m. note.
Week 3: Boredom, properly handled
This was the heavy week. One day I had slept late, the neighbour’s renovation noise started early, and my mood was not great. This is the exact kind of day when I used to hunt for new music to “fix” my head. I did not. I pressed play on the same list and gave myself permission to add exactly one new song on Friday. That small rule did two things. It gave me something to look forward to, and it protected the routine. The work block still began on time, and once I crossed the first ten minutes, the rest of the hour took care of itself.
Week 4: The first song becomes a start signal
By the last week the opening track acted like a start bell. I was not thinking about motivation. I was moving from setup to work with fewer steps in between. Writing sessions began earlier, my call prep felt calmer, and I had longer uninterrupted stretches. The numbers stayed steady: ten to twelve minutes to start and one or two phone picks in the first hour. It was not magic, but the routine kept friction low and that was enough.
What changed for me
- Start time: from ~25 minutes to ~10–12 minutes on most days.
- Phone checks in the first hour: from 5–6 to 1–2.
- Mental noise: fewer small decisions, which left a little more energy for the first task.
- Mood at 10 a.m.: more “calm,” fewer “scattered.”
- Output: on three mornings a week I wrote more words than my average. Not every day, not perfect, but clearly better.
What did not change
I still had messy days. I still got distracted sometimes and had to pull myself back. This is not a controlled study with heart rate graphs and brain scans. It is one person trying a simple routine. The playlist did not make me smarter or more creative. It only helped me begin on time and stay with the work longer than usual, and that was already a big win.
Small fixes that kept it sustainable
- One new song on Fridays: fresh enough to avoid ear fatigue, small enough to keep the shape of the playlist.
- A rescue mini-list: three very calm tracks for rough mornings. I still start with the main playlist, and if the day feels heavy, I move to this for twenty minutes and then come back.
- Change the output, not the input: if the task is intense, I lower the volume instead of hunting for a new sound.
- Phone out of reach: it lives across the room till 10 a.m. If I must check something, I stand up for it. This alone cut random scrolling.
- Speaker days: once a week I use a small speaker instead of earphones so my ears get a break.
If you want to try this for seven days
- Build a simple playlist with 30–40 calm or mid-tempo songs you already like.
- Pick one daily slot and protect it, even if you start ten minutes late.
- No skipping and no shuffle for the week.
- Track only three things: time to start, phone picks in the first hour, and your 10 a.m. mood word.
- On Day 7 decide: keep it for a month, tweak it, or drop it. All three are fine. The point is to learn what helps you begin.
A small note on social listening
I kept mornings fixed, but once or twice I tried a group session with friends in the evening. It was fun and it gave me new songs to add on Friday, but I did not mix it with my morning routine. Even one or two days of random energetic playlists made me want the same energy at 9 a.m., which broke the calm I needed to start. Social for evenings, fixed for mornings worked best.
The simple lesson I am taking forward
One dependable sound at a fixed time turned into a small start signal. It did not feel ambitious, but it removed a handful of tiny choices that used to steal attention before work even began. If my Spotify Wrapped looks boring this year, I am fine with it. Boring mornings gave me better days. If you try one playlist for a week, tell me your first track in the comments and what changed for you. I might test a few of your songs next month.
