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You sit down to tackle your to-do list, full of energy and ambitionbut 20 minutes later, you’re bouncing between emails, Slack notifications, and random tabs about vacation deals. Another hour slips away. Sound familiar? In today’s distraction-saturated workplaces, focus has become one of the most valuableand elusiveskills we can master. The good news is that the focus isn’t just a matter of willpower. It’s a rhythm that can be trained, like learning how to play an instrument. Drawing from decades as a professional musician and a consultant in neuroscience-based productivity strategies, I’ve seen firsthand how much the brain responds to rhythm, structure, and intentional habits. Just like musicians tune their instruments and warm up before a concert, you can “tune” your brain to perform at its peak during the workday. Neuroscience backs this up: When we align our work with our brain’s natural cycles and cognitive strengths, we get more donewith less stress. Here’s how to use music-inspired rituals and brain science to sharpen your focus at work. Sync Your Brain to the Beat with Rhythmic Work Blocks Think of your workday like a symphony: It should rise and fall with a natural rhythm, not be an endless marathon of tasks. Our brains function in ultradian rhythms, alternating between 90- and 120-minute cycles of alertness and fatigue. Pioneering sleep researcher Nathaniel Kleitman discovered these cycles decades ago, and more recent studies, like those published in Progress in Brain Research, confirm that pushing beyond them leads to cognitive exhaustion. Instead of battling fatigue, structure your day into focused sprints followed by intentional breaks. Aim for 45 to 90 minutes of deep work, then take a 10- to 20-minute recovery break. How to do it: Set a timer for 60 minutes of focused work. Step away after the timer goes offstretch, walk, breathe. Repeat the cycle two or three times for maximum cognitive performance. Just as music isn’t continuous noise without rests, your brain needs pauses to maintain focus. Set a Daily “Tempo” Check Before musicians start playing, they check the tempo and key of the piece. You should do the same with your mental state. Research published in The Journal of Neuroscience shows that emotions significantly influence attention and cognitive flexibility. If you’re tired, anxious, or distracted, deep strategic work may be unrealistic for that moment. Taking a few minutes each morning to assess your energy levels gives you agency over your day rather than letting it control you. How to do it: Quickly rate your current focus and energy from 1 to 10. If you’re below a 5, begin the day with lighter tasks like email cleanup or administrative work to build momentum. Reserve your high-focus worklike strategic planning or deep analysisfor when your tempo feels strong. Self-awareness builds cognitive resilience and keeps you from setting unrealistic expectations that undercut your performance. Use Music (Strategically) to Trigger Flow States Music can either help you focus or completely derail you. It depends on how you use it. Studies from Stanford University show that listening to music engages areas of the brain involved with paying attention and making predictions. However, lyrics and sharp tempo changes can split our attention and decrease deep focus. To enter a productive flow state, choose music that supports sustained concentration: Instrumental tracks Consistent rhythms Ambient sounds or lo-fi beats Some productivity apps, like Brain.fm, use neuroscience-based compositions to optimize focus. For example, lo-fi hip-hop playlists on Spotify are popular because of their steady, nondistracting beats. How to do it: Build a “focus playlist” with 1 to 2 hours of instrumental music. Use it only during work sessions when you want to mentally prime for deep focus. Over time, your brain will associate this music with “work mode” and transition more quickly into flow. Set a “Cue and Play” Ritual Before Deep Work Before performing onstage, musicians don’t just walk out cold. They have rituals: tuning instruments, breathing exercises, and visualization. Creating a consistent prework ritual signals your brain that it’s time for focus. This taps into a principle known as implementation intention, a psychological strategy proven to increase goal attainment by 300%, according to research published in Psychological Science. How to do it: Create a three-step warm-up to do before every deep work session. Stretch for two minutes. Brew a cup of tea or light a candle. Put on your focus playlist. These small, intentional actions trigger the brain’s “ready” state, helping you transition more smoothly into concentration. Rituals transform discipline into automatic behaviorfreeing up mental energy for actual work. Break Projects Into Rhythmic Movements Like symphonies with movementsintro, crescendo, finalebig projects need natural segmentation, or a way of breaking things up into smaller categories. The human brain can comfortably hold about 4 to 7 items in working memory at once (as per research published in Cognitive Psychology). Large, ambiguous tasks overwhelm that limit, causing procrastination and fatigue. How to do it: Divide big projects into distinct phases: planning, drafting, editing, review, and delivery. Set milestone markers between each phase so you get a sense of closure as you progress. By thinking in “movements” rather than one massive project, you build momentum and reduce your cognitive overload. Eliminate “Syncopation,” or Unnecessary Disruptions In music, syncopationunexpected shifts in rhythmadds excitement. At work, unexpected disruptions usually add chaos. Studies from the University of California, Irvine, found that it takes 23 minutes to refocus fully after a distraction. Every ping, notification, or email breaks your cognitive rhythm and burns valuable attention energy. How to do it: Schedule deep work sprits, where you put devices on Do Not Disturb. Use apps like Freedom, Cold Turkey, or RescueTime to block distracting sites during these periods. Tell your team when youre in a focused block so that they know not to interrupt unless it is urgent. You can put focus blocks on your work calendar that are visible to everyone, or even better, set your Slack status to in deep work. Guard your rhythm the way a conductor guards the tempo of an orchestra. Otherwise, you’re allowing random inputs to conduct your brain for you. Use Silence to Reset Your Brains Rhythm In music, silence isn’t absenceit’s intentional space that gives the sound its shape. Similarly, research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that periods of intentional silence promote brain regeneration, particularly in the hippocampus, which is associated with memory and learning. Small doses of quiet can dramatically reset attention and creativity. How to do it: After every major work block, spend 3 to 5 minutes in silence. No music. No podcasts. No screens. Just focus on breathing and mental stillness. This small practice strengthens your brain’s default mode networkthe cognitive system responsible for creativity, problem-solving, and insight. In a world addicted to noise, silence can become your competitive advantage. Tune Your Brain Like an Instrument The ability to focus isn’t just a matter of working harder. It’s about working in rhythm with your brain’s natural cycles. By intentionally syncing with your cognitive rhythmsthrough music-inspired rituals, breaks, warm-ups, and boundariesyou can dramatically improve your ability to enter deep work states, stay there longer, and feel less drained at the end of the day. You don’t need more apps, hacks, or superhuman willpower to focus. You need a better rhythm. Treat your day like a musical performance, and your brain will follow the beat.
Category:
E-Commerce
A decade ago, the easiest way in the front door at a restaurant was often to callor even just show up for a meal. Now, its far easier to book ahead, and the list of ways to get a coveted seat at the table is growing to include some surprising places. The countrys two largest delivery apps, DoorDash and Uber Eats, have both shared plans in recent weeks to add restaurant reservations to their apps. A crowded field Over the past few years, restaurant reservationsespecially the hot oneshave become a type of currency. Call it a post-COVID return to socializing or our increased excitement to plan ahead; prime-time tables at top restaurants have gotten harder to secure than some concert tickets. Now, online scalpers target and resell hot reservations for a profit. The right credit card, a prestige Amex or a status Visa, comes with special access to popular reservations. Or, you can buy your way in through a number of app-based services that work with restaurants to secure high-value tables. In short, just about any company with a vested interest in restaurants wants to help you get a leg upand insidethe front door. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/03\/Expedite-Icon-E-white-background.jpg.jpg","headline":"Expedite","description":"Restaurant technology and the big ideas shaping the future of hospitality, by Kristen Hawley. To learn more visit expedite.news","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.expedite.news\/","colorTheme":"salmon","redirectUrl":""}} Ubers entry That list now includes third-party delivery services, a once unlikely partner for restaurants hoping to coax diners off their couches. Last week, Uber Eats shared details of a deal with OpenTable, the countrys largest reservations provider, that lets Eats users book restaurant tables inside its app. Uber will add a new dine out tab inside its delivery app later this year for reservations, exclusive discounts and deals, and in-app ride booking. Ubers subscription Uber One customers even get priority access to top tables set aside just for them. Or, as Ubers senior director of delivery engineering, Rohan Mathew, said onstage as he detailed the program, Your whole night is covered: deals, reservations, and rides. Ease and convenience Third-party delivery apps dont have the most hospitable reputation with restaurants. Operators frequently lament the high cost of commissions and a frustrating lack of customer data from the services. Still, diners want the convenience of takeout and delivery. According to just-released data from the National Restaurant Association, 37% of adults order delivery once a week. With so much business happening outside the four walls of a restaurant, it makes sense that full-service operators want their tables listed in as many places as possible. At OpenTable, weve watched dining out evolve over the past 20 yearsand this is the next chapter, OpenTable CEO Debby Soo said over email. Diners want ease and convenience when planning a night out, and were here to deliver that wherever it makes sense for them and our restaurant partners. The DoorDash plan Soo says the company has over 150 tech partners, now including Uber, that it considers high-converting channels where it helps connect diners to the restaurants on its platform. This includes Uber Eats top competitor, DoorDash, which announced the acquisition of reservations and customer relationship management company SevenRooms for $1.2 billion earlier this month. When the deal closes later this year, reservations will likely find their way into the DoorDash appthough the company hasnt confirmed exactly how or when. We are just at the start of this transaction, so there are a lot of answers we dont have in detail, said Parisa Sadrzadeh, DoorDash vice president of strategy and operations, noting that she would anticipate a way for people to book reservations inside the DoorDash app. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/03\/Expedite-Icon-E-white-background.jpg.jpg","headline":"Expedite","description":"Restaurant technology and the big ideas shaping the future of hospitality, by Kristen Hawley. To learn more visit expedite.news","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.expedite.news\/","colorTheme":"salmon","redirectUrl":""}}
Category:
E-Commerce
Over the course of my career as an executive at Google, Yahoo, and Meta, and now as founder and CEO of my own firm, Ive hired thousands of people. Across all those roles, one thing has stayed consistent: the applications that stand out are the ones that go beyond simply checking the boxes. In todays job market, with a challenging economy and the rise of AI, fewer jobs are getting posted, and more people are applying for every job. So its all the more important to take the steps that will make your application stand out. Last year, we opened a chief of staff role at my company. Within days, we received more than 800 applications. My team and I read through every one of them. Just three stood out immediately. It wasnt because the applicants held that exact title before or came from the most well-known companies: it was because they did something extra. One submitted a deck outlining how they would approach the role. Another sent a short video of themselves walking through a presentation theyd created. The third added a User Manual, a tool some organizations use to help teammates understand how to work together (and one our company uses, too). Each of the three caught my eye not just because they went beyond what we had asked for, but also because they used language and terms unique to our company that showed they understood and cared about how we operate. All three were invited to interview, and two of them made it to the final round. Taking the extra steps to bring attention to your application can be effective for all kinds of jobs. Whether youre applying for your first job or your next leadership role, a strong, thoughtful application can help you stand out. Heres what Ive learned about how to set yourself apart. Treat AI as a beginning, not an end As of late, Ive seen many job applications that sound almost identical. They begin with the same phrases, like Due to my extensive experience or I am writing to express my sincere interest. Its clear that some were written entirely by AI. Im not against using AI. It can help you organize ideas and polish your language. However, when you rely on it too heavily, your application ends up sounding exactly like everyone elses. The best candidates may use AI to help support their thinking, but then they bring their own voice into the final version. Show how you think Résumés list what you have done, but strong applications show how you think. A short deck, a one-pager, a video, or a note with specific ideas gives companies insight into how you approach problems and communicate. You dont need to be a designer or send something flashy (unless youre applying for a design role!). What matters most is clarity and thoughtfulness. Show off some smart research When someone references details about a companys mission, product, or values using specific examples, it shows care and effort. When we were searching for our next chief of staff, one of our applicants sent some positive quotes from her clients and called them quotes from the Cookie Jar. The Cookie Jar is a term we use for the Slack channel where we put customer testimonialssomething we also mention on our company blog. By including our own terminology, it showed she had taken the time to go beyond just the first couple of pages of our website. Use your network when you can Its still a good idea to lean on the tried-and-true strategy of leveraging your connections. If you know someone at the company youre applying to, reach out to ask for a recommendation, an introduction, or even a quick tip; second-degree connections, too, might yield an introduction or a good word. And if you dont have any ins at the company, dont worry. Tailoring your message, doing deeper research, and writing an application that demonstrates how you think are just as effective for people without inside connections. In some cases, a standout application from someone without any ties can rise even further because it reflects initiative and creative thinkingtwo skills any team is looking for.
Category:
E-Commerce
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