Productivity tip #35: kick-ass headphones

The FreshBooks headquarters can be a busy place. At any given moment there are phone calls, product discussions, and programming banter clogging the airwaves. Combine that with our open-concept office, which means no cubicles, walls, or other sound-dampening barriers, and you’ve got (at times) one distracting work environment.

I’ve found that I work best when I’m totally focused on the task at hand. Any little distraction, and that huge chunk of code I was juggling in my head — it’s gone, and my productivity with it.

My solution? A pair of studio headphones from Audio-Technica I picked up on eBay back in August. Now when I need to get something done, I pop on my phones and blot out the world with tunes from my iPod. I can’t hear my co-workers and they can’t hear me, even with the volume cranked — which is great, because I listen to some pretty embarrassing stuff.

My self-imposed “audio prison” has become a shining beacon of productivity around the office. Mike’s joked about buying sets for the entire office, and Justin’s test-driving a pair of heavy-duty Sennheiser’s as we speak.