Music Can Help You Achieve Anything!
One of the most iconic music scores in film history is John Williams’s ‘Jaws’ theme. A slow ‘Da-dum… Da-dum…’ turns to a heart pounding ‘Da-dum-da-dum-da-dum-da-dum-da-dum…’ which leads to a horrifying death-by-shark. That first ‘Jaws’ eating a human scene has been attributed to creating several generations of swimmers who fear open salt water. The ability to create such a powerful musical score speaks of Williams’s creative genius, which is amplified by his repeated ability to create similar emotionally charged songs for other films, like Star Wars, Superman, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, etc.
Outside of the box office, many of us spend countless hours pairing music with our activities. If we’re stressed out, trying to make a deadline, we might listen to instrumental jazz or classical. If we’re training indoors on our bike trainers, we’ll definitely be loading up the playlist with explosive raps and rock to help energize us from start to stop. If we’re at the starting line of a competitive race, we’ll often hear the race producers pumping upbeat tunes.
Almost every article about music’s unquestionable power to motivate elite performance athletes uses the example of multiple world record holder, Haile Gebrselassie, who requests John Larkin’s “Scatman” during world record attempts.
One article goes as far as calling music, a ‘legal drug’, noting music has the ability to “alleviate pain caused by exercise, making working out more pleasurable.”
Now that you know Gebrselassie’s secret, it’s time for you to shake up your playlist. Good luck reaching new heights!
