Cranky? Good for You and Your Work
When you’ve been cranky or unhappy, do you socialize less at work? Is you head down working intently as you isolate yourself in your cube or office? I know that I hole up in my office, working like crazy. Frankly, now that I think about it, these were my most productive times! That and when I procrastinated too much and knocked out deliverables at the last minute! Sorry, tangent.

Adam Anderson, a Canada research chair in cognitive neuroscience, published his study findings in the Dec. 18, 2006 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences about happy, sad, or neutral moods on: (1) thinking and creative; and (2) effect on detail-oriented tasks.

Good Mood or Bad Mood, What’s Better?
CBC.CA posted “Good mood can be bad for focus: study” in their News on Technology & Science section summarizing Anderson’s findings:

The study is the first to suggest the potential negative impact of a positive frame of mind. Anderson asked 24 university students to take two kinds of tests after listening to music or words to alter their mood. Music was used to get users in a happy or sad mood, and to achieve a neutral mood the researchers recited a list of facts about Canada. In one task designed to test their breadth of thinking and creativity, participants had to think of unusual words.

Participants who listened to happy music and claimed to be in a better mood did better at this test, a finding supported by previous research that suggested a positive mood can increase creativity. But the happy workers took longer with the second test, which asked them to focus on a single letter in a row of letters. Happy-music listeners were 40 per cent more likely than sad-music listeners to be distracted by the peripheral information.

The study suggests being in a bad mood may actually help focus workers on detail-oriented tasks…But the happy workers took longer with the second test, which asked them to focus on a single letter in a row of letters. Happy-music listeners were 40 per cent more likely than sad-music listeners to be distracted by the peripheral information.

Cranky, Grumpy or Neutral? Detail-Oriented Work
So what’s the lesson learned? Be at peace with yourself if you’re cranky, grumpy, or neutral. During these times, tackle the detail-oriented tasks that you have to plow through. Need to be creative? Listen to music that alters your mood or do something that makes you happy, then transition to your creative thinking.

Altering Schedule and Tasks
I think this study’s finding is extremely helpful. I’ll be able to alter my schedule based on moods. For example, I’m generally a happy camper after I my two-mile walk on the lower loop of central park so I guess I should do my creative work after this. Except for yesterday, when a SUV nearly drove over me as I walked across the street. I had a green and the walk sign and I was in the cross walk. Man, I lost all the endorphins from my walk by getting angry and upset at the SUV driver. Oops, sorry. My point is when I’m cranky, I think I’ll do the finances or plow through emails that require focus and are detail oriented.

Don’t forget to look both ways when you cross the street, and watch out for SUVs.

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