About ten years ago, I read a piece of advice that has definitely increased my productivity: don’t listen to music with lyrics. It’s fun to rock out sometimes when I’m doing something that doesn’t require serious concentration (like checking email), but I find that if I listen to music with lyrics I end up getting distracted by the words and I’m unable to focus on what I’m doing.

Obviously, this also goes for audiobooks. My Audible subscription is one of the best things I spend money on, but trying to listen to War and Peace while I’m writing compromises my writing and trying to write while listening to War and Peace compromises my listening.

Your mileage may vary, but I find it’s a lot easier to concentrate when I’m listening to the classical station or something similar on Apple Music rather than anything with words that can derail my thinking. And yes, it’s worth a few bucks a month to go ad- and interruption-free.