Our weekly Burning Question asked about your earworm. Earworms are sections of songs that we remember in our minds. Once they start, these music memories can repeat uncontrollably—for hours, days, even weeks at a time. Research indicates that nine out of ten people have experienced earworms that have lasted for an hour or longer. An earworm is a song that once it gets in your head, you can’t get rid of it.
Mine can be any Christmas song. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always hated having Christmas songs in my head any time of the year other than the month of December. It just seems wrong to have It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year playing in my head while sweating my ass off in August mowing the pastures.
When we do our in-person onsite management training, we often use an icebreaker asking participants their “theme song.” This is like when fighters walk to the ring and they play their walkout song. It’s a lot of fun and the answers range from Eye of the Tiger, to Darth Vader’s death march.
If you think about it, we have other songs that get locked into our brains. These are associations with events. They’re triggers and once they start, it’s hard to kick them out.
My dad’s theme song was one of shame. As a middle schooler in woodshop class, his teacher held up his version of a wooden boat (a small 2×4 block with a bunch of nails pounded into the center) and asked the class “what’s wrong with this boat class?”
The response: “Too many nails!”
Too Many Nails became his theme song. I know it because he shared that story with my brother and I and then later with our kids, his grandchildren. I think it was one of the root causes of his abusive behaviors.
I wonder what song plays in your head? Whichever one will become your “theme song” if you let it. It can be something triumphant that you’ve done, maybe a version of Eye of the Tiger. It could also be Too Many Nails. You’ll be guided into whatever direction you play.
Maybe this week is a good time to go through your mental playlist.
What songs should you remove?
What are some good ones to add?