The thing that works best for me is 1) have really good noise-cancelling headphones so I can't hear conversations going on around me, and 2) just listen to a co

The thing that works best for me is 1) have really good noise-cancelling headphones so I can't hear conversations going on around me, and 2) just listen to a couple minutes of some instrumental music I like at the beginning of a focused session. The music playing can be distracting after a while, but just listening to a bit to get my brain going is a bit magic. After I turn the music off, it keeps going in my head in a pretty intense and still almost audible way. I find myself absorbed in it, moving my body to the beat and maybe humming with it, all in a way that isn't distracting to the task. Don't know how it works but it's fairly pleasant shrug. My go-to is the Final Fantasy piano collections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-dt1ZXxZ6I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-dt1ZXxZ6I. I've listened to the music so much that it's no longer novel or distracting, but is still pleasant, complex and familiar. I don't like trying to work to music with words, either. I end up spending my cycles trying to decipher what they are saying... I've never been able to understand words in songs.