Somewhere in the last year, I started seeing ads for audio tracks that claim to shift your brainwaves into a state associated with focus, creativity, or – the version that gets the most eye-rolls – wealth. I was deeply skeptical. I still am, mostly. But I did what I do with most things that make big claims: I got curious enough to actually look into the mechanism instead of dismissing it outright.
Here’s the honest version of what I found.
Brainwave entrainment is a real, studied phenomenon – the idea that your brain’s electrical activity can shift toward the frequency of a rhythmic external stimulus, like a specific tone or beat pattern. That part isn’t fringe science; it’s been researched for decades, mostly in the context of relaxation, focus, and sleep. Where it gets shakier is the leap from “this can nudge your brain state” to “this will change your financial life.” That leap is marketing, not neuroscience, and I think it’s worth saying plainly.
So why do I still find the category interesting instead of writing it off entirely? Because of what I said in an earlier post about attention. A lot of what these tracks actually seem to do – based on what I’ve read and what I’ve noticed in myself – isn’t rewiring your bank account. It’s giving you a structured, repeatable few minutes of actually sitting still and pointing your attention somewhere on purpose, which most of us almost never do otherwise. The frequency might be doing something subtle. The ritual of a quiet, consistent few minutes a day is very likely doing a lot of the visible work.
I don’t think that makes it worthless. I think it makes it exactly what it is: a tool, not magic. Tools still need to be honest about what they’re a tool for.
I bring this up because it’s relevant to something I want to write about next – the specific things I actually started doing in the year after my marriage ended, including a few that surprised me by sticking. I wanted to lay out the honest, unhyped version of the mechanism first, before I tell you what I actually tried, so you’re not taking my word for any of it on faith.
More on that soon – including the specific track I ended up trying, half as a joke at first: Billionaire Brain Wave (affiliate link). It’s part of what I’m sending through the newsletter as the fuller story unfolds.
With Love, Wren
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