Body Doubling: Your Secret Productivity Weapon

Body doubling is a productivity technique whereby one person works alongside another person to complete a task. The presence of the body double can help both people stay focused, motivated, and on track.

I used body doubling recently in my own life when I asked a good friend who is an accomplished baker to come over to make apple cider doughnuts with me. I have been craving an apple cider doughnut since the fall I was pregnant with my first child—which was nine years ago. I just couldn’t seem to get my act together, to put it mildly, so for nine long years I’ve been living a sad, apple-cider-doughnut-less existence!

Image by Jovan Vasiljevic via Unsplash.

Alt text: A box of cinnamon-and-sugar-coated doughnuts nestled in wax paper sits atop rustic wooden boards with acorns scattered artfully in the background. Ah-fall!

This fall, I happened to come across a recipe for the doughnuts that seemed doable, and my friend was excited about coming over and making them with me. But here’s the thing—if I hadn’t scheduled a time for her to come over—a set time to “make the donuts,” I am 100% sure I would not have made them on my own. On the morning she was due to come over, we had all of the required ingredients except for apple cider, and I have no doubt in my mind that I would not have left the coziness of my house on a chilly, Sunday morning to go out and buy apple cider if I had been baking by myself (as a point of fact, I actually didn’t leave the house to procure cider anyway, because my husband did it for me, but I can say with certainty that he wouldn’t have done it either).

Alt text: "It's Time to Make the Donuts," Dunkin Donuts advertisement from the 1980s.

My point is this–when you need or want to get something done, it helps to involve other people! I waited nine years for doughnuts! All I really needed was a) a set time to bake, b) someone else expecting me to have the ingredients so I knew I'd be letting her down if I didn't, and c) the social support of having someone there with me so that trying a new recipe felt more fun and less scary.

Whatever it is that you need to do, or that you may have been putting off–it helps to have someone working beside you. They don't even have to be working on the same task. You can each get the benefit of working alongside a fellow, focused person and make progress on your own, separate tasks.

Body doubling is thought to be particularly helpful for people with ADHD, as it can help to reduce distractions and improve focus. It can also be helpful for people who struggle with procrastination or who have difficulty starting or completing tasks.

*NEW OFFERING!

Because body doubling is such an effective productivity technique, I am excited to announce a new, free perk for all of my coaching clients!

Starting in January 2025, I'll be hosting a weekly, 50-minute co-working session on Wednesday mornings (EST). These sessions are open to all current and new coaching clients at no extra cost. Join me and put body doubling to work for you!

I made this image using the AI image generator from Wix. My prompt, after much trial and error, was: "One happy woman is waving to another happy woman. They are looking at each other (they were both waving at me, the viewer, rather than greeting each other for a hypothetical body doubling work sesh. I think it's fair to say they're doing more of a high five situation than a wave. Hands created by AI are always weird.)