This week I tested out Body Doubling, a very common technique used among the ADHD community. I want to use this time to talk about what it is, my experience and if I would recommend this to others.
What is Body Doubling? 🤷♀️
In simple words, Body Doubling is essentially when you are completing a task or doing some work, (whether that be folding laundry, sorting out your finances, or writing that 10,000 word essay,) alongside a buddy who is doing something similar alongside you to keep procrastination at bay! If you want the technical term you can find it here: https://add.org/the-body-double/
Although this is a technique used among the ADHD community, everyone can use it to help with those tasks you keep pushing further away. Yes, I'm looking at you. 🤨
My first Body Doubling experience🫣
Although I had heard of Body Doubling it was never something I thought would be useful. I mean how is that going to keep my concentration when I can't even start the task in the first place? Well boy, was I wrong!
Let me set the scene....
It was a dull Monday morning, rain dripping down my window, while I stare blankly and my laptop screen looking at my long to do list for the day, thinking where do I even start? It was an overwhelming beginning to the week that's for sure. Some time goes by and this list hasn't got any shorter..... I look up some Lofi music on YouTube to push myself to focus on the tasks at hand, when I come across a Live from Hayley Honeyman - "Body Double with me". I thought, why not? Worth a try, I'm not getting anywhere on my own. In this video not only were we Body Doubling, we also used the Pomodoro Technique. This is a technique to break down your time, where you work for around 20-25 mins, and rest for 5-10 mins and repeat. You can learn more about the Pomodoro technique here. Throughout the session Hayley would give tips on how we could use our breaks to our full advantage, from grabbing a drink of water, dancing about or cleaning the space around you. Even with knowing that the person on the screen couldn't see if I was working and tell me to get on with the task, it felt like there was support and accountability there. This had triggered my brain into focus mode and I was finally getting through that to do list! The procrastination had disappeared from one video, how great is that?!
Would I recommend Body Doubling?🤔
Heck yeah!!! I found this technique extremely helpful to get my mind to focus and will be using this in the future. I would recommend people to try it out themselves, if they are struggling to get those tasks started. It may not work for everyone but you can always give it a go. This is the live video I used of you want to test it:

What about you? 🫵
I'd love to know if you have tried Body Doubling or other techniques to keep your focus! Let me know in the comments 💬
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