Body doubling means doing your own work while someone else is nearby doing theirs. They don't help with your task or check on you. Being there is the whole job. Many people with ADHD find that someone else's presence makes it easier to start and keep going.
How to try it
- Pick one specific task before the session starts, such as "draft the intro" rather than "work on the essay".
- Find a double: a housemate, a friend on a video call, a library table, or an online co-working session.
- Say your goal out loud at the start. It takes ten seconds and it helps.
- Agree on a fixed block, for example 25 or 50 minutes, then work quietly side by side.
- At the end, share in a sentence what you got done. No judgement if it was less than planned.
- Try it for the jobs you avoid most, like admin, emails or revision.
Why it can help
A quiet sense of being "on" with someone else gives your attention something to anchor to, and saying your goal out loud makes it feel real. It also takes the edge off tasks that feel boring or heavy when you do them alone. FocusCrew's crews let you start a shared timer with friends, which works as a lightweight online body double.