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Once a week, ADHD coach Robin Nordmeyer joins a Zoom meeting with other coaches while writing blogs, doing administrative tasks or working on content for presentations she’s been putting off.
Nordmeyer, who has ADHD, isn’t necessarily using the meeting to collaborate with others—he just needs their presence as a motivator to help get things done.
“I run a business, and I have to balance a lot of different areas of the business,” said Nordmeyer, co-founder and CEO of the Center for Living Well with ADHD-Minnesota, an ADHD coaching group near Minneapolis that serves all ages. .
“Some of these things come really easy — like, they’re in my wheelhouse, they energize me, I can’t wait to get to them,” Nordmeyer said. “And some of these things are a little more tedious, or I have some resistance around them.”
What Nordmeyer does to get through those tougher tasks is sometimes known as the “body double,” a productivity and self-help strategy that involves working with another person around to help improve motivation and focus. It has been popular for some time among people with ADHD – attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder – especially during the pandemic.
“The idea is that the presence of another is essentially a gentle reminder to stay on task,” said Billy Roberts, clinical director of Focused Mind ADHD Counseling in Columbus, Ohio. “For people (with) ADHD whose minds tend to wander and leave their work, the body double somehow functions as an external motivator to stay on task.
Body doubling is not only for people with ADHD, but like many “coping strategies, something that can be useful for anyone is more central and important for people with ADHD,” said Dr. J. Russell Ramsay, founding co-director of the University of Pennsylvania ADHD Treatment and Research Program.
Because the body double works
A neurodevelopmental disorder commonly diagnosed in childhood but lasting into adulthood, ADHD stems from underdeveloped or impaired executive function and self-regulation skills, according to Harvard University. Center on the developing child. Those skills help us plan, focus attention, remember instructions and multitask. Symptoms of ADHD include inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity – so people with this disorder may have trouble concentrating, staying organized, managing their time or controlling their impulses, which can affect their work and personal lives, said Roberts. .
If people with ADHD don’t have intrinsic interest in a task, Roberts said, they typically struggle with a lack of internal motivation to complete or even begin. Body doubling provides that motivation, experts said.
“It’s also based on our own social media,” Ramsay said. “Many people with ADHD will say:” I have a hard time to start doing this, if I have to do it by myself, but if I know that someone else is relying on me, if someone else is waiting outside for me to see. to go for our walk, I’m more likely to go and be there because I don’t want to leave.
There doesn’t seem to be extensive research on body duplication for productivity, according to Roberts and other experts. “But I do know that the idea of externalizing motivation is a long-standing, evidence-based mechanism for managing ADHD,” Roberts said.
In theory, the method is quite simple, but there are a few factors to keep in mind to make the most of it.
How to use body doubling effectively
Body doubling can help with almost any task you have a hard time doing – whether it’s work, homework, exercise, schoolwork or paperwork. The other person should not do the same thing as you, unless the activity for which you need to double the body – such as exercise – requires assistance.
Be choosy about who you ask your body double to be. The person should be as committed to completing your work as you are, Roberts said — don’t distract yourself with conversation or anything else. Choose someone who usually makes you feel comfortable and safe, and who can encourage you when needed.
“It’s important to keep a body double session focused on its goal,” said Nordmeyer. If the conversations come up, put them off for later, maybe during a break or dinner.
Asking someone to be your body double can be overwhelming, but Roberts said the best approach is often simple. You can say, “This is something I’ve heard can help with productivity. Would you mind just being around me while I work on this? Maybe you have something you can work on too.”
You can even barter with them, in a sense, by making an offer like: “Help me organize my garage on Saturday; I’ll help you organize your home office on Sunday,” said Ramsay.
Those small first steps of looking for a partner and setting up the session get you started and keep you going, he added.
Scheduling regular bodybuilding sessions is an option, Nordmeyer said, or just ask whenever you need it. How transparent you are about why you need a body double is up to you, as if you have more than one body double.
“It depends on the individual,” Roberts said. “If it turns into a distraction more than awareness, accountability or behavioral support, then you just want to rework things. You can kind of tinker with things until you find what works.”
Virtual body double
If you don’t have a friend or colleague to be your body double, you’re out of luck.
Some TikTok users, like Allie K. Campbell, you regularly go live while working so that others can use you as a virtual body double. There are also body doubling or coworking platforms or apps like flown, Focus friend o Flow Club.
In virtual sessions, “most body doubles ask you to share your camera, and a lot of people are really nervous about being visible,” Nordmeyer said. “The purpose of this is to make sure you’re always in your chair working. … But there could be other ways to create that accountability through a chat feature.
The benefits of body doubling are likely because some people like to work on things in coffee shops, libraries or coworking spaces — which can be sources of passive body doubling if you don’t have someone to ask, Roberts said.
“Some people work better with the support of the community and just the awareness of other people around them,” he added. “You saw a lot with the pandemic, like people learning more about the types of structure they needed.
“We all think and work differently, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Roberts said.
