Eliminate the 5 Worst ADHD Productivity Woes Using THE Most Powerful (and yet, Least Known!?) Productivity Strategy
Everything you want to know, with links to some of the best resources currently available
What if I told you there is one simple, ADHD-friendly way to almost completely eliminate your Adult ADHD Productivity woes?
And that it’s also widely available, easy to access, and offered for a very low-cost (sometimes free!) across the globe?
It baffles me that Co-Working & Body Doubling aren’t the most frequently recommended & promoted practices for overcoming ADHD Motivation & Productivity challenges. It’s almost impossible to overemphasize just how effective these are.
We should have paper & digital brochures posted everywhere, so that people can easily find these opportunities, with:
- Recommended best-practices
- Links for more info
- Places where folks can join online groups or communities
This series of posts is an attempt to contribute towards filling that gap.
Eliminate the Pain of Boredom, and Gain Instant Motivation
Body doubling is like a powerful, free, universally available ADHD drug with no negative side effects (figuratively speaking).
It’s like a powerful narcotic that eliminates the pain of boredom, combined with a powerful stimulant that eliminates ADHD Paralysis & other motivational challenges.
Body doubling is also a force-multiplier. It works cooperatively with virtually any other ADHD strategy or medication to amplify any positive benefits you typically experience.
WTF is Body Doubling⁉️
The first response I usually get when talking about Body Doubling is usually something like,
“WTF is body doubling⁉️”
Mental images pop up of sci-fi movies with aliens or bad guys replacing people with doppelgängers for nefarious purposes. Or stand-ins for actors, who do stunts or nude scenes….
🤔 Can nude scenes technically be considered stunts? 🤷♂️
Anyway, these are NOT the kinds of body doubles we’re talking about here! 🤪
When talking about ADHD and body doubling, we simply mean that there’s another living body sharing the space with you, while you’re doing a productive task. This ‘living body’ might be a co-worker, friend family member, stranger, or pet.
‘The space’ can be the same physical space (i.e. in the same room), or it can be a virtual space (like a voice call or Zoom meeting).
In this meaning of body doubling, co-working is the most common type of body doubling.
The Top 5 ADHD Challenges Eliminated by Body Doubling
#1. Getting started (Motivation)
Body doubling makes getting started easy.
Oftentimes, when it comes to doing things like dishes, laundry, organizing our office, etc… We just start doing them unconsciously while body doubling.
I’ll prove it to you.
Think of the times, where you‘ve been’ stuck in ADHD ‘wait mode’ or ADHD Paralysis.
Just staring at the wall…
Scrolling social media…
Then someone you know calls you on the phone, and you answer.
After ending the call, you come out of auto-pilot for a moment, and notice 😲
While you were on the phone for 20 minutes, you did the dishes, started the laundry, and started cleaning a room! 🤩
Instead of being haphazard about these serendipitous, unintentional moments, where we get things done that we want & need to do? We can intentionally leverage body doubling to get things done!
#2. Overcoming distractions (Sustaining Effort / Staying on Task)
When body doubling, it’s easier to stay on task with the thing we intended to do. Sometimes all we need is having another person present (whether virtually or physically).
Other times, adding conversation or background music makes it easy & relatively pain-free to stay on task with activities that are otherwise painfully tedious and boring (like laundry, dishes, organizing spaces, doing taxes, etc).
#3. Sustaining effort until completion (Follow-through / Completion)
For whatever reason, we seem to be able to finally complete things that we otherwise wouldn’t have, while body doubling.
We simultaneously become effortlessly attentive to completing the task, while remaining unaware of our progress.
Before we know it, we’ve magically completed multiple “to-do’s”, that had been on our list for weeks, months, or even years!
…Where is that list, anyway?
I know it’s around here somewhere….
Next up? Hyperfocus, and the trouble with stopping.
#4. Stopping (the down-side of Hyperfocus)
One of the least talked about ADHD challenges that causes all sorts of disruptions with family, friendship, workplace, & other social situations is the ADHD inability to stop.
We get hyperfocused on some task, and:
- The intense drive and sense that we can’t stop until ‘the thing’ is done takes over.
- We get a terrible case of perpetual ‘one-more-thing-ītĭs’.
Before we know it, we’ve worked through dinner-time, missed a critical work meeting, missed a family commitment, or notice the sun is rising, and we didn’t sleep (again! 😫 ).
Effective body doubling helps us to ensure that we:
- STOP at the intended time
- Transition to the next thing
It’s almost IMPOSSIBLE to underemphasize the value of this benefit!
#5. The Hurdles of “Now I have to start all over again!” 😩 // Other Unintentional Distractions
Body Doubling and Co-Working enable us to take breaks and recharge, without losing our place, or getting lost in a vortex of rabbit trails & distractions.🤩 🙌
Immense power becomes accessible with this gentle commitment to pause, and check-in with others.
Simply knowing others will be waiting for us to join them, & get back to work, somehow *almost* completely eliminates the likelihood that we’ll…
- Get distracted during the break, and forget to return to finish what we intended to get done
- Lose interest or momentum, and switch tasks to do something other than what we intended to do.
- Lose our place, and have to re-do a bunch of work, because we forgot where we left off.
What’s Next?
In my next two posts, I’ll cover:
- ADHD Resources: ADHD-Friendly Co-Working Spaces & Communities
A variety of different platforms & communities (both free & paid), where it’s easy to find ADHD-friendly body double & co-working opportunities. - The Most Effect Methods of Body Doubling, and When to Use Them
Some body doubling methods are more effective than others for specific tasks or scenarios.
Would you like to spend time with Jeremy, in person, and learn more about Your ADHD? Are You Looking for ADHD Resources, Community, and support?
If you’re looking for quality, growth-oriented ADHD Community, with regular access to an ADHD Coach (Jeremy), check out our ART of ADHD Community, where we host…
- Regular Co-Working & Body Doubling opportunities
- Weekly Office Hours for community members with our Coaches
- Monthly ADHD Webinars & Workshops, with a blend of learning, strategies, & conversation
- A growing ADHD Resource Library of ADHD workbooks, planners, frameworks, infographics, & etc.
- A growing community of ADHD Adults (professionals, entrepreneurs, academics, developers, etc.) who get you, because we’re all ADHD — including the hosts & coaches.
