ADHD Body Doubling to Stay Motivated & Get Things Done

You’re sitting on the couch, zoned out or doom scrolling, even though you know you need to get up and make dinner. 

Yet you can’t seem to get moving. 

Then you hear your partner or roommate coming home and you hop up, springing into action as soon as they appear. 

You wonder why you were glued to the couch the last 45 minutes, and suddenly you’re up and moving without trouble.

It doesn’t make sense.

Or does it?

Can the simple presence of another human help motivate you to get things done?

The answer for many adults with ADHD is a resounding yes - and they’ve given this method a name: body doubling. 

In this post, we’ll talk about the concept of body doubling for ADHD, how it works to help you get and stay motivated, and where you can find the perfect body double.

What is ADHD Body Doubling?

Body doubling is the practice of engaging in a difficult or boring task in the presence of another person - usually a friend or colleague. The practice of body doubling helps ADHD adults stay motivated and on-task. 

Body doubling might look like:

• Meeting up with a friend or colleague at a coffee shop or office co-op, setting up your laptops and working side-by-side 

• Having your sister-in-law sit at the kitchen table, calmly drinking coffee and reading while you pay long-overdue bills

• Jumping on a zoom meeting with a friend while you both work on separate projects, checking in with each other in 15-minute intervals (called virtual body doubling)
  The point of body doubling isn’t to collaborate on the same task, but to work on separate tasks side-by-side, holding each other accountable and encouraging each other along the way.

Why Does Body Doubling Help With ADHD?

While there isn’t any official research on the practice of body doubling (the term emerged from the ADHD community rather than the medical community), experts and ADHDers have some ideas about why it’s so effective.  

Body Doubling is Proactive

Do you play “whack-a-mole” with your day - addressing issues and tasks as they pop up, rather than creating a plan?

You’re certainly not alone - but how’s that working for you? 

One of the major benefits of body doubling is it requires you to be proactive rather than reactive - scheduling a time and place to perform your task. 

A study at the Dominican University of California found that simply writing down your goal increases your likelihood of achieving it by 42%. With body doubling, you’re not only writing down your goal - you’re scheduling an entire event around it and inviting another person to join you. 

Body Doubling Creates Positive Feelings (Increasing Motivation)

You know that feeling of dread that washes over you when you’re approaching a potentially frustrating task?

If you have ADHD, this feeling is exaggerated by your tendency to become overwhelmed and paralyzed with fear. 

But what if you started associating the dreaded task with the positive feelings you get from seeing a friend?

Just being around someone you like makes a task more enjoyable - increasing feel-good chemicals in your brain such as dopamine and serotonin.

Body Doubling May Activate Mirror Neurons

Have you ever watched a friend trip and fall, and strangely, your own tailbone starts to hurt?

You can blame mirror neurons for that - brain cells that fire the same way whether we perform an action or simply witness the action. 

Scientists hypothesize that mirror neurons play a part in how humans feel empathy and social connection. 

So when your friend sits down beside you and calmly gets to work on her laptop - what do you think you’ll feel like doing?

Just seeing another person - someone you like and trust - performing an action, can produce the urge to do it yourself. 

What Does Body Doubling for ADHD Feel Like?

Your stomach sinks. 

You just remembered the difficult research project you have to work on today. 

Ugh - it’s going to be so boring, so tedious…and what if you mess it up?

Then your online calendar dings - you remember you scheduled a session with your body double - a friend you’ve known for years.

You smile, and relax a bit - the thought of seeing her lifts your mood. 

When you walk in the coffee shop, there she is, smiling at a table, her laptop open, fresh coffee in hand. 

You grab your own delicious cup of brew, and set up across the table from her. 

After spending about 5 minutes chatting and laughing, it’s time to get to work. 

An hour in, you feel like quitting. 

You sigh and glance up at her - she’s calm and focused. 

You dig back into your work. 

Before you know it, three hours have passed and you’re wrapping up your project. 

You spend the last 15 minutes talking about the work you just completed, and after high-fiving, you go your separate ways. 

You can’t help but think of how much more distracted, frustrated and bored you would have been had you tried to tackle this project on your own - body doubling for the win! 

What to Look for in a Body Double (& What NOT to Look For)

Remember the point of body doubling is to be focused and productive, so you won’t want to choose someone who’ll distract you even more - or someone who might tempt you to ditch your work and hit up happy hour instead. 

Not everyone will be a good fit to serve as your body double - so you’ll want to put some thought into who you ask. A good body double will be:

• Trustworthy and reliable (They’ll show up on time and won’t cancel at the last minute)

• Positive, supportive, and encouraging

• Able to stay focused, on-task, and calm

• Non-judgemental - someone you feel comfortable around

Find Your ADHD Body Double at a Successful Mama Meetup

What if no one in your circle fits the bill as a potential body double? 

Virtual body doubles offer the same benefits as in-person body doubles - and there’s a way you can meet a whole group of potential body doubles (and supportive friends).

Better yet - everyone in the group is also a mom with ADHD - so they know exactly what you’re going through. 

The Successful Mama Meetup is a weekly zoom meeting for moms with ADHD to discuss life with ADHD, and share tips for planning, organizing, and getting things done. 

It’s run by me - Patricia Sung - I’m an ADHD coach, podcaster, and educator. I’ve been helping people with ADHD be successful for over 15 years. 

Life with ADHD is hard - but you don’t have to do it alone! Communing with like-minded women every week helps you feel seen, heard, validated, and supported. It’s like having your own personal ADHD hive-mind to help optimize your life in a way that works for your unique brain. 

Interested in learning more? Check out episode 170 of the Motherhood in ADHD podcast, where I break down the many ways it helps you to have a support group that understands you.  

You don’t have to do life alone. You’re not broken; you do things in a different way. And around here, we get it.

Ready to pull the trigger and join now? Sign up here and find your ADHD support system today.