What's the deal with body doubling?

I first heard about body doubling at a planning conference I attended in November called Best Laid Plans, run by Sarah Hart-Unger and Laura Vanderkam. During one of the sessions, everyone went around the room sharing productivity hacks. I mentioned that sometimes I like to get on video calls with friends or my virtual assistant and share my screen for accountability while I work to keep me on track.

“That’s body doubling!” someone exclaimed.

Body what? Doubling who?

I looked it up when I got home, and essentially body doubling is a productivity strategy where a person works alongside someone else, either in person or virtually, to stay focused and motivated. Technically the "body double" doesn't have to participate in the same task or even interact much, their presence is just suppose to serve as an accountability partner.

Devotees say that having a body double while you work makes it easier to stay on track / reduce procrastination / boost focus…which I agree with.

In any case, I thought my hack of sharing my screen and doing work with a friend remotely was so unique…but it’s actually an entire industry! Of course you could do it for free, like I do, with virtual co-working sessions with a friend/colleagues or even just popping into a coffee shop with other people who have their laptops open (I think this still counts as body doubling?) … but you could also use virtual platforms that specialized in body-doubling apps. Examples would be Flown, Focused Space, and Flow Club. (I guess it’s a requirement that all body doubling companies start with F? Wait here’s one more that doesn’t fit the pattern - Groove).

If you want to give it a try for free, just text a friend: “I have a lot of work to get done by [insert deadline], and I’m struggling to focus. Want to hop on a Zoom/Google Hangouts and do a work session together?”

And that, my friends, is Body Doubling.

And this, my friends, is Text Doubling.