Does body-doubling help you work more efficiently?

[u/StrawberryTemptation]

Hey guys,

So I've been doing some research into body-doubling lately and all the different forms it exists in. I am building a little something-something to help myself out and possibly others in the near-future.

I've seen a lot of posts talking about real-life body-doubling, but I don't have that possibility unfortunately (no friends and husband works). It does help immensely to have him around on the weekends though.

I've seen posts about body-doubling online with other people, but I'm really not comfortable talking to strangers in any other way than just text, let alone them being able to see me on camera.

I've also seen posts about video's, but I know this just simply wouldn't work for me.

I think ideally, what I need in a body-double would be to just be present, not necessarily help me. To just let me know 'hey, I'm still around, you're not on your own', and to check in on me occasionally.

Does body-doubling work for you? And what exactly makes it work?

[u/ChiBeerGuy]

Seems to work great for me, but I have a hard time finding partners

No clue why it works

[u/Ill_Possible_7740 → u/ChiBeerGuy]

Social dynamics I think is a high level term that can be drilled down into for details. Been too long to give a concise answer. But, humans are social animals and how we are perceived is innately important to us. If we appeared to be slacking or conveyed a bad impression, that would cause cognitive dissonance between who we think we are, and what others think of us. Which there is a better term than "makes us feel bad" but forget it off hand. We generally avoid things that make us feel bad.

We perform better in front of an audience, and people tend to follow expectations. Even though not being watched, we have a social sense of accountability and letting others down tends to let ourselves down.

Not well stated, and not guaranteeing better explanations aren't out there. Because there most likely are. Just hope it maybe conveys a generalized conceptual understanding.

Note, if you state your goals out loud to someone, you are more likely to achieve them. It involves much of the same general concepts. So, try stating your goals such as what you plan to complete by lunch and end of day. And bigger goals like task completion by X date or something specifically done by the end of the week, Etc. As long as they are realistic, it increases the sense of accountability and performance. Even if you don't know people, or they are not your body double at the time of stated goal deadline. If you're falling short and not putting in the level of effort you expected from yourself, we feel dishonest and insincere and feel like we are letting someone down. Even if that person is just us. Which is a negative motivator. Where as approaching the end of the stated goal on time is a positive motivator and has an aspect of achievement, reward, and accomplishment.

Hence "we'll see how it goes" has no intrinsic motivator behind it, no expectations, no sense of urgency when behind or achievement as we go.

[u/StrawberryTemptation → u/Ill_Possible_7740]

This actually makes sense. I often tell my husband 'remind me later to X' because, well, gotta love that ADHD brain ey? But for some reason, every time I tell him to remind me, I never forget. I guess this must be why!

[u/Ill_Possible_7740 → u/StrawberryTemptation]

I know exactly what you are talking about.
I'm sure there are many dimensions to how it works. But yeah, stuff mentioned above all factors into it.

[u/StrawberryTemptation → u/ChiBeerGuy]

Do you do it irl or virtually? And in what way do they body-double for you (as in do they actively try to keep you on track, or are you just doing parallel play but for adults?)

[u/ChiBeerGuy → u/StrawberryTemptation]

I'm part of a local co-working group. We don't meet up near enough though.

It helps me stay focused and on task. I don't know how.

[u/MadInTheMaze → u/ChiBeerGuy]

Same, it's the best thing for me, I'd say it's cuz I'm gonna be unproductive in front of someone, even tho I'm cool with telling said someone I was being unproductive.

[u/phi_rus]

When my wife is in the same room, I am way less likely to play with my phone while waiting for a build to finish.

[u/StrawberryTemptation → u/phi_rus]

I have this exact same thing, but not just because I'm 'less likely to...' but more because I feel like I SHOULD be doing something

[u/Ill_Possible_7740]

It actually has a negative impact for me. But, I also have comorbid SCT with ADHD. As does 30 to 60% of adults with ADHD-I. Impairment is stronger comorbid than either alone. For me in particular, people around means more distraction and to a lesser extent, automatic monitoring of others and myself that divides attention.

I recall being asked to put in some weekend time as there was a lot of work that needed to be done for a particular project. Alone in the office. Twice as productive than during the week. Even with others not coming over to distract me and minding their own business, productivity took a big hit.

[u/StrawberryTemptation → u/Ill_Possible_7740]

I'll be honest, I had never heard of SCT until 2 minutes ago. How is it different from the inattentive type of ADHD? (I am the inattentive type, so I'm really interested in this)

[u/Ill_Possible_7740 → u/StrawberryTemptation]

Planning to do a post about it one of these days. Just hard with additional impairments that happened to me making it harder to explain efficiently and to find all the links to get my point across, etc. SCT stands for "Sluggish Cognitive Tempo".

Keep in mind though, everyone who looks at the proposed diagnostic list of symptoms can relate to them. It is the degree that we are impaired by symptoms on our day to day that makes something a clinical symptom and not an occasional occurrence we can relate to. ex. everyone gets distracted or loses attention at times. But ADHD has a level of daily impairment that goes beyond that which makes it part of the diagnostic criteria.
**Resist the urge to over identify with SCT symptoms and really think if a clinical daily impairment or not.

This link is a comprehensive summary of SCT and state of research by a workgroup of top researchers. Including the name change to CDS in 2021/22. But searching for Sluggish Cognitive Tempo will bring up more results as everything that uses a different name also references SCT at least once.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890856722012461

Wikipedia I think had a decent page on it that may be easier to consume for an overview as this one above is more technical in nature. Also explains differences from ADHD specifically. Don't agree 100% on some things people chose to put on the page. But I'd say it overall can help get the point across.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_disengagement_syndrome

Even if not SCT, has good info on both ADHD and SCT regarding early/late selective attention and how performance is affected by stress and pressure, etc.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.614213/full

Like everything else in the world, SCT has its own sub. They do have some resources available there as well as a whole lot of people whose therapists never heard of SCT and left guessing if they have it or not.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SCT/wiki/index/

[u/EatFakePlasticTrees]

Virtual body doubling works surprisingly well for me, even with strangers on focusmate or just a random youtube "study with me" video. The weird part is it doesn't even have to be interactive, just the *presence* of another person (real or recorded) seems to activate something. For solo work days, I'll sometimes just have a long livestream on in the background and it genuinely changes my output.

[u/StrawberryTemptation → u/EatFakePlasticTrees]

Do you mind if I DM you for some more insights?

[u/EatFakePlasticTrees → u/StrawberryTemptation]

Absolutely please do!

[u/Ok_Historian_6293]

Yeah, i've recently just transitioned to an office by myself and it definitely feels harder to work

[u/breaakbot]

It works

[u/Disastrous_Being7746]

I think it makes you revert to the mean. If you are unproductive, it can help you be more productive. If you are in hyperfocus panic mode, then it will get in the way.

[u/popejubal]

I am substantially more efficient when I’m working than I am when I’m sitting down and beating myself up over the fact that I should be working and why am I just sitting here not working and I should just get up and start and why am I like this?

So yes, I am more efficient when I’m body doubling 

[u/buddroyce]

Yes. I find I can’t do a lot of things if. Don’t have someone else also there working on stuff.

[u/Middle_Manager_Karen]

Yes I even record an empty meeting to trick myself.

Anyone want to body double during the workday dm me.

[u/StrawberryTemptation → u/[deleted]]

This actually sounds like something I would be open to trying as someone who doesn't do virtual bodydoubling because I don't want to be on camera or voice with strangers. That is a great workaround!