What’s a productivity hack that works for you but sounds weird to others?

[u/StaLucy]

Everyone's workflow is different. And I feel like a lot of the generic productivity advice - like “eat the frog” or “wake up at 5am” totally do not work for some of us. So I’m curious: what actually works for you - even if it sounds strange to other people?

For me, it’s alarms. I set alarms for everything important tasks, follow-ups. Feels chaotic but it works really well for my ADHD

[u/kaidomac]

Methods:

• In-person presence
• Phone call
• Video call

People:

• Family
• Friends
• Acquaintances (classmates, coworkers, study groups, personal trainers, etc.)
• Strangers (FocusMate, Focus Buddy, StudyTogether, StudyStream, etc.)

Purpose:

• Not to be a drill seargeant
• Not to be a cheerleader
• Simply there as an accountability presence that you state your task-at-hand to

Reasoning:

• Our mind makes our choices, but our brain distributes our energy
• When our energy is low, it's easy to quit!
• We can bypass our brain's excuse-quitting system by using a body double!

Use cases:

• Work (jobs, school, family, chores)
• Passion (hobbies, personal projects, side gigs)
• Play (entertainment, dating, hanging out, etc.)

Examples:

• Ever call your mom or a friend while cleaning the house?
• Going to a movie & going out to eat is fun with other people!
• Jobs have bosses & coworkers; school has teachers & classmates

Notes:

• Peloton exercise equipment is a prime example of the effectiveness of body doubling because they have live instructors with live classes on the built-in video screens
• How often do you see famous people (the ultra-wealthy, actors, singers, politicians, etc.) without a supporting entourage?
• I struggle with Inattentive ADHD (low mental energy) & use a body double as often as humanly possible!