Advice Column: Body Doubling for ADD

Question: I’m a master of procrastination. My friend mentioned “body doubling” for my ADD. What is it, and does it work?

Answer: Body doubling means working alongside another person while you tackle a task you’d otherwise avoid or struggle to start. The other person is just there, doing their own thing, while you do yours. Think of it as adult parallel play: two people in the same room, each on a separate task, each benefiting from the other’s presence.

Getting Started

For a lot of people with ADHD, this works because of how executive function operates. Starting a task, especially a boring one, requires a kind of internal activation burst that can be hard to generate alone. Another person in the room provides some of that energy externally. There’s also a mild social pull that keeps you anchored: if someone else is nearby the pull to check your phone or wander off loses some of its grip.

Calming the System

It also has a calming effect on the nervous system. Sitting next to someone who is focused can help regulate our minds that are either racing or under-stimulated by giving our brain a structure it’s missing on its own. This contrasts with to what we usually rely on like willpower, guilt, procrastination caused urgency, or “self-discipline.”

Body doubling can happen in person, like a friend sitting at your kitchen table while you pay bills or start a homework assignment.

It’s Limitations

One caution: body doubling helps with initiation and sustained attention, but it isn’t a substitute for treatment when ADHD symptoms are significantly affecting your work, relationships, or daily functioning. If someone is relying on it as their main coping tool and still struggling, that’s time to talk to a clinician who specializes in executive functioning who can look at the full picture with or even consider an evaluation with a psychiatrist to discuss if medication might be beneficial for optimal daily functioning.

If you want to try body doubling, start small. A weekly session, even 30 minutes, can tell you a lot about whether this strategy fits how your brain works.