When you were a kid, how many times did you try the old “Everyone else is doing it!” argument to get something you wanted, only for your grownups to respond, “If everyone else was jumping off a cliff, would you do it, too?”
It’s hard to come back from that one. Point: grownups.
But lately, we as a society are realizing that, at least in the sphere of productivity, there’s actually significant benefit to doing what everyone else is doing.
Have you heard of body doubling?
Basically, it’s the idea of working independently, together. For our purposes, that’s working independently on our WIPs in community with other authors who are doing the same thing.
There’s not a lot of serious research or hard data yet, but we know anecdotally that body doubling leads to increased productivity, decreased anxiety around our work, and more satisfaction in what we’ve accomplished.
Body doubling works, in my opinion, for three reasons:
1. It involves accountability: It requires planning around when and where to work independently together, and it requires each of us to show up for the other person or people we’ve coordinated with, which makes it a lot harder to bail.
2. It involves intention: Thanks to all that planning, you’re likely to sit down for a body-doubled writing session more prepared than you would for a solo sesh. Instead of spinning your wheels or jumping from task to task, you get down to business because you know what you came to do. (That’s where the decreased anxiety comes in.)
3. It involves social pressure: Tempted to leave your WIP and hop on Instagram for a few minutes? Well, all these other people are typing diligently away, so on second thought, maybe you should keep at it, too.
In short, body doubling is peer pressure, but the good kind.
Not the kind that makes you want to blow curfew or embrace a fashion trend that has no business trending. The kind that makes you want to put more time and energy into your writing because you’re so inspired by all the authors in the (virtual) room with you.
Ready to bring a little body doubling into your writing life? Visit The Inkwell to learn about—and sign up for—upcoming writing sessions and workshops!
