How I Turned My Dad's Snoring into a Productivity Hack

And you can too

When I was in high school, I used to make my dad sit with me when I had to pull all-nighters. I had this habit of procrastinating when it came to writing papers (an ADHD thing, I’ve discovered).

My study table was located in the living room of my childhood home. The night before a paper was due, I’d chain myself there, committed to getting the words out. But something about the darkness and silence made doing the work unbearable.

So I started asking my dad to stay up with me. Somehow with him there, I felt like I could keep going. He’d often sit on the couch and read a book or write in his notebook. After an hour or two, he’d inevitably fall asleep snoring softly in the awkward half-lean position he was sitting in.

But even my dad loudly sleeping was better than sitting in that room alone with nothing but a blank screen and the dark night to keep me company.

Over a decade later, when I got my ADHD diagnosis so many of my little quirks and habits started making sense. In ADHD-specific therapy I learned that these habits are actually coping strategies. They have names and are prescribed to people like me to help us manage our atypical brain.

Having another person in the room to help with focus is called body doubling. Giving this practice a name and using it more intentionally has made being a responsible adult feel less burdensome.

I’ve made my husband sit next to me on the couch while I do sundry things like pay online bills, respond to emails and return phone calls. He doesn’t do or say anything, but him being there helps a lot. Sometimes, you just need another body.

This habit, however, of having another person in the room when doing difficult work is something that I believe even neurotypical people benefit from. I think this is why some people get so much more work done when they’re in a coffee shop, or a library, or any other place that is not a lonely room.

It’s brilliant that writers of LockedIn meet every Friday and Monday to write silently together over Zoom.

Body doubling might help you too, dear readers. If there’s something on your to-do list that you dread getting done, ask someone to sit in the room with you while you do it. They don’t have to help you, or even talk to you. Just have them sit there in solidarity.

Let me know if it helps.

Write on,

Noor