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“Working from home” and “remote work” have become the norm for more and more people, and it’s a wonderful flexibility that technology has provided. But humans often need to be in the presence of other humans. For our general mental health and well being, and often for us to really focus and do our best work. This is true for most people, and especially those of us with ADHD or other neurodivergence.

In the ADHD community, there is a concept often talked about called “body doubling“, which is very useful to help with increased focus, productivity, and reduced procrastination (turns out just having someone in the room focusing alongside you, even on something unrelated, is very beneficial). It’s particularly effective when paired with a time blocking technique such as The Pomodoro Technique (essentially working in focus periods of 25 mins, separated by short breaks of 5 mins, with a longer break of 20 mins after every 4 focus periods).

As a way to improve my own self-organisation as well as isolation, I decided to live stream my working time with music to aid focus, a Pomodoro timer, and a simple task list to provide some light accountability. I also felt it could help others, and people who wish to work with my stream running in the background to aid their own productivity, can choose their level of engagement (whether it be simply watching, or participating in break time conversation, and task sharing).

Once I started these streams I discovered there is a community of co-working streamers on Twitch already! Primarily based around studying together, and making use of The Pomodoro Technique.

If you have any feedback about these streams or the concept, I would love to hear from you!