Productivity through accountability ✍️
I'm having issues with working from home and being productive. I used to be laser-focused, but ever since the COVID pandemic and the shift to full-time remote work, I feel like my productivity has gradually dropped.
I've read plenty of articles and watched countless videos about how to stay productive: have a boot-up routine, do a fake commute, keep a clear to-do list, prepare your day in advance... It all makes sense. But still, there are days when my mind simply isn’t in the right space, and it just says no to all those good intentions.
In the past months, I’ve been looking into ways to overcome this, like body doubling, where you go online with others and share what you're working on to keep each other accountable. It works, to a degree. But I’m not the extroverted type who’s comfortable sharing voice or video, and most sessions are limited to 1 to 1.5 hours. While I can be productive during that session, I can struggle during other parts of the day.
Recently, Ava shared her wins, and one thing she mentioned was how helpful it is to simply share your tasks with someone else (on Discord). That got me thinking on whether it really can be that simple: to share your tasks, and let others keep you accountable.
But then the question: Where do I share them? And who would actually keep me accountable?
I could ask friends, family or someone from work, but it feels strange to admit to them I'm not always productive.
At first, I found bodydoubling.com, which has a Discord dedicated to accountability, sharing tasks and supporting each other. But with so many active users and conversations going on, I felt a bit lost. It wasn’t clear if anyone would actually take the time to follow up on what I shared.
One of the best things I did last year was join the omg.lol community. It’s a nice, small, and safe space where like-minded people share all kinds of things and support each other. Omg.lol also comes with many benefits, including access to their Discord. When I found out about that, I had a look and discovered the #productivity channel, where people talk about their weekly planning. After chatting with a few members, I started posting my daily tasks in that channel, and surprisingly, it gave me a real sense of accountability.
I don’t expect the other members to follow up directly, although some did. But simply writing things down in the morning adds a bit of pressure to actually complete what I wrote. I could lie, of course, but I don’t. Doing so would just make me feel worse and guilty afterwards. Even though I don’t really know the other people in that channel, I somehow feel like I owe it to them to do what I said I would.
The productivity channel group on omg.lol is also relatively small, which creates a sense of familiarity, and that adds even more to the accountability effect. Over time, we’ve started to get to know each other, and that led to more sharing and conversations.
I’ve been using this form of accountability for more than a week now, and it really does help me stay on track. It doesn’t completely eliminate those off days when my mind’s just not cooperating, but as I get to know the people in the group, I feel more inclined not to let them down.
I know many of you might struggle with the same challenges around procrastination and focus.
So I can only encourage you to give this approach a try. While joining omg.lol is one option (and it comes with some nice perks), there are other, even free, communities like bodydoubling.com that offer similar value.
Heck, you can also reach out to me, and I'll do my best to follow up.
Or, if there’s interest, maybe we can even set up a Bear Blog Discord where we support each other and keep one another accountable. I’d be more than happy to help get it started.
Thanks for reading!
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