Paper Doll Shares 8 Virtual Co-Working Sites to Amp Up Your Productivity
Last week, in Paper Doll Sees Double: Body Doubling for Productivity, we looked at the concept of body doubling and the mechanisms by which it helps us with productivity and accountability through social pressure, task orientation, biological cues, and extended focus.
My wise colleague Diane Quintana, CPO®, CPO-CD, who has expertise using body doubling with her clients with ADHD, added “…body doubling is a calming strategy. I find that when my clients are anxious or stressed over a particular task, using this strategy – quietly working alongside them – is a calming influence. They get more done in less time and with less stress.”
In that post, I walked through my experiences with body doubling one-on-one with clients, and virtually, in a group setting in co-writing sessions and at a writing retreat. I also laid out how to identify the ideal body-doubling method for your needs and the attributes to consider in seeking out a platform.
Whether you call it social focus, group body doubling, or co-working, if you haven’t been able to find the right mix of support and aren’t eager to create your own, you might want to consider one of the platforms profiled in this post.
FREE CO-WORKING WITH PREMIUM UPGRADES
Groove
Groove bills itself as a free accountability club and is targeted toward solopreneurs. It’s not a networking or venture capital matchmaking site, but it does seem to lean into convivial support and the possibility of making connections.
To start, and “to ensure the trust and safety” of their community, you fill out an online form with basic information: name, email, why you want to try Groove, a project you might like to conquer, and how you found out about Groove.
Next, download the Groove app for your mobile device. From the home screen, start a “groove” session, where you will be joined by one-to-three other participants. The app prompts each person through a one-minute video check-in to share goals for the forthcoming groove.
Next, microphones are muted and cameras are turned off, and you’re presented with a screen to enter your goal and break it into distinct tasks. As you work, you check off the tasks, and your fellow Groovers (Groovies?) can cheer your accomplishments via the in-app text chat.
After 50 minutes (the length of two Pomodoros without a break in between), cameras and microphones are turned back on, and there’s another video check-in to debrief.
Each Groove is exactly 60 minutes, including the worktime and the bookending check-ins. After completing one Groove, you can go right into another or just move on with your day. Groove says it helps users “ditch distraction, find focus, and celebrate small wins through social connection and peer support.”
If Groove assigns someone to your session with whom you’ve grooved before, the app adds a little caption to let you know the folks you’ve previously met (so you can say “Nice to see you again” instead of “Nice to meet you,” preventing social embarrassment for those who don’t really remember names or faces).
Groove operates 24/7 around the world, but notes that you’re most likely to encounter fellow Groovers during regular business hours in the US (and, one assumes, Canada).
In addition to ad hoc sessions with whomever is using the platform, you can also start a private Groove with specific individuals or schedule a Groove for later in the week. The latter is restricted to those who have grooved at least five times previously. Instructions are in the site’s FAQ.
If you’re a solopreneur and are looking for body doubling at no cost, this is a chipper and free option.
I see some potential disadvantages, however. The app is phone based; while some people (read: Millennials and Gen Z) might be comfortable using a phone for this kind of video chat experience and typing goals and tasks into a phone, others may be frustrated.
My vanity has taught me how to set up the light and achieve the best angle when I’m on a video call. Even if talking with strangers, I don’t want to be shot from below and my middle-aged arms can’t comfortably hold a camera up for that long. Also, I can barely type on my phone, so I dictate. I vastly prefer to use a full-sized (with numerical keypad) keyboard with my two desktop iMacs.
Of course, if the overall approach appeals to you, there are a few solutions. I found this inexpensive aluminum phone stand in a variety of colors, including a purple one that matches my iMac.
Additionally, you could use a small Bluetooth keyboard to type on the phone.
It’s not clear how Groove makes its money. Usually, if you are not the consumer (paying the fee) then you are the consumed, being targeted with advertising. Hm.
GoGoDone
I was in the middle of researching this post when Renaissance woman and friend-of-the-blog Kara Cutruzzula of Brass Ring Daily emailed saying, “Since November, I’ve been dropping into “GoGoDone” sessions…Usually small groups, a mix of entrepreneurs and small business owners and marketers. They’ve improved my concentration 110% — and I’m a Questioner! It’s like a free Caveday.”
GoGoDone co-working sessions are conducted over Zoom and are moderated by hosts to keep everything running smoothly. At the start of a session, you share what you’ll be working on during the session, and they recommend bringing tasks at which you’ve been procrastinating.
Work sessions last for 90 or 120 minutes, during which microphones are muted, and there are networking breaks to help “to keep you sharp.”
Participants can Zoom in from anywhere in the world. Look at the GoGoDone calendar to find a session you’d want to join, and then access the session via Zoom link shared in GoGoDone’s Slack community.
(Registering with Slack, a free website companies and organizations use to communicate in a closed environment, instead of via email, is easy; once you join, you’ll have access to the evergreen Zoom link for sesions. There’s no obligation to participate in GoGoDone’s Slack “channels” (i.e., discussion threads).
Sessions are generally available on weekdays from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time (though there are occasional weekend opportunities). This makes it less useful for night owls like Paper Doll but has fantastic opportunities for you early birds!
GoGoDone is designed specifically for solo professionals to get the camaraderie they need to conquer procrastinated-on work, including producing podcasts and newsletters, developing client proposals and doing the actual work, promoting content via social media, writing, building websites, and more.
In addition to the free co-working community, there are GoGoDone Sprints, two hours each Monday through Thursday for two consecutive weeks (so, 16 hours) to get ahead on projects for which you’ve always wanted to work on but have never set aside the time. Check-ins bookend each two-hour session and there’s a short, fun discussion break to keep brains fresh. With GoGoDone Sprints’ structure, masterminding, and community makes it a short-term accountability group combined with body doubling. Sprint participation is limited and costs $99 (with deep discounts for their newsletter subscribers).
(GoGoDone also has a premium community for anyone seeking extra support and guidance specifically on marketing a solo business. This includes mastermind sessions, 1:1 coaching, co-promotion opportunities, and social outreach sessions.)
Focusmate
Pitching itself as a virtual co-working model for anyone who wants to get anything done, Focusmate provides body doubling in a more traditional sense. There are only two participants, you and your randomly-assigned Focusmate partner.
Create an account and then book a session for the time you want, and at the appointment moment, you join a video call. New sessions are available every 15 minutes, so if you’re feeling the need for support, you won’t have to wait long, even on weekends or in the evenings.
Connect via the Focusmate web app in your browser. On your computer, you’ll need to use Chrome. On a mobile device, you can choose Chrome or Safari. You can add virtual backgrounds, screen sharing, and video effects.
Each session is either 25 minutes (the length of a standard Pomodoro), 50 minutes, or 75 minutes, bookended by an opportunity for you each to share your goals and then recap how you did…and celebrate your mutual successes. Your partner remains in a minimized picture-in-picture while you work.
Interestingly, while you are co-working, your camera remains on for the entire session, sound is optional — there’s a mute button — but some people thrive at body doubling when they hear another person’s typing or breathing. However, you are not supposed to converse; there’s a text-based chat for entering the tasks you’re working on, or if you need to communicate. On the plus side, this ensures that you will feel the complete body doubling experience, with the presence of another person matching your energy completing a similarly-styled task.
Although most often used for professional (i.e., desk-based work), the FAQ notes that as long as you keep your camera (and audio) on, you can use the platform for other kinds of tasks, including household tasks like cooking and cleaning, as well as “art, music, writing, reading, even at-home exercise!”
Although partners are typically randomly assigned, you can “favorite” them by tapping the star (☆) next to your partner’s name in a session, on their profile, or on the People page. Then, you can later choose to schedule a “locked-in” Focusmate session with that specific favorited person. Once you favorite someone, you can “snooze” them so you’re not partnered with them again for a set time.
You can use the Availability setting to control who can book scheduled sessions with you: all Focusmate members (except anyone you might have blocked or snoozed) or only favorites, or refuse all invitations to scheduled sessions.
The FAQ notes that, “Accountability is enforced by Focusmate and its community members. If you’re late or don’t show, Focusmate can detect it and your timeliness score will be reduced, and your account can also be frozen. If your partner goofs off during the session, you can report it using the reporting button on the appointment card in your dashboard.” This is great for rule followers who seek a serene experience, but it feels kind of like how you and your Uber driver rate one another — potentially stressful.
I really like that Focusmate talks about the science-based success of the behavioral triggers of the body double method, similar to what we discussed last week: pre-commitment, implementation intentions, social pressure, accountability, task definition, neurotransmitters and brain chemistry and flow.
Focusmate is free for up to three co-working sessions per week; at the Plus level, it’s $6.99/month if billed annually or $9.99/month if billed monthly.
There are also two separate Community and Team plans with special pricing designed to increase interaction and member connection within far-flung communities or companies without direct supervision. Additionally, businesses (especially those with employees who works off-site and without supervision) can reduce remote workers’ sense of isolation while improving productivity and focus.
CO-WORKING MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS
Flown
Want help taking flight with your creative inspiration? Flown’s founder started with Cal Newport’s Deep Work, and then experimented with creating in-person deep work retreats – at a villa in Spain, a chateau in France, and a townhouse in Portugal. (Nice work if you can get it, eh?) COVID scuttled the in-person events, but not the concept, and Flown was born.
Flocks are group co-(deep)working sessions run on Zoom and facilitated by experts. Choose the session types on the dates you want to attend, and Flown sends you calendar invites to ensure you can have the time blocked out, uninterruptible. Click the link in the invitation, turn on your camera, state your goals, and work! Share your achievements at the end!
Flocks have a wide array of styles and focus areas. Deep Dives, offered five times a day, are silent work sessions for anything you want to focus on. After Flockers (attendees) state their goals, everyone settles into two 50-minute deep-working flights; there’s a “quirky” quick break at the one-hour mark to keep your mind fresh.
Twice per day, you can attend a sprint-styke Power Hour where you focus on getting key tasks completed. They’re designed for getting you into a flow state for that productivity boost.
Flown also has four 20-minute morning Take-Off sessions, which include a short meditation, handwritten journaling time, and an opportunity to state your day’s intentions to fellow Flockers. Finally, there are 8-hour freestyle Drop-In sessions; arrive and leave whenever you like to take advantage of body-doubling co-working sessions to get your deep work done.
For those who would like a bit of motivation without actually interacting with other humans, you can watch a Flown Porthole, videos of other people doing deep creative work. Pick the ceramicist, author, sculptor, athlete, or others. It’s faux body doubling, similar in theory to what I discussed in Flow and Faux (Accountability): Productivity, Focus, and Alex Trebek), but more motivating.
Flown also offers three recharging events:
- Airflow — Live, coached breathwork sessions to renew focus and boost well-being, side-by-side with other session attendees.
- Almanac — Nugget of inspiring content designed to help you refresh between Pomodoros or other stretches of work sessions; they’re designed to help “fuel divergent thinking.”
- Awe Walks — Live, guided active meditation walks to help you detach from work and refresh your mind.
Flown offers a 30-day free trial, after which there are two membership options. Join Flown Free and participate in Flocks, Take-Offs, Airflow, and Awe Walks for free on Fridays only; avail yourself of Portholes and other on-demand content twice/month with limited access to Flown’s Academy (guides to deep work) and community. Flown Free members can only schedule one live event at a time.
For $19/month ($225 billed annually) or $25/month (billed monthly), Flown Full offers unlimited access to everything and extra booking options. (UK-based members with ADHD can apply for grants for financial support.)
On the down side, Flocks are only offered on weekdays, which makes it less advantageous for working on a side-hustle outside of your Monday-Friday grind.
Cave Day
Two years ago, this was the best-known, most-researched co-working brand.
Trained focus experts lead Cave Day participants through 1- or 3-hour, pre-scheduled sessions. There are 50+ participants in each session, held via Zoom, though you announce your goals in smaller breakout rooms. Cavers are invited to hide their phones, turn off their mics, keep their cameras on, and settle in for “head-down focus” in their work sprints.
To maintain energy and focus, each Cave session alternates between deep work sprints and invigorating breaks. Based on efficacy research, sprint lengths vary from 45 to 52 minutes to “optimize the brain’s focus capacity.” The exact length is a surprise so you will immerse yourself in work and not watch the clock. They note, “Because of the nature of deep work and distractions, we don’t allow late arrivals. Sorry.” (You can, however, leave early.)
Click on a Cave in the weekly schedule to book it. Ad hoc drop-in sessions are $20, or you can purchase one of three membership types: $30/month (paid annually), $35/month (paid quarterly) or $39.99 for monthly members.
Flow Club
This online co-working option has a sleek, clean look and a focus on achieving flow, and is particularly promoted to professionals with ADHD.
Flow Club has its own web app, which operates inside your browser. There are hundreds of live sessions each week, around the clock, and session lengths can be 60, 90, or 120 minutes in duration.
Book a session listed on the schedule of upcoming options to “pre-commit” and make yourself more likely to attend. (You can schedule at the last minute, though.) Sessions are hosted to keep everything on track, and there are up to eight participants at any session.
Show up at the appointed time; participants share their goals and then the host sets a timer (and may begin playing focus-inducing music to help induce a flow state. (The schedule indicates which sessions have music, in case that’s something you want to avoid.) Meanwhile, cameras stay on, but everyone is muted and focuses on completing their own deep work. At the conclusion of the session, everyone debriefs and celebrates their achievements (or at least their progress).
You can try Flow Club for free, but then it’s $40/month (or $33.33/month if paid annually) for unlimited access.
TWO MORE OPTIONS AT OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE COST SPECTRUM
Social Pomorodo
Perhaps you want something a little more casual? Don’t want to have to register? Social Pomodoro is about as low-fi as you can get and still be on the computer. Choose one of three options:
- Single Player — To get the hang of it, opt for a computer to be your body double.
- Veteran — Once you know what you’re doing, click on this option to be assigned a work buddy. Traffic is relatively low on this platform, so they suggest clicking Veteran status in “idle mode” and wait for someone to join you. (You can use Single Player in another tab simultaneously.)
- Friend in Mind — Want to body double but don’t want a Zoom, Meet, or Teams account? Have a friend head to Social Pomodoro around the same time, and you can click this button to make sure you get put in the same Pomodoro room.
In all three versions, buddies have 120 seconds to one another in the chat box and text about goals for the session. You’ll see the timer count down to ensure you each get time to talk and are ready to hit the ground running.
Next, work for 25 minutes, a standard Pomodoro measurement, without chatting. The one-screen countdown timer helps you keep pace. At the end of the session, there’s another 120 seconds to share how things went.
Social Pomodoro is a quick alternative if you need your feet held to the fire to complete short tasks like making phone inquiries, scheduling appointments, reading school assignments, drafting emails, or doing a brain dump.
On the up side, it’s free, low-tech, and you don’t have to create an account. However, you’re not going to must live body-doubling suppor unless you bring your own.
Spacetime Monotasking
This simultaneously one of the most flexible, most expensive, and most proactively progressive co-working platforms, stating that they are “committed to creating a welcoming environment for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, and people of other systemically marginalized identities.”
Two like-minded women on TikTok founded Spacetime Monotasking (the opposite of multitasking) designed it to “support creatives, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and anyone who wants to use their time differently” by tuning out the outside world and focusing on your priorities. They call it mindfulness in motion.
Spacetime Monotasking hosts live sessions every weekday run through a Discord server. (In case you’re not familiar, think of Discord is a worldwide social media for voice, video, and text chat.) Begin with Spacetime Monotasking’s start page, accept the invitation, and register with Discord.
There are three levels of ongoing memberships: $35 for 5 sessions/month, $55 for 10 sessions/month, and $85/month for unlimited sessions. You can also opt for a drop-in session for $10.
Additionally, individuals can apply for a discounted membership: “Our Boost Rate is intended to uplift BIPOC and others who experience systemic economic disadvantages.” There’s no free trial for the live, hosted monotasking sessions, but you can experience a video version of a Spacetime Monotasking 1-hour sprint:
If you don’t belong to an organization that offers co-working sessions and aren’t up for starting your own, would you try one of these platforms? From free up to $1020/year (with many price points in between), from one body double to a crowd of fellow workers, which appeals to you the most for conquering procrastination and getting into that flow state?
Paper Doll Post:
Thank you for sharing my comment from last week, Julie.
I had no idea there were so many options available. If I were inclined to try one, I would try Focusmate. I like the idea of someone’s picture there – also working.
I participated in a writing work day session a couple of years ago with the Author’s Sig and got my writing work done. I know it can work.
Your comment was really wise and the point deserved to be made as clearly as you made it, so it was a perfect segue into today’s post.
There really weren’t so many options two years ago when I originally wrote about accountability. Caveday and Focusmate existed, but Focusmate was still oriented toward students in many ways; it’s much more robust now. And the Authorship SIG is doing great things with the Tuesday co-writing sessions and the writing retreat we did last month.
My plan is to experiment with all of these platforms that are free or have low drop-in or free trial options to see which would fit my various clients best.
This post is fascinating! Focus is as essential to achieving goals as action is. Putting the accountability piece in place can make the difference between moving forward. One of the things I’ve noticed working with clients virtually is how effective accountability is.
These virtual workspaces offer accountability without the problem-solving piece. And for many, accountability is the part they’re missing to move forward.
Once again, I loved watching the videos. It gave me a good sense of what each platform offered, how to access them, and what to expect. Thank you for sharing and for doing this research. I’m bookmarking this one and will return to it again.
After last week’s deep dive into body doubling, I was really excited to look at the specific platforms for achieving focus. Virtual accountability for our field has so many applications, and while I think the modality is better suited for some tasks than others, I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do with it.
And I agree, the videos really make the platforms’ experiences come alive. Thanks for reading!
Like Diana Quintana, I had NO idea there were so many options! I had heard of FocusMate but none of the others. Such a thorough and well-written post (we can always count on this from you, Julie!). Thanks for doing all the research so we can benefit! I’ll definitely be sharing!
Love the inclusion of Groove, thanks Julie! One clarification – Groove is not exploring an advertising model.
At some point, we’ll likely explore a freemium subscription model, where the core features of Groove will remain free, but will expand other features for a subscription fee.
Thanks again!
Good to know, Brandy. My point was that without advertising or a subscription cost, it’s unclear how you’re staying afloat. (I’m hoping you have a deep-pocket VC so until Groove becomes indispensable, users can still hope it’ll be there a long time.)
I really enjoyed learning more about Groove, and can see how it will help many people.
I didn’t even realize there were so many options out there. I had heard of Focusmate before. I hope to try one of these out at some point.
Aren’t they cool? A few years ago, there were only a few, but the concept has really caught on.
Thanks for reading!
Thank you for educating me about these technology sites for accountability. It is fascinating.
Thanks for reading! Aren’t they cool? I’m going to try them all out to see what I like best and evaluate what might best suit various clients.
This is great information. I’ve only heard of FocusMate but several others look good to me. I like how they are all a little bit different.
I belonged to a traditional co-working space that closed its doors last fall, so I’m still trying to figure out if I need another option. The best part about the group was the social interaction. That’s what I miss the most. But the accountability of working along side others was a great benefit as well.
I’m excited about the variety, too. More body doubling means more productivity. The whole world could embrace this approach and we’d all be so more serene! I’m planning on trying out as many of these as possible; I’ve only used a few of them so far, but I’m getting a sense of what I like the most.
I hope you find a co-working option that helps you achieve all of your goals and makes you feel embraced!
Wow! Thank you so much for researching and presenting this information! I work with small businesses, and we all struggle with effectively managing our group projects. I’m sharing this one with them. We usually use Zoom.
I’m so glad you and your clients will find it helpful. It’s been an interesting service niche to research, and I’m trying to test them all out. I think we all like Zoom best, but I’m exploring every option I can.
Thanks, Julie! I was going to recommend Focusmate to a friend, but only because it was the only such tool I’d heard of. It’s always nice to have options!
Because you mentioned that last week, I was thinking of you and your friend when I wrote the section on Focusmate. I’m glad to serve up a variety pack from which to choose!
Thanks Julie for this roundup! Excellent.
Here in San Francisco, what works for me right now: When I need body-doubling, I spontaneously take my laptop to an internet cafes where they have parklets outside. Often least one solopreneur is working there already, intensely. Often total strangers. We exchange warm hello’s, sum up what we’re working on. Then dig into our work, exchanging quick summarized reports every 20 min or so. Nice networking sometimes. This way I get outdoors, get some exercise and natural daylight. Plus dog kisses, from awesome dogs there to picnic with their owners.
The only body-double I did not appreciate, among many: Two young startup founders. The startup is designed to funnel senior citizens into taking anti-depressants because we’re assumed to be depressed. As a Senior myself… I’m too engaged in meaningful work to be depressed.
“Parklet” is a novel concept; I don’t think we have anything like that here, but then again, we don’t have internet cafés. It sounds like you’ve found the perfect way to get some community body doubling in your area, predatory startup dudes notwithstanding.