I sit with people while they complete their to-do lists. It's been a surprising way to turn patience into a side hustle.

I've been pleasantly surprised to find that "body doubling" is a promising side hustle for me.

Simone Paget My hairdresser needed help finishing tasks, so I offered to watch her do them as a "body double." This helped make her productive, and in exchange, she's given me discounted and free hair services.

It's benefited both of us and inspired me to turn body doubling into a bigger side hustle.

I never thought of myself as particularly patient.

Then, my hairdresser mentioned that she'd had the same giant basket of unfolded laundry sitting in her living room for six months.

I offered to come over and help — not by doing her laundry, but by being her "body double." " Body doubling " involves doing a task in the presence of another person to make it easier to stay focused, motivated, and on track.

For some people (particularly those with ADHD), simply having another person nearby can help them finally complete tasks that have been sitting on the to-do list for days — or years.

I'm a textbook Virgo and thrive on organization.

I love a color-coded calendar, have a meticulously stocked desk drawer full of cute office supplies, and genuinely find cleaning and organizing my home soothing.

However, I'm also a procrastinator extraordinaire.

I work best when a deadline is on fire.

Although I haven't been formally diagnosed with ADHD , I've found "body doubling" — whether sitting across from a friend in a coffee shop with our laptops or coworking over Zoom — to be the secret to helping me get work done with as little panic as possible.

I thought that if "body doubling" could help me meet my writing deadlines, perhaps it could help my hairdresser tackle some of her most overwhelming tasks.

This arrangement has helped us both — and I've made a friend in the process I didn't think I'd be watching people fold their laundry as a "side hustle," but it's been nice.