How I Unlocked My Productivity with Flow Club: Online Body Doubling and Its Benefits for Neurodiverse Learners (& Tutors!)

How I Unlocked My Productivity with Flow Club: Online Body Doubling and Its Benefits for Neurodiverse Learners (& Tutors!)

Some of the links provided in this blog post are affiliate links. This means that I may earn a discount for my own flow membership, at no extra cost to you, if you decide to make a purchase after clicking through the link. Any blog with a recommendation, is written with my honest opinions.

As an online tutor and a lifelong learner, I’m always on the lookout for tools that can help me be more productive. If we’re honest, anything that excites the brain bees gets a trial, so recently, I decided to try Flow Club. Usually, these things are great, then fizzle, but this week I attended my 50th session on Flow, so now that I know it works, I wanted to share with you how it has transformed my work and study habits.

50 Flow Sessions Congratulations

What is Flow Club?

Flow Club is a platform that uses the body doubling technique to help individuals focus on their tasks. It’s a virtual space where you can work alongside others in a structured, timed manner. Think of it like a Zoom call with a set of other people who want to get on with some work & will hold you to account if you just sit there and faff!

As someone who mainly works from home, it can get lonely, but when I’m in the office being “in a flow meeting” also stops people from quite literally interrupting my flow. The platform allows you to schedule focused work sessions, making it easier to stay on task and get things done.

What is Body Doubling?

Body doubling is a technique often used to help people with neurodiversity, particularly those with ADHD, to focus better. The concept is simple: the presence of another person working silently alongside you can create a calming effect, helping to increase focus and productivity.

Imagine you’re in a room with a friend, both of you working quietly on your own tasks. Even though you’re not interacting, the mere presence of your friend can make it easier for you to concentrate on your work. This is the essence of body doubling and its effects are exponentially more powerful if you struggle with focus or anxiety.

Body Doubling and Neurodiverse Learners

image of a diary / planner with a pen

For neurodiverse learners, particularly those with ADHD, body doubling can be a game-changer. ADHD can make it challenging to focus on tasks, especially those that require sustained attention like revision or completing assignments and homework. Body doubling can help create a sense of calm and focus, making it easier to stay on task and get things done.

For example, a student with ADHD might find it easier to concentrate on their homework if they’re in the same room with a friend who’s also working quietly. This isn’t dissimilar from going to a library to do your homework (fond memories of the late 1980s & 90s there!) – you’re not directly interacting with others studying in the library, but because you all have a similar focus, it’s easier to get into the flow of studying.

How I Use Flow Club

I’ve found Flow Club to be incredibly helpful when I need to focus on longer tasks, such as marking student work or updating my website. The platform’s structure of timed work sessions helps break down large tasks into manageable chunks, making it easier to stay focused and make progress. In fact, this blog was finished thanks to me joining a 60 minute pomodoro session.

In the session we:

  • join and type in a short list of what we want to get done in that hour
  • take 5 minutes for everyone to say what their session goals are & say hi (this might be verbal or typed)
  • work quietly for 20 minutes while the host shares music which can be muted if you want
  • take a 5 minute optional break for water & a stretch
  • work quietly for another 20 minutes
  • take 5 minutes at the end to say what we achieved (there’s the accountability!)

… then join another!

Flow Club has also been instrumental in helping me complete assignments for my postgraduate course with the Open University. With several 4000 word assignments to complete alongside running a company, and wrangling my own home ed teens, Flow’s structure of timed work sessions helps break down large tasks into manageable chunks, making it easier to stay focused and make progress. It’s also nice seeing familiar faces in some groups and no matter what weird & wonderful time I’m working, there’s a flow session running.

Flow Club for Students

It’s important to be aware that these are video calls with strangers, so like any platform, if you’re under 18 these should be used with a parent / guardian with you at all times, and I would recommend with your camera off. Consider this similar to an open Discord call & take the same safety precautions.

For learners, particularly for A Level and beyond, Flow Club can be a game-changer. Because the platform was built for professional people working from home, there’s an automatic expectation that everyone will be working and supportive of each other. This not only helps with focus and productivity but also aids in time management. By scheduling work sessions, studying becomes a concrete plan rather than an abstract idea. This can be particularly helpful during exam periods when managing study time effectively is crucial. For me, it also means that I get a regular reminder to stop & drink some water – without pomodoro I’d be more dehydrated than my house plants!

The Flexibility of Flow Club

One of the features I love about Flow Club is the option to join sessions with or without verbal communication. This means you can choose a session that suits your preference or your current environment. I’ve even joined a session from my garden while updating my calendar!

Another great feature is the music played by hosts during sessions. This can help create a conducive work environment and further enhance focus. You can listen to my current “Eat the Frog” host playlist here. Not everyone plays music with lyrics – my sessions tend to run on a Friday afternoon as I attack the distance learning marking, so upbeat helps, but others use lo-fi, classical, or bring your own.

Get Extra Freebies

As I host sessions, you can use my affiliate link, this will let you try Flow Club for 14 days for free, instead of the usual 7-day trial. Whether you’re a tutor, a student, or anyone looking to improve their focus and get more done, I highly recommend giving Flow Club a try.

Am I Revising Too Much?

With exam season about to get into full swing after several years of teacher assessment, it seems a strange question to ask, but stop and ask yourself “Am I revising too much?” Just how much is too much? And how much should you study during the holidays leading up to exams?

Even teachers and tutors are out of practice and are finding this year a shock to the system with revision. Over the past few years, our skills in striking a delicate balance between head in the books and head space need sharpening. In particular, those of you sitting A Levels in 2022 are the first in generations to be sitting exams for the first time at age 18.

Exams are not just about the ability to simply recall key words, but being able to apply then in context; and this is where long term memory techniques are needed! Comitting information to your long term memory requires a combination of repetation of similar topics in small chunks, and a low stress environment.

According to Barnaby Lennon, ICS (Independent School Council) Chairman and former Headmaster of Harrow, students should be revising for 7 hours each day for most of the Easter Holidays. This applies to both gcse and a level students. Whilst I don’t entirely disagree with him (and certainly don’t disagree with his methods), my own approach uses the 10-minute approach that can be applied to any year group.

The 10 minute method is usually applied to the amount of time for homework during a usual term time. But can be easily adapted to plan revision during the holidays full stop new line the system suggests 10 minutes of study for each year of education per day. For example, in year 11 in the UK, you’ve been in formal education for 12 years:

12 x 10 minutes = 120 minutes or 2 hours per night

This means that over 5 days you’ll be studying 2 hours per night or 10 hours per week when also attending school with usual lessons.

Revision Takes Time
Revision takes time. But how long?

Using Barnaby Lennon’s theory, if you continue your 2 hours of homework time throughout the holidays and add the time you would usually be in class (5 hours) then 7 hours makes perfect sense. However, class time also includes group discussion, admin (register, answering questions, other disruptions) so working individually may not actually require quite so long.

Instead, try this equation for working out your revision schedule (even if your exams are looming large, it’s not too late to set a schedule!):

10 Minute Rule (TMR)  = (Year Group + 1) x 10 minutes

TMR x 5

Add (2 x Number of Subjects)

Using this, the average Year 11 with eight GCSE subjects could calculate their time in the following way:

TMR = (11 + 1) x 10 = 120 minutes per day (2 hours)

(TMR x 5) + (Subjects x 2)

(2 x 5) + (8 x 2)

10 + 16

= 26 Hours per week during the holidays

  OR

  5.2 hours each day

But how do I spend that much time studying?!

Breaking down your revision into manageable chunks will help. using the calculation above, you could cover all 8 subjects each day with 40 minutes per subject.

Study for 80 minutes, then build in a 20-minute break. The example below shows how you could divide your eight subjects into smaller, more manageable daily chunks. This is a technique called “time chunking’ that many bloggers and vloggers use to maximise their time:

9.00English
9.40Maths
10.20BREAK
10.40History
11.20German
11.40LUNCH
12.40Computer Science
1.20Science 1
1.40BREAK
2.20Music
2.40Science 2
3.20FREEDOM!


For the days you want to go out with friends, or just have a little downtime, split the study in two or get started little earlier. Don’t be tempted to remove the breaks though! It’s important to give your brain some time to digest the information – just like you wouldn’t go for a run straight after a meal.


If you’re struggling to set out your study plan, you can always use a timetable templates like my Painlessly Planned Revision planner to help get organised. Just remember to spend more time revising then planning!