Focus Rooms for Online Body Doubling

Working alone makes you procrastinate. Your phone distracts you, motivation disappears, and tasks pile up. Body doubling works—having others present whilst you work creates accountability that helps you actually finish tasks.

Cosmos Focus Rooms bring library-style co-working directly into your virtual office. Enter a room, share what you're working on, and get focused work done with your team or community—no scheduling required, no time limits, just instant accountability.

What is it?

Focus Rooms are designated spaces in Cosmos where microphones stay muted and cameras stay on for silent co-working sessions. Everyone shares their task and duration, creating a focused environment where you can see others working alongside you—just like being in a library or office, but remote.

Why use it?

• Get instant accountability without scheduling sessions or booking time slots
• Visual accountability keeps you on task—see others working, harder to procrastinate
• No time limits—focus for as long as you need, finish early, or extend your session
• Focus with your actual team or community, not random strangers
• Enforced silence protects everyone's flow state whilst visible cameras maintain accountability
• See what everyone's working on at a glance to create natural motivation

How it works

Find or convert a room to a Focus Room. When you enter a Focus Room, you'll see a prompt to share what you want to accomplish and set your focus duration (30, 60, 90 mins, or custom), then click Start. Feel free to invite others in the space to do a focus session.

Your task and remaining time appear on your video tile for everyone to see. Microphones remain muted throughout to protect everyone's concentration, whilst cameras stay enabled to maintain accountability.

This is body doubling—working alongside others creates the social facilitation effect that helps you stay focused.

Why it matters

• Focus with your team, not strangers - "Remote workers find it difficult to remain motivated and keep themselves accountable when working from home. It impacts their productivity." Focus Rooms solve this by letting you work alongside your actual teammates or community members—people you know and trust, not random strangers from a matching algorithm.
• Visual accountability creates natural motivation - "This helps with accountability and improves productivity for people who get distracted easily." Seeing others working on their video tiles creates social facilitation—the psychological effect where the presence of others improves your performance on tasks. It's harder to open your phone when you see teammates focused on their work.
• Enforced silent environment protects flow - Discord study servers and unstructured co-working lack structure. Focus Rooms enforce muted microphones so no one disrupts your concentration, whilst keeping cameras on for accountability. This creates the perfect balance: silent focus with visible presence.
• Part of your virtual office ecosystem - Focus Rooms are already part of Cosmos—walk from your Personal Room to a Focus Room when you need deep work, then return when you're done. No app-switching, no separate subscriptions, no friction.

Pro Tips

• Share your specific task at the start—research shows this triples the odds of completing it by creating commitment and specificity
• Use 90-minute sessions for deep work requiring extended concentration on complex problems
• Use Focus Rooms for accountability on procrastinated tasks—"I've been putting off this report for 3 days" becomes easier when teammates see you committed to finishing it