Try TikTok's 'Monk Mode' to Help You Kickstart Better Habits

There's chatter on TikTok right now about going "monk mode," but if you watch enough videos on the subject, you'll realize this means different things to different people. At its core, though, the idea of engaging with your work in a distraction-free environment is timeless. In fact, even "monk mode" has been around as a specific concept since the early 2000s and has experienced periodic surges of popularity on Google over the years. Here's how to make it work for you.

Define what your "monk mode" is

When you're in monk mode, you're approximating what monks do, or at least part of it. Imagine a monk in your mind. What is he doing? Whatever it is, it's probably calm and focused. I imagine a monk in plain clothes, sitting at a desk in an unadorned room, reading a religious text, fully immersed in the task at hand. I had friends in high school who went on to be monks, and I know that's a reductive oversimplification of what they do—but this "mode" relies on the baseline stereotype of a calm, focused person engaging in their activities, so that's what we're working with.

At its most basic, entering monk mode means committing to deep work, or work that is solely focused on one task, with no attempt at multitasking and no allowances for distractions like social media. Deep work is a concept I've discussed here before, so how is monk mode different? Well, first of all, it's got a catchier name and is well-suited to the viral TikTok economy, but second of all, it's different if you make it different. Some creators say "monk mode" to just mean deep work, using it to identify moments of the day when they turn off their notifications, buckle down, and focus on one task. Others, though, take it to a different level entirely, committing to weeks or months that can include, among other things, restricting their access to social media all the time, not drinking alcohol or smoking weed, not consuming adult content, meditating or reading a set amount of time each day, or avoiding going out socially.

Clearly, there's a significant difference between committing to a blocked period of uninterrupted work on a particular task and taking on a 60- or 90-day quest to rid your entire life of anything that might be a distraction. There's a happy medium in there: You can commit to undertaking the same block of work time every day for a set amount of days. In fact, that's how a lot of people said they did it in the pre-TikTok era. If you want to begin a habit or reach a goal—you want to go to the gym more consistently or start a business—block out a certain amount of time each day, set a goal of working on it with no distractions at that time every day, and do it for 90 days. That's a monk-mode approach that doesn't have to involve giving up half the activities in your life—and it provides a solid entry point to this whole endeavor.

What to keep in mind about monk mode

The more you watch these videos, the more they start veering into manosphere territory, with TikToks featuring jacked dudes who claim to be able to tell you how to "escape the matrix." It's grifty business and you shouldn't feel bad if you can't cut out social media, seeing your friends, or drinking your morning coffee just to appease a stranger who would actually lose their livelihood if you did stop going on social media and is probably betting the farm on the assumption that you won't.

Resetting your goals and committing to sustained, deep work on them is a good thing, but do it in a way that is sustainable for you and actually makes sense. Going monk mode can really be as simple as committing to waking up an hour earlier every day and using that bonus hour to work, undistracted, on your passion project before emails start coming in during your 9-to-5. If you feel like cutting out weed or clubs or whatever behaviors or habits you think are holding you back, go for it, but take time to consider what your problems or barriers are before eliminating something from your life based on the advice of some guy on TikTok. Personally, when I engage in my own version of what we're now calling monk mode, I don't focus on the "bad" things I can get rid of, but rather, on the "good" things I can add in, then structure my three-month plan around meeting the goal of engaging sincerely and routinely with those good things.

As I said, I've known some monks. If there's one thing I know about them, it's that they're not miserable or actively trying to punish themselves. They focus on their responsibilities because it's the right thing to do and it leads to greater fulfillment. Try starting there. Oh, and put your phone on Do Not Disturb.

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