Three story pitches I’d been meaning to send but hadn’t gotten around to. One half-finished essay. A barely started novel. A nonfiction book proposal I’d outlined but never completed.
When I looked at the pile of unfinished projects strewn across my desk late last year, I realized I’d fallen into a familiar trap: I’d stopped finishing.
As a freelance journalist and author whose success and income depend on my ability to complete and send out projects, this was not good news. I needed to fix it—and fix it fast.
So I entered “monk mode.”
And it changed everything.
What Is Monk Mode?
“Monk mode,” a term that gained popularity on platforms like TikTok, is, at its core, a productivity hack inspired by the Zen-like focus of monks. Think of it as a self-improvement retreat within your own life, lasting anywhere from a few days to several weeks. (And no, there’s no requirement to believe in any higher power.)
This personal development trend took off on TikTok last year, with #monkmode racking up more than 77 million views.
Monk mode is all about embracing principles like mindfulness, minimalism and purposeful work. The idea is to unplug from the usual chaos and focus on what truly matters by giving yourself permission to concentrate solely on the task at hand.
“In our hyper-connected world, we’re constantly bombarded with distractions,” says Peter Shankman, keynote speaker, marketing expert and founder of Source of Sources. “It’s like trying to read a book while standing in the middle of Times Square. Monk mode offers a respite from this chaos by challenging you to focus on what truly matters, setting aside a dedicated period for deep work and reflection.”
While many are using it to simply ignore distractions and embrace focused work, others find it helpful to give up bad habits such as drinking alcohol, eating junk food, smoking pot or excessive use of social media.
“This isn’t just a productivity hack; it’s a lifestyle shift that encourages you to be intentional with your time,” Shankman says.
The Benefits Of Monk Mode
Monk mode is like putting your brain on a high-performance cleanse—it strips away the distractions, sharpens your focus and boosts your self-discipline. But it’s not just about being more productive. People who dive into monk mode might find that their mental and physical well-being gets a serious upgrade, too.
Jonathan Milligan, an online business coach and author of the Your Message Matters book series, has used the principles of monk mode to publish four full-length books, four audiobooks, four companion workbooks and four companion courses in the last year alone. He says one of the biggest benefits he’s seen from monk mode is enhanced focus. “It works well because of the mindset you have to bring to it,” he says. “You have to stop procrastinating. You’ve got a short time frame. … It’s heavy on the massive action that you’re going to take.” Milligan says that, for creative people especially, monk mode can nurture the ability to get in and stay in creative mode for extended periods of time without falling prey to distractions.
A survey of almost 2,000 full-time office workers in the UK found that, on average, they were productive for no more than 2 hours and 53 minutes out of every working day. Scrolling through social media was cited as the biggest distraction, followed by reading news websites and social interactions with colleagues. A LinkedIn update, a ping from a Slack message or a new podcast notification is sometimes all it takes to bring you out of flow.
“Monk mode was particularly effective for me because it allowed me to leverage my neurodivergent brain in the best possible way,” Shankman explains. “As someone with ADHD, my mind is always racing, jumping from one idea to another. Monk mode gave me the structure I needed to channel that energy into deep, productive work.” Shankman’s key to success was in eliminating distractions, which forced his brain to focus on the task at hand. “The intentional isolation from distractions allowed me to enter a state of flow, where my mind could operate at its peak performance. Essentially, monk mode created a controlled environment where my ADHD could function as a superpower, not a limitation.”
How To Create Your Own Monk Mode Practice
There are many ways to embrace monk mode, but if you’re looking for more than just a regurgitated productivity hack, it’s important to set parameters for what your practice and approach will look like. Shankman recommends starting small. “It might be as simple as turning off notifications or dedicating certain hours of your day solely to deep work.”
1. Pick A Goal
Monk mode is not simply about improving your productivity and getting through your to-do list. It’s about homing in on a specific goal or milestone with an extreme level of focus—which is why the very first thing you want to do in this process is to set a clear goal for what you want to achieve during monk mode. Further, set a specific period of time by which you want to achieve it.
Many people start with revenue goals when they’re trying monk mode for the first time, but Milligan says this is a mistake since revenue is not always in your control. He recommends focusing on specific actions or outcomes that help produce that revenue.
For example, if you want to get published in a magazine or newspaper, you could set a goal to send 30 pitches in 30 days. This is the exact process I used to become a contributor to TIME, The New York Times, ELLE and several other publications.
Depending on your goal and personality, this could be a multi-week or even multi-month goal, though the sweet spot is often between a week and 30 days, according to Milligan.
2. Challenge Yourself
One of the best ways to use monk mode is to challenge yourself to reach new and greater heights. This is exactly what Shankman did when writing his latest book, which he finished in two weeks. “My routine was rigid: I committed to waking up at 4 a.m. each day, using those early hours when the world was quiet,” he says. He structured each of his days around writing blocks, interspersed with exercise sessions—either running or skydiving, which helped him reset mentally and physically. “My rule was simple: No leaving the workspace until I hit that day’s milestone.”
The result, Shankman says, was remarkable. “I found that my writing output increased by 70%, and the quality of ideas that emerged during these periods was beyond what I could have achieved in a more fragmented work environment.”
3. Incorporate A Mindfulness Practice
When I moved from New Delhi to London a decade ago to start my entrepreneurial journey, one of the best pieces of advice I received from a mentor was to make good mental health a priority. “You cannot build a business when you’re constantly crashing,” he said. “Your mind is your greatest asset in business. You cannot achieve your true potential when it’s constantly under attack.”
I took my mentor’s advice to heart and made self-reflection and mindset work a daily habit, allowing me to escape the demands of hustle culture and practice mindful decision-making that worked for my life and personality.
“Monk mode can be intense, so it’s important to build in time for rest and reflection,” Shankman says. “This balance will not only keep you productive but also help you sustain the practice over the long term.”
Photo by Inside Creative House/Shutterstock
