In present times, the world greatly revolves around personal development. Moreover, we constantly hear ourselves and others dream about goals, accomplishments, and utopian states of being. Additionally, surrounded by a community of people figuring their lives out, we recurrently see conversations about aspirations and desires however, that is about all there is.
A collective problem of our century is that we are in love with our dreams and conversations about them, however when it comes to fulfilling them, we must surrender the conventional – going to bed late, prevailing leisure, general comfort – and thus we become out-of-place, stranded with ourselves as the only means to achieving what we want.
Our friends are for the most part preoccupied with their own pace of growth, lifestyle and dreams and thus, we inevitably have to split away from the customary “hanging out”, “game nights”, and “dreamy conversations” if we want to go somewhere.
Having this in mind, I will now delve into why anyone, especially in their twenties will need to develop their monk mode practice to lay the path to their utopia.
What is monk mode?
Monk mode means to adopt the self-discipline of monks to isolate yourself for an interval of time where you clear out all distractions, most commonly – phone, people, social media, food, and use the time to work on your goals, thereby also enhancing your focus.
The practice also provides an opportunity to improve self-control to better manage your environment. In addition, while in a state of isolation and enhanced focus you also attain the opportunity to work on many other life-valuable skills such as introspection and self-reflection.
Why do people need to acknowledge it?
Collectively acknowledging the practice will not only boost our individual campaigns but will also propel us as a society. While the world suffers from a slew of problems such as water contamination, food scarcity, poverty etc., our impotence to focus only buries us deeper.
In addition, evolution is in our nature however, with the increasing rise of technology and social media use, dereliction of our obligation to improve our unique cognitive functions such as memory, focus, reasoning, emotions etc., is likely, thus retrogress becomes probable.
By embracing the demeanour of the monks, we can not only start shaping a better future for ourselves by committing to our dreams, but we can also ensure a favourable future for the generations to come.
Benefits
- Increased discernment and awareness
- Control over Goal-Achievement and Personal fulfilment
- Accountability
- Physical and Mental Health
- Refines your Habits and helps you break free from addictions
- Challenges and pushes you forward every minute of it
- Reveals who your functional or supportive friends are
- Cuts out the noise and allows you to work on your focus
- Restricts your unprolific behaviours
- Emotional maturity
How to do Monk mode right
1.1 Define space and time for work and reflection.
Having a place for everything means you associate certain activities with it, therefore when you enter said place, you are more motivated to perform, and your purpose is revealed more clearly. Having time for everything helps you establish a habit, thereby making the work process easier to facilitate.
In addition, by separating where you eat, work, and meditate you create room for focus and concentration, thereby you enhance the quality and experience of these activities.
But fear not, you needn’t have multiple rooms or a mansion – a place for meditation could be a simple rug or corner where you sit to contemplate. A place to eat needn’t be a whole dining room – it could be another corner of your room.
What is important to keep mindful of is that you empower any place you sit in for long periods of time with your energy. Now, if you emanate the energy of a slew of things – such as texting, eating, watching series, working, and reading, your sitting spot becomes associated with all, thus concentrating on the one important thing becomes less likely.
1.2 Pick apt Goals and Track your progress
To pick the right goal, it is important to determine how much you are willing to endure to achieve it. The grander the goal, the more persistence and endurance you will need. Reflecting by writing down the following answers will help you choose the right goal:
- What makes my goal meaningful?
- How long can I tolerate being alone?
- How well does my ambitiousness reflect the goal I have set?
- How long am I willing to wait to see results?
- What are things that will thwart me?
According to the American Psychology Association, the more often you track your progress, the greater the likelihood to achieve your goal. There are several methods from journaling to excel templates to software such as my personal favourite – “Clockify”, which lets you time track, as well as put notes about the sessions afterwards. However, what is crucial is that you track the time you spend working towards your goal and moreover, you do a self-evaluation after every work session/day. To help you with your self-evaluation, I have prepared for you these questions:
- What made the time working on this meaningful?
- How did the time I spent contribute to my goal?
- Which processes can I improve for tomorrow?
- What positive and negative behaviours did I exhibit?
- Which behaviours am I the proudest of?
- How did I feel while doing this?
1.3 Get your habits in check
We’ve all heard we are habitual creatures, however, have you known, approximately 45% of our activities are habitual? What this means is that we live half of each day subconsciously – on autopilot. Shining light on your habits and routine is essential not only to making the most out of each day, but it is also crucial to growing self-awareness and your personal development. Atomic Habits is a must-read for this purpose.
1.4 Acknowledge there will be times when you will feel like quitting
In preparing, you will likely feel excited and eager to hop on the highway, however, you must acknowledge that the road is long and is not all sunshine and rainbows. Ideally, monk mode is all focus, no delays, commitment, and intervals of deep work. Realistically, however, there will be traffic delaying your journey, there will be rocky roads and there will be times when you will tire, wanting to pull over to take a break.
Acknowledging the hardships in the journey only helps you prepare for them. Your downfalls, in other words, “breaks” are imperative to developing monk-like concentration and routine. These moments are not downfalls at all, rather they are opportunities to reflect and learn how to return to work when you don’t feel like it.
Here are 9 ways to make the most out of your breaks
- List the achievements you are proud of from your journey.
- Hone the skills required for your goal.
- Continue developing your habits using the two-minute rule.
- Remind yourself why you do this and the yields that await you.
- Look at yourself from third person and point yourself out from the bigger picture.
- Enjoy your break to the fullest, without feeling any negative emotions towards it .
- Visualize yourself triumphed at the end of the road.
- Refrain from falling back to old unyielding routines.
- Acknowledge your commitment to your goal, even if you are resting.
- Be patient with yourself, progress and dreams take time.
1.5 Configuration – The backbone of Monk Mode
The beauty of Monk Mode is that there is no protocol that works for everyone, thereby every induvial must design a realistic Monk Mode routine for themselves, using others’ only as inspiration. However, although every routine is highly unique, there are several aspects that are common through every monk mode routine:
- Creating a distinct separation between your “work” hours and your “leisure” hours
- Creating a distinct separation between your “work” place and your “leisure” place
- Daily exercise, sufficient sleep, looking after your general health
- Intervals of isolated work – putting away all distractions (a few hours a day, a few days of the week, etc.)
- Gratitude, Meditation, and Journaling to build sustainability and to reflect on your progress
- Building up healthy and yielding habits
1.6 Considerations of Monk Mode
- People who don’t want you to succeed will inevitably be revealed and thus will likely leave your friend circle
- It is generally considered an extreme measure; thus, you have to be careful not to take it too far, else your relationships will suffer
- You won’t be able to avoid the feelings of loneliness, fear, frustration, confusion, boredom, and Instant Gratification thus you will have to learn to deal with them.
- The more you work towards your goal, the easier the goal will become to attain, however if you haven’t worked towards it previously, expect hardships
- You will have to refrain from comfort and solace, thus you must be categorical in your wishes and dreams
- Getting your friends to do it with you is a great idea, however realistically and ideally, you must become your own pillar of support.
- Your environment is crucial. Studies show that if you stay around high-performing people, you are likely going to become like them. Vice versa, staying around unmotivated and lazy people will decrease your performance. Hence, sometimes it will be better to stay alone, rather than with a bad crowd.
Conclusion
Monk Mode is the most potent tool for society, as it is the gateway to mindful living – the practice discloses that we are accountable for the state of our life, and it highlights the way to influence it.
Normalizing Monk Mode will bring us closer and advance us as a society because it divulges the necessary hardships of solitaire, accountability, self-care, introspection, and hard work. In addition, while advancing forward both mentally and physically, I believe our collective ability to express compassion and empathy will improve because we will know we are more or less walking the same road.
Working in our unique Monk Mode protocol is not just a practice, but a skill. Moreover, getting and staying in the state of deep focused work is a gruelling effort, thus it is vital we spend as much time refining this skill to reap the most benefits. This skill is not only the way to take charge of our lives, but it is also an antidote to the maladies of the modern world and social media.
What are some of your own Monk-Mode best practices? How far do you take Monk-Mode?
Share with us below!