How to go into (Half-) Monk Mode [#47]

Today, let’s talk about a productivity trend that has begun to emerge around 2022, and is prized to be “the secret to insane productivity”, “the way to change your life in 30 days”, and whatever other clickbait titles you could possibly imagine. 

It’s called “Monk Mode”. 

It’s radical, and it appears to work.

But my biggest pet peeve with radical solutions is that they’re completely unsustainable. Just like 99% of people won’t follow a ketogenic diet for more than a few weeks, you won’t live in Monk Mode for the rest of your life unless you’re literally a monk.

So I created a version for myself that works sustainable: the half-monk mode.

[1] The Basics of Monk Mode

Fundamentally, Monk Mode is about directing your attention inward instead of outward. You focus on one thing, and abstain from any distractions. 

To quote Niels Bohrmann, who wrote the (imo) best article on Monk Mode: 

“Monk mode is the practice of temporarily cutting out all distractions to achieve one’s goals faster. These distractions include:

• Social media — posting to increase self-esteem
• The news — feasting on human tragedy
• Netflix — mindlessly binge-watching TV shows
• Video games — escaping to virtual worlds
• Socializing — talking about sports and gossip
• Dating apps — randomly hooking up via Tinder

By removing all noise, you free up time and energy to invest in your life’s goal. This could be a business objective, a fitness goal, or a skill-related target.

Oftentimes, monk mode is combined with rules for healthy living. Measures include:

• No junk food
• No alcohol
• No smoking
• No drugs
• No porn
• Regular exercise
• Regular sleeping patterns”

Radical, and functional. Monk Mode isn’t meant to be done forever, but should be reserved for highly intense sprints, in which it might be possible to sustain these radical changes of living. 

But if you already have a life and don’t want to “disappear for a month”, then it’s not for you. I see that it can work as a radical tool to drive change, but if you want consistent change, “Half-Monk Mode” is better. 

[2] Half-Monk Mode 

The best solution for this I’ve found is to just go into Monk Mode until noon, starting when you wake up. Afterwards, you get to do whatever you want, but the hours until noon are holy and not to be wasted. 

This means following the rules from above, just until 12:00pm: 

No Distractions

Charge your phone outside of your bedroom overnight. This way, you won’t be tempted to look at it.

The night before, also make sure that all distracting tabs, email, WhatsApp etc are closed on your laptop, so there’s no temptation here either when you begin working.

Inform the people you interact with that you’re not reachable before 12 (or whichever time you pick). Have a tidy desk. Know the one thing you need to focus on next. 

A Healthy Morning Routine

Wake up around the same time every day. Be mindful, just do one thing at a time (eg. when preparing breakfast, just prepare breakfast without listening to a podcast).

Get outdoors for a quick walk, maybe do some journaling or meditation. Eat a healthy breakfast (I like eggs, avocado, and vegetables). 

Ruthless Execution

Once you have your routine done (more on the topic here), begin working. Get after it for the next 3-4 hours. No distractions. If you need to go to the bathroom, go to the bathroom. If you need another coffee, go make it.

But procrastination is off the menu - you have all the time in the world to procrastinate after 12:00pm. 

This way, instead of deferring gratification for up to three months, you just defer it to the afternoon. Which makes the way of working much more sustainable. 

[3] How is this different from Deep Work?

Not a lot. It’s basically Deep Work with an added layer of rules, like the fact that you don’t check anything even before entering your Deep Work zone. 

But by slapping a label on it, adding a set of rules, and the mental imagery of being “like a monk”, working deeply became easier for me. It’s kind of cool. 

[4] Implementation

First, you need to explain to others that you’re not available before 12:00pm (or whichever time you pick). This seems harder than it is. The conversation goes something like this: 

“Hey, I’m testing this new routine that allows me to get much more work done - but it also involves me not taking any meetings or responding to any messages before 12. Would it be OK to move some of our meetings to the afternoon?” 

“Uh … I don’t know, this isn’t how we work around here.” 

“OK, how about you let me try this for one week, and then we review the results. I’m convinced that I’ll generate massively more output.” 

“OK, sure, go ahead.” 

And then, just make sure you produce a ton of output. Rinse and repeat.

This becomes much easier if you’ve already built trust in your company. In my last job, I had the trust of the people around me that I’d be doing the right thing - so when I started declining (almost) all morning meetings, nobody even batted an eye. 

That’s that. Next. 

The best morning routine begins the night before: 

1. Tidy your desk
2. Figure out the first thing to work on in the morning
3. Remove all distractions from around you 

When you wake up in the morning: 

1. Do whatever you need to do (I like walking, journaling, and eating breakfast). 
2. Execute. 

Then, do the same thing tomorrow. Good things will follow. 

One question for you: 

If you feel like you wouldn’t be able to implement this - why do you feel that way? What’s the obstacle? Reflect, then send me an email.

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