How to use the ‘monk mode’ productivity and life hack – Business Insider
- Josh Wood, the CEO of Bloc, tried the ‘monk-mode’ productivity hack popular on TikTok.
- He said it really works in helping him get big projects and small tasks like checking email done.
- He said the best way to start using monk mode is to begin with small time frames.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Josh Wood, the 32-year-old CEO and founder of the tech hospitality company Bloc, who’s based in London, about his experience trying the productivity hack known as “monk mode.” The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I recently had a big deadline coming up for a new feature within my company, Bloc, and I felt like I was behind and constantly distracted. As the CEO of a startup, you play many different roles, so focus and productivity is incredibly important.
I found out about the productivity hack known as “monk mode” on TikTok in July 2022, from a video by Iman Gadzhi, who’s a young, successful entrepreneur, so I decided to give it a try. As a business owner myself, my TikTok feed is filled with business-related posts, self-help advice, and productivity tips. So I see these kinds of posts all the time from people I respect.
Monk mode is where you commit yourself to completing a goal without any distractions
In monk mode, you take it upon yourself to adopt the isolation and self-discipline practices of monks. There’s a reason monks choose to live in seclusion and silence: It’s the best way to focus on your inner thoughts and achieve a state of mindfulness.
The idea is that you shut out every possible distraction and focus on the task at hand. This means turning off everything — phones, apps, notifications, and email — so nothing can distract you. There’s also an app called Monk Mode that can do this for you.
I’ve tried the Pomodoro technique as well, which involves working in bursts of 25 minutes, followed by a short break, then repeated, but I found 25 minutes of work to be too short. I also found it difficult to motivate myself after the break. You can easily find yourself doing tasks that take longer than five minutes or procrastinating and scrolling on TikTok.
For me, monk mode is better because I can go into this “mode” for a lot longer and not be distracted. Because there are no breaks, there’s less temptation to do something unproductive. For me, the distractions, notifications, and everything else is the problem when it comes to my productivity, so by reducing those as much as possible during the day, I get a lot more …….
