Quick outline:
- What I mean by “full monk mode”
- My rules and tools
- A real day, hour by hour
- Wins that surprised me
- Where it went sideways
- Fixes I made on the fly
- Who should try it (and who shouldn’t)
- My verdict and fast-start tips
So… what is “full monk mode,” really?
It’s a season of focus. No fluff. Fewer choices. You put your head down and work. I did it for 30 days in January. Then I tried a shorter, 10-day run in August. Two very different months, which told me a lot.
I went in for work reasons. Big deadlines. Client handoffs. I also just felt scattered. My brain felt like a dozen tabs, all dinging at once. You know what? I needed quiet. Implementing “monk mode” can significantly enhance productivity by fostering deep focus and minimizing distractions, so I was eager to see if the hype matched reality.
For the full day-by-day journal, numbers, and reflections from that 30-day sprint, you can skim the expanded breakdown over here.
My rules (simple, strict, human)
- Phone in a KSafe time-lock box from 7:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., and again 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
- Freedom app blocking social, news, and shopping sites all day.
- Two 90-minute deep-work blocks. No meetings inside them.
- Gym or long walk daily. Rain counts.
- No alcohol. Simple food. Meal prep on Sunday (big pot of turkey chili, rice, chopped veggies).
- Lights out by 10:30 p.m. No “just one more” episode.
- Three texts allowed per day to family. That’s it.
- Read 20 pages at night. Kindle Paperwhite only.
Was it intense? Yes. But I kept it plain and boring, which helped.
If you want to see how my approach stacks up against Hamza’s stricter version of the challenge, I road-tested his exact checklist for a month and shared every win and wobble right here.
Tools I used (and why they mattered)
- KSafe time-lock container — It kept my phone out of my hand. I can’t “just check one thing” if it’s locked away.
- Freedom app — Blocks sites across my MacBook and iPhone. No loopholes.
- Forest app — I grew silly little trees while I worked. If I touched my phone, the tree died. It sounds goofy. It works.
- Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones + brown noise playlist on Spotify — Instant quiet.
- TimeCube timer on my desk — One click. It starts. No fiddling.
- Notion — I used a simple board: Today / Doing / Done. Drag, done.
- Google Calendar Focus mode — I held space for the deep blocks so people saw “busy.”
I know some folks use nothing and just “have willpower.” I’m not that person. Hardware helped.
Pro tip: if you want a ready-made template for tracking your own monk-mode sprint, check out the free planner at Monkify.
A real day looked like this
- 6:15 a.m. — Wake, stretch, black tea, quick journal. One page. Messy is fine.
- 7:30 a.m. — Phone in the box. Freedom on. Email closed.
- 8:00–9:30 — Deep Work Block 1. I wrote a 12-page brand deck for a retail client.
- 9:30–10:00 — Walk loop around the block, no podcast. Just air.
- 10:00–11:30 — Deep Work Block 2. Built slides and voice notes for the deck.
- 11:30–12:00 — Admin: invoices in Wave, two emails, one Slack check.
- 12:00–12:40 — Lunch. Chili, rice, apple. Not fancy. It hits.
- 12:40–2:00 — Gym. Light lift. Sauna four minutes. Quick shower.
- 2:00–3:30 — Edits with XM5s on. Brown noise. I said no to a surprise “quick call.” I’m proud of that.
- 3:30–5:00 — Project review. Uploaded deck. Left clear notes.
- 5:00 — Phone out of the box. Two texts to my sister, one to my mom. That’s my three.
- 7:00 — Roast veggies, salmon, seltzer. Nothing wild.
- 9:30 — Kindle: I read Show Your Work. I took two tiny notes in the margin.
- 10:15 — Lights out.
Not every day looked this clean, but most did.
Wins that surprised me
- Work moved fast. I finished a 40-page brand deck in 9 days. My normal is two weeks.
- Fewer mistakes. I stopped catching typos after sending. I caught them before.
- Less “context switching.” That’s a fancy way to say I didn’t hop tasks. My brain felt calmer.
- Sleep got deeper. My Garmin showed more deep sleep. And I woke up less puffy.
- Screen time dropped by 3 hours a day. That felt… free.
- Money saved. No late-night scrolling meant no “oh cute sweater” buys.
- Energy. Afternoon slumps didn’t hit as hard. A walk fixed most dips.
- I read three books: Atomic Habits, Four Thousand Weeks, and Show Your Work. I kept one idea from each.
I also shipped two newsletters and cleaned my junk drawer. Tiny, but it felt huge.
Where it went sideways
Still, I knew going in that the practice could surface feelings of isolation and the risk of burnout, so I kept an eye on my mood and energy throughout the month.
- Loneliness. By week two, I missed casual noise. I even missed bad memes.
- Social bumps. I skipped a friend’s trivia night. She understood, but it still stung.
- Perfection trap. When a rule snapped, like when I answered a text at 11 a.m., I felt like I “failed.” That’s not helpful.
- Rebound risk. On day 31, I almost binged on Reels. I caught myself, but still.
- Summer round was harder. August is full of BBQ invites. Saying no felt rude and joyless.
- Food got boring. Chili is great. Four days in a row? I was grumpy.
I also got a low headache the first week. Less caffeine, more water helped.
For anyone who realizes during a monk-mode sprint that they’re craving light, low-maintenance social interaction—think playful chats without the commitment of full-blown dating—this detailed Snapfuck review walks through how the hookup platform works, its safety features, and whether it’s worth reserving a sliver of your limited screen time for some no-strings digital flirting.
If what you’re itching for instead is an offline, face-to-face coffee or a low-stakes walk in the park—but you still refuse to let endless swiping torch your focus—Forest Park locals can jump into Backpage Forest Park for a concise, location-based classifieds feed that surfaces nearby same-day meetups and lets you scratch the social itch without reopening the attention-guzzling mainstream apps.
Fixes I made mid-way (so it felt human)
- Social “office hours.” I added 30 minutes at 5:30 p.m. for voice memos with friends. It kept ties warm.
- One flex window a week. Saturday 3–7 p.m. I said yes to people. I didn’t spiral.
- Rule phrasing: “Guardrails, not laws.” If I slipped, I reset on the next block, not next week.
- Finish line ritual. On day 30, I booked ramen with my sister. Small reward, big mood.
- “Safe list” people. My partner, my mom, my editor. If they called, I picked up.
- Food swaps. Chili two days, then sheet-pan chicken, then pasta with greens. Simple, not sad.
These tweaks saved it. I wish I had used them from day one.
Who should try it
- You have a clear, near deadline. A thesis. A launch. A job hunt.
- Your work needs deep thinking: writing, code, design, research.
- You feel scattered and want a reset. Not forever. A month.
Who shouldn’t:
- You’re a caregiver on call, or your job is urgent by nature.
- You’re in a heavy social season: weddings, travel, holidays.
- You’re healing from burnout. This can feel too sharp.
Curious about stretching the practice to an entire quarter? A detailed 90-day case study— complete with the exact habits, emotions, and tweaks—lives [in this deep dive](https://www.monk