I Tried Monk Mode for 30 Days — My Rules, My Slip-Ups, My Real Results

You know what? I went quiet for a month. I called it monk mode. No party, no scrolling, no fluff. Just work, sleep, food, and walks. I wanted a reset. I also wanted proof I could finish a big thing without drama.
I kept a running diary of every rule and stumble in a separate post—My Rules, My Slip-Ups, My Real Results—if you want the raw notes.

I’m a real person, not a robot. So this wasn’t cute or clean. But it worked. Mostly.

Why I Did It (and What I Wanted)

Quick backstory. I was stuck on a big project. I had a design case study half done. My inbox felt like a junk drawer. I was sleeping weird hours. So I set a simple plan:

Finish the case study and ship it.
Write four new newsletter posts.
Fix my sleep and my snack habit.
Feel calm again. Not perfect. Calm.

I chose January because it’s cold and quiet where I live. Fewer BBQ invites. More tea.

Implementing “monk mode” can significantly enhance productivity by fostering deep focus and minimizing distractions; dedicating uninterrupted time to specific tasks is a proven way to sharpen concentration and efficiency, which is exactly what I was after.

My Monk Mode Rules (Simple, but strict-ish)

I taped these on my fridge. Not cute, just a sheet with a dry marker line through each day.

Phone stays in the kitchen. No phone in bed, ever.
Social apps blocked 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. (I used Freedom and Screen Time.)
Deep work block: 6:30–9:00 a.m., headphones on, email closed.
Walk 8k–10k steps; no “I’ll do it later.”
Food: no sugar snacks on weekdays; water before coffee.
Sleep: lights out by 10:30 p.m., even if the show is spicy.
No alcohol. I made one tiny exception for a birthday. I’ll tell you.
News only once a day, at 12:30 p.m., five minutes, timer on.
Journal three lines in the morning. Just three. No poetry hour.
Read 20 minutes at night (paper book). I kept a cheap paperback on my pillow.
One “green zone” social call per day. 15 minutes max. Timer again.

It looks harsh. It felt clean.

How I Set It Up

I kept it basic. No fancy stack.

Calendar: Google Calendar with a pink block for Deep Work and a blue block for Walk.
Notes: Notion for my tasks, with one page named “Do Today.” Three tasks only.
Music: Spotify “Deep Focus” mix. I also like rain sounds. Honest.
Timer: A $9 kitchen timer, because my phone is a gremlin.
Website block: Freedom. I blocked “everything fun” until 8 p.m.

I also told two close friends. They got it. One teased me, then joined for a week. We texted “done” after the morning block, like gym buddies who don’t lift.
If you prefer an all-in-one dashboard to keep those systems tidy, Monkify bundles calendars, habit trackers, and focus timers in one clean interface.
For a harsher, full-send variant, I studied this write-up—Full Monk Mode for 30 Days: It Helped, It Hurt—and borrowed a few guardrails.

A Real Day From Week 2

6:00 a.m. Wake, water, stretch ten minutes. Real stretch, not pretend.
6:30–9:00 a.m. Deep work. I cleaned my layout and wrote the problem statement.
9:15 a.m. Eggs and toast. I wanted waffles. I did not have waffles. Great sadness.
10:00 a.m. Walk 30 minutes. Cold air, red cheeks, brain reset.
11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. Admin: invoices, email zero, calendar shuffle.
12:30 p.m. News, five minutes. Timer beep. Close.
1:00–3:00 p.m. Light work: polish copy, Figma tweaks.
5:30 p.m. Quick dinner. Chicken, rice, broccoli. Hot sauce saves lives.
8:15 p.m. Read paper book, eyes heavy.
10:20 p.m. Lights out. Phone still in the kitchen like a banished raccoon.

The Wins (Real, Counted, not fluffy)

I finished the case study. Shipped it. Sent it with two job apps.
I wrote four newsletter posts. Two got nice replies. One got a “meh,” which was fair.
My sleep hit 7.5 hours on average. I used my watch to check.
Steps? 27 out of 30 days over 8k. Three days I was grumpy. Still moved.
Screen time dropped from 4h 12m to 1h 35m. My thumb twitched less. That felt odd, then great.
Sugar cravings fell hard by week 3. The first week was a headache. Then quiet.

Where It Hurt (and how I bent the rules)

The birthday thing: I had two small glasses of wine. I had cake. I felt fine. I reset the next morning. No shame spiral.
I broke the “no phone in bed” rule one night after a rough day. Scrolled for 18 minutes. Yes, I checked. Felt gross. Put the phone back in the kitchen like it stole something.
Day 10 was lonely. I missed noise. I added the 15-minute call rule the next day. Huge help.
Work got flat on Day 17. No spark. I took a long walk, changed the font (ha), and came back. It wasn’t magic, but it moved.

However, it's important to be aware of potential challenges associated with monk mode, such as social isolation and the risk of burnout; building in regular breaks, keeping social touchpoints, and balancing work with life are key to avoiding those pitfalls.

I wondered if the pain fades or compounds over a longer haul; this 90-day monk mode deep dive convinced me it’s a different beast after week six.

Surprising Stuff No One Told Me

The house felt louder. The fridge hum. The heater click. It was nice, like background rain.
Food tasted better. Plain yogurt with a drizzle of honey tasted like dessert from a nice cafe.
I drank more tea than seems legal. Peppermint at night. Black tea at 2 p.m. Kept me steady.

Tiny Tactics That Saved Me

The “two-minute rule”: if it takes under two minutes, do it now. Dishes. Email yes/no. Shoe rack chaos. Done.
A “quit time” alarm at 5:30 p.m. If I didn’t stop, I’d keep going and then I’d stare at the ceiling at 1 a.m.
A whiteboard by the door: “Move. Make. Rest.” Cheesy? Maybe. It worked.

Who Should Try Monk Mode?

If you have a clear target. A paper, a demo, a job hunt, a book chapter. Vague goals get dusty.
If you’re noisy inside. Too many tabs open in your mind? This clears space.
If your phone is your boss. You need a break from that little glowing boss.

Who should not? If you’re in a heavy care role, or your job needs live chat all day, strict blocks can fight you. Try a lighter plan.

Start Small If You’re Nervous

Try 7 days with three rules:

Phone sleeps in the kitchen.
One deep work block early.
Walk every day.

Then add more if you like the feel.
Hamza’s popular spin trims the rules to the essentials—Hamza's Monk Mode, 30 Days Later—and shows how flexible the concept can be.

What I Kept After the 30 Days

I did not keep everything. That would be fake. But I kept the big three:

Phone out of the bedroom.
Morning deep work before email.
Daily walk, rain or shine.

I brought back weekend pizza and a movie. Balance is a thing, even for stubborn folks like me.

Another slice of balance was letting my social life breathe again. After a month of near-monastic focus, I felt ready to meet new faces offline instead of just scrolling. If you’re feeling the same post-monk itch and happen to be interested in connecting with vibrant Latina singles nearby, [FuckLocal’s Latina meetup