I’m Kayla, and I actually used “monk mode on” for a full month. Not a cute weekend. A month. I wanted quiet, real work time, and fewer “oops, where did my day go?” moments. You know what? I got both—most days. If you want the play-by-play of the experiment that sparked my own, check out this original 30-day monk-mode log that convinced me to hit the switch.
Why I even tried this
I hit a wall in March. My screen time was over 5 hours a day. My drafts folder looked sad. Even mainstream business outlets have caught on; a recent Forbes piece argues that embracing a deliberate “monk-mode” block is one of the fastest ways to reclaim productive hours. So I made a simple rule for weekdays: flip monk mode on, make my thing, then come up for air. Sounds strict. It was. But simple beats messy. Turns out I’m not alone—the creator of the “modern monk mode” 30-day sprint hit the same wall before diving in.
What “monk mode on” looked like for me
I didn’t buy a fancy tool with a monk logo. I built a little kit. One tap, and I was “in.”
- iPhone Focus: Work mode on from 8:30 am to noon, again 2 to 4 pm
- Freedom app: blocked Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X, and news sites
- Cold Turkey (Mac): blocked Slack and Gmail during sessions
- Flow timer: 50 minutes on, 10 minutes off; 4 to 5 rounds a day
- Notion: one “Daily Board” to track my three big tasks
- Brown noise on Spotify; Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones
- Calls from Favorites still broke through (kid’s school, partner, mom)
I also kept my phone in the kitchen. If I wanted it, I had to stand up. Funny how lazy saves your focus.
A day in monk mode, the messy truth
- Day 3: Wrote 1,150 words for a product guide. Sent it by 10:42 am. I even cut a fluff paragraph I kind of loved. Ouch. Worth it.
- Day 9: Edited 14 photos in Lightroom for a smartwatch review. Batch presets, then tiny tweaks. My wrist hurt, but the spread looked clean.
- Day 12: Built a tiny Google Apps Script to tag emails. It saved me about 15 minutes a day. Boring task, big relief.
- Day 18: Read 40 pages of Deep Work. Yes, on brand. Yes, I smirked.
- Day 22: Slipped. Opened Instagram during a break and lost 26 minutes to cake videos. I know. Cake. I reset, then chewed spearmint gum like it was a job. Turns out my stumble was textbook—this 30-day recap logged almost the exact same mid-month Instagram face-plant.
Little note: I kept hot tea next to me. Cinnamon or mint. Warm cup, quiet brain. It’s small, but it helps.
What actually worked
- One switch, less drama. My Shortcut opened Notion, started the timer, and turned on Focus. Fewer taps, fewer excuses.
- My brain learned the cue. When headphones went on and brown noise started, I settled. Like muscle memory, but for attention.
- Fewer apps around meant faster starts. No “quick peek” at Slack. No peek turns into no spiral.
- The 50/10 rhythm let me breathe. Stretch. Fill my water. Blink at trees. Then back in.
If you’d prefer a quick entertainment-value summary, this skeptic-turned-believer breaks down the highs and lows in plain English. And for a side-by-side “what worked, what flopped” comparison, this 30-day challenge post lines up eerily close to my own graph.
What bugged me
- Meetings fought the flow. I had one mix-up and joined late because Slack was blocked and I missed a calendar ping. My bad, but still annoying.
- It felt stiff some days. On Day 20, I wanted a loose, messy day. Monk mode felt like a tight shirt. I took a reset afternoon.
- Creative work can need chaos. I write better outlines in quiet. But headlines? I weirdly like a little noise. So I stopped forcing it.
- Battery drain with noise plus timer plus big files. My MacBook didn’t love Lightroom days.
If you’re wondering whether the friction is worth it, this brutally honest take lays out the good, the bad, and the battery drains. On the macro level, the World Economic Forum has spotlighted the same approach as a viable antidote to digital overload, linking deep-work blocks to measurable boosts in creativity and throughput.
Results that made me keep it
- 23 out of 30 monk days hit the mark.
- Average 4 sessions a day (50 minutes each).
- Three big pieces shipped: one long review, one email series, one photo set.
- Screen time dropped from 5h42 to about 3h08 on weekdays.
- Sleep went up about 20 minutes on average, per my Apple Watch. Fewer late scrolls.
Need a longer sample size? Someone went 45 full days and still swears by it. I’m sticking with the month-on, month-off cadence for now, but one brave soul tried 90 straight days if you want to peek at the extreme version.
Not perfect numbers, but they felt real in my body. Less jitter. More done.
Who this helps (and who it doesn’t)
- Great for: writers, coders, students, editors, designers on deep tasks, anyone building a thing in quiet.
- Tough for: sales, support, on-call folks, or jobs where fast replies matter.
- If you share care duties or have kids, keep call exceptions on. You’ll need that.
My small setup guide, if you want to copy me
- Make a one-tap start. A Shortcut, a macro, whatever—start Focus, open your work board, start the timer.
- Block only the traps you fall into. You don’t need to block the whole web if your weak spot is just YouTube.
- Keep one safe path for urgent calls.
- Pick a sound rule. Brown noise or soft rain. Save music with lyrics for later.
- Cap it at five sessions. Rest is part of the work. Weird, but true.
Some folks find that their biggest digital distraction isn’t social feeds at all but private messaging threads that can veer into flirtier territory. Beyond the time sink, those chats can have legal gray areas—for example, questions around consent and age. If you’ve ever caught yourself wondering is sexting a crime? the guide breaks down relevant laws, penalties, and safer practices so you can stay focused and on the right side of the rules. For a lot of Angelenos, the siren call is less about DMs and more about scrolling local hookup boards; if that sounds familiar, the curated rundown at Backpage Inglewood can steer you toward verified ads and safety tips so you spend fewer nights doom-scrolling and more time actually deciding whether you want to meet up at all.
If you’d rather grab a ready-made checklist than build one from scratch, you can snag a free template over at Monkify that mirrors almost everything I used. If you vibe with YouTuber Hamza’s stricter flavor, his 30-day Hamza-style monk mode report is a solid walkthrough.
Money talk, quick and plain
- You can do this free with iPhone Focus, Screen Time, and a simple timer.
- I pay for Freedom and Cold Turkey because they’re harder to dodge. Worth it for me. Your call.
The human part
Some mornings I didn’t want it. I wanted hot waffles, a big scroll, and a nap. I still flipped the switch. Not every time, but most. The more I did it, the easier it