A new productivity “hack” has been making the rounds on the tokkers and tubers lately: Monk Mode. When I first heard of it I hoped it would involve incorporating mindfulness into your daily schedule, maybe something about holisitic mental health and wellbeing. I was optimistic!!!!
Instead, I was extremely disappointed.
“Monk Mode” is simply turning off all your distractions for a set amount of time in order to complete tasks on your to-do list.
Wow, so radical! …okay, maybe it is radical for younger people who have spent nearly every waking moment from birth being distracted by media in some form or another? (Disney movies, I’m lookin’ at you!) But I assure you, “reduce distractions” has been common advice in productivity circles since “productivity” became an aspiration for humanity. This is a neat new nickname for a very old practice.
It’s very good advice if you can do it, but here’s the thing: very few people are able to do it.
The hard and disappointing truth here is the majority of us simply cannot do that, even when we try our best. There are a number of reasons for this, including factors such as neuro-divergent brains (ADHD, autism, PTSD, chronic health issues, chronic pain, etc.) and external responsibilities (being a parent or care-taker, for instance).
This kind of advice is really great and useful for a male office worker in 1958 who has a secretary to take his calls and a wife to handle those pesky at-home responsibilities like laundry and children. Okay okay, I’ll concede that fact that there are perhaps a few people these days who have both the internal and external wherewithal to voluntarily enter “monk mode.”
But…what about the rest of us?
We usually live in some version of what I call “Mom Mode,” that is, a state of constant vigilance and ongoing responsibility. Monk mode doesn’t do much good when a diaper needs to be changed in the middle of a task, for instance. As a productivity coach for women solopreneurs, I have very few clients who can clear even one hour of time on something they need to get done with being interrupted. For parents and caretakers, a “free and clear” hour of time might need to be used for a well-earned nap, or a meal eaten in peace and quiet. Add being a business owner/manager into that, and Monk Mode is indeed impossible.
It’s further compounded if you have something like ADHD or chronic pain, which are not things you can just “turn off” for a while in order to be productive, no matter how much you want to.
Now that I’ve completely crushed the whole idea of Monk Mode, though, what’s left?
Howabout what I was hoping for to begin with? That is: Mindful Mode.
Yeah, I made that up on the fly, but bear with me: what if instead of falling into extremes, we work on practicing self-awareness?
One valuable point to be made about Monk Mode is that it can make you very aware of the distractions you habitually fall back on, including ones you were not previously aware of. For me, that was the realization that I often relied on “lunch time” to pull me away from activities that I found stressful and/or difficult. Doom-scrolling social media was the obvious distraction, but once I shut that down, I started focusing on what I would make for lunch, and then the next thing I knew, I was in the kitchen with the dog prancing at my feet waiting for “food drop” as I prepped something to eat. Meanwhile the problem I had been working on was shuffled onto that ever rotating ephemeral time of “tomorrow.”
When you try to pratice Monk Mode, don’t focus on doing it perfectly and look for the things that are trying to distract you. It might be obvious (your children, an important phone call) or it might be insidious (time for lunch?????).
Take that new knowledge and figure out how to use it so that Mindful Mode can take form for you.
If you have ADHD, try to figure out what your main fault lines are — a resistance to switching between tasks? Maybe you need to plan longer time blocks in order to get things done. Maybe the reverse, in that your brain drags you down a rabbit hole on a regular basis and keeps you from doing anything on your to-do list? Then consider having a work/accountability buddy who can help you stay on task.
Mindful Mode might be about “unplugging” and setting aside an hour or two every morning in order to accomplish your tasks. Or it might be adjusting your planning so projects are built around a checklist as opposed to being tied to dates on the calendar, so it doesn’t matter how long it takes. Or! It might be that you schedule time regularly every week for co-working sessions (in person or online) to help you stay focused on tasks requiring a lot of mental energy. Mindful Mode even includes taking a nap, if that is what you need in order to tackle a difficult problem or other responsibilities that you have.
There are always solutions, but rarely a “one size fits all” solution. Monk Mode might be the answer you were looking for to escape Mom Mode, but if it feels impossible or even detrimental, try Mindful Mode instead.