Another day, another viral TikTok productivity trend. This week's trending hack is dubbed ‘monk mode’ and people who swear by it say it enhances your career and boosts your bank balance. We're listening…
Inspired by the lifestyle of monks, which is a pretty solitary one, monk mode is a period of enhanced focus, discipline, and productivity where you commit yourself to completing a goal by effectively cutting yourself off from colleagues and technology. Sounds….fun?
As Paula Allen, Global Leader and Senior Vice-President of Research and Total Wellbeing at TELUS Health who spotted the trend, explains: “Monk mode has similar traits to the digital detox trend where people have chosen to disconnect, slow down and counteract feelings of burnout. The term is popular among CEOs and entrepreneurs, but essentially it is the practice of solely working and focusing on one task and not giving in to distractions, especially turning to your phone. More practically speaking, it can mean turning off all your devices until you have completed your objective.”
It has been a practise used for years among CEOs and entrepreneurs but, as ever, TikTok has brought it to the forefront. Despite the irony of people on their phones promoting ditching their phones, experts believe the trend is likely to be a part of a seismic shift in how people work and could help employees work harder, get promoted faster and even secure a pay rise.
So what are the benefits of ditching your phone and sitting in silence to effectively get sh** done? “Benefits to come out of this trend include improved productivity and performance in the workplace as employees focus more on the task at hand to help get projects done. Advice to people trying out monk mode is to start with shorter intervals of time, before building to hours or even days in some cases,” says Paula.
“Monk mode also allows employees to implement their own type of boundaries in their lives to ensure they are achieving their goals, whatever those may be. When an employee achieves their goals, they get a sense of satisfaction and reward, in turn making them more confident and happier at work.”
And it seems that employees could reap the rewards of being in ‘monk mode’; according to the TELUS Health Mental Health Index, 48% of working Britons have too much to do during their workday, with 43% feeling more sensitive to stress compared to before the pandemic. “Monk mode is all about helping to combat these challenges by allowing employees to prioritise the work they want to complete, without getting overwhelmed by distractions or feeling overworked by incoming emails or calls from colleagues,” adds Paula.
As with all quirky TikTok trends, monk mode does have its setbacks and could be detrimental to your mental health if practised in excess.
“A healthy working environment thrives on collaboration and open communication, yet monk mode promotes the complete opposite,” says Paula. “In completely isolating yourself, you can get lonely, fall into a cycle of working too hard and get caught up in your own thoughts. You may miss out on essential communication, support and interactions with others, all of which are fundamental to the functioning of a team and emotional and mental wellbeing.”
So ditching your phone for an hour could be your key to success - but don't drag it out any longer.
This article was originally published on Glamour UK.
