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Monk mode
Monk mode is a set stretch of time, often a few weeks, when you follow a few strict rules and put your free hours into one goal. You cut out the things that take your time, such as social media. Monk mode has no official rules, so you write your own.
Last updated
Reviewed by Mohammed Raqeeb
The meaning
What is monk mode?
Monk mode is a plan you make for yourself. You pick one goal, such as finishing a course, writing a book or getting fit. Then, for a set number of weeks, you give that goal the same hours every day and cut out what gets in the way.
Here is an example. Leo wants to finish an online course. For four weeks he studies from 6:30 AM to 8:30 AM on six days a week. He keeps social media off his phone, and he is in bed by 10:30 PM. That is his monk mode.
The name comes from the way people picture a monk’s life: a simple day, a fixed schedule and few distractions. Monk mode is not religious.
Some people say monk mode for a single work session with the phone away. That is the same idea as locking in. This page is about the longer kind, which lasts for weeks.
The rules
What are the monk mode rules?
Monk mode has no official rules. The magazine Elle India says there are no fixed rules, and other reports list different ones. You write your own list.
The table has the rules that reports by the BBC, FOX Business and Elle India mention. Beside each rule is one way to write it so that you can check it at night.
| Rule | Written so you can check it |
|---|---|
| Little or no social media. | No social media before 6 PM. |
| One task at a time, with no phone. | The phone stays in another room during the goal hours. |
| A fixed daily schedule. | Up at 6 AM. Goal hours from 6:30 AM to 8:30 AM. |
| Exercise. | Half an hour of exercise on five days a week. |
| No alcohol. | No alcohol until the end date. |
| Fewer social plans. | One evening out a week. |
Pick three or four rules. “Less social media” cannot be checked. “No social media before 6 PM” can.
Do not cut off the people close to you. Elle India says that staying away from friends and family for a long time can do the opposite of what you want.
This page gives no diet or medical advice. If you have a health condition, ask a doctor before you start a new exercise plan.
Try it
How many hours does monk mode add up to?
Monk mode is easy to count, because the same hours repeat every day. Say you give your goal two hours a day, six days a week, for four weeks. That is 12 hours a week and 48 hours in all.
The planner below does the same sum for your own plan.
Start today or on any day in the next year.
From one week to sixteen weeks.
Hours on your goal, start to end
48h
From 2h a day on 6 days a week for 4 weeks.
- Goal days
- 24
- Each week
- 12h
- Last day
- Not set
Your weeks, a square for each day
on the goal day off
- Week 1
- Week 2
- Week 3
- Week 4
The light squares are days off. They are drawn at the end of each week, and you can take them on any day.
2h a day for 24 days is 48h on your goal.
This is a plan, not a record of what you did. Nothing you enter leaves this page.
The table shows the hours for other lengths, with one day off each week.
| Length | One hour a day | Two hours a day | Three hours a day |
|---|---|---|---|
| One week | 6h | 12h | 18h |
| Two weeks | 12h | 24h | 36h |
| Four weeks | 24h | 48h | 72h |
| Eight weeks | 48h | 96h | 144h |
| Twelve weeks | 72h | 144h | 216h |
How to do it
How to plan monk mode in hours a day
You plan monk mode by writing down four things before the first day: the goal, the dates, the rules and the daily hours.
Pick one goal you can finish.
“Get better at coding” has no end. “Finish the course and build one small app” does.
Write down the first day and the last day.
Monk mode has no set length. Elle India reports that some people do it for a weekend, and others for several weeks or months. For a first try, pick a length you are sure you can finish. Put both dates on a calendar, and tell the people you live with.
Give the goal the same hours every day.
Choose one block of the day and keep it, for example 6:30 AM to 8:30 AM. In those hours, work on one thing with your phone in another room. The page on deep work has more on how many focused hours fit in a day.
Plan your days off, and what you do after a missed day.
Decide now which day of the week is free. If you break a rule, carry on the next day. You do not have to start again, because the rules are your own.
Keeping rules for weeks takes self-discipline. For a fixed list of daily rules, see the 75 Soft challenge. For three months of daily goals, see the winter arc. For one very hard day, see misogi.
Where it came from
Where does monk mode come from?
Monk mode is an older phrase than the trend, and we could not find who said it first. In 2017, the writer Cal Newport described a “monk mode morning”: no meetings, calls, email or internet from waking up until noon.
In 2023, monk mode spread on TikTok. In October of that year, the BBC reported that videos tagged #monkmode had more than 77 million views. A FOX Business report from the same month said the idea was not new.
The test
How do you know your monk mode is working?
The test
Your goal got the hours you planned
on every planned day, until your end date.
Monk mode lasts for weeks. By the third week it is hard to remember on which days your goal really got its hours, and on which days it did not.
A good way to check is to write or say a few words about your day, and to have the hours counted from them. Then you do not have to start a timer before each block of work. Most journaling apps ask how the day felt. They do not show how many hours your goal got that week.
One app built for this is Think in Numbers, a smart journaling app with time tracking built in.
You write or say your day in your own words, as it happens or all at once. The app reads what you wrote and counts the hours that went to each part of it: focused work, exercise, sleep, your phone, and the time you never mentioned (shown as unaccounted). Then it shows those hours over days and weeks. So you can see, week by week, whether your goal really got its hours during monk mode. Add your daily hours on the goal as a habit, such as two hours on your course. When the hours you wrote reach it, the app ticks it off and the streak goes on.
1. You write your day
2. It counts the hours
- Course0m
- Work0m
- Sleep0m
- Unaccounted24h
3. It shows your week
Course this week: 0m
On 6 of 7 days. The gap is the day without it.
An example day and week.
For iPhone and Android. Try it on your own day before you pay.
Sources
Where the facts come from.
Every fact about the trend on this page links to a source below. We read all four in full on .
- Team ELLE (2026). Monk Mode Explained: Why Everyone Is Choosing Isolation To Reset. Elle India, July 24, 2026.
- Newport, C. (2017). The Rise of the Monk Mode Morning. calnewport.com, February 24, 2017.
- Cassidy, A. (2023). The people going ‘monk mode’ to limit social media use. BBC News, October 1, 2023.
- Lamberg, E. (2023). New viral work trend ‘monk mode’ has workers focusing on one task at a time to boost productivity. FOX Business, published by FOX 29 Philadelphia, October 16, 2023.
Keep reading.
- LearnAnswers about sleep, habits, study, people and work, in hours.
- MisogiWhat a misogi is, where the word comes from, the rules people repeat, and how many hours of training fit before your day.
- How to lock inWhat locked in means, five steps to lock in on one task today, and a planner that shows the times and hours for one session or a week.
- Deep workDemanding work without distraction, and how to count it.
- Where did my week go? calculatorEnter a typical day and see your week accounted and unaccounted.
- Time journalingThe method: write or say your day in your own words, then see it as hours.
Questions
Questions people ask.
What is monk mode?
Monk mode is a set stretch of time, often a few weeks, when you follow a few strict rules and put your free hours into one goal. You cut out the things that take your time, such as social media. Monk mode has no official rules.
What are the rules of monk mode?
Monk mode has no official rules. Common ones are little or no social media, one task at a time with the phone away, a fixed daily schedule, exercise, no alcohol and fewer social plans. You pick three or four.
How long should monk mode last?
Monk mode has no set length. Some people do it for a weekend, and others for several weeks or months. Four weeks at two hours a day, with one day off each week, comes to 48 hours on your goal.
How do I keep track of monk mode?
Paper works: write your rules and your daily hours on a calendar, and mark each day you kept them. Look for a way that adds up the hours your goal got each week. One app built for this is Think in Numbers, a smart journaling app with time tracking built in. Think in Numbers counts the hours you spent on your goal from what you write or say about your day, and shows them week by week. Your daily hours can also be a habit, ticked off from what you write about your day.
Try it on my day.
Write today down in your own words, and see where the hours went.
For iPhone and Android. Try it on your own day before you pay.