30 DAYS LIKE A MONK

Written By Joseph Salmon

COMING SOON: Free step-by-step guide for the ’30 days like a Monk’ challenge

What is the ’30 days like a Monk’ challenge?

’30 days like a Monk’ is a personal 30 day challenge which incorporates monk-like practices into your everyday life. The challenge involves certain restraints over the 30 days including total celibacy, no alcohol and no social media alongside some fundamental daily practices like meditation, yoga, self-reflection, visualisation and more….

Layered on top are some one-off challenges to really test yourself and step outside of your comfort zone, including 24-hours in complete silence and a 24-hour fast.

To be clear, the aim is to live as normally as possible during this 30 day period. When I took the 30 day challenge I had two incredible (but completely sober) friend’s weddings, put my first house on the market, battled through a highly stressful work project and continued working on my side-hustle.

More importantly why spend ’30 days like a Monk’!?

Monks are renowned for their sense of inner peace, serenity, wisdom and total self-mastery. Their daily practices aim to cultivate many incredible human traits such as compassion, empathy, self-love, acceptance and service to others. However……they also live in bloody monasteries surrounded by nature and tranquillity, very much detached from the reality of busy everyday life.

Therefore, I wanted to see for myself if these monk-like ancient practices could be applied within everyday millennial life to overcome real challenges such as work deadlines, client pressure, never ending to-do lists, financial worries and city temptations.

The beauty is that every single practice was totally free and in fact saved me considerable £££ in London late nights and boozy trips abroad.

How did I personally find the 30 day challenge?

Day 1-10: The honeymoon period

To be completely upfront, I started on day 1 lying in bed feeling very sorry for myself, having spent the prior 48-hours on a mates stag do in Benidorm aka “The Dorm”. It doesn’t take much imagination to guess what that was like, and without question this was the polar opposite of everything ’30 days like a Monk’ aimed to exemplify.

When I got into the rhythm of the challenge, I found that celibacy and clean living provided me with an abundance of energy, focus and clarity. This is what I had hoped for! The 2nd Monday into the challenge I realised that Mondays really don’t have to be that hard, and in fact I felt like I had gained an edge over the rest of the world (which I am sure was highly irritating for anyone around me). On top of this, knowing there would be no hangover over for the foreseeable future was refreshing and freeing. Maybe Monk Life was for me…...

Day 10-20: The mixed bag

My newfound energy started to slowly transform into frustration and an inability to relax. At its peak meant waking up at 4am, giving up trying to get back to sleep at 5.30am and being in the gym by 6.30am feeling tired but wired. Great…. I will say that from a productivity perspective it was incredible! I suddenly seemed to simply require less sleep and therefore gained 3 hours each day before work even begun. I was able to meditate in bed, do my walking affirmations around Greenwich park, churn through a never ending to-do list, all before anyone else in the house had even stirred.

I spent 24 hours in silence during this period, where I succeeded with the exception of saying the word “Yeah” in answer to “Shall we move sofas?” 1 hour before bed. SO close yet so far. Otherwise the silence was a surprisingly refreshing exercise that I would recommend to any who wants to gain a better understanding of their inner monologue, thought patterns and automatic responses to situations.

Day 20-30: The home stretch

I will not go into detail, but let’s just say that celibacy was swiftly ended on a special someone’s birthday on day 20…. I will say no more, other than that I felt a sense of relief and calm wash over me that had not been there for some 10 days. I did feel pretty disappointed that this was my first major failure during the challenge. However, a mentor reminded me that this was all an experiment to see what could be applied in real life, all with the aim to increase performance and well-being. At the later stages, celibacy was no longer supporting either.

I also completed my final 24-hour challenge, where I ended up spending 32 hours in which I consumed 0 calories. Surprisingly, not only was this not as difficult as I expected, but I actually experienced fewer cravings for food than on some regular days and even woke up feeling like I could go another day with no food (but had a large family meal full of comforting home-cooked dishes at my Grandmas that afternoon, so decided against it).

What were the hardest parts of the challenge?

  • Pun-intended, celibacy became the hardest part. But only after day 10+. I would actually highly recommend this as a strategy for increasing energy and focus, which is often talked about by energy masters such as the eccentric Mantak Chia.

  • Consistency was probably the most uninteresting but real challenge I faced. Making sure that every day I re-committed to the challenge and got in my daily meditation, yoga, visualisation and gratitude was tough. However, the ROI was clear with the benefits far outweighing the costs every time.

  • I would say my average happiness level, referred to in the scientific world as Subjective Well-Being*, had increased over the 30 days. And the variance fairly dramatically decreased. While this is a very positive outcome in many respects, I felt that when friends were having the time of their lives at 1am at the house party, my happiness levels weren’t necessarily ever reaching those peaks. There is an inevitable downside to that, but nevertheless I sometimes felt I may be missing out on making those unforgettable memories that I’d be recounting 30 years from now.  

What were the main benefits I experienced?

  • Increased productivity – there is no question in my mind that the extra time and energy I gained from this lifestyle meant I could achieve so much more. During periods of extreme busyness, where you may be feeling overwhelmed, these practices would be a great way to gain a precious extra few hours during your day.

  • Mental clarity – the mental benefits extended long after the meditation/self-reflection sessions into the rest of the day. It was like my brain (who I have named Ronald) and I were fully on the same team, rather than like bickering siblings who love each other but don’t always see eye to eye. Note: this is not a reference to my own brother, who I get on with just fine thank you!

  • Sense of control – it was incredibly refreshing knowing that each day I had control over my energy, my actions, and the trajectory of my day. The sense of unknown as to whether I would feel like it or be able to perform had greatly diminished.

Why don’t you take the ’30 days like a Monk’ challenge?

There is only one way to experience any of these benefits for yourself, and sadly it is not by reading this blog post.

Even if you’re not interested in 24 hours of silence, couldn’t think of anything worse than laying off the booze, and are disgusted by the thought of no sex, you can still gain enormous benefits by taking a handful of the simple daily practices and integrate them into your busy schedule.

Every single part of this challenge was completely free. My hope is that the challenge provides some ideas of free ways you can make change in your own life, without having to spend a bomb.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, a sense that there has to be more, or just a bit stuck, then one thing I can guarantee is that you will see change over the 30 days. I can’t tell you exactly how, or in which areas of your life, but that is for you to find out for yourself.

Thinking about taking the 30 day challenge but don’t know where to start?

Book a free 30 minute session with me today

Joseph Salmon
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