Hello everyone,

This morning (August 11th at ~1:30 AM) I decided that I will look into partaking in monk mode for a period of time (3-6 months depending on how long it takes for me to get to where I would like to be as far as goals go).

With my new goal in mind, I went to bed at ~2AM, woke up to my alarm at 5:45 AM, did 10 minutes of meditation, stretched, prayed, wrote in my journal (goals, to-do list, thoughts/feelings, brushed my teeth/floss, made something to eat, read articles on line pertaining to personal finance and monk mode, in which I then begun to study for my final and in between taking breaks from my studying, I would read an article or two.

Later on in the day, I took my little sister and her friend to the movies and then for ice-cream (took about 4 hours or so) in which I made some small-talk with some people I encountered (I saw the suggestion [https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/2qfw0e/guide_to_monk_mode/] that you "stick to your self" so to say while in monk mode, but I figure that I'd prefer to develop my social skills without being outcome dependent) and then once I got back home, I studied some more and now it's about 8:30 PM, I was planing on playing a few games or two with one of my friends (<= 1hr) and then going to bed-- edit: I won't play as it makes sense to just lie in bed and doze off rest before my bed-time of 9:30 PM.)

One of my questions is, in regards to taking breaks from doing something mentally challenging such as reading or studying-- I don't want to nor do I plan on partaking in much "junk activities" (http://archive.is/YaGML), but I do think that I can handle it in moderation, such as about 1-2 hours daily-- Is this too much to give to such activities in general? (Once I get more busy I probably won't do such things at all as I am loosing interest in them and if I don't have the time for it, I won't make the time for it).

From all of the information I have come across today alone I know that I have a lot of the mindset that one would learn while in monk mode, such as:

  • Introspection
    • (I have always thought about my life in different perspectives, why things are as they are, and I try my best to be objective about situations-- psychology had a huge impact on me in High-school)
  • I have no toxic friends around me to cut-off or anyone really
    • (I've always been solo in real life, and as for the friends I do have now, we aren't able to hang-out IRL as they live elsewhere, but they are doing something with their lives (becoming pilots and playing college basketball) and their mindsets aren't really toxic, all except one has above SMV for our ages (18-20) (one of them plays baseball in the minors, the other one plays college basketball, the other two are becoming pilots in which one of them is very strong/bulky (he hits the gym)--- it is just that they're a bit blue-pill so I'll be keeping more of a distance as I get to where I want to be been mentally
  • I know what I want in life
    • As of now I'm majoring in Computer Science (CS) and I have alternate plans if I don't like CS once I get my feet wet in that industry-- (I will switch to another STEM degree as I like challenging myself mentally, enjoy computers, and I also like the way that engineers think logically, so I believe that STEM is the path for me)
    • I have a DGAF attitude for the most part (I understand that we are here today and gone tomorrow-- I have an "it is what is is mindset" if you get my drift as far as me not really caring), I understand my weaknesses and I'm working on improving them, I know that I can be happy by myself as I have become so as a result of me just liking my own company, I understand the reality of my sitation; I'm not self-delusional, I have been become more quiet in general as far as letting people speak and not trying to influence people to see a "better" opinion; I understand that people don't want to hear the truth so I let them be, I have been on nofap (no porn, masturbation, etc) for over a year now, I have been off of social media about that same time, I have been taking cold showers, I have been working out when I can (gym is closed) and I plan to get very consistent in the gym once I go off to college as I will have acces to my college's gym and also my apartment gym-- i basically have all of these down pack (http://30challenges30days.com) except for waking up early, reading one hour, working out in the morning (I will do pushups/no equipment stuff when I can't access the gym), (all of which I am working on now)--- I believe that gaming or even watching YT vids such as interviews or stuff I'm interested in that is beneficial to me is okay in moderation, being about 1-2 hours per day at most-- what do you guys think? Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.