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From the roots of Reddit, the concept of Monk Mode has grown into a recurring topic of discussion throughout various parts of the Manosphere/Red Pill Community.
For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, Monk Mode is a period of time in which a man decides to temporarily remove himself from society, for a varied amount of time, to get his life in order and improve his sexual market value (SMV). In the course of going through this period of self-improvement, women become virtually non-existent in his world.
While I agree with the spirit of the concept, I disagree with some of its fundamentals and ultimate execution.
The People In Your Life
Disconnecting from the world at times is not a bad idea. In doing so, it is often imperative that we disconnect from people as well, even family members in some cases. If you find yourself needing to do so, you need to come to terms with the reality that some of these people, people you may even call friends, need to be out of your life for good.
You may not want to hear that, but when you're going through a transition period, one where you expect to be better off at the end than you were at the beginning, there inherently will be some things that need to be left behind. Those things include habits, people, etc. You may not believe this, but in the course of your improvement, some of these "friends" will try to bring you back down, which is why they were one of your friends to begin with. They saw you as equal. Now they see you as better, and that's a problem for them. Women will often engage in this level of subterfuge out of self-preservation.
It is my opinion that when you are in a state of life that you want to be in, one that you feel good about, the people in it should either be in the same place or above you. When you have the right people in your life, you will find yourself getting ahead in life, and taking sabbaticals like "Monk Mode" will not be as necessary, as you won't have relationships that you will need to disconnect from so that you can get your mind right.
If you come out, and think "better you" can co-exist with the same old friends, girfriends, fuck buddies, etc. then you didn't learn anything from Monk Mode.
The Reality of Sexual Market Value
Sexual market value is incredibly important when it comes to picking up women. One of the central ideas behind Monk Mode, is that one stops pursuing women and upgrades his level of attractiveness. He can accomplish that by changing his nutritional habits and implementing a real training program that will completely transform his body. That effort and the successfully obtained results should be applauded. However, there is a flaw within the program.
Before I dive deeper into that flaw, let's rewind for a moment.
It is a fact that most men will meet and have relationships with women through what I call Convenience Game. Convenience game affords men the opportunity to meet women in situations in which their SMV is not immediately assessed, which normally would affect the possibility of him and the woman he desires coming together.
When we meet women through work, school, our neighborhood, social circles, and other akin mediums that are naturally convenient situations and environments, we can depend on that type of game. We can get to know them as we share intrinsic commonalities and they can do the same with us. In doing so, we don't have to immediately communicate to them that we desire them in a sexual/romantic way and in kind they don't have to have to immediately decide whether or not they see us in a sexual/romantic way. We can just be cool. However, in the process of "just being cool" we don't allow ourselves to neither be viewed nor defined as "just a friend".
What those of us from this community do should be applauded.
When we go out into the world, see someone we're interested in, and initiate a conversation with them, we are giving them an opportunity to change their lives and their views of the world. The lives that most women lead are incredibly closed-off, thus their view of the world is incredibly limited. Most of the men they will have dealt with are men who used proximity, or convenience game, to strike up a relationship with her. They also will tend to share certain commonalities with her, which narrows her horizons as she continues to deal with and experience that which is already familiar to her.
Thus, in our cases, sexual market value is incredibly important because when you approach a woman in public as a complete stranger and communicate to her that you would like to see if she can potentially become a part of your world in a sexual/romantic way, of course she is going to assess how attracted she is to you. Without convenience game, she has no idea how great of a guy you are because she doesn't know you and hasn't had the time to find that out in an organic manner.
To increase your SMV, that is to say, to make yourself attractive to a higher number and wider variety of women, you do need to have some combination of attractive physical features, above average presentation (good style, personal hygiene, etc.), and an ability to communicate in an interesting, enticing, and non-threatening manner.
The last part of that equation is where "Monk Mode" misses the mark.
Men who are good at picking up women get there because they put themselves in social situations with them all the time. If you were to go into an extended period of isolation to get ripped and upgrade your fashion sense, that's great, but you're not going to immediately walk into a club or coffee shop and talk to a girl like a seasoned player. You will be rusty and awkward, simply because you haven't been doing it. With an increased SMV, it's more likely than not that if a girl is physically attracted to you, you will have more room for error, but I disagree with the thought process that ducking out of society, disconnecting with women in the process, and doing work in "Monk Mode" means that when you come out of the mode, you'll be a beast with women.
You won't, there will still be work to do.
Players Do What Women Do
When players want to take a break from the game, they have just one chick in their life. This chick is often someone who's known as a Bottom Bitch. A bottom bitch is not an exclusive girlfriend, but she's not a jump-off either. She's some sort of mixture of the two. She's the main chick when there isn't a main chick, and she's more regarded than a jump-off because she's someone who you have enough of a connection with who is willing to be there when you need her. So while you need to get work done, disconnect from the game, etc. you still have a girl in your life who you can count on to meet your needs.
When the player is ready to get back into the game, he re-drafts the team, but doesn't cut the Bottom Bitch.
Women behave in a similar manner, although their mode is not what we call Monk Mode, it's called Cuffing Season, and it has nothing to do with self-improvement. Cuffing season occurs during the fall and winter when the weather is bad outside so women don't go out as much. Shortly prior to this time, women make a concerted effort to find a guy who they will they date to occupy their off-time and ensure they're not alone for the holidays. When the spring rolls around in full force, the guy gets dumped, and she goes back out into the field.
Players choose to handle their period of isolation in the same manner that women do, in that they find someone they can have in their life in the way they want to that fits their ultimate goals, without the terms of being completely alone.
If you don't have a bottom bitch in your life, there's nothing stopping you from hitting happy hour once a week or bi-weekly just to have interaction with women. In my opinion, it would be a better idea to maybe get involved socially with something that is of interest to you, and then using that to continue to communicate and interact with women in a more organic manner. Meetup groups are great for this kind of interaction.
Most things in life often happen when we're just living life, with no particular endgame in mine, so while you may not plan on picking up women in your salsa class, nor should you go into it with that goal, you just might end up meeting a girl who is interested in sharing more in your life than just dancing.
Pour Conclure
It is my opinion that there does a come a time when a man shouldn't really be in the game. Reaching this point either means he's not really ready to play due to not really having anything to offer, i.e. he's a non-player, or he just got out of a long-term relationship and he needs time to assess where he is in life as an individual and devise a plan of action to move forward. Whether we like it or not, even if we have women who provide something to us, they also take away things from us. Sometimes we need to be selfish and not allow them to have any part of us.
Monk Mode can be good for that period of time, but it shouldn't be used for avoidance reasons nor should it be done solely for the purpose of obtaining women. Anything that you do in life should first and foremost be done for yourself, if it happens to benefit others, that is an added-plus, but your motivation should come from within, not from someone who is completely external. Never taken women so seriously that you feel you need to take a step back so you can come back stronger just for procuring them.
Gaming women is just one game in an entire season of life. When we are winning in life, we often find that it is much easier to win with women.
