My First Book: Think Like A Monk - Train Your Mind For Peace & Purpose Every Day

14 years ago I started my personal journey with meditation, learning, self development and personal growth. For a decade, I’ve shared my thoughts on psychology, philosophy, behavioral science and spirituality. I distilled all the above into this book. If you want to master the mind, who do you go to? Monks. In this episode we’ll dive into the themes of the book which will help you build a life on your own terms. https://thinklikeamonkbook.com/ A Word From Our Sponsors: https://zapier.com/JAY for your free 14-day trial. https://blinkist.com/jay try it FREE for 7 days AND save 25% off your new subscription. $49 deal at https://tryveestro.com/JAY Receive 15% off at https://foursigmatic.com/PURPOSE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Jay Shetty?

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• 0:43Jay Shetty?

  Give your clothes a second life with Vinted. Download the Vinted app for free to start selling with no seller fees, so you keep every dollar you earn. This episode is brought to you by Mazda. Confidence isn't something Mazda finds, it's something they practise. That's the thinking behind every Mazda. With proactive safety features designed to help keep you more aware, more connected, and more engaged with the road ahead. It's why Mazda has been named Consumer Reports' safest new car brand and has won more 2026 IIHS Top Safety Pick+ Awards than any other car brand as of July 2026. Visit www.iihs.org to learn more. A lot can happen when an accident doesn't. Visit MazdaUSA.com to learn more.

• 1:29Jay Shetty?

  Consumer Reports does not endorse products or services. This episode is brought to you by AG1. Are you feeling September reset too? Shorter days, longer to-do lists, earlier alarms, all those routines you promised yourself you'd pick back up. It can feel like your whole life is recalibrating. And when everything around you is changing, it helps to have a few things you can rely on. AG1 Next Gen is one of those easy habits to keep. It's the clinically backed, comprehensive daily health drink that supports your gut health, energy production, and foundational nutrition all in one scoop. AG1's ingredients are sourced from quality partners for absorption, potency, and nutrient density to deliver the foundational nutrition your body needs.

• 2:15Jay Shetty?

  And alongside a proper diet, AG1 Next Gen meets 94% of nutrient requirements and is clinically shown to enrich the gut microbiome. For a limited time, save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro at drinkag1.com/onpurpose. That's drinkag1.com/onpurpose. We think the further we run away from fear, the less you have to deal with it, the less it affects you. But actually, the monk perspective is to get intimate with fear.

• 2:56Jay Shetty?

  Hey, everyone. Welcome back to On Purpose. My name's Jay Shetty and today, this week, is a really, really exciting week and really, really exciting day for me because I get to share with you something that I've been working on for such a long time. Now, if you saw the announcement around three days ago, thank you so much for joining in. Now, if you're wondering, Jay, what are you even talking about? Like, what is this all about? Let me know. Or maybe you heard about it, but you've had a busy week, you've had a long week, you've been disconnected. Well, I can't wait to share with you because this week, on Tuesday, we announced that my first ever book was available for preorder across the world.

• 3:40Jay Shetty?

  The book is called Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day. And the response has been absolutely phenomenal. And I want to thank each and every one of you who've already preordered for all of that love online. We went to straight, like, we went straight to the number one bestselling book in India. The number one bestselling book in the UK. We went up to the number fifth bestselling book in the US. Number one on the movers and shakers list. Number one in meditation and so many other spaces within 12 hours of the book launching. So I want to thank you all for showing up, for representing, for being there for the book.

• 4:22Jay Shetty?

  And in today's podcast, I want to give you a deep dive on the 12 key lessons from the book. Because I want to share with you the insights that are coming your way and why they're so powerful. Today, I want to give you an inside look, a behind the scenes feel of why I wrote the book, what the book is all about and how I see it serving and helping you. So if you're excited to learn a bit more about the book today, it's kind of like a pre excited for the preorder. And I really, really hope that a lot of you are going to go ahead and preorder the book. If you want to, it's at thinklikeamonkbook.com where you can preorder the book right now across the world,

• 5:04Jay Shetty?

  from all the different places online, wherever you can imagine ordering good books from, we're there. It's thinklikeamonkbook.com. So here we go. 14 years ago, I started my journey, my personal journey of meditation, of learning, self-development, personal realization, personal growth. And I started that journey, which is now 14 years ago. And in that journey, I found so much. I found confidence. I found self-esteem. I found my passion. I found my purpose. I found the deepest things that I didn't even know I was seeking through this journey.

• 5:47Jay Shetty?

  And very quickly in that journey, I realized that a big part of my passion and purpose was serving others and giving it to others. And so I was sharing this at universities and at local events and in small groups for so many years, right? For almost a decade, I was speaking to groups of 10 to 20 to 30 to 40 people, you know, just inside small university rooms, sharing my thoughts around psychology, spirituality, philosophy, behavioral science. And it would be amazing that a few students would gather, a few people would gather, people would really enjoy these sessions. And three years ago, I made the commitment to myself that I wanted to try and present.

• 6:32Jay Shetty?

  The amazing wisdom I had learned, the amazing coaching that I had received, the incredible lessons I'd learned from my mentors, I wanted to share that online through video. And I wanted to share in a way that would be accessible, relevant and innovative. And I truly genuinely believed I wanted to do it to serve. I thought that I would work my full-time job. I would make these videos on the evenings and weekends and I would share them with people because they'd help people realize that there were more people like them out there. And sometimes when you couldn't say something or put something to words, you'd be able to share the video and be like, this is what I'm thinking about. And thanks to each and every one of you, I started that journey three years ago. And whether you started

• 7:15Jay Shetty?

  subscribing or joining this podcast, and actually, let me just get this straight, like, I don't see anyone as a subscriber or follower. I genuinely see you all as the community and family, because I really believe that what we've built is a community. We've built a global community of conscious change makers. And whether you joined this community three years ago, or whether you joined it three days ago, or whether you joined it three hours ago or three minutes ago, I just want to say thank you. I just want to take a moment to say thank you. I'm deeply grateful to you. I said this on my live the other day, but I mean it. I hope that one day I can meet you all face to face, that I can shake your hand, that I can look you in the eye, give you a hug and say thank you. Because I love that together we've made wisdom go viral.

• 7:59Jay Shetty?

  And thanks to you, some of those videos became the most viewed videos online, right? And then this year, in February fourteenth of two thousand and nineteen, we launched the podcast, this podcast that you're listening to right now. And thanks to each and every one of you, we've consistently been the number one health podcast in the world. And today I'm sharing with you that my first ever book, Think Like A Monk, is ready for pre-order. So this journey is a journey we've been on together. This journey is a journey that I'm so excited to continue with you and I can honestly say to you that it's just the beginning. I never thought any of this would happen. There was no plan or strategy in one sense of thinking that anything would ever grow this way. I just wanted to serve and help people.

• 8:44Jay Shetty?

  And anytime I release new content or a new medium or now the book, for me, it's always about service. It's always about helping and supporting. So, thank you for helping me serve. And I want to talk to you about a few things today. The first one is, why think like a monk? And I know I've had so much amazing positive feedback on the title. So many people are happy with the title, loving the title, loving the cover. But I wanted to explain to you, I want you to get the behind the scenes look and feel around the book. Like, why did I call it that? When did that title come to origination? So, I actually thought of this title probably around three, three years ago. And I remember sharing it with some very close friends at that time. And the reason why I believe thinking like a monk was so powerful and important

• 9:28Jay Shetty?

  is that today we're living in a crazy, chaotic world. There's a lot of pressure, there's a lot of pain, there's a lot of stress. We all know that. But what I found through my monk training is that monks were able to remain centered, to remain balanced, to remain calm and still in and amongst all that chaos, in and amongst all that pain and pressure. And I think about it kind of like this, like if you wanted to learn basketball, if you wanted to become an incredible basketball player, who would you go and learn from? Who would, who would, tell me now, who would you go and learn from? You'd probably want to learn from someone like LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, right? If you wanted to be the best tennis player in the world, you'd probably want to learn from Federer or Djokovic.

• 10:11Jay Shetty?

  If you wanted to be the best Formula One racer in the world, you'd want to learn from Michael Schumacher or Lewis Hamilton. If you wanted to master vulnerability, maybe you'd go learn from Brené Brown. If you wanted to make transformational television, you'd probably go to Oprah. If you wanted to master business and investments, you'd go to Warren Buffett or Jeff Bezos. Well, if you want to master the mind... Who do you go to? Monks, that's my answer, right? You would go to monks. Why? Because monks have dedicated their life to mastering the mind. And the most amazing thing is that we try to master so many things in our life, our careers, our relationships, our families, our friends, our communication, our confidence.

• 10:54Jay Shetty?

  But all of this starts and is processed through the mind. Even if our hearts, values and dreams are locked in our hearts, we can access that through the mind. So the mind is either uplifting you or pulling you down at any moment. And so if we learn to master the mind, if we learn to navigate the mind, then we can learn to navigate our thoughts and of course, master our life.

• 11:25Jay Shetty?

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• 12:08Jay Shetty?

  That's indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. We talk a lot about intentional decision making and that extends to the practical stuff too, like making sure your coverage actually works for your life. State Farm is there to meet you where you are and they know how sweet it is to feel good about your decisions. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with a personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state.

• 12:51Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by Wayfair. Home should be a place that feels like a sanctuary, a space that truly reflects who you are. But it can be challenging to balance style, budget and endless options. I was looking to create a dedicated calm space for my morning meditation and reading, but I was struggling to find pieces that felt grounding but could also stand up to daily use. I went on Wayfair and found a beautiful, solid wood accent chair and a bookshelf. Now that corner is my favourite place to anchor my day. The quality is incredible, it's built to last and it completely shifted the energy of the room. Plus, you can shop with Wayfair Verified, where product specialists carefully vet items for quality and functionality, so you can shop with more confidence. And if putting it all together sounds like a headache,

• 13:36Jay Shetty?

  Wayfair can handle delivery, installation and assembly. Join Wayfair Rewards today to get 5% back on every purchase and start saving on your next home upgrade. Head to wayfair.com to shop all things home. That's W A Y F A I R dot com. Wayfair, every style, every home.

• 13:57Jay Shetty?

  This is actually proven through so many scientific studies and researches that I really want to share with you. I had the incredible opportunity to interview Matthew Rickard, not once but twice, and produce some of his most incredible videos at the Huffington Post a few years back and had the opportunity to meet him as well. And it's incredible because he took part in a 12-year brain study. And this was taking place at the University of Wisconsin by a neuroscientist named Richard Davidson. And it was all around compassion and meditation. And what Davidson actually did is that he got something like, I think it was like over 250 sensors and put them on to Rickard's head and brain, like map in the brain.

• 14:42Jay Shetty?

  And he was actually getting Rickard, Matthew Rickard, to meditate on compassion. And what he found is that his mind was unusually, like incredibly light. And what they found even, you know, forward from this is that Matthew Ricard's brain was actually creating a level of gamma waves, right? And these gamma waves are linked to things like learning and memory and attention. And Davidson actually said this, he said, these were never reported before in neuroscience literature. And Matthew Ricard then went on to get the title of the happiest man in the world because he had the happiest brain. And I, I asked him about that on the show, I remember, we talked about it off camera as well.

• 15:27Jay Shetty?

  And he was saying, well, you know, that's a good media title, but he, he said he was a happy man and he had happy habits. And he talked about how meditating on compassion, how changing his thought patterns, how rewiring the thoughts that came up in his mind was such a big part of that. And so why I decided to write this book is because I believe that there are so many incredible lessons I learned during my time as a monk. And now none of you have to, you don't have to live like a monk, you don't have to dress like a monk, you don't have to give everything up like a monk, you don't have to go live on a mountain top, but you can access the same mindset, the same thinking patterns, the same processes in a simple way, right?

• 16:09Jay Shetty?

  You can access all of these in a relevant, innovative and accessible way, just from where you are, doing the job that you do, not having to disappear, not having to leave your family and your friends, not having to take that risk of moving to another place and giving up all your careers, but you can actually access that mindset, that powerful mindset that helps you find stillness, that helps you find calm, that helps you find, what I say, train your mind for peace and purpose every day. How many of you right now, put your hands up physically, I want you to raise your hands. How many of you would love to train your mind for peace every single day? And when I say peace, I don't just mean like positive thinking, I don't mean positive psychology. I mean training your mind for peace, right?

• 16:54Jay Shetty?

  When I say train your mind, I'm talking about it being a muscle, a habit, something that you can build. Not something that you just access or have a moment of, something that you can consistently build and find in your life. So that's one of the key lessons in this book is how to train your mind for peace and purpose every day. And what I really focus on in this book is I focus on practical exercises, activities, experiments, try this, that you can actually do in your own time at home, whether you're in the back of a car, in your commute, whatever it may be, walking your dog, right? Cooking, you can actually practice these things and you'll start seeing tangible benefits in your life. So this is a very practical, active book. It's not just a theoretical and philosophical book.

• 17:35Jay Shetty?

  I really try and take these lessons that I've learned from incredible teachers and make them super easy to understand and follow. The second theme that I genuinely focus on in this book is what I call the O E O, right? It's what I call O E Os, how to stop living according to O E Os. And I'll explain what that is. So I want you to stop living based on other people's opinions, expectations and obligations, O E Os, opinions, expectations and obligations. So many of us are living our lives based on someone else's opinions, expectations and obligations.

• 18:14Jay Shetty?

  And I want you to stop that and start living on your own terms. And this is what I learned as a monk, that monks almost drop out from mainstream society. Because when you become a monk, no one in your life ever, like no one, literally no one in your life ever had an opinion, an expectation or an obligation for you to be a monk, right? Just tell me that right now. If someone did, wow, you just blurred my mind, you can tell me. But literally no one in their life had someone whose opinion, expectation or obligation for them wants to be a monk. It's very highly unlikely. And so when you decide to become a monk, or you decide to think like a monk for everyone listening right now and is pre-ordering the book. You develop the mindset to do this. Now, the important part here is,

• 18:57Jay Shetty?

  the way I share in the book is I want you to be able to build this life on your own terms, but without fully hurting and removing relationships for you in your life. And that's where I focus in on the book, that how do you do this so consciously, carefully and artfully, like a monk would, so that you're not breaking bonds, you're not destroying relationships, but you're doing it in a kind, conscious, beautiful, effortless way. And that's one of the biggest focus on how do we let go of OEOs. The third biggest theme that I focus on in this book is how you can remove negativity and overcome toxic relationships and habits.

• 19:39Jay Shetty?

  Nod right now, say yes out loud right now, how many of you are dealing with toxicity at work, at home, in your family, in your friends? How many of you are dealing with toxic relationships? Have habits, toxic habits that are pulling you down? And one of the key things, the key messages that I build and focus on in this book is how you can learn to protect yourself. So often, we spend all of our time going, how can I stop someone else doing something? Right? How can they stop acting like this with me? How do I deal with that toxicity? And we focus on everything we can't control. And we waste so much energy, we drain so much energy,

• 20:24Jay Shetty?

  focusing on everything we can't control as opposed to what we can control. And monks realize that all you can truly can, all you truly can control is your mind, protecting yourself, building your armor. And what I love about the way monks build armor that I will share in the book is that this armor doesn't stop you from letting love in and letting love out. See, sometimes when we put our armor on, it blocks love from coming in and love from coming out. We put armor on to stop negativity coming in, but actually, sometimes that armor, that protection we take, it actually stops love coming in too. And that armor that we put on to protect ourselves from outside negativity, it stops us from giving love too. Whereas monks,

• 21:09Jay Shetty?

  the way they put on their armor and their protection is that they're still able to give love and receive love. But they don't let negativity inside and thus negativity inside dissolves from within. And I really talk about the process in the book of how you can start weeding out the negativity and toxicity in your life and create that structure. And I mean, I think this is going to be really, really powerful for you. And I wanted to add this, that these were all concepts that I couldn't break down into a 30 minute podcast. These were all concepts that I couldn't put into a four minute video, otherwise I would have. The reason for the book is we can do a deep dive over days together and I can help you with a whole process, step by step, a really, a really step by step approach, right?

• 21:54Jay Shetty?

  To actually give you the stages and phases so that we can work together through this. That's the whole goal of why it's inside the book. Now, number four is healing your anxiety, your fear and pain from the past. You know, when, when you come to the door of the ashram or the monastery and you become a monk, it's like you leave your past behind, right? Like literally, like you don't bring, I remember, I mean, these are silly examples, but they're true. I remember giving away, I used to have all of these football jerseys or soccer jerseys that I had that I loved because as you all know, I absolutely love soccer and football. And I remember giving them away to my friends before I left to become a monk and just feeling

• 22:34Jay Shetty?

  really generous that I was handing away all these iconic jerseys or football kits. And I was handing them away, but it's like you literally leave your past behind, right? You, you, you don't walk in with anything. It's almost like, you know, like, you know, in some cultures, you leave your shoes outside. And it kind of felt like that when I became a monk. It was like I was leaving all my baggage outside. And that isn't just like an artificial leaving. It's not just like, oh, now you're a monk, like leave all your baggage outside. So in this book, I, I break down the process of what it means to heal that past, to heal that anxiety, to remove those fears, to actually let go of the past so that you can genuinely feel your healing and letting go if you're ready to. Not just that you artificially chucking out of the carpet or running away from it.

• 23:17Jay Shetty?

  And I think this is what happens in our life, that with fear or anxiety, we do one of two things. We either Actually, we do this. We usually run away from it. We think the further we run away from fear, the less you have to deal with it, the less it affects you. What we don't realize is as you run away from fear, fear gets more time to grow. Now it's bigger and bigger and bigger and finds you in new places. But actually, the monk perspective is to get intimate with fear, to get really close to fear, because guess what? Anything you're not close to, you don't understand deeply enough. And if you don't understand something deeply, you don't know what to do with it. Right? You don't know how to deal with it. We're more surprised by something that we're uncertain about.

• 23:59Jay Shetty?

  And because fear is such an unknown, unknown for us, until we make it a known, known, until we make it something that we have more information about, it continually surprises us.

• 24:14Jay Shetty?

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• 24:47Speaker 01

  Mr. President, my company told me of the explosion on our rig on October 2nd. Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all keep the blame on me. Tom Cruise is.

• 24:58Speaker 02

  Digger got us into this mess, and Digger's gonna dig us up. From the director of Birdman and the Revenant.

• 25:04Speaker 03

  What would happen if I stopped growing? You starve, you freeze to death, that's what.

• 25:08Speaker 02

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 25:11Speaker 03

  I'm not the first then.

• 25:13Speaker 02

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a middle without parent.

• 25:19Jay Shetty?

  Right? If you think about it, and I'm giving analogy of sports here. It's like, if you're playing another team and you don't understand that team's strengths, they can break all your weaknesses. Right? If you don't understand what you're working against, strengths and weaknesses, guess what? They know yours for sure, and that's what fear's like.

• 25:40Jay Shetty?

  Now, theme number five. This is one that I think you're all really going to be excited about inside the book. And I've really put a lot of effort into making it simple for you. It's uncovering your true passion and purpose. And I know I get thousands of questions every week about this. Probably millions of questions now. And in this book, I present the Dharma model to you, which talks about varna. Varna is your personality type, your psychophysical nature, and then sava, how you serve with that. And the Dharma model really is that. It's like, what's your true inherent nature? What's your psychophysical nature? What's your natural skills and behavior and tendencies? And how do you tap into those and use them to your strengths? So, one of my favorite verses in the Bhagavad Gita

• 26:23Jay Shetty?

  is that it's better to do your own duty, even if imperfectly, than to do someone else's duty perfectly. And it talks about how we all have a unique internal, eternal duty, an internal calling that belongs to us. Right? And when we get to live in alignment with that, and that's why I talk about not just finding your Dharma, it's aligning with your Dharma. Finding means looking for something you don't have. Right? When you have to find something, it means you're looking for something you don't have. When you're aligning, it means it's already within you. And now you just need to align with that Dharma. And so, one of the biggest themes in the chapter is helping you uncover your true passion and purpose. I give you the activities and exercises

• 27:04Jay Shetty?

  for you to actually get closer to this as much as possible, and not just get close to it theoretically, but start living it practically. Okay. Number six. This is one of my favorite sections inside the book. It's called Creating Effective Morning and Evening Routines: Transforming Your Daily Habits. I talk a lot about the incredible routines we lived as monks. Now, I'm just gonna be honest with you. I'm not expecting any of you to wake up at 4:00 a.m. That's not in the book. It's not in practical advice. I'm not expecting any of you to meditate for two hours a day. It's not what I'm suggesting in the book. So, do not worry. It's not a book full of pressure. It's a book full of practical ways of making this reality. And one of the biggest things I talk about in the book is routines. And there's a lot of fresh advice here that I think...

• 27:48Jay Shetty?

  A lot of us don't realize, and that's, that's what I've really focused on in this book. You're not going to find ideas from my videos or Instagram in this book. This book is full of deeply thought through themes and concepts that, that you haven't always heard before, or you haven't heard in this way. And one of the biggest ones I talk about in the routines chapter is what about sound design? What I mean by that is when we lived as monks, so much of our life was naturally sound designed, in the sense of the sounds that we woke up to, the sounds we went to sleep to. And now in our modern lives, our life, so much of our life, and I read about this a few years ago when I lived in New York, and I would always wonder why I was so exhausted and why I was so tired at the end of the day. And I was doing a lot of research into it.

• 28:32Jay Shetty?

  And I read an article which talked about cognitive load. And what that means is that when you live in a busy, noisy environment and you don't change your sound design, what ends up happening is that your mind, your brain is processing insignificant sound. So what I mean by that is like the digging of a drill, the building of a building, the demolition of a building, like all these, the sirens in a space, trash being thrown on the streets. All of these sounds are insignificant in the sense that they don't actually help you in any way, right? They're just there, they're like background noise. And what your brain's doing is your brain and mind don't know that straight away. So it's trying to process that sound.

• 29:16Jay Shetty?

  And while it's trying to process that sound, you're getting more tired because now so much of your energy is going towards processing insignificant sound. It's the same as when you're sitting in a bar or a restaurant and there's so much background noise, everyone talking, there's loud music. Again, your brain's trying to make sense of that at the same time it's trying to make sense of the conversation you're having. It's called cognitive load. And so when we used to wake up as monks, and, and I talk a lot about this waking up principle. I would really look at your alarm clock. Because for most people, their alarm on their phone is like this anxiety-filled jolt that just, you know, breaks you out of your sleep. You wake up in anxiety, you wake up in shock, and you're like, oh my God, what do I do? What do I do? What do I do next? And when we were monks, I mean, we were very fortunate to wake up to a lot of natural

• 29:59Jay Shetty?

  sounds, whether it was birds, whether it was leaves, whether it was the wind. And I'm not saying you need to go and find that. But when you can sound-design your life to wake up with more peace, to wake up with less anxiety, sound is such a beautiful way of designing your life. When you first walk into your office, the sound you hear can set you up. We all know that sound has nostalgia. When you hear a song from, you know, a couple of decades ago, or even a decade ago, or a few years ago, it takes you back to that. So, sound is so powerful about transporting us. And it's so important that we use sound throughout our days to transport us as well. So, I go really deeply into, as you can see, I get really deep into a lot of the wisdom, the lesson, the science, the practical aspect.

• 30:42Jay Shetty?

  And that's how we really break down each and every chapter in this book. One of the other themes that I really wanted to point out to you, and these are just a few, by the way, there is so much more in this book. And I hope as I'm going through these, you're listening to this going, Jay, I really need this, like, oh yeah, I need that one. Oh my God, I didn't know you were gonna hit on that one too. So, if you are, then, like I said, you can, you can preorder the book right now. It's on thinklikeamonkbook.com. The book doesn't come out till April 2020, but you can preorder right now. And as I said, thank you to everyone who already has. But one of the biggest things I wanted to cover in this book is, and I, and I know you're gonna be happy about this one, overthinking and procrastination. How many of you know that you're stuck, you haven't started because you overthink and you procrastinate? Well, guess what?

• 31:24Jay Shetty?

  One of the best things about monks' minds is that they're able to switch focus. Now, there's another study done, and I believe it's by a doctor named, I believe it's Dr. Joseph Povich, I hope I'm saying that right. And what he found, and this was in his words, meditation research, particularly in the last 10 years or so, has shown to be very promising because it points to an ability of the brain to change and optimize in a way we didn't know was previously possible. And what a lot of studies found was that Monks were able to switch between thinking of nothing and then thinking of compassion, or focusing on something and then not focusing, almost like a light switch, like on and off, on and off, on and off, right? That responsive. Now, you may say, Jay, well, that's going to take decades of meditation. And the answer is,

• 32:06Jay Shetty?

  yes, it can. But there are also certain habits and tips and practices that you can start living right now, so that your focus can become highly navigated by you. So when you want to focus on something, you can, right? When you want to bring your energy to something, you can. And so there's a whole section in the book about developing focus, stopping overthinking, and procrastinating as well. And this is more of a deeper theme in the book that I think a lot of you are going to really appreciate. I have a whole section talking about putting aside ego. And as monks, we talked a lot about ego, becoming aware of ego.

• 32:47Jay Shetty?

  And the best way I understood it was that ego is like a false armor. It makes you think you're protected, but actually, everything pierces right through. So imagine putting on a false bulletproof jacket, but actually it doesn't protect you, but it just makes you think you're protected. That's what false ego does. And that's why ego actually falsely makes us feel we're set up for success, but then actually brings us down. Like, it falsely makes us convinced that we're confident, but actually, it's arrogance and people get turned away. And so I think you're really going to love exploring ego through this book, especially if you haven't before. The ninth principle that I wanted to talk about that I cover in the book, again, just giving a shout out to a few areas of the book,

• 33:29Jay Shetty?

  is developing an impactful gratitude practice, which is beyond a list, right? It's not just about making a gratitude list every day, but the power of sharing gratitude in person, face to face, or even with someone you can't anymore. And I was reading an amazing article, and we have so much more research in the book as well, but I was reading an article on, by Happier Human, and it talks about how a five-minute-a-day gratitude journal can increase your long-term well-being by more than 10%. And guess what? That's the same impact as doubling your income. That's crazy, right? A five-minute daily gratitude journal can increase your long-term well-being by more than 10%. And that's the same impact as doubling your income.

• 34:14Jay Shetty?

  How and why are you saying? Well, basically, that journaling practice improves your relationship, improves your emotions, improves your health, it boosts your self-esteem. It's doing so much for you. Everything that you think that money will do, it's doing for you in a different way. Now, guess what? In one year, let's say you increased your gratitude and you doubled your income. Imagine how amazing that year would be. That's the year I want you to have, right? That's the year I want you to have. It's not a choice between do I double my income or do I increase my gratitude? Increase your gratitude and double your income would be an amazing year. It'd be an absolutely amazing year because gratitude, in the same article, it talks about how it generates social capital.

• 34:54Jay Shetty?

  And what that means is that it helps you love and connect better with people and it helps people love and connect more. Because guess what? When you recognize something in someone and you're grateful for it, you reinforce it in them and then they repeat it. And you do the same. They then recognize goodness in you, they reinforce it and you repeat it. They reinforce it and you repeat it. Right? It's so, so powerful. It's huge. Theme number 10 that I wanted to share with you is finding and developing true compatibility in relationships. And I think this is a huge one. And you know, I've dedicated a lot of podcasts to it, but I had to share the monk method

• 35:37Jay Shetty?

  behind self-awareness and compatibility in relationships. And that's one thing that really helped me and I've talked about it before, but not as nowhere near as much depth as I give in the book. But I talk about how when I met my wife, and she's the only person I've been with since leaving Living as a Monk, and I just knew...

• 35:58Jay Shetty?

  That we complemented each other because of my self-awareness. My self-awareness had grown so high due to practicing these incredible monk mindsets that I was taught, that I was able to very clearly find the person that would write for me in my life. And I think that sometimes we attract the wrong person, or we get attracted to the wrong person, right? How many times have you been in one of those situations where you attract someone into your life, but you attract the wrong person based on where your self-awareness is at? Or because your self-awareness is wrong, you're attracted to the wrong person. It's like, you know, being slightly off true north on a compass can take you off in completely the wrong direction. So I dedicated a whole section to that. And then the last two sections are service and meditation.

• 36:39Jay Shetty?

  Now, service to me, number 11, service to me is just the whole goal of being as a monk. And today, we talk a lot about self-care and self-love, which I'm a big proponent of. But as a monk, self-care and self-love were rooted in service. So because we want to serve, we take care of ourselves even more. Because we want to give, we make sure that we get more. Because we want to create a life for others where they have opportunities that they don't dream of, we work harder on ourselves. Everything comes from the root of service. Everything comes from the root of selflessness. And that's such a beautiful place to live, because you take better care of yourself when you know someone else is dependent on you.

• 37:23Jay Shetty?

  You focus more on your own mindset and rest and refuel when you know you want to give to others. And so we dive into building a service mindset. And then finally, meditation. I share with you the three most powerful steps in meditation that I've practiced, breathing, visualization, and mantra, and why and how you can implement them in different areas of your life. And of course, there's tons of studies on meditation, whether it's, you know, building your immune system, whether it's reducing anxiety, depression, and addiction, whether it's neuroplasticity and rewiring the brain. The benefits of meditation are endless, and I'll actually help you develop an incredible meditation practice every single day through this.

• 38:07Jay Shetty?

  Book. So those are just some of the themes that I wanted to call out in the book that I'm super excited to share with you. I thought I had to share this podcast with you because I wanted you to listen to this podcast, hear it and be like, Jay, yes, that's what I want to learn more about. I, I, I need to connect more with that area of my life. Oh, that would be something I haven't explored yet. Actually, Jay, you've, you've shed some light on it and I'd love to dive into it. So take a note of these lessons. If any of these lessons have connected with you, I promise you that the amount of research, the amount of blood, sweat and tears, the amount of soul that has gone into this book is insane. It's definitely the best work I've ever done. If you've loved the videos, if you've enjoyed my podcast, the book is our next step of becoming deeper together. The book goes to a whole new level. And like I said, if you've loved

• 38:51Jay Shetty?

  the, if you've loved the videos, if you've loved the podcast, you will absolutely love this book. It would mean the world to me. It would genuinely mean so much to me to have your support. I feel grateful to each and every one of you. I've been sharing everyone on Instagram that's pre-ordering as many as I can. And I would love you to go preorder the book today. It's thinklikeamonkbook.com and you can find it across Amazon, across the world, Apple Books, Booktopia, Flipkart, anywhere books are sold. It's only available for preorder right now. So make sure you head over to thinklikeamonkbook.com. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Share your best takeaway from this episode. Share your excitement on Instagram, Twitter,

• 39:31Jay Shetty?

  YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn. I will definitely be looking out for your messages. Thank you so much again for your continued love and support. I can't wait to keep serving you and I am so excited for you to hear Monday's guest and Monday's episode. It's a huge one. So look out for the announcement. We may do a quick teaser this weekend for who the guest is on Monday. It's a huge, huge guest. I think you're gonna love that episode. It's super honest, super authentic conversation. So make sure you're listening out for that. Thank you for listening, everyone. Have an amazing weekend. Have an amazing week and I'll see you very soon. Thanks again.

• 40:14Speaker 04

  Now, more than ever, we need someone on our side. But Rob Whitman? Whitman's votes drove up costs, cut Medicaid, and risked 350,000 Virginians' health care to pay for tax breaks for himself and his donors. He's not on our side. Shannon Taylor will fight corruption, cut taxes, and bring down costs. This November, vote for Shannon Taylor. She's for us. Paid for by HMP, theHouseMajorityPact.com. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

• 40:43Speaker 01

  Mr. President, my company tore me of the explosion on our rig.

• 40:47Speaker 02

  On October 2nd.

• 40:48Speaker 01

  Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me.

• 40:52Speaker 02

  Tom Cruise is. Digger got us into this mess, and Digger's gonna dig us up. From the director of Birdman and The Revenant.

• 41:00Speaker 03

  What would happen if I stopped drilling? You stall, you freeze to death, that's what.

• 41:04Speaker 02

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 41:07Speaker 03

  I'm not the first then.

• 41:08Speaker 02

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only begins October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a minute without parent.