Business Book Review: Think Like A Monk by Jay Shetty

You don’t have to trade your suits for the Ashram. Shetty shares the mindset for peace and purpose - the foundation of meaningful work. 

My Rating: ★★★★

Length:  352 pages

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Released: 2020

Key Takeaways for Personal Branding

You may wonder what thinking like a monk could have to do with business or your career. After reading this book, I’d suggest a lot. 

The monk mindset teaches clarity, meaning and direction.

Perhaps the world’s most famous former monk turned online media sensation, Jay Shetty, shares the secrets of being a monk. The most powerful lessons he learned when he traded his suits in London for years spent in the robes of the Ashram. An experience that led him to pair his enlightenment with his online media savvy and share the best of what it means to be a monk with the world. 

Shetty uses ancient wisdom to help train your mind for peace and purpose. Much of which is the foundation for meaningful work. 

Values-driven decisions 

Upfront, Shetty immediately reminds you of the importance of values-driven decisions. He urges you to understand your most visceral values. Not what you are conditioned by others close to you or society to believe are your values. He suggests pinpointing its origin and deciding if it’s actually also true to you. 

Shetty suggests doing an audit of your time, media and money habits. Your schedule and discretionary spending will help show you where your values lie. At the least, the audit will highlight how you feel about where you’re spending your time and money. 

Mudita 

Shetty shares the concept of Mudita in the book. This is “the principle of taking sympathetic or unselfish joy in the good fortune of others.”

When you only find joy in your own success, your joy is inherently limited. When you take joy in the successes of others, your potential for joy increases by ten, twenty, or fifty-fold:

“Everyone who wants to partake in mudita can watch the show. With unlimited seats, there is no fear of missing out.”

Applying this to personal branding, it is an important reminder. In personal branding, it’s not actually about you. It’s about others.

Your Dharma 

Shetty shares the concept of your Dharma. It’s the magic formula for living with purpose: 

Passion + Expertise + Usefulness = Dharma 

It’s using your natural inclination, what you’re good at - your thrive mode - to serve others. You feel passion, you’re skilful in it and the response from others is positive - this is what shows that your passion has purpose. If something is missing, it’s said that you’re not living your Dharma. 

Dharma is of the body, so you must pay attention to how the activity feels in your body. When you’re in your element, your body responds and you can feel it. 

Favourite Quotes

“Happiness and success are not among these values. These are not values, they are rewards—the end game.”

“When you deal with fear and hardship, you realize that you’re capable of dealing with fear and hardship.”

“Our search is never for a thing, but for the feeling we think the thing will give us.”

“Monks believe that the man won’t be fulfilled when he finds his fortune and that if he continues his search for meaning, the answer will always, eventually, be found in service.” 

“Our society is set up around strengthening our weaknesses rather than building our strengths. In school, if you get three As and a D, all the adults around you are focused on that.”

“Eventually, I learned the one infallible trick to successfully getting up earlier: I had to go to sleep earlier. That was it.”

“The ego is two-faced. One moment it tells us we’re great at everything, and the next moment it tells us we’re the worst. Either way, we are blind to the reality of who we are.” 

“Think of your parents, your teachers, your mentors. Someone had to invest their time, money, and energy to make you who you are today. Remember and give thanks to the people who gave you the skills you’re getting recognition for.”

As Shetty demonstrates in Think Like a Monk, timeless monk wisdom is supported by modern science. In his signature relatability, he shows that you don’t have to be robe-clad and barefoot on top of a mountain to be a monk. It’s a mindset anyone can adopt.

Shetty goes so far as to say that the entire book is a meditation. I would agree. Reading it is a peaceful reflection. A transportation into the best, most peaceful yet, purposeful version of yourself. 

Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty:  Available on Amazon.