Title: Think Like a Monk
Author: Jay Shetty
Genre: Non-fiction, memoir, self-help
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Publication Date: 2020
Format: Audiobook
Length: 11 hours

Read if you like: religion and spirituality, new age thinking, self-help, positive thinking, personal growth

Rating: 

I had seen someone speak about Think Like a Monk in a way that described their experience with the content as transformational. I love a good non-fiction memoir, so I reserved this one at my library and consumed it on audiobook.

I was pleasantly surprised with how enjoyable this book was. While I didn’t necessarily find any of the concepts presented to be ground-breaking, the way that Shetty presents them allowed them to serve as positive reminders for me of the benefits of focusing on positivity, forgiveness, self-discipline, and service. I mostly listened to this book while travelling in the car and found myself wishing I could scribble down notes here and there just as friendly reminders of the concepts he was discussing.

Shetty wasn’t a perfect narrator; he was very obviously biased, and I found occasionally he’d give examples (particularly when he was making them up himself instead of leaning on a piece of research) that oversimplified the concept that he was getting at, but his passion for what has been his life’s work was evident, and the enthusiasm did bleed through in the delivery. 

This was a quick and enjoyable read, one that I felt reminded me to recenter on what’s important to me and reset as needed from the stressors and overwhelm of daily life. If you’re looking for a light, enjoyable read on meditation and personal growth, this might be a good book for you.

The Book: Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty

Think Like a Monk is a pseudo memoir/self-help book written by Shetty in retrospect from the teachings he learned during his three years as a monk in a Buddhist ashram. 

Shetty, who is now an internationally renowned speaker and executive coach, believes that while he no longer serves as a monk, the teachings he gained are universally applicable and beneficial. Core teachings that he shares include how to overcome negativity, how to stop overthinking, why comparison kills love, how to use your fear, how to find your purpose, and more. He discusses these topics within the context of his learnings alongside actionable tactics and strategies that the reader can use to answer these big life questions for themselves and, ultimately, find greater fulfilment and purpose. 

The Review

When you consider the major questions that Shetty promises to discuss in Think Like a Monk, it’s obvious that it’s an incredibly ambitious approach. After all, if finding your purpose or overcoming negativity was as simple as reading a self-help book and then implementing the strategies, wouldn’t we all be living our dharma already? 

To his credit, while he does discuss these areas and how to address them, he’s also clear to articulate that ultimately, it’s up to you to do the work, and I think that’s what I enjoyed the most about this book. It laid out a framework for meditation and critical thinking that, if practised regularly and with commitment, can help you find your barriers and help you to help yourself in overcoming them.

The concept that meditation and critical thinking are beneficial was far from new to me, but I did feel like Shetty approached it in an accessible way that served as a good reminder of why these practices are critical to our growth. It’s really easy just to run through life at full speed without implementing any time for reflection or without observing the patterns that we’re unknowingly creating in our thoughts and actions. I’ve always enjoyed meditation in the past, finding it did help with the specific areas that Shetty passionately believes it does, but I also learned some new aspects for my practice from him that I think will help it to be even more beneficial, namely the importance of consistency and of duration of meditation time. The concept of the daily 5-minute meditation has taken the world by storm, and I loved that Shetty kindly and thoughtfully pointed out that realistically, for most people, 5 minutes is just not enough time to reap the major benefits that the practice holds. It was encouraging to understand that others out there, including those with long-standing, intensely trained practices, also find these short bursts that have been popularized to be insufficient. 

I’m always a little leery of self-help, mostly because unless someone is a certified professional in the area in which their book resides, there’s just too much bias from an unqualified narrator, but I felt like Think Like a Monk did a good job of bridging Shetty’s personal experiences both generally and with monkhood with supporting research and science for the practices he preached. That, combined with Shetty’s undeniable passion for the subjects he discussed, made for a really enjoyable listening experience. 

Overall, I felt like this book was a fun, practical read. There were a lot of good reminders in it and some practices that I feel like I’ll incorporate into my daily routines. If you’re looking for something light, interesting, and a bit funny that discusses meditation, monkhood, and personal growth in a positive and uplifting way, this might be a book you’d enjoy.