Monk got 7th level feature: Heightened metabolism.
This allows to take a short rest in 1 minute.
But,
how can we improve on that thing?
1. Make it available to all characters.
2. Make it available at 1st level.
3. Make it not limited in use.
4. Profit.
Congratulations WotC, after 10 years, Short rest is now really SHORT rest.
I was just going over my own first impressions of the monk. You hit on Heightened Metabolism being appropriate to an earlier level. My own feeling is that it should just be part of what Martial Discipline does. Then some of the later abilities in the play test could be moved earlier as well (because they should be). IMHO to fix the monk meaning make it on par with other classes:
Give the monk a fighting style at 1st.
Let Martial Arts Dice apply to Monk Weapons.
Keep Monk Weapons in name and in design both for fun and Backward compatibility with abilities that use the Monk Weapon name.
Make Unarmed Strikes a Melee Weapon giving them access to the Martial Mastery properties in the play test. Give Monks mastery of Unarmed Strikes.
Let any weapon proficiency that the Monk gains make that weapon a Monk Weapon
Drop Ki Point requirement for Patient Defense and Step of the Wind entirely.
Give the Monk 2 plus Wisdom Bonus Ki Points at 2nd Add a feat let the Monk gain more.
Don’t Nerf Stunning Strike It’s already hard to pull off.
Drop the awkward, un-fun and pointless name changes of things.
Heightened Metabolism should just be part of what Martial Discipline does.
Perfect Discipline and Superior Defense are good but need to be at earlier levels.
Bring Back Perfect Self.
Fix the 5E Sub-classes. They are ALL bad. Just different levels of bad. (Meaning none of them make the monk as good as another class could be built to fill a similar role).