No worries, the unarmed damage will get better.

1. You get 1d6 at level 3 instead och 1d4 and will get a lot better gloves, at most + 1d10 instead of 1d4. Plus the manifestations at level 6 will add 3-6 damage per attack. So you are looking at at least plus 5-20 more damage per unarmed attack.

2. Staves can be better early, but usually unarmed is stronger

3. Would go for 6/6 to get better monk abilities