I tend to overwork, and I've burned out more times than I'd like, usually right after a stretch where productivity felt high and the pace looked sustainable. Enough of those crashes taught me to put physical and mental health ahead of any single project, which in startup and tech circles can sound like heresy, and the habit that keeps me there is leaving the monitor behind and going outside.
What hours at a screen do to the work
Coding, designing, and planning keep us still in front of a screen for hours, and bodies were not built for that. Stiff shoulders, a foggy head, and back pain are the signs that the returns on another hour are already falling.
Those signals are easy to ignore deep in a project, when the next line of code or the next bug always seems like the last one before a break. Sitting that long hurts circulation, and it hurts clarity even more, which is the part the work depends on.
What fixed it for me was a fixed block of time away from screens that I call a Grass Hour.
My Grass Hour
Mine is in the morning, an early two-hour hike with no screens, timed to catch the sunrise. It gets my legs working before the day starts, and it is also a spiritual reset for me, time to reconnect with God. The introspection that comes from being outdoors helps whether or not you're religious.
What changed after I kept it
With that block in my daily routine, I feel physically stronger and mentally steadier, and I have not burned out since I started keeping it. I come back to the desk more focused instead of hitting a midday slump, and the hours I do spend at the screen get more done than the longer days did.
Finding your own
Everyone's Grass Hour looks different. It might be in the morning like mine, a late-night walk, or an afternoon break, as long as it is a regular time away from the screen.
If you're in a stretch of overwork, start small with a walk around the block, a visit to the park, or a minute barefoot on the grass. The point is to stay able to do ambitious work for years, which matters most for people in leadership positions, whose pace sets the team's. For me that means the two-hour hike comes first, and the workday starts after it.