Same here, but doing any one thing day in and day out has a tendency to make you necrotic.
It's just like when you are taking a shower and an idea hits you, it's because you aren't focusing on work and you are in complete silence. You need time to relax, recharge, and recover. Believe me I only learned this through experience, but you need a break every now and then.
Totally agree. Plus, I find that hobbies & activities unrelated to my startup can actually help. I'm a big believer in lateral thinking, and one great way to practice lateral thinking is to shift your mind onto other, unrelated topics.
I was reading this article from the founder of Kayak earlier today:
http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/12604/Startup-Insights-...
and he mentioned something interesting. Despite being a travel startup, he avoids hiring people from the travel industry. I believe that's because he sees value in having people with different modes of thinking.
And in a way, that's kind of what a hobby does for you. It puts you into a different mode of thinking, which can come back and benefit your startup. :)
Stefan Sagmeister says something similar in his TED talk "The power of time off". Every seven years his firm takes a year off to travel, work on hobbies, and kick around ideas. He goes on to say that some of those ideas influence most of their work for the next seven years, allowing them to consistently produce fresh and amazing work.
It's just like when you are taking a shower and an idea hits you, it's because you aren't focusing on work and you are in complete silence. You need time to relax, recharge, and recover. Believe me I only learned this through experience, but you need a break every now and then.