After an intense period of effort, you need rest. Just like giving your body a rest regularly, don’t forget to give your brain a break.

Entrepreneurial life is busy. Even if you try to plan ahead, reality is brutal: It doesn’t care for your plans.

Legend has it that Winston Churchill said that planning was a “necessary evil”. Welcome to my world. Juggling the roles of Founder & CEO of Yonder, military duty as an active reserve officer in the Swiss Armed Forces, and being a father of three children, my wife and I are planning and replanning all the time.

Sometimes, everything gets jumbled up, and you have to start your planning from scratch again. An important customer reports an urgent bug; immediate action is required. Your kids fall sick, and you have to stay at home. Or you have to fly to the Far East on short notice for a vendor presentation.

In other circumstances, everything is planned out, and you just have to survive. 

This article is about these situations. Let’s dive deeper.

Just Survive

In October 2025, I was on the road for pretty much the entire month: Military service with my battalion, followed by a tradeshow attendance, followed by a two-week cyber operations course in the Swiss Armed Forces.

My concept for this month? Just survive. I wasn’t planning ahead anymore, just trying to do the necessary to keep everything running and not falling behind.

Did it work? I would say yes. At the end of the month, I was delighted to note that I didn’t fall behind. My inbox was as tidy as always, and the minor urgencies at work were handled by my colleagues.

Yet something was missing. I had no plan for what I would do in the next few weeks, and all the technical work that requires full concentration had suffered.

Give Your Brain A Break

What did I do? Despite having been on the road for 4 weeks, I decided to spend the weekend after the cyber operations course in the mountains. Alone.

I didn’t go skiing, even though the weather was splendid.

I didn’t even go for a walk in the sun.

So what did I do? Because my inbox was empty and all the minor urgencies were attended during the work week, I spent the weekend thinking.

The visible output from this thinking session was minimal, but the invisible output was maximal. I regained a plan of what to do over the next few weeks.

And my brain got a break.