[cheald]

I've been doing the startup thing for almost 3 years now, and I will absolutely and unequivocally say that not only can you afford to spend time on a hobby, you must if you want to avoid bottom-of-the-barrel burnout. I love what I do, but if I didn't have other things to do, I would have burnt out about two and a half years ago. Having distractions allows me to recharge and refocus.

I'm a father and a husband. I play the bass guitar, I mod games. I work on small exploratory projects. I hack on Android development. All of these things are important parts of my life - they anchor and stabilize me, and enable me to work for obscene amounts of time at a stretch. I will burn hard, doing 16 hour days for two weeks straight, in order to hit deadline X, but being able to switch directions allows me to escape burnout and continually enjoy what I do.

An important part of being a founder is knowing when to stop working and do something else. You're good to nobody if you're so mentally blasted that you can't function. It seems somewhat contradictory, but my productivity shot through the roof when I learned to pay attention to my body and my mind, to know when they were good to work and when I needed to stop and do something else for a little while.

Don't give up the piano. Not only can you afford to keep it, I don't think you can afford to lose it.