[rosenjon]

How is that going to solve the problem? The procrastination comes from a fear of failure. Your suggestion is to go take a mindless, shitty job, thereby suggesting this is what's going to happen to him if he fails? First, that's probably not the likely outcome of failure, and second, it's not going to help the fear of failure.

Call it a "vacation", or a "break", or whatever you want. But you have to step away sometimes in order to clarify your thinking. Startups are a marathon, not a sprint. Despite all the lean startup craziness, nothing truly gets built in a day, a week or a month. If he has literally made no progress in a month, then something needs to change. Personally, I think the most effective thing is a change of environment. His office has become a toxic place to go during the day and procrastinate. He needs to get away from it and do something else for a bit, and then come back to it with fresh eyes.

Here are some further suggestions for what he can do to regain some balance. http://zenhabits.net/the-10-essential-rules-for-slowing-down...

[wturner]

The point was that it lends contrast. If you are forced to live without a hot shower for awhile it makes you appreciate it when you have one.