You're flesh. You have limits. And ignoring them for twenty years nearly destroyed me.
I'm building Fleshtimer — a Mac app that helps burned-out builders create sustainably by making time physical again. It tracks your heart rate variability in real-time, forces you to take breaks, and teaches you what rest actually means for your body.
This isn't another productivity hack. This is about optimizing for wanting to get up in the morning.
Join the waiting list for early beta access (launching in 4-6 weeks, but I'm not rushing this one).
For twenty years, I pushed through.
Low-grade inflammation. Mysterious digestive issues. Diabetes. Hospital visits where doctors couldn't figure out why I was so exhausted. I complained about being tired, then exercised harder because I thought that was the answer.
I brought my Mac on a "workation" with my family. Got up early, like always, to work. But that morning, staring at the screen, my mind felt like it had fastened in plaster. Rigid. Frozen. I couldn't think. Couldn't create.
After fifteen minutes, I gave up and listened to an audiobook on the couch.
For the next two years, I couldn't even look at a screen.
It took three full years to recover. The first year at 10% capacity. Slowly building back up.
My body had been screaming at me for decades. I just kept interpreting the signals as "push harder."
Here's what I learned in those three years:
Productivity is about checking boxes. Creativity requires white space, low stress, and the right physiological state.
You can't force creative breakthroughs. You can only create the conditions where they're more likely to happen.
I thought scrolling was rest. My heart rate variability told me otherwise. Real rest for me: reading novels, calm thoughtful work (not rushing), walking, yoga, meditation.
Sometimes 15 minutes. Sometimes 30. Not "breaks from work" — integral to the work itself.
But I had to learn this. I had to reprogram my nervous system to trust that rest works (in both senses). That it's safe to rest. That rest isn't wasted time.
I needed data to prove it to myself.
I tried every productivity app. They all felt like extra work. And none of them stopped me from burning out — because they optimized for output, not for the physiological state where real creation happens.
So I built Fleshtimer.
It's a Mac app that blends body and time. You type your day as text (no dragging, no clicking), and it counts down through each block while monitoring your heart rate variability in real-time.
When stress builds up, it intervenes.
It forces 15-second screen breaks every 15 minutes. It nudges you if you don't plan enough rest. It will show you — with actual biometric data — what happens when you skip breaks and let cortisol accumulate.
Because I've seen it on my Garmin: those high-stress periods where I should have taken a break, but the watch only told me after the fact. Fleshtimer catches it in the moment, before the damage is done.
Deep work 90m 11:00 Lunch 30m Meeting 1h 30m
Times update in real-time as you write. No friction. No mental overhead.
It's sustainable creativity.
Work that doesn't destroy you. A business you can build without burning out again. A life where you actually want to get up in the morning.
Get early access and help shape what gets built.
I want to get it into the hands of people who actually need it — burned-out founders, remote builders, science-oriented creators who already track their Body Battery on Garmin but need something integrated into their actual workflow.
For people comfortable with Mac apps and willing to report bugs. The beta won't be perfect. But it will help you learn to trust rest.
Fleshtimer is the first tool I'm building for recovered founders who want to optimize for creativity, not productivity. Who understand that rest isn't weakness — it's the substrate of creation.
Who want to build the good life, not just a successful business.
I'm creating more tools and content around body-sustainable creativity. Fleshtimer users will be first to know.
Sign up above. Let's figure out what rest actually means — together.
The name is visceral. Maybe uncomfortable.
That's intentional.
It's the blending of body and time — a reminder that you're not a disembodied productivity engine. You're made of flesh. You're a being in time, with limits, with needs.
It's a strong name. Easy to remember. And maybe exactly the wake-up call you need.
Join the waiting list. Help shape the product. Learn what rest actually means for your body.
Join the Waiting List →Free · Launching in 4-6 weeks