I've got a better idea. You give me the $4k and I'll fly to San Diego and beat you with a stick any time you stop working.
Seriously though, this is a really weird plan. It's a huge amount of money to spend for something that almost certainly won't have the effect you want. Unless you want burnout and a serious case of "maybe we should have budgeted more time to take a look around Hong Kong, which is actually pretty cool".
Take a working vacation if you want, but it's not the place you're in that's causing you trouble.
Oh snap. Seriously Jonathan, what you have here is a mixture of impatience and imperfect self-discipline, probably because you and your partner have not yet hit on an idea that truly excites you, to the point where social or practical considerations are simply less interesting.
I agree. The problem might not be your work environment, but what you are working on. When you say "we always seem to be distracted by all stuff going around us in our lives" I think that your project isn't interesting enough to over shadow everything going on around you. Do you even feel excited about your projects?
I understand where people are coming from. I've made a few small startups- that all ended up unsuccessful. I'm at the point where my standards for ideas are much higher now, so when I actually do have an idea- I'm often so excited by it that I can't sleep for weeks thinking about how I would implement it.
The stuff that "distracts" us are responsibilities. They range from working part-time as a sysadmin to pay bills from taking care of family members who are in current need of my support, and having to deal supporting a friend who had to deal with an attempted suicide. I already sleep 6 hours, and spend the rest of my days working.
I figured that one hour less of sleep, and relocating myself temporarily will allow me to simply shift the remaining time that I don;t have for the startup for the startup. It's precisely because I'm excited to work more on my startup that I want to move things around.
I'm not sure why I'm being classified as impatient or lacking in self-discipline. I'm 23, but I've been working to support myself since 18. I don't rely on other people, especially my parents who work hard enough as it is, for money. I don't drink, smoke, or play games, and I've worked my way up as a sysadmin- enough to have savings to be unemployed for the next few years. As replied to the other posts, it's not so much the lack of excitement the startup brings me- it's precisely because it's so interesting that I want to take time off from the remaining things I do to support that cause.
It's a weird plan and a lot of money- but it means getting things done the way I see it. We've worked successfully in Cupertino before for 2 weeks with a similar schedule- the only reason we can't explore that option now is because there's certain family drama and social responsibilities I have to acknowledge if I go back there.
We've traveled to many parts of the world and I've lived in Hong Kong before. Each time I do take a vacation there- it's really not the most ideal place for me.
I'm not looking for a vacation, and I'm not stressed or too impatient for success- I'm just looking for a change of pace.
If we had to, we could stay for 4 weeks, work 3 and take more time to look around Hong Kong then for the last week.
Seriously though, this is a really weird plan. It's a huge amount of money to spend for something that almost certainly won't have the effect you want. Unless you want burnout and a serious case of "maybe we should have budgeted more time to take a look around Hong Kong, which is actually pretty cool".
Take a working vacation if you want, but it's not the place you're in that's causing you trouble.