I've noticed that ever since I've started reading HN (which I think is fairly intellectually stimulating for me), the rate at which I independently think up new ideas for projects has greatly reduced. I don't know if they are actually correlated. Maybe reading a site like this and reading about other people achieving and inventing things lubricates that part of my brain that gives me satisfaction for making things myself.
Or that I now have so many ideas from others whirring around in my head, that it is difficult to separate my own personal desires from the experiences and projects I read about in blogs and discussions, so I emerge without really knowing any of my own dreams and dispositions.
Maybe unrelated, but as my awareness of what other folks have made musically has increased, my desire to write and create new compositions has decreased... I suspect because I'm aware that a lot of the things I would like to see created have already been created.
However, this hasn't stemmed my desire to get better at making music... quite the opposite... but I have been a lot more systematic in my practicing and a lot more willing to be confident that performing work other people have performed is a legitimate practice.
I have felt similarly in my own programming practice: most every thing that I really need to do has functionally been done in other contexts, and my task is to figure out the best ways to bring those previous works to bear on my own context... so I feel less "creative" but more effective.
We may flock to TED and Hacker News to read about what others are doing, but not for inspiration in the sense that we will be inspired to do things, but rather we seek reassurance that people are doing things, things that we feel we could do if we tried.
We want to see people we can relate to doing great things so that we can feel that those things are with in our ability.
When you watch Nascar you think you can drive fast. When you watch TED you think you can change the world. You aren't inspired by Nascar, you are envigorated, excited, but not inspired.
I don't disagree, but I do find myself having moments of clarity when I look up from work and come check out HN. Often it's just a brief comment just resonates, and clarifies something I'd been chewing on for the past few days/weeks. In that way, I guess it's a precursor to what the author labels as true 'inspiration.'
In any case, I like dropping in on smart people debating stuff.
My rule of thumb is inspiration declines exponentially. And as someone famous once said - inspiration doesn't do anything - irritation has more to do with it.
e.g. at the conference/lecture/business meeting/serendipitous coffee, your excitement level is 110%
To truly do something, you must continue working when you are not inspired.
a day later, 70%
a week later, 20%
Three birds sat on a railing. One decided to fly off. How many birds are there now?
I must point on one thing, take this example most of us, have experienced many times of some smart guy, giving a smart talk in your high school/college, and you walk out and say to your friend "woah, that was a good lecture/speech, that guy was awesome" .. after few days you go on with your normal business, but somewhere inside you, you feel the guilt of not applying, what you learned during that lecture. Well you are not always right, our brain is only as much capable of seeing our own improvement, to a limit, going from 18-25, you see a lot of changes, and you don't see a lot of changes, so the point is, that its not necessary for you to always apply, what you just learned immediately. Yes, try to use it soon, but its not necessary to apply, what you heard from that smart guy, starting tomorrow, because his circumstances are way different than yours, and he would know a lot of contingencies related what he said, of course.
I'm one of the afflicted; always looking for more information. One other thing I've noticed in myself after beginning to do a little mediation is a pervading and constant sense of "I should be"...
* I should be building my own business
* I should be better at this
* I should be earning more
* I should be living a 4 hour workweek
I've realised that these are caustic feelings that cause a low level pervasive feeling of stress, and worse distort the lens that I observe myself through.
I'm far from unsuccessful: I'm a self taught programmer and I'm good at what I do. Financially I'm up near the top in terms of earnings, despite only programming professionally for 5 years or so. Partly I'm successful due to that thirst for knowledge I guess.
So it's a difficult balance between healthy inquisitiveness and a desire to expose oneself to new ideas for their own sake, and getting stuck in a negative consumption/inhalation loop with no corresponding fulfilment/exhalation phase.
There is a difference between seeking inspiration and simply reading or watching something intellectually stimulating for entertainment (nor are they mutually exclusive).
Reading Hacker News, for example, can be done for entertainment.
I agree. I sometimes (rarely) have moments when I want to punch into the air, or raise my hands above my head to claim victory, or slap my desk with vigor, when I just achieved something (generally small) on the task I am intently working at. Then I look around somewhat abashed, but I can't share it with too many people because it will be hard to explain my accomplishment to them. That is true joy. I think that's what the article is talking about.
Or that I now have so many ideas from others whirring around in my head, that it is difficult to separate my own personal desires from the experiences and projects I read about in blogs and discussions, so I emerge without really knowing any of my own dreams and dispositions.