
Ask HN: What are the most inspirational blog posts you've ever read? - ruswick
What are the posts that have inspired you the most?
======
edw519
I know OP is asking for a blog post, but there is no blog post that inspires
me more that either of these 2 short videos:

Dick and Rick Hoyt: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH943Az_lPQ>

Derek Redmond, 1992 Olympics: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZlXWp6vFdE>

~~~
solutionyogi
I can not watch Dick/Rick Hoyt's video without choking up. Whenever I am
feeling down and feel that there is no way out, I watch their video for
inspiration.

I personally think that this video of Team Hoyt has better details about the
story behind their struggle.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDnrLv6z-mM&feature=relat...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDnrLv6z-mM&feature=related)

~~~
shpoonj
Thank you so much for a video without christian music... I could actually
watch this one.

------
jseliger
I send this as part of my "last e-mail" to students every semester:

This is the post that could but probably won't change your life: "There’s no
speed limit. (The lessons that changed my life)" <http://sivers.org/kimo> . I
say "could," because most of you probably won't click the link; of those of
you who do, most of you won't read the whole thing; of those of you who do,
most of you won't get it; of those who do, most won't implement it. On the off
chance that one out of 50 of you let this change your life, however, I'm
sending it. Derek Sivers, who posted "There's no speed limit," also wrote a
book called _Anything You Want_ , [1] and reading it is probably one of the
best ways you can spend an hour.

[1]
[http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936719118?ie=UTF8&tag=thstsst-...](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936719118?ie=UTF8&tag=thstsst-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957)

~~~
Sukotto
Why not send that at the _start_ of the school year instead of the _end_?
Maybe along with a challenge to learn your class material in half the
semester. Or assign it as an optional reading assignment worth a small bonus %
if they submit a brief plan on how they would apply the advice in that article
in your own class.

Is the tone of your email what you really intend? To me it reads like "I'm
probably wasting my valuable time casting pearls before you swine. But _just
in case_ even ONE of you is worthy, here is some good advice from Derek
Sivers". I find it dismissive, bordering on contempt.

~~~
jseliger
I don't think my students have the context necessary to make sense of Sivers'
point before they go through the whole class.

I'm just being honest in the e-mail.

------
sushilchoudhari
How come no one mentioned Steve Jobs and his commencement speech at Stanford?
It is absolutely one of my favorites. I watch it everytime i feel that i could
use a dose of motivation.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA>

------
alatkins
Richard Hamming: You and Your Research:

<http://www.paulgraham.com/hamming.html>

~~~
sayemm
That's one of the most insightful and wisdom-packed posts I've ever read,
can't believe I missed it - thanks so much.

------
sachitgupta
Mark Cuban on success and motivation:
[http://blogmaverick.com/2011/04/07/shark-tank-success-
motiva...](http://blogmaverick.com/2011/04/07/shark-tank-success-motivation/)

The whole post is gold, but this is the best part:

    
    
      The point of all this is that it doesn’t matter how many
      times you fail. It doesn’t matter how many times you almost  
      get it right. No one is going to know or care about your  
      failures, and either should you. All you have to do is
      learn   from them and those around you because…
    
      All that matters in business is that you get it right once.

------
olalonde
Paul Graham's "How To Make Wealth" was truly inspiring to me at the time.
<http://paulgraham.com/wealth.html>

~~~
rtisticrahul
This post on Great Hackers is a good read for every programmer
l<http://www.paulgraham.com/gh.html>

------
elimisteve
To name a few...

"The Stewart Method: How Not To Suck" --
[http://www.shimweasel.com/2011/05/08/the-stewart-method-
how-...](http://www.shimweasel.com/2011/05/08/the-stewart-method-how-not-to-
suck)

Chris Dixon's "Some lessons learned" -- <http://cdixon.org/2011/09/28/some-
lessons-learned>

"Thrust, Drag and the 10x Effect" --
[http://www.tempobook.com/2011/10/25/thrust-drag-and-
the-10x-...](http://www.tempobook.com/2011/10/25/thrust-drag-and-
the-10x-effect/)

------
firefoxman1
A lot of the links I've seen people post in this thread are the kind of stuff
I used to see a lot more on HN. Sure, I enjoy the HTML5/Rails/Python/(insert
buzzword) posts, but it's too bad that a lot of new HN members will miss out
on awesome posts with titles like "it's not about the idea" or "just ship it"
etc.

------
gorbachev
I'm Christian, unless you're gay.

[http://www.danoah.com/2011/11/im-christian-unless-youre-
gay....](http://www.danoah.com/2011/11/im-christian-unless-youre-gay.html)

The blog post by itself is absolutely amazing, but the followups are what
really make it. Link to them after the blog post on the last page.

------
jonwjones
Iron and the Soul - Henry Rollins
[http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/03/16/iron-and-the-
soul...](http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/03/16/iron-and-the-soul/)

Technically it is a magazine article but I stumbled upon the repost of it on
nerd fitness.

~~~
debacle
As a side note, I used to think Henry Rollins was kind of a douche until I
started reading his writings.

I still am not really interested in listening to him speak, but he is a very
compelling writer.

------
rahulrg
Not exactly a blog post, but still. Clay Christensen's commencement address,
"How will you measure your life?": <http://hbr.org/2010/07/how-will-you-
measure-your-life/ar/pr>

------
bennesvig
Don't Die On Third - [http://www.baseball-
almanac.com/articles/dont_die_on_third.s...](http://www.baseball-
almanac.com/articles/dont_die_on_third.shtml)

Reject The Tyranny of Being Picked: Pick Yourself by Seth Godin
[http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/03/reject-
the-t...](http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/03/reject-the-tyranny-
of-being-picked-pick-yourself.html)

Cage of the Mind - [http://www.cstthegate.com/davetrott/2011/12/the-cage-of-
the-...](http://www.cstthegate.com/davetrott/2011/12/the-cage-of-the-mind/)

------
dhathorn
Non-technical.

<http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/news/index.html>

~~~
igorgue
"The Last Lecture" is probably my favorite book, I recommend it to everyone.

------
freshfey
The Lefsetz Letter on Mark Cuban:
[http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2011/08/31/m...](http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2011/08/31/mark-
cuban/)

5 Crippling Beliefs That Keep People Stuck, Unsuccessful, and Mediocre For
Life: [http://www.dumblittleman.com/2011/08/5-crippling-beliefs-
tha...](http://www.dumblittleman.com/2011/08/5-crippling-beliefs-that-keep-
people.html)

Do It Now: <http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles/do-it-now.htm>

------
icoloma
Don't work. Be hated. Love someone. [http://halfhalf.posterous.com/dont-work-
be-hated-love-someon...](http://halfhalf.posterous.com/dont-work-be-hated-
love-someone)

Terry pratchett speech about alzheimer
<http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1986843/posts>

And of course, steve jobs speech at stanford. These three are speeches instead
of posts, but I found them true inspiring.

------
ryporter
Steve Yegge's "Math For Programmers" was one of the (too) few posts I've read
that actually resulted in action on my part. It made me realize how much I had
let my math skills atrophy since college, and I invested a substantial amount
of time trying to bring them back up to scratch.

[http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/03/math-for-
programmers...](http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/03/math-for-
programmers.html)

~~~
cynest
Previous discussion: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3791894>

------
hughesey
Not a blog post but a great book.

The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris -
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307465357/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307465357/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0307465357&tag=hmedia-20)

Quite litterally changed my whole perspective on just about everything!

~~~
freshfey
Did you implement some of these techniques into your life? If so, what and
how? :)

------
replax
Derek Sivers: There is no speed limit. Actually, very true I think.

<http://sivers.org/kimo>

------
runevault
Not a blog post, but a great 3 minute video about beginnings from zeFrank. I
put the mp3 on my player so when I need a bit of inspiration to kick off
something I get it going.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYlCVwxoL_g>

------
SamReidHughes
[http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2009/12/international-
backu...](http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2009/12/international-backup-
awareness-day.html)

------
imrehg
James Altucher's: <http://www.jamesaltucher.com/>

He's awesome, insightful, and weird in an interesting way. A cross between "I
messed up, so you don't have to", and "there are other ways to do things
better than what most people think". Not saying that I agree with everything
he says, nevertheless he keeps surprising me.

------
astrofinch
[http://dangerousintersection.org/2006/04/11/the-curse-of-
fun...](http://dangerousintersection.org/2006/04/11/the-curse-of-fungible-
dollars/)

[http://dangerousintersection.org/2006/06/29/curses-
dollars-a...](http://dangerousintersection.org/2006/06/29/curses-dollars-and-
hours-are-both-fungible/)

------
alagu
[http://myprasanna.posterous.com/2009/11/whatever-it-is-
that-...](http://myprasanna.posterous.com/2009/11/whatever-it-is-that-im-
chasing.html)

Men get very strong, when they sight something they can die for.

------
vitomd
The Unsettling Truth About Life :
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dtixs0UhkI&feature=relat...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dtixs0UhkI&feature=related)

------
nicolasmulder
Peacetime CEO/Wartime CEO <http://bhorowitz.com/2011/04/15/peacetime-
ceowartime-ceo/>

~~~
cynest
Previous discussion: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2450669>

------
webcowboy
Not exactly a blog post, but truly better heard than read.

"The Crickets Have Arthritis"

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VrZE8MCnIA>

------
huhtenberg
_How to Start a Startup_

I hope to thank Paul for this essay in person at some point in life. This is
singularly most important thing I've read that helped me turn my life around.

~~~
Schwolop
<http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html>

------
DivisibleByZero
About Radical Honsety

<http://www.esquire.com/print-this/honesty0707?page=all>

~~~
cynest
Previous discussion: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=562014>

------
bkumar86
<http://www.pacifict.com/Story/>

find this strangely motivating

------
ssylee
What's your background? What's inspirational for me may not be the same for
you.

------
cynest
Can people start linking the previous discussions on these?

------
bluestix
Building Super Scalable Systems: Blade Runner Meets Autonomic Computing in the
Ambient Cloud

[http://highscalability.com/blog/2009/12/16/building-super-
sc...](http://highscalability.com/blog/2009/12/16/building-super-scalable-
systems-blade-runner-meets-autonomic.html)

~~~
toddh
That's very kind of you, thanks.

