
Ask HN: What are your sources of inspiration and motivation? - dpflan
I was wondering what other members of the HN community found as sources of inspiration and motivation. Maybe it&#x27;s a book, a quotation, a poem, an image, a movie, a project you worked on, etc.<p>For example, I&#x27;ve always enjoyed this poem by E. Dickinson - a concise recipe for being honest to yourself and persevering.<p>&quot;Lad of Athens, faithful be
To Thyself,
And Mystery—
All the rest is Perjury—&quot;<p>http:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikisource.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Lad_of_Athens,_faithful_be<p>My hope is that this thread will become full of good sources and discussion.<p>Thanks!
======
SyneRyder
One of the things I found most inspiring early on was a sentence in the small
print on the back of Nirvana's "Bleach" album:

"Recorded in Seattle at Reciprocal Recording by Jack Endino for $600."

I read that after Nirvana had already gone on to be one of the biggest bands
in the world. But here was their first commercial album, where they started
out & just before they made Nevermind, and the cost of making that first album
was so much less than I'd ever thought. It made things seem possible, that you
can start with whatever you have. It meant you couldn't blame a lack of money;
if you had $600, you could make an album. Nirvana taught me to bootstrap.

------
mikemajzoub
After studying Political Science in college, I became a middle school math and
history teacher in a low-income community. I witnessed firsthand that the
American Dream was not a possiblity for everyone. If a kid is smart and hard
working, but the resources aren't there to support her, it is very difficult
for her to end up with certain opportunities that rich kids in America take
for granted.

I saw technology as one way to help address this complex problem. I took a
bunch of night classes in CS, and I'll be graduating with a Masters in CS from
a full-time program in May. I wish I started down this path earlier because
there is so much to do, but I guess that's how life is. I've found that I am
happiest when I am giving to and empowering others, and the technological
revolution we are currently living through enables us to do this at an amazing
scale. I feel very fortunate to be alive at this time in history, and to have
had a path in life that enabled me to find Computer Science. This is what
motivates me to work relentlessly every day.

In peace, Mike

~~~
300bps
You said two very different things:

 _the American Dream was not a possiblity for everyone_

and

 _it is very difficult for her_

No rational person thinks it is easy in the United States to go from being
low-income to high-income. But hopefully also no rational person thinks it is
"not a possibility for everyone" as you first said.

I went from a very low-income family to very high-income myself, so I know it
is possible.

~~~
TeMPOraL
I don't think it makes any practical sense to talk about whether something is
strictly possible or strictly not; if a random kid has 0.0001% chance of
crossing the income barrier then of course you can say that "it is possible
for everyone", but that doesn't change the fact that for that kid it's next to
impossible, period.

~~~
readme
You had about the same chance of being knighted as a feudal serf.

------
arethuza
I'm rather fond of "The Man in the Arena":

 _It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong
man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The
credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred
by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short
again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but
who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the
great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows
in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails,
at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with
those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat._

NB I suspect i like this because of the Mandela connection with one of the all
time great rugby stories.

Actually at the moment - I'm finding this mountain biking video rather
inspiring - mainly because of the music and wonderful scenery that I've
climbed/walked (rather than cycled) over:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ_IQS3VKjA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ_IQS3VKjA)

~~~
aaron-lebo
Also from Theodore Roosevelt (Man in the Arena is his speech):

 _Get action. Do things; be sane; don’t fritter away your time; create, act,
take a place wherever you are and be somebody; get action._

Scholars have interpreted this quote, and Teddy's overall crazed drive as his
way of staving off depression.

And from his counsin, FDR:

 _There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still._

A few others that I've collected off of HN comments:

 _Focused, hard work is the real key to success. Keep your eyes on the goal,
and just keep taking the next step towards completing it. If you aren 't sure
which way to do something, do it both ways and see which way works better._ \-
John Carmack

 _Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of
complete darkness, constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and
recognition in case of success._ \- this, or some variation of this, was used
in advertising for Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expedition

~~~
icpmacdo
Paul Graham's lecture recently really cemented the idea of having a good life
is just work on things that interest you and maybe something comes from it but
it doesn't matter because you are still doing what you enjoy.

~~~
goldfeld
Exactly! People want things to come from it so they can finally do all they
wanted. Why not do it now? Then adjust your priorities, lifestyle and
consuming patterns as to lower both your needs and expectations, and you're
less likely to feel let down by life. Does not work for power-hungry needs, of
course.

------
nisa
During a time of anxiety and depression I've discovered Stoic philosophy.
Especially the Enchiridion from Epictetus somehow helped me to feel better.
Also Seneca² is worth a read. It's over 2000 years old but surprisingly apt
for the world of today.

1:
[http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html](http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html)

2:
[https://archive.org/stream/adluciliumepistu02sene#page/n7/mo...](https://archive.org/stream/adluciliumepistu02sene#page/n7/mode/2up)

~~~
tomwalker
A great introduction is "A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic
Joy" by Irvine

[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guide-Good-Life-Ancient-
Stoic/dp/019...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guide-Good-Life-Ancient-
Stoic/dp/0195374614)

~~~
nisa
Actually in my opinion: No. Read the original texts. The book from Irvine
gives you a different impression of stoicism. It has some "self-help with
stoic touch" feel that I just don't feel comfortable with. Read some historic
context and the original texts. The original texts are quite accessible.

------
scobar
Poem: "If" by Rudyard Kipling

Quote: "Everyone knew it was impossible to do. One day, someone who did not
know showed up and did it."

Person: Alexis Ohanian - I know he's kind of goofy and perhaps not the most
inspirational to someone else, but he gave me hope when I needed it most. I
never actually met him. I discovered his story at a serendipitous moment when
my father, the last person who believed in me at that time, had just passed
away of cancer. I finally learned that, outside of my social bubble, exploring
unbeaten paths was a value rather than a defect. I discovered YC and HN
because of Alexis. I owe him more gratitude than I know how to express.

Curiosity: Future generations will wonder how we could endure the
inefficiencies and unnecessary hardships we put up with. I want to discover
why they’ll wonder that.

Fear: PG mentioned toward the end of "Before the Startup" that, "If you're
absolutely terrified of starting a startup, you probably shouldn't do it." I
am absolutely terrified of giving myself a reason in the future to look back
and think, "I wish I had tried."

~~~
e15ctr0n
I find these lines from the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling the most
inspirational of all:

 _Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;_

------
jokoon
Good will hunting, even if it's cliche'd, helped me understand how personality
can be a huge problem for oneself, whatever the talents, work and motivations.

There are many quotes that will make you wiser, but to me, the most important
thing to remember about politics and society being mostly disorganized and
unable to properly help individuals, is that society resembles a growing pool
of microbes.

It's blooming with life with diversity, but it's not really aware of itself.
To me people are aware of themselves, but society is not aware of itself.
People are truly alone in their own life, society is not really there to
really help them or make them connect with each other properly. This way,
society is unable to really improve itself by improving its subjects. That's
why I try to compare society as a live being, holding several cells.

This helped me contextualize myself in society, and give context to what
society really is. Also important to never look down to anybody or anything,
always be curious and not leave a thought with pessimism, always try to
understand the compromises and origins of things. It's not an ode to optimism
and positivism, but always be sure to confront your interests as a human in
the void of the universe, and understand that even if it looks pointless, if
it's a step forward, it's a good step.

I'm also very bad at expressing myself.

~~~
l33tbro
You're really not. This is the best comment I've seen here for a while.

Mot sure if we could ever reach collective conscious of our so sociery.
Anthropologists like Marshsll Sahlins was onxe enamoured with hunter-gatherer
for societies for this reason. But large scale industrial societies? I can't
see a way for a microbe pool that complex to feel truly whole

~~~
jokoon
hahaha :)

------
brandonmenc
Every so often I contemplate the facts of my birth - the time, the place,
social strata - being free from wants, relative to just about every human that
has ever existed - and that, like most of you here, I can create the great
capital good of our age, software - out of thin air and at zero cost...

The mere thought of wasting this alignment of circumstance always spurs me to
action.

------
christiansmith
The entire history of the human species is an inspiration and motivation,
depending on what you choose to read into it. We are practically an infinite
collection of case studies in creativity, innovation, perseverance,
adaptability, beating the odds... your question is actually very hard to
answer because so many great examples come to mind.

As for reading, a few things popped into my head in no particular order:

The Greatest Salesman in the World, by Og Mandino

Emerson's Essays, particularly "Self Reliance"

Biographies of people like James Clerk Maxwell and Tesla

If, by Kipling

Any of Bucky Fuller's books

And really, just look around at what people are doing in our industry. Our
peers are a constant source of inspiration. I see what some of my friends are
doing the field of IoT and it makes me want to get up every day at 4am and
hack until my fingers fall off.

------
DanBC
"A rat race is for rats. We are not rats. We are human beings. "A rat race is
for rats. We're not rats. We're human beings. Reject the insidious pressures
in society that would blunt your critical faculties to all that is happening
around you, that would caution silence in the face of injustice, lest you
jeopardise your chances of self-promotion and self-advancement. This is how it
starts. And before you know where you are, you're a fully paid-up member of
the rat pack. The price is too high. It entails the loss of your dignity and
human spirit." \- Jimmy Reid

That same speech has some other great quotes:

"Let me right at the outset define what I mean by alienation. It is the cry of
men who feel themselves the victims of blind economic forces beyond their
control. It's the frustration of ordinary people excluded from the processes
of decision making. The feeling of despair and hopelessness that pervades
people who feel with justification that they have no real say in shaping or
determining their own destinies."

[http://www.scottishleftreview.org/li/index.php?option=com_co...](http://www.scottishleftreview.org/li/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=336)

This is a strongly left speech and some of it is goin to be offensive(?) to
the HN audience, but the good bits are great.

------
kristofferR
I'm a sucker for inspirational quotes and have, throughout the years, saved
several hundred of them in Evernote.

Take a look, I'm sure you'll find quite a lot that you like:

[https://www.evernote.com/pub/kristofferr/inspiringQuotes](https://www.evernote.com/pub/kristofferr/inspiringQuotes)

~~~
metachris
Nice quote collection, although I feel strongly offended by quoting Mussolini
(a brutal dictator and fascist).

~~~
segmondy
what if Mussolini the brutal dictator and fascist wrote a clever algorithm or
solved a neat math problem, will you feel strongly offended against those who
use the algorithm or math equation?

------
blatherard
Each week I get an email reminder with this quote in it and the subject
"Things Are Hard":

"When you can do whatever you want, you get a variant of the terror induced by
the proverbial blank page. There are a lot of people who think the thing
stopping them from writing that great novel they plan to write is the fact
that their job takes up all their time. In fact what's stopping 99% of them is
that writing novels is hard. When the job goes away, they see how hard."

which is part of a pg comment on an HN thread,
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1512096](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1512096)

~~~
TeMPOraL
Thank you for that quote, this resonates with me strongly. One of the bigger
sources of my stress is that internal narrative of "I can't do awesome things
because my job takes away all my time". This quote encourages me to re-
evaluate my attitude now.

------
adwn
The Frontier Is Everywhere – the first video in the Sagan Series by Reid
Gower:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY59wZdCDo0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY59wZdCDo0)

It gives me the motivation to work towards a goal which lies tens, hundreds,
maybe a thousand years in the future.

Seeing this video puts my own selfish needs and feelings in perspective, and
inspires me to do my little part in making humanity just a little bit better.

------
shriphani
I purchased a copy of the entire works of Michelangelo Buonarotti with high-
res pictures that I like to look at: [http://www.amazon.com/Michelangelo-
Complete-Sculpture-Painti...](http://www.amazon.com/Michelangelo-Complete-
Sculpture-Painting-Architecture/dp/0789318873/)

------
bribri
I've always found "Philippe Petit" and "Man on Wire" interesting. “You must
not fall. / When you lose your balance, resist for a long time before turning
yourself toward the earth. Then jump. / You must not force yourself to stay
steady. You must move forward.”

------
Mz
I am a fan of biographies. Here are a couple of people in history that inspire
me:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller)

 _Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author,
political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a
bachelor of arts degree._

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass)

He started as a slave in America and ended up an ambassador of the U.S. to
Haiti.

------
TeMPOraL
I watch this every time I want to restore my motivation and faith in humanity
and its bright future.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yijcWsLda8#t=10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yijcWsLda8#t=10)

While ST:ENT was widely criticized as "losing the spirit", I think that its
intro - the images, the song, the message - is the perfect and most beautiful
description of the spirit of Star Trek. Hope, curiosity, exploration, faith
that we can solve all our problems, that things are to get better and not
worse - all in there.

------
a3n
"Thou mayest," from "East of Eden," John Steinbeck.

Edit: no fair being cryptic.
[http://www.timshel.org/timshel.php](http://www.timshel.org/timshel.php)

------
PublicEnemy111
I find Arnold Schwarzeneggers commencement speech to be very inspirstional.
I've always admired him for having such wild ambitions(being a body builder)
in a conservative country and time. Full
speech:[http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=66vkogKQS2E](http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=66vkogKQS2E)

Or, if you prefer a shorter version with
music:[http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QmD6QwI9nXA](http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QmD6QwI9nXA)

------
flippyhead
Watching this has been pretty inspiring to me:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Oxl5dAnR0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Oxl5dAnR0)

~~~
iSloth
Was completely expecting a rickroll there, linking to a YouTube video without
description

------
rishtal
Here's a quote that I have on my desk: "The greatest rewards go to those that
take initiative" \- I think Seth Godin said this.

This is an awesome Saturday question! Recently, I wrote a blog post about how
to capture motivation and turn them into actions.

Here it is: [http://blog.bottega8.com/capturing-moments-of-motivation-
and...](http://blog.bottega8.com/capturing-moments-of-motivation-and-turning-
them-into-actions/)

------
duncanawoods
_Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the
shore._

André Gide

 _A ship is safe in harbor, but that 's not what ships are for._

William G.T. Shedd

 _Some are always in a state of preparation, occupied in previous measures,
forming plans, accumulating materials and providing for the main affair. These
are certainly under the secret power of idleness. Nothing is to be expected
from the workman whose tools are for ever to be sought._

Samuel Johnson

------
carlesfe
Side projects! They maintain the little spark inside me. Concidentally,
yesterday I wrote a piece about motivation and side projects, maybe you can
get some ideas: [http://cfenollosa.com/blog/you-only-do-it-when-nobody-
else-w...](http://cfenollosa.com/blog/you-only-do-it-when-nobody-else-will-do-
it.html)

~~~
TeMPOraL
Very interesting post. One thing jumped at me though:

"It started with functional programming, one of the academic topics which has
been discussed since the 60s but never took off."

You seem to frequent HN, so surely you must be aware that functional
programming actually took off in the end - just now. In the last 5 years it
went from something that people would give you strange looks over mentioning,
to The Hottest Thing in programming. "Functional" is now synonymous with
awesome and something people brag about (whether they understand it or not is
another thing, but that's how things are with fashion).

~~~
carlesfe
Glad you liked the post!

Functional programming is an amazing tool, but I found it super hard to
program real world applications. Object oriented programming is much more
useful for that, because it represents more effectively the world that we live
in, which is composed of objects that talk to each other.

Yes, functional is now cool and awesome and hackerish. Nothing wrong with
that. However, while it does make you smarter (since it gives you a new
viewpoint and is a new skill), it does not mean that you need to apply it
everywhere.

I'll add that us in HN live in a bubble and what we read here is not
representative of real world. Of all programmers I know only two really know
and have successfully coded stuff with functional programming. So... It has
not taken off in my opinion. There seems to be more eyes looking at it, or
maybe people using it are more vocal so we read more about it.

------
rafaqueque
A good source of inspiration, motivation and -- important to mention as well
-- abstraction from the real world, is clearly some Spotify playlists based on
white noise and world sounds. When I hit the play button, I'm not here for the
next hours and I can really focus on whatever I'm doing at the moment.

~~~
aaron-lebo
Postrock music (with few vocals) tends to do the same, while adding a little
more structure:

* Explosions in the Sky

* Mogwai

* This Will Destroy You

* The American Dollar

* Tycho

------
gisely
This:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaIvk1cSyG8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaIvk1cSyG8)

I seriously I find that kid's enthusiasm inspirational. Sure, maybe learning
to ride a bike is really no big deal, but the euphoria of having truly
mastered something new is incredible.

~~~
click170
That's an awesome video!

I totally agree with you, for me it's the euphoria of seeing it work, after
days or weeks of poking and reading and prodding and reading some more and
scratching your head and re-reading the same things.

That light-bulb moment is addicting, that's what keeps me going.

Edit: There also seems to be a little bit of correlation between how long it
takes to make it work, and how great it feels seeing it finally do it's thing.
That can be a source of encouragement to take on a project that's a bigger
than your previous one.

------
shurcooL
For me it's Bret Victor and his Inventing on Principle talk, Learnable
Programming article.

------
JSeymourATL
The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale >
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62DqsD2s5V8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62DqsD2s5V8)

It's an Old School message that still resonates by the late Dean of Personal
Development.

------
onechik
I'm watching 'The pursuit of happyness'when I need inspiration. Really love
it. 'The internship'is another one that can inspire me. But most of all I'm
inspired when I get some success with my project

------
hadoukenio

      "When You Think of Garbage, Think of Hakeem"
        -- Coming to America
    

Here is a prince who has everything, yet even when on the bottom rung at
McDowell's he puts in 100% effort.

------
itengelhardt
For me a major source of inspiration & motivation is patio11. I don't really
care whether it is podcast, blog post or video. I always learn new things and
it also helps me stay motivated

------
graycat
Motivation: Money, financial responsibility and security, material affluence,
happiness from satisfying curiosity.

Inspiration: High quality work in pure and applied mathematics, physical
science, and music.

------
rvivek
I have a different take on motiviation
([http://rvivek.com/motivation/](http://rvivek.com/motivation/)) - would love
to know your thoughts

------
appreneur
Motivation 3.0 , I find the book , "the surprising truth about what drives us
".Daniel H. Pink.....amazingly accurate and one true sense reveals...what
motivates us.

------
gregschlom
This is my go-to place when I need inspiration and motivation:
[http://www.thisiscolossal.com/](http://www.thisiscolossal.com/)

------
kristofferR
I love watching Shark Tank, Mixergy and Growth Hacker TV.

It's hard not to get inspired by seeing other passionate entrepreneurs talk
about their business.

------
Puriney
"You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free" | "if you are good
at something, never do it for free"

------
Puriney
You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free | If you are good at
something, never do it for free.

------
gondo
_there are worse things than_

 _being alone_

 _but it often takes decades_

 _to realize this_

 _and most often_

 _when you do_

 _it 's too late_

 _and there 's nothing worse_

 _than too late._

Oh Yes by Charles Bukowski

------
scotty79
Sheer terror of looming deadline is usually enough.

~~~
TeMPOraL
For me it was enough for about two years, after which my brain got used to it
so that now I just experience terror, but do not gain productivity.

------
eterps
The Amiga, metal music and Alan Kay.

------
dpweb
James Allen - As a man thinketh

------
franze
sauna & recreational coding

------
dkd903
1.01^365 = 37.8

0.99^365 = 0.03

This one thing always motivates me to put the extra effort in everything I do.
Good luck mate :-)

~~~
Lambdanaut
As beautiful as that is, and as much as I want it to be true, it might not
necessarily be true that personal growth can be compounded so easily. It very
well may be nearly linear.

I upvoted anyways though, because it really is beautiful.

~~~
LBarret
eureka moments and plateaus make it non linear. I think it's more like a
repeated S curve at different scale, Fractal-like. Accepting plateaus and
going on nevertheless is one of the most important thing for a project.

------
briholt
Perhaps a bit darker than the other quotes, but I wake up everyday thinking
"At most, I've only got X years left before I die." When you appreciate
time/life as a limited resource you'll spend it more wisely. Typically people
don't realize this until they're too old, but this is something 20-year-olds
should think about.

