People Have Cooler Ideas Than Me

I've been having writers block. Not when it comes to writing specifically, but rather when it comes to building things. I wrote down a lot of the cool ideas I have and problems I've experienced and that led me to shipping a handful of projects. However, I'm starting to realize that I'm kinda in my own little bubble. For the most part when it came to coming up with ideas I started with solving my own problems first and that was great. It led to exploring different methods and technologies to solve them, but then my problems started to become boring.

Recently I went up to Boston to TechStars Startup Weekend. It's kinda like a hackathon for folks who want to build ideas and possibly turn it into a business. It was my second time going and I went for exactly the reason I'm writing about. People have better ideas than I do right now.

They have an unique perspective and ideas based on their struggles, hobbies, interest, culture, and life experiences. I figured I look at some of them for inspiration and remix them.

If you're in a similar boat like I am the best way to get creative and come up with ideas is to really just go outside and by that i mean do something interesting, fun stuff. For me traveling has given me a different perspective on how other people think and live. Last December I was in Senegal, Gambia, Morocco, and Portugal and not gonna lie I was inspired. I have some interest in doing some projects in Senegal and every time I go there's something that pisses me off. Whether it be the transportation, seeing how farmers struggle with the lack of cold chain to prevent food from spoiling, or the frustration of air travel at airports. Simply hanging out with friends and trying out new things like food or activities is a nice way to rest the mind, reset, and look at things around with a new lens. I've been locked away and on my laptop for so long I fell into the trap of being in my own bubble and not going outside. Not experiencing the problems outside and instead asking chat GPT and claude what problems and ideas I should solve. That resulted in me building things I didn't full understand because I didn't know the problem I was trying to solve.

I say all this to say keep in mind that people have a different perspective on things than you and can give you some really cool ideas. I'm too deep in tech now and my mind is crowded. I need others to give me ideas and open my eyes to what's going on. When I went to Boston there were folks who wanted to solve impulsive spending, help musicians build a local audience and get discovered, help people know what laws get passed in their city and state, etc. Things I just overlooked because I'm not thinking about those problems and not getting exposed to them.

I already have 2 projects I'm focused on for the rest of 2026 and will write about the rest. I'll be sharing designs, case studies, and more as I start my last two projects. I'm also possibly joining a startup, working on an idea with two other people I met up in Boston. So stay tuned as I may share things related to that.