Something which I have found helps me when I'm in one of those motivation funks which last longer than a day and which I can't seem to shake is to spend a bit o

Something which I have found helps me when I'm in one of those motivation funks which last longer than a day and which I can't seem to shake is to spend a bit of time consuming impressive work that other people have done in fields outside of software development. There's something about spending time in an art gallery, a library or even taking a walk around the central business district of a major city checking out the more impressive buildings and absorbing the pace and atmosphere that seems to wake up what I would almost call a competitiveness (in the sense of "shit, all of these people are doing such amazing, focused, long-term and brilliant things. I should get back to work", but truly without any elements of self-pity that might be read into that if I don't spell it out) on top of the other more general inspiration which these things give me. For whatever reason, it seems to be more effective if these works are outside of software development.