Your pain really comes across. I don't know that cool new tech is the way value is created. Airbnb's first 'tech' was an Excel spreadsheet. Observe, on the one

Your pain really comes across. I don't know that cool new tech is the way value is created. Airbnb's first 'tech' was an Excel spreadsheet. Observe, on the one hand, the person recently open-sourcing the e-commerce platform they built after their startup folded, and on the other, the person recently asking what's changed in tech since 2017, only to hear "not that much": Value comes from solving real problems that real people have. The good ideas aren't incubated in front of a screen, they start with people, and conversations, and a whimsical approach to what the future can be. So in a way, the best thing you could do for yourself is to make a concerted effort to spend time NOT developing. Your A and B are true, but not your C. The FOMO is eating you up, but your belief in it doesn't make it real. I don't know that it's really about forgetting the outcome...the outcome DOES matter, but not as it's measured in money made/feedback on PH or whatever external validation. If you do one thing that solves a problem for you, even if it's you alone, there's a quiet joy in that. And the more attuned you are to thins kind of joy, the more attuned you become to where you and software connect, and all the other stuff falls by the wayside. What would you build for a person you love? What are the people around you complaining about? What would you build for yourself to make your life better?