Although I'm not much of an entrepreneur (yep, here more for the hacking than the startup'ing), I spend a lot of my time working on "ideas" — I am a musician, a

Although I'm not much of an entrepreneur (yep, here more for the hacking than the startup'ing), I spend a lot of my time working on "ideas" — I am a musician, a programmer, a tinkerer, a writer, a designer, etc., and find myself daily in need of ideas. But recently I've been feeling an information overload. I spend too much time reading online, consuming information, taking in everything I can get. I read books all day long, I am constantly pushing myself to learn new things (languages, computer & human, and ancient history has been a recent focus). And I love it, I really do enjoy learning this way. But some things, like good ideas, have to come slowly. Some of my best programming-related ideas have come while immersed in nature, like on a camping trip or while hiking a glacier, removed from the internet for days. My advice is to leave town, disconnect. Go camping for a week. You'll learn a lot more there than you ever could online. Alternatively, dramatically change your daily routine. Become nocturnal. Live with a friend in a different city for the weekend. These don't have to be permanent changes, but they do have to be dramatic. My theory — backed by zero empirical evidence — is that when we our brains are forced to react to new situations, they have to improvise. This makes us instantly more creative.