Just a random question to try to get some good discussion going.
For me, at least the last handful of years, it's been taking a nice stroll around town. When I first moved to California from NY, I was living in an apartment in the middle of downtown Palo Alto. I absolutely loved that, at 3 pm on a Tuesday afternoon, I could go outside, and see lots of cafes with lots of other tech entrepreneurs all working on their laptops, meeting with VCs, making. things. happen.
I just found that sooooo motivating that everyone around me was creating the next big thing. All I needed was 20 minutes of people watching to go back to my laptop with a completely fresh perspective.
Unfortunately, Palo Alto changed a lot during COVID. Nowadays, it's much more like every other downtown area in the Bay Area, which means it has a big lunch rush and big dinner rush, and is a popular weekend destination, but it's pretty deserted at 3 pm on a Tuesday afternoon.
I think that what happened is that, during COVID, entrepreneurs were forced to changing their workflow, and it's been a slow process to return to pre-COVID habits.