Well, you know what they say, don’t buy a rock that doesn’t roll.
Woodsie Owl says, “Have a Hoot - Don’t pollute!”
Talk to your craziest IRL friends. Talk about things completely unrelated to waht you want to come up with. And let your mind wander. That’s what I do.
Okay, cool! thanks for the advice. 
Can’t agree with this enough. If it weren’t for finding little things for which I could see the possibility of success and some generally less-awful-than-before outcome, I would probably be even more of a bitter, mistanthropic little wretch than I already am.
As for being inspired, I think the easiest way, and this is slightly related to the above, is to look at everything that’s shitty in the world (hint: most of it), and look at the parts of it which have at least some apparent cause which is relatively possible to eliminate or change. For example, my current job is a result of my involvement with drug policy, attempting to remove prohibition in favour of a more socially and fiscally responsible harm-reduction-based approach. It aligns with a lot of my sociopolitical (and even religious) beliefs, and even if it’s seemingly a small issue, the effects of prohibition can be pretty far-reaching, and replacing it with a better system can at least lessen the severity of a lot of problems. It’s not necessarily want to do with my life, but it’s related to helping solve problems I’d like to see at least lessened in my lifetime, and it’s something I’m glad to work at, now.
I think a lot of people conflate “goals” and “dreams” more than they should, although that’s perhaps only the pessimist in me speaking. I’d like to be a writer and critic, but that’s not necessarily a professional “goal” so much as it is a professional “dream.” My professional “goals” are seeing Chuck Levesque and Deborah Ruggiero keep their seats, Chafee win the gubernatorial race, then helping a decriminalization bill pass through the house and hopefully the senate this year, then open up the debate on tax and regulate. Similarly, I’d like to find some solid answers in the field of neuro-linguistics (GTFO Chomsky and the UG you rode in on), but that’s really more of a dream than a goal, academically, as is writing a notable critical work, for instance. My “goals” are just learning the foundations of those dreams (the body of work existing within each field and a solid analysis of it) and working towards those dreams in a way that can complete both my English Theory and Bio-neuro requirements in a timely fashion. Goals can be long- or short-term, but they need to be “small,” achievable stepping-stones.