Stuck in a creative rut - tips for getting out?
I'm currently a predoc trying to think of ideas for personal research - whether publishable or just honestly for fun/to do some economics. I've written papers before, but I'm finding myself in some sort of creative rut in coming up with ideas and research questions. Every time I try to think of what I'd like to study I hit some sort of brick wall. I have semblances of ideas, but nothing that feels like a concrete question with say, some X and Y to study. More just something I think is neat. It's gotten to the point where I'm questioning if I even belong in this field if I can't think of papers to write. Does anyone have any tips on how to work out of this rut? I'm reading papers and have found topics that are interesting, but it feels really really hard to find the "right" idea (I'm trying my best not to let perfect be the enemy of good, but it's difficult :)). Thanks!