I generally like to just ask my friends what problems they have, then figure out how I can use my resources and skills to see how I can solve them, and grow useful knowledge while helping them

I pick a thing that annoys me and try to fix it. In the process, I'm following all the tangential issues that I discover without really caring about the original goal.

I found that when you seek good ideas, they never come, but they come when you're idle, or doing a casual stroll, or in the shower, hence the phenomenon on Reddit r/ShowerThoughts[0]

In other words, to hit the target, you have to miss it.

[0] https://old.reddit.com/r/Showerthoughts/