Getting out of a loop

I've been teaching myself HTML/CSS and Javascript for about 3 months now and I've been through about 4 books, 20 youtube videos, and countless articles on freeCodeCamp and the like (as well as the projects). However, I've been finding myself in a "loop" of sorts. I sit down at the computer and have no idea what to build, where to start, or how to do it. It's maddening. So I read more books and watch more videos. That was until I had an epiphany.

The problem was that I didn't know what to build because I didn't know where to start or what I had to do to get what was in my brain out into the world. I realized that it was the TOOLS (syntax, data structures, functions, etc) that I needed to learn. I began making flashcards of common methods, objects, events, and data structure properties and then I was able to have an idea and then actually ACT on it.

Everyone that I have talked to has told me to stick with it because one day it will just click. Well, at this point I would have to agree with them. If there is anyone out there that is going through a loop and feeling like they're not getting anywhere ask yourself this question:

What would you do if you just KNEW how to build whatever you wanted?

I feel like that is the end goal. To just be able to sit down and write some code that did something cool. I mean it's supposed to be fun right?

What would be fun to build?

Chances are that you already have seen a lot of the tools that you need to make that happen. The problem is that there are so many.

My humble advice is to memorize the things that get used most often (methods, loops, arrays, events and event listeners) so that you don't have to stop and think too hard while you're on a roll. Knowing some of the most common tools will help get what's in your head out into the world (which is what makes coding so much fun).