Yes, just doodle. See where that takes you.
The process of studying and the process of creativity are almost opposites which is why the 50% rule is so necessary. Creativity is where the most resistance is found and this resistance needs to be chipped away at. Remember that these drawings are only for you and not for public display.
I understand your problem. I have also just started and I don't really know what to draw sometimes. I have two suggestions.
There are a bunch of daily drawing prompts online. I use one to give me a boost when nothing comes to mind to draw. I often use references to have some idea how to do something. My prompt the other day was "Mouse with a tiger mask". I didn't know how to draw a tiger mask, so I found a google image. I didn't copy it exactly though. I changed the angle of how I drew mine but tried to keep the same structure of the original. I think that is what uncomfortable means.
The other suggestion I saw recently was: Draw the same thing everyday for a period of time. A week, a month. Draw the same subject everyday. Maybe you choose apples. Everyday draw a least one apple. I think choosing something simple is a better choice. After you draw your apple, Is the apple in a bowl? on counter? a worm in it? Someone is eating it? You get the idea. The simple thing leads to more complex ideas.
Both ideas remove the "What should I draw?" question from your mind and lets you focus on drawing. I also find that once I am drawing, ideas start to come into my imagination. I started drawing the top of a building the other day. It was a very simple shape. Before I knew it, there was a superhero standing on it and an angel sculpture on the building. It was not a good drawing (yet), but I was drawing from imagination. I hope this helps.
If you're finding it harder to get yourself to draw from imagination then try the other route of drawing from multiple references to see if you can ease into that better.
Beyond that there's no right way to be bad in regards to the 50% rule. The goal is specifically to deal with that fear of drawing things that aren't just exercises. Literally anything can be drawn. If you have a specific goal in mind with your drawing (aka character design, realism, webcomics, etc.) then try starting with that.
This is another one of those things that aren't sold through Amazon, so I don't get a commission on it - but it's just too good to leave out. PureRef is a fantastic piece of software that is both Windows and Mac compatible. It's used for collecting reference and compiling them into a moodboard. You can move them around freely, have them automatically arranged, zoom in/out and even scale/flip/rotate images as you please. If needed, you can also add little text notes.
When starting on a project, I'll often open it up and start dragging reference images off the internet onto the board. When I'm done, I'll save out a '.pur' file, which embeds all the images. They can get pretty big, but are way more convenient than hauling around folders full of separate images.
Did I mention you can get it for free? The developer allows you to pay whatever amount you want for it. They recommend $5, but they'll allow you to take it for nothing. Really though, with software this versatile and polished, you really should throw them a few bucks if you pick it up. It's more than worth it.
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