I've found some of the feeling of doing original math without actually discovering new things by 'skipping a level'. That is, either taking an advanced course o

I've found some of the feeling of doing original math without actually discovering new things by 'skipping a level'. That is, either taking an advanced course or trying to understand an article that is 'above your level'. This will force you to study material at your level, but now with a purpose. When you try to understand a proof, it is because you really want to get the intuition of the proof to apply it somewhere else.