What next after finishing a major project?

In our newest "how can we help you?" thread, a reader writes:

I'm in the very lucky position that I have a permanent job in the UK on a teaching and research contract. Before this, I had a series of post-docs in Europe and the UK. I finished my PhD in 2012 and I recently published a monograph which rounded off the big research project that my PhD started.

I suppose what I'd like help with is: what next? I'm really struggling to develop and frame a 'second' mid-career research project. Because of the UK system, there is pressure to come up with projects that can result in research grants and books. I generate lots of ideas for projects, but none seem to stick. So how have other people found their second major project and brought it to fruition?

Great question, and I'm curious to hear how readers answer! Here are a few quick thoughts of my own.

One thing that has worked for me is to uncover potential 'offshoots' of my first project. For example, after I published my first book, there were some criticisms of it that I wanted to respond to, one of which was that I hadn't sufficiently defended its account of moral psychology and another of which is that the book's derivation of the theory's moral principles wasn't successful. I didn't initially have any clear idea how to fill in those gaps, but I began reading around about prudence (since my first book briefly briefly suggested that its account of moral psychology is related to prudence), as well as behavioral neuroscience (since my first book argued that we should approach ethics from a scientifically informed perspective). Reading around like this (in new areas that my first book didn't really explore) gave me ideas and pushed me in a new direction: founding my moral theory in a deeper theory of prudence backed by empirical science. This was an exciting and unexpected path of discovery, as it led me in turn to research and think about patterns of moral education--including the moral and prudential lessons embedded in film, popular literature, and religious myths across history and culture.

What if your first project doesn't lend itself to this kind of expansion? I could be wrong, but I suspect that most of the time there will be ways to do something like this, as problems and theories in one area of philosophy can yield unexpected insights in other areas of philosophy (think, for example, of the way LA Paul used Frank Jackson's knowledge argument from the philosophy of mind in her influential work on transformative experience!). But suppose trying this approach doesn't work for you? Here are a few more tips that I've either tried myself to good effect or heard work well from other people:

1. Anytime you have any idea for a potential project, jot it down in a notebook. Keep a running list of ideas, and then do some background reading in each area to see whether the idea has any promise (given what has been written in the area).
2. Keep an eye out for CFPs on PhilEvents, particularly ones that only call for abstracts. I had a few projects develop this way, as getting an abstract accepted gave me an excuse to work the paper in question up.
3. Just read widely in new areas: this is something I was advised to do by a mentor in grad school when I was struggling to come up with a dissertation topic. I had previously been spending most of my time reading one area of literature (moral responsibility and motivation), and I wasn't able to come up with anything good. Then, after my mentor told me to read around, I started reading in political philosophy--and I came up with my dissertation idea in just a few months!

Finally, here's something else I've found to be invaluable: patience. On several occasions, I've found myself wondering, "Am I all out of philosophical ideas?" Every time this has happened, it has been discomforting, and yet each time after a few weeks or months have passed, I've found new ideas spring up out of the blue--sometimes by just keeping an eye on new papers posted each day to philpapers, which can spark ideas. But anyway, these are just some things that I've found work for me or heard work well for others. What say you all? Do you have any tips for the OP on developing a new research project?