Fuck.. it is hard to stick to "learn-by-doing" when you are not a creative person, and you lack the ideas to go on.
I don't feel like I am learning efficiently enough with reading books..

You should try daily stuff situations. How does a restaurant handles its orders? What would be a software for a library? How would I code a software that does medical appointments?

Try with those things that work in real life making them work in a virtual world.

Keep trying dude ✌✌

Try building something for Personal / freelance accounting?

Don't sweat, you don't have to code all day everyday. Relax.

Build stuff you actually want but don't exist (or just feel like building a "better" one). That's how I learned to code.

NOTE: passing technical interviews is a whole 'nother story...