graduate school - What can I do to convince my advisor of my ideas?

I started my PhD within the last one year in a STEM field in the US ,and I cannot seem to convince my advisor about any of my ideas.

I usually don't get concrete research directions from my advisor, ie. a direction of research that might be valuable to look more into. I am completely free, which can be good and bad.

I only get one out of two types of feedback: (1): Lets find a project together, so generate more ideas so I can grasp what you are interested in or (2): When I suggested some ideas, all of them don't satisfy my advisor, and I should "look for more ideas". My advisor might be right with the arguments, but I didn't get any advice yet on how to improve my "research".

The more senior students of my advisor seem to have the same/similar problem, so I don't feel like I want to make the same mistakes as they did and get stuck at this stage.

But I cannot get beyond this point and so I can't really start a project. I could ignore the advice and work on my own without letting my advisor know, but wouldn't then the point of the "advising" role be gone? How can I get my advisor to be convinced of one of my ideas, and ideally get more "useful" feedback?

At this point I really feel like its somehow a communication problem. Maybe judging about the "quality" of my advisor is not the question I look to answer (I assume there are "pro's" and "con's" to have hands-off advisors), but rather if you have any tips on how to overcome this "infinite idea finding loop" and get more in-depth with one specific project in this situation. And, to be more general, how can I establish a better communication?

Answer

First step is to have good ideas. :)

But wait, you are starting your phd, by definition, you wouldn't know what a good idea is, you do not have the experience (usually, let's leave the genius outliers aside for now).

When I have a crazy idea, I develop it a bit, to see where it leads. If leads somewhere interesting, I prepare a nice, informative presentation, and schedule a meeting with the boss. Sometimes I get shot down, sometimes the idea is accepted, but "preparing the field" is important. You need to present your ideas properly, in a well prepared manner, to increase the chances he would understand it. And clearly presenting ideas is the bread and butter of research.

With that said, have you tried an honest conversation with him on this aspect? Nothing wrong with an student telling me he is lost and he needs a concrete direction. Even better if that direction has specific, detailed objectives, including some easily attainable ones to keep the morale high.

Be honest, be polite, be patient, and be clear.