The past is how you bloody learn. 

A good story is not one where everything is fine, a good story is where there is a or multiple legitimate problems, which creates conflicts and pushes the plot forward. Having everything easy and going your way is NOT making a story, it's be Gary Sue or Stue or whatever that stuff is. You're making a perfect nation- militarily powerful, diplomatically sound, technologically ahead, set so that they are superior. That is not writing a story, it's writing a list of good things happening today-

A. Found new people- after breaking into their minds, we made peace and live happily ever after!
B. Found some more new people- talked to their brains too, then we made more peace but we took it a little slower this time. We now live happily ever after!
C. Found some meanies near one of our colonies. We had our allies bring in a bunch of battlefleets in addition to our own, and totally wiped them out. #YOLO
D. Found a planet that one of our allies was already making contact with- might as well go in ourselves and see if we can make them OUR allies first. We WILL live happily ever after- by the way, who are those guys in orbit? Eh, doesn't matter.
E. Found more places- colonizing and industrializing as we speak, everything is better than projected by 300%.

I am, of course, exaggerating on some points, but this IS how it's working. I have a people who have never heard of frigates, shields, fighters, or bombers, nor plasma or other energy-projectile weapons, with a fleet the size of a very small asteroid. The Convergence are pod-spammers.

Please, tell me how great of a story maker you are, and how you are doing so great.

Extremely easy- challenge yourself. Try something new.