This is a good question that touches on our lifestyle as academics. I would say that a lesson I have learned (the hard way) is be intentional about committing at least one day a week and two additional evenings a week to non-work related activities.

become a successful researcher:-

Create a support group

Why not make your daily coffee break with your colleagues into a support group moment by not only discussing your plans for the weekend, but by also sharing your thoughts on your research. Jennifer: “Regular contact with your voluntary support group allows you to further your research. Discussing the progress you are making means that you prioritize your research more, which, in turn, increases productivity.”

Being humble and open to criticism

An important skill to be a good researcher is to be humble and to be able to listen to others. Even when a researcher works very hard and think that his/her project is “perfect”, there are always some flaws or some possibilities for improvement.

A humble researcher will listen to the feedback and opinions of other researchers on their work, whether this feedback is positive or negative, and will think about how to use this feedback to improve their work. A researcher that works alone can do an excellent work. But by discussing research with others, it is possible to get some new ideas. Also, when a researcher present his/her work to others, it is possible to better understand how people will view your work. For example, it is possible that other people will misunderstand your work because something is unclear. Thus, the researcher may need to make adjustments to his research project.

Building a social network

A second important thing to work on for young researchers is to try to build a social network. If a researcher has opportunities to attend international conferences, s/he should try to meet other students/professors to establish contact with other researchers. Other ways of establishing contact with other researchers are to send e-mails to ask questions or discuss research, or it could also be at a regional or national level by attending seminars at other universities.

Working hard, working smart

To become a good researcher, another important skill is to spend enough time on your project. In other words, a successful researcher will work hard. For example, it is quite common that good researchers will work more than 10 hours a day. But of course, it is not just about working hard, but also about working “smart”, that is a researcher should spend each minute of his time to do something useful that will make him/her advance toward his goals. Thus, working hard should be done also with a good planning.

Having clear goals / being organized / having a good research plan

A researcher should also have clear goals. For a Ph.D or MSc student, this includes having a general goal of completing the thesis, but also some subgoals or milestones to attain his main goal. One should also try to set dates for achieving these goals. In particular, a student should also think about planning their work in terms of deadlines for conferences. It is not always easy to plan well. But it is a skill that one should try to develop.  Finally, one should also choose his research topic(s) well to work on meaningful topics that will lead to making a good research contribution.

Researcher is a job. Every job has its own responsibilities and duties; those can be either high or low. As we know, the job of a researcher includes high mental-working with many hours (most of the times, even 12-14 hours) spent in the lab. However, you have to ensure time for your family or for your hobbies in order to have also good mental health (e.g, if you are hit by depression this will affect your job). Make a program. For instance, in the weekends, spend more time with your family and work only for 2-3 hours in the morning. So, do not let your job conquer you. We are also humans.