Personal self-satisfaction is the death of the scientist.

In science, self-satisfaction is death. Personal self-satisfaction is the death of the scientist. Collective self-satisfaction is the death of the research. It is restlessness, anxiety, dissatisfaction, agony of mind that nourish science.

Jacques Monod (New Scientist 17 Jun 1976)

See also: Le Mythe de Sisyphe (thx LBT)

Some attributes that can help ensure success for graduate students:
– Restlessness. Always striving for more. Having fun in the process.
– Error checking. Re-reading and re-analyzing data. Searching for their own mistakes. Reviewing their own productivity and making changes in processes or habits when needed.
– Reading a lot. Both for research, and for recreation.
– Self-teaching. Autonomous learning. Figuring out how to make something work.
– Taking notes. Detailed notes. Organized. And referring back to them later. If it wasn’t written it down, it was goofing off. If it was documented, then it was science.
– Humility. Willingness to ask questions that might be foolish.
– Compassion. Caring about other people and trying to see things from their side and work with them. Surrounding themselves with good people. Keeping distance from insecure or destructive people.
– Getting to done. Being a finisher. Finding a way to make things happen and get to a landmark. Scientists like to obsess about things, and they’re not easily satisfied, but the successful ones, despite those tendencies, figure out how to put out good products.