Richard Hamming's You and Your Research, the main points

the whole 1986 talk in bullet form. read the original if any of these hit, it's long but still true almost forty years later.

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luck favors the prepared mind

Pasteur's line originally, Hamming's point is the specific discovery is luck but that you do something is not

courage

work on important problems

total commitment

if you're not emotionally in it your subconscious never gets a shot to work on it while you sleep

keep your door open

literal, more interruptions but way more of the conversations that actually matter

tolerate ambiguity

compound effort

hours put in early compound like interest, still true, nobody wants to hear it

turn the flaw into the point

sell the work

writing, formal talks, hallway conversations, all count as selling. most people only ever do one

solve the general problem, not just yours

bad conditions can help more than good ones

don't coast on one big result

know your own weaknesses

read the original for this one, he's specific about which faults he means and it's more useful than my summary

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