I've been extremely lucky to have worked with some very smart people and many that are unquestionably successful in their fields. I've already talked about one trait that they all share. Another trait, more specific to research than the other, is that they all are deeply interested in the problem they are researching, not just an answer or the results.

I strongly believe that it's nearly impossible to do great work while chasing results.¹ If you are only interested in results or an answer, you'll stop before you get to the parts of the problem that matter, those that could make a real difference. If you are only interested in an answer, you'll miss the connections between the problem and others. If you are only interested in results, you won't ask the tough questions of yourself or the work.

I think this idea is very much related to the material covered in this great TED Talk. In the talk, Simon Sinek discusses how people and companies that are true leaders start by considering/discussing the "why", before answering the "hows" or "whats". Real inspiration, real emotional investment comes from "why".

As you might imagine, my students, particularly the graduate students, ask about ways to approach their research problems, what I think makes a successful researcher, what they can do to be successful, etc. My answer is based on four pretty simple ideas:

• Be a good person
• Expect more of yourself than anyone else expects of you
• Be better today than you were yesterday
• Be interested in the problem

Of course there is no guaranteed recipe for success, but those four points nicely summarize how I'm going after it.