This is a short article (~5 min) by a theoretical physicist, on the lessons learned during his career.<p>As a way of taking notes, and inviting to read the enjoyable and thought-provoking piece, the summary of the lessons are:<p>- No one knows everything, and you don't have to.<p>- While you are swimming and not sinking, you should aim for rough water. Go for the messes — that's where the action is.<p>- Forgive yourself for wasting time. If you want to be creative, then you will have to get used to spending most of your time not being creative.<p>- Learn something about the history of science, or at a minimum the history of your own branch of science.
That is a wonderful article by Weinberg. I think it all boils down to adopt a personality who is curious, courageous, confident, humble enough to own her/his mistakes, ignorance and knowledgeable.<p>If you are looking for more advice to young students, I think this is an excellent guide: <a href="http://www.rain.org/~rcurtis/weaver.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.rain.org/~rcurtis/weaver.html</a><p>Also, here is a collection of such articles: <a href="https://users.cs.duke.edu/~chase/cps300/research-advice.html" rel="nofollow">https://users.cs.duke.edu/~chase/cps300/research-advice.html</a>