1. Talk: It starts with a lot of talk; talking about the idea with a friend – a science buddy – helps to process it, to get helpful suggestions and encouragements.

2. A team: Next, you find the people that want to go with you on this journey. With your idea, you excite your mentor, a colleague, a new friend, a student.

3. Commitment: When the initial excitement ends, you start to find ways to persevere through the project’s ‘valley of death’. New things compete for your attention, requiring you to find a way to stay committed.

4. Patience: Even after committing to the project, so much patience is required. It will always take longer than expected, and special efforts are needed for sticking with the project.

5. Surprise: Then comes the time when a new aspect emerges and threatens to reshape the whole project. Go for it! It’s to be expected that unexpected things will happen. In a real sense, this is your big reward.

6. Generosity: New people will enter the project, contributing resources and expertise as they are needed, and you will be required to be generous in fully including them. As the project’s champion, you get comfortable with knowing that it only helps to include others in the project.

7. Honesty: As the results come in, things get confusing. You remind yourself that you are not the hypothesis; you are on the side of good science. The hypothesis can fail but that is not your failure.

8. Quality: You believe enough in the project to create the best possible work out of it, with all of the controls, replicates, and additional tests. The last mile can take so long but it’s crucial for convincing others.

9. Letting go: Once you are done – together with the sense of achievement – there is also an unexpected sense of loss and feelings of sadness. The work belongs to the world now and people can have different reactions to it. Others who are very knowledgeable and capable will be able follow up on the work better than you can, and that is fine.

Photo by Kevin Jarrett on Unsplash