What does it mean to be a scientist? How do you become one? Is it only about doing research?
You heard the stories about Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, and Stephen Hawking. You have been bored to death by seeing the archetypical scientist in a white lab coat. You have heard of scientific breakthroughs.
Is that what it takes? To wear a white coat, put in long hours, obsess with your work, use jargon only you understand? These are true for some, but such observations are not instructive or necessary.
But then, what does it take to become a good scientist?
Though we learn science in school, most of us do not learn how to be a scientist. I am not talking about the profession; I am talking about the mindset. Though the two are intertwined, the latter goes beyond the former and is helpful in all walks of life.
I invite you to figure this out together.