How to do research and enjoy the same as a PhD student

From my experience in the past 5.5 years and thinking deeply where I was most productive and enjoyed my research, I am now confident enough on how to do research. Being mostly independent as a research student, we tend to procrastinate a lot without any direction. We do get lot of ideas, which gets lost or diluted without any direction and motivation to work.

I have put the following guidelines which will help us get novel ideas and enjoy the process of research along with the practicality of publishing papers. Please see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3dkRsTqdDA on how to write a great research paper.

1. We get many ideas for a problem. So, initially document the same in the form of a research paper.
2.  Put down the motivation, assumptions and the expected outcome roughly.
3.  Don't worry if the idea is small or we are not sure it will work as simple ideas have outperformed complicated approaches in many fields
4. There are many methods and approaches to solve a problem which many researchers around the world used and applied
5. We should survey and learn the various methods and approaches others have used, and try to see a connection and get ideas for our own research
6. We should think out of the box and devise our own approach instead of trying to improve already existing methods 
7. We should master and learn as many topics/ subjects as possible and are comfortable with and have abroad overview of other topics
8. We should use methods, concepts in which we are strong and have a good understanding, as we will get great ideas if we have a good understanding and think openly.
9. We must be aware and accept our weakness and shortcomings in some topics and have a broad overview of those topics instead of getting demotivated 
10. Attend talks out of our field of research as we get hints and ideas in our work from other areas/ topics (I get a small idea/ hint in a talk and then I try to link/ fit it to my research problem there itself)
11. Be focused in what approach you want to use for your research problem, and don't deviate just because someone forces or some other approach/ topic is hot. 
12. Only if the upcoming areas and topics really interests you, we can see the feasibility and applicability to our problem
13. Maintain a research diary where we put down all the ideas, approaches, positive/ negative results we have got along with the date/ time, so as to see the timely flow of our thoughts/ observations
14. Work consistently and vary the schedule/ place of work to avoid monotonicity, and do take a break if you want to
15. Credit courses which are directly related to our research, and audit or be TA for at least one course every semester
16. Maintain a rough schedule and do take internship opportunities if feasible
17. Maintain a research website/ blog to convey our thoughts and ideas/ observations
18. Getting a new idea and even small results are the moments of joy during research
19. We can enjoy the research life by following above steps
20. Have a nice and healthy research life !