[bigodanktime]

I think you are assuming all these things are independent of one another. I think deep engagement with customers directs your problem statement. Build the smallest possible thing to test the idea you are proposing. If you are trying to publish than its a requirement to be reading papers in general, you need to be able to argue why this idea you are testing is orthogonal to other ideas being proposed. As time goes on you just scan important conferences in your field and get better at knowing which papers you need to skim versus deeply understand.

Edit: Also intelligence is an over-rated metric, persistence is far more important when it comes to these hard problems.

[rmbyrro]

I agree, persistence, discipline and ordering of daily activities.

It's very easy to get lost in day to day mess.